One-minute assessment
Adata Elite SE880 Specs
Right here is the Adata Elite SE880 configuration despatched to Tech Radar Professional for assessment:
Capacities: 500GB, 1TB, 2TB
Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 2×2
Quoted Pace: 2,000MB/s learn, 2,000MB/s write
Dimensions: 64.8 x 35 x 12.25mm
Weight: 31g
Casing materials: aluminium + plastic
Working temperature: 5°C~50°C
{Hardware} Encryption: N/A
Guarantee/assist: restricted 5-year guarantee with free technical assist
Suitable OS: Home windows 8,8.1,10 or 11, macOS (v.10.6 +), Linux (Kernel 2.6+), Android (5.0+)
Within the field: Elite SE880, USB 3.2 Sort-C to C cable,USB 3.2 Sort-C to A cable, Fast Begin Information
With USB 4.0 taking too lengthy to turn out to be commonplace, exterior SSD makers have began backtracking and embracing a know-how most of them had missed. USB 3.2 Gen 2×2.
The Adata Elite SE880 is one in all these merchandise to assist Gen 2×2, if in case you have a suitably empowered USB port, however it is going to work as a Gen2 or perhaps a Gen1 machine if required.
As with most exterior SSDs, the SE880 has a USB-C port on the top of its barely odd-shaped tube development, however Adata does present cables for each USB-C and USB-A connections, not simply an adapter.
What you don’t get is any pouch to hold these cables and the drive, although at simply 64.8mm lengthy, it’s simply pocketable.
Obtainable capacities embrace 500GB, 1TB and 2TB, however no 4TB possibility, and we discovered the 2TB troublesome to supply.
What Adata does provide is a collection of utilities that assist the purchaser get probably the most out of the drive and automate the securing of folders and recordsdata. These embrace a firmware updating instrument, one thing that may very well be a necessity ought to a firmware situation come up, because it did with SanDisk just lately.
With a worth level near $85 for the 1TB, this isn’t the most affordable approach to get Gen 2×2 efficiency drive. However whenever you think about that you simply get each USB cables and a five-year guarantee, that value is affordable.
General, the Adata Elite SE880 is a small, sturdy exterior SSD with good efficiency for small file transfers if in case you have Gen 2×2 specification ports, however it isn’t good worth for individuals who don’t have that port or wish to safe big video recordsdata utilizing it.
Adata Elite SE880: Pricing and availability
Kingston XS1000: Pricing and availability
- How a lot does it value? $49.99/£57.10/€65.89
- When is it out? It’s beginning to be obtainable now
- The place are you able to get it? Direct from Adata or by on-line retailers like Amazon.
Adata is among the few exterior SSD makers that also helps sizes beneath 1TB, and subsequently, the Elite SE880 is available in a 500GB possibility together with the 1TB and 2TB fashions.
Within the UK by Amazon, solely the 500GB and 1TB fashions can be found, and they’re priced at £57.10 and £84.37 respectively.
A greater deal may be had by US prospects, with the costs being $49.99 and $79.99, and as with the UK, the 2TB mannequin seems to be lacking in motion.
In Europe, the costs are €65.89 and €83.95, and no 2TB to be seen.
The main rivals for a drive of this specification are the Corsair EX100U, Essential X10 Professional and the Kingston XS2000. And, taking the 1TB for instance, the Adata Elite SE880 is dearer than all of them however the Essential X10 Professional.
We’re typically speaking about $5 or extra, however the Corsair EX100U may be discovered for near $60, making it considerably cheaper.
Adata Elite SE880: Design
- Odd lozenge form
- Each cables supplied
There’s a fundamental engineering idea {that a} curved floor is best at conserving its form than a flat one, and the Elite SE880 was designed with precisely that consideration in thoughts.
As a technique to stiffen the tubular type of the enclosure, the profile was designed with a shallow dip alongside the higher and decrease faces, making the plastic ends formed like a canine’s bone.
On one finish is the USB-C port to attach it to a system, and subsequent to the port is a small blue exercise LED that’s typically troublesome to see.
Whereas the plastic ends and the USB-C port are in all probability the weak factors, the alloy tube that makes up nearly all of the enclosure feels remarkably strong, and we will solely think about the quantity of pressure wanted to distort it.
Together with the drive, Adata gives two USB cables, one every for USB-C and USB-A. The USB-C cable is 30cm lengthy, blade-to-blade, and the USB-A one is just 20cm.
Undecided why they’re not the identical size, however we additionally famous that the USB-C is far thicker and fewer versatile.
The one different merchandise within the packaging is Fast Begin Information, and on that could be a QR code that may hyperlink you to the placement the place you’ll be able to obtain Backup ToGo software program.
Once you observe that hyperlink, you additionally get the choice to obtain the Adata SSD Toolbox. That features a suite of instruments to maintain the drive working optimally and likewise clone drives from one SSD to a different.
Adata Elite SE880: Benchmark
Adata Elite SE880: Benchmark
- Nice efficiency
- No {hardware} encryption
- Easy however workable software program
Simply so no person buys one in all these and assumes that it’s going to ship 2000MB/s learn efficiency on any laptop, that’s not how the Elite SE880 works.
To attain the utmost potential efficiency requires a really particular kind of USB port, the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. Numerous programs have USB 3.2 Gen 1 (aka USB 3.0), and something fashionable ought to have at the very least one USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, however comparatively few have one which helps Gen 2×2. Due to this fact, should you don’t have that port, there’s little level in shopping for this SSD or any prefer it.
For these with USB 3.0 ports, the perfect efficiency you’ll be able to anticipate is about 400MB/s, and that jumps as much as 1,000MB/s with USB 3.2 Gen 2.
Testing the Elite SE880, we used a PCIe card on our take a look at rig that helps Gen 2×2 mode, and the distinction between this a good a very good Gen 2 port is dramatic.
Utilizing the default profile on CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4, we recorded a learn pace of 2062MB/s and a write of 1856MB/s, very near the theoretical limits for that interface.
However, and that is the place the Elite SE880 shines, utilizing the real-world profile on the identical benchmark typically ends in considerably slower speeds, nevertheless it nonetheless managed 1874MB/s reads and 1709 writes.
Different benchmarks differed barely on the precise numbers, however primarily based on the perfect outcomes, this is among the quickest USB SSDs we’ve seen up to now, and the one one we’ve seen that went faster was the Kingston XS2000.
Nonetheless, we did some assessments with recordsdata of 64GB and larger, and found that at about 32GB, the efficiency of this drive falls off a cliff. We’re not electronics specialists or lab technicians, however there are two possible causes of this, and neither may be simply circumvented.
One risk is that the SSD has a caching mechanism the place NAND is utilized in an inefficient approach to cache the system till it’s pressured to transform that area again into environment friendly constructions. One other is that warmth that builds up within the drive throughout sustained operations causes the drive controller to throttle the system.
That this occurs so rapidly and never at precisely the identical level every time hints that it is perhaps the latter, nevertheless it is a matter if you wish to dump larger than 32GB recordsdata onto this drive frequently. For these working with 4K video, this is perhaps an everyday incidence.
If this design has one other draw back, particularly when in comparison with the just lately launched Essential X10 Professional and SanDisk Excessive Professional V2 it’s that the SSD within the Elite SE880 doesn’t assist {hardware} encryption.
Whereas the drive is blissful to assist software program encryption utilizing instruments like BitLocker, that is by no means as safe as correct {hardware} encryption and may gradual file transfers down whereas they must be encrypted or decrypted by the pc.
What we appreciated was that Adata did at the very least present a collection of software program instruments that allow an proprietor to get probably the most out of their buy. And, whereas there are higher industrial choices obtainable, for a lot of customers, the software program is nice sufficient to safe the information they’ve on a laptop computer or Android machine simply.
In conclusion, the Adata Elite SE880 is quick over a brief distance however doesn’t have a lot endurance for the lengthy haul.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Learn (MBps) | Write (MBps) |
|---|---|---|
| AJA | 1893 | 1671 |
| CrystalDiskMark Default | 2062 | 1856 |
| CrystalDiskMark Actual World | 1874 | 1709 |
| ACT | 1930 | 1730 |
| AS SSD | 1893 | 1633 |
It is difficult to suggest Gen 2×2 drives. It isn’t a normal that shall be supported by USB 4.0 shifting ahead, even when the benefits to these with this port are actual sufficient at the moment. It’s mildly amusing that the packaging makes a lot of that it’s going to work with the PS5 and XBOX Sequence X/S, when none of those units has 2×2 appropriate USB ports.
It’s going to work, however not any sooner than an affordable USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive will.
For people who have this port, the SE880 is a compact and sturdy drive that may obtain exceptionally excessive speeds over a dash however is much less spectacular when requested to jot down the largest recordsdata.
The asking worth might be acceptable for a drive that doesn’t have encryption, and it’s appreciated when each USB cables are included.
As a possible path for the SE880, Adata must make an inexpensive 4TB mannequin and work out how one can mitigate the throttling that enormous file transfers set off.
Ought to I purchase the Adata Elite SE880
