In abstract
The Kingston XS1000 will meet the moveable storage wants of most photographers and videographers within the overwhelming majority of conditions. It doesn’t have {hardware} encryption, nevertheless it’s affordably priced, simple to make use of, and may have the ability to retailer all the photographs and movies taken on a typical one to 2 week journey with a daily digicam. The five-year guarantee will even be reassuring.
Full assessment
Kingston’s XS1000 exterior SSD offers a small and handy back-up answer for photographers and videographers on the transfer who want short-term file storage. It slips simply into the smallest pocket in your digicam bag or jacket and attaches to a recording system or pc through a USB Sort-C to Sort-A cable, which is equipped with the drive. Accessible in capacities of 1TB and 2TB it claims learn/write speeds of roughly 1000MB per second with a USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 (10Gbps) interface, which must be quick sufficient for many Picture Evaluation readers.
The Kingston XS1000 Exterior SSD, proven with the equipped USB cable and packaging.
There aren’t many ultra-compact SSDs accessible that mix the identical storage capability, knowledge switch speeds and low worth because the XS1000 in such a small package deal. SanDisk’s 1TB E30 Gen 2 Moveable SSD weighs 40 grams, its knowledge switch pace is as much as 800MB/s, it prices extra and its guarantee is three years. Transcend’s Rugged Exterior SSD USB 3.1 Gen 2 SSD has related switch speeds to the XS1000 however it’s a bit bigger and greater than double the load. It’s additionally costlier.
The Kingston XS1000 Exterior SSD weighs just below 29 grams and suits simply into the smallest pocket, as proven beneath.
This illustration provides some concept of the scale of the Kingston XS1000 Exterior SSD. (Supply: Kingston.)
Who’s it For?
The Kingston XS1000 Exterior SSD shall be helpful for all types of travellers – together with college students and enterprise travellers – for each its compact measurement and its pace. So long as your video recordsdata aren’t over about 150GB in measurement, it ought to present hassle-free file backup in a unit that’s deceptively small.
Excessive-end skilled customers who routinely retailer longer video sequences might have one thing like an Atomos Ninja V drive in the event that they require larger storage capacities than the 2TB most offered by the Kingston drives. They’d additionally want such units in the event that they need to monitor recordings whereas they’re capturing.
For normal shoppers, the Kingston XS1000 combines the robustness of a strong state drive with a light-weight sufficient weight to connect to a digicam or laptop computer for on a regular basis storage and knowledge transport. It’s additionally absolutely backwards suitable with earlier variations of USB 3 format, which implies it would auto default to the utmost pace of the system.
The XS1000 linked to a laptop computer with a USB-A port with the equipped cable. (Supply: Kingston.)
Strong state drives (SSDs) are extra sturdy than the older fashion of magnetic drives, which have shifting elements. The five-year guarantee for the Kingston drives will present extra reassurance. If these drives have downsides, the principle points we see can be the shortage of {hardware} encryption or password safety.
Construct and Ergonomics
The XS1000 is slightly black field that’s roughly 69 mm lengthy, 32 mm large, and 13 mm thick. This makes it sufficiently small to take wherever, permitting you to back-up recordsdata once you’re on the transfer.
Its solely interface is a USB Sort-C socket at one finish. The drive is equipped with a USB Sort-C to Sort-A cable to allow it to be linked on to a pc from which it could possibly draw energy. You’ll want to offer your personal USB-C to USB-C cable if you wish to join it to most laptops and likewise to benefit from the upper learn/write speeds attainable with an all USB-C inter-connection.
The drive mechanism is a Silicon Movement SM2320 controller with a 3D TLC (Triple-Degree Cell, 3-bit) NAND gate. The sort of set-up is widespread in SSDs as a result of it permits designers to make them very small with out compromising write speeds. (NAND reminiscence works in an identical approach to the flash reminiscence in reminiscence playing cards.)
The XS1000 can also be backwards suitable with the USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface, which implies it may be used with older laptops, though it received’t be as quick. As a result of it defaults to the utmost pace of the system, the switch pace shall be diminished to 500MB/second or much less.
Thankfully, even an interface that doesn’t fairly attain 10Gbps must be quick sufficient for the common photographer, though it in all probability received’t go well with those that need to switch video recordsdata which are bigger than about 100GB.
Storage Capability
One terabyte (1TB) provides you the choice of storing roughly:
- 120,000 giant/Tremendous JPEGs or losslessly compressed 78,000 uncooked recordsdata taken with a 20-megapixel digicam.
- 50 hours of HD video at a typical bit price of 100Mbps or roughly 10 hours of 4K video content material at 25p or 30p with regular compression and a bit price of 200Mbps.
- Uncompressed uncooked video footage recorded at most decision and excessive bit charges will in all probability refill a 1TB drive in round one hour or much less.
The price per gigabyte of storage is simply over one cent, which makes these drives good worth for cash.
Efficiency
The XS1000 is rated for learn speeds of as much as 1,050MB/second and write speeds of 1000MB/second, however precise speeds depend on how it’s linked to the supply and vacation spot units. When you use two trendy USB Sort-C ports that help USB 3.2 Gen 2 knowledge switch speeds, it’s extra prone to be reached, though if one of many ports is barely USB 3.2 1×1 suitable, the utmost pace shall be diminished to 500MB/s.
The USB 3.2 specification was solely launched in September 2017 so units made earlier than then will typically run slower. This was the case for our pc, which has solely USB-A ports.
We measured the occasions it took to switch two folders of picture and video knowledge from our Home windows pc with an Intel i7-7700 CPU and 64-bit working system to the XS1000 utilizing the bundled USB Sort-C to Sort-A cable. Display screen grabs exhibiting phases of every switch are offered beneath.
Three phases within the switch of 12GB of CR2.RAW recordsdata taken with a Canon DSLR digicam to the XS1000.
Three phases within the switch of 84.5GB of knowledge comprising a mix of JPEG and ORF.RAW picture recordsdata and 4K MPEG-4, H.264 video recordsdata taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 II mirrorless digicam to the XS1000.
We didn’t trouble testing the drive with bigger knowledge hundreds since few of our readers – who we see as typical potential patrons of the XS1000 – would place larger calls for on the drive’s file dealing with capabilities. Until they’re utilizing cameras with resolutions of 60 megapixels or extra and recording a whole lot of high-resolution excessive bit depth movies, most individuals would battle to generate greater than 10GB in a single shoot.
Conclusion
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SPECS
Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 2
Compatibility: Home windows 11, 10, macOS (v.10.15.x +), Linux (v. 4.4.x +), Chrome OS
Velocity: As much as 1,050MB/s learn, 1,000MB/s write sequential speeds
Capacities: 1TB, 2TB
Reminiscence kind: 3D NAND
Controller: SMI 2320
Casing materials: Steel + plastic
Working temperature: 0°C~40°C
Storage temperature: -20°C~85°C
Dimensions: 69.54 x 32.58 x 13.5 mm
Weight: 28.7 grams
Guarantee/help: Restricted 5-year guarantee with free technical help
Provided equipment: 30 cm Sort-C to Sort-A cable
Distributor: Kingston Know-how
Score
RRP: 1TB for AU$109; 2TB for AU$188
- Construct: 8.8
- Ease of Use: 8.8
- Efficiency: 8.8
