RGB has made its way into everything these days: fans, cases, PSUs, motherboards, GPUs, RAM, and even internal M.2 and SATA SSDs. Now we can also add portable SSDs to the list. The new SE900G from Adata is a fast portable USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 SSD that is also a real showstopper with its stylish and mesmerizing RGB sheen.
The SE900G also comes with plenty of horsepower under the hood in the form of an M.2 SSD very similar to the company’s controversial XPG SX8200 Pro NVMe SSD† Like the SX8200 Pro, Adata says the components in this SSD may change with newer revisions. Adata guarantees that the drive will meet performance and durability specifications, regardless of the internal components chosen.
Coupled with a fast USB 20Gbps interface, the SE900 flies past its 10Gbps competition and comes with a reasonable price, making it a great value for those looking for a flashy portable SSD.
Specifications:
| Product | SE900G 500GB | SE900G 1TB | SE900G 2TB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prices | $99.99 | $159.99 | $289.99 |
| Capacity (User / Raw) | 512GB / 512GB | 1024GB / 1024GB | 2048GB / 2048GB |
| Interface / Protocol | USB-C / USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 | USB-C / USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 | USB-C / USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 |
| Including | USB Type-C & USB Type-C to USB Type-A | USB Type-C & USB Type-C to USB Type-A | USB Type-C & USB Type-C to USB Type-A |
| Sequential Read | 2,000MBps | 2,000MBps | 2,000MBps |
| Consecutive writing | 2,000MBps | 2,000MBps | 2,000MBps |
| Interface controller: | ASMedia ASM2364 | ASMedia ASM2364 | ASMedia ASM2364 |
| NAND controller | SM2262NL | SM2262NL | SM2262NL |
| drama | DDR4 | DDR4 | DDR4 |
| Storage media | Micron 96L TLC | Micron 96L TLC | Micron 96L TLC |
| Flow | Bus-powered | Bus-powered | Bus-powered |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 110.8 x 66 x 16.5mm | 110.8 x 66 x 16.5mm | 110.8 x 66 x 16.5mm |
| Weight | 160g | 160g | 160g |
| part number | ASE900G-512GU32G2-CBK | ASE900G-1TU32G2-CBK | ASE900G-2TU32G2-CBK |
| Guarantee | 3 years | 3 years | 3 years |
Adata’s SE900G is available in three capacities of 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB at a reasonable price, taking into account sequential performance ratings of up to 2,000 MBps of read/write throughput.
Our 2TB copy has the lowest price per GB of the lineup. At $0.14 per gigabyte, it undercuts many USB 20Gbps SSDs on the market and even USB 10Gbps SSDs like SanDisk’s Extreme v2. Unfortunately, Adata only backs the SE900G with a basic three-year warranty rather than the five-year warranty we typically see with most enthusiast storage.
The SE900G also doesn’t have an Ingress Protection rating like our best external SSDs, nor does it come with AES 256-bit hardware encryption support to keep your data safe. However, the SE900G comes standard with support for SMART data reporting, UASP and Trim.
accessories
The SE900G comes with two USB cables: an 11.5-inch USB Type-C cable for newer systems and another USB Type-C to Type-A for backwards compatibility.
A closer look
The SE900G is a decent size at 110.8 x 66 x 16.5mm and has some weight too. At 160 grams, the SE900G weighs two to three times more than many competing 5Gbps and 10Gbps portable SSDs. However, most of those drives also don’t run as fast as the SE900G and so don’t need such a robust thermal consideration. Adata’s SE900G features a large, heatsink-style vented rear for ample thermal dissipation under heavy use and some protection from the insides against drops.
A black and clear plastic panel covers the top of the SSD, allowing the RGB lights to show through. The RGB lighting doubles as a power indicator and there is also an indicator light next to the USB Type-C port.
A white board with eight LEDs is located under the top panel and provides the light show. Unfortunately you cannot operate the lamps. This PCB also contains the ASMedia ASM2364 USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 to PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe bridge chip, M.2 slot and supporting circuitry.
The heart of the SSD is a drive very similar to the XPG SX8200 Pro — this variant is powered by Silicon Motion’s highly responsive SM2262EN PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 1.3 SSD controller. This controller is a high-end eight-channel, DRAM-based design that uses dual Arm Cortex R5 CPUs clocked at 625MHz. This controller is paired with 2 GB Samsung DDR4 DRAM with a clock speed of 700 MHz.
Our SE900G copy also came with Micron’s 512Gb B27A 96L TLC NAND flash. There are 32 dies distributed over the four NAND packs and interface with the controller at speeds of 650 MTps. Each chip has a quad-plane architecture, which means that the controller can achieve even higher levels of parallelism than dual-plane flash, which equates to faster performance. It even includes tile grouping subheadings for faster and more efficient random reads than competing flash, such as BiCS4.
The tiles are redundant latches grouped together for small I/O (4K), while BiCS4 has other means such as SBL (shielded-bitline) current sensing as opposed to ABL (all bitline) current sensing. Unlike BiCS4, Micron’s 96L TLC uses the CuA (Circutry Under the Array) architecture where the NAND cell arrays are placed on top of the peripheral circuitry (decoders, sense amplifiers, timing circuits, buffers, etc.) to help shrink the die and allow it to use of the company’s unique tile grouping. Additionally, Micron claims that the floating port design also gives it an inherent data retention advantage over competing charging flashes.
It’s worth noting that while these internal components were part of our test example, Adata can change the DRAM, NAND, SSD controller, and/or bridge chip at any point in the production cycle for this drive. That means the components may vary over time. Adata guarantees that the drive will meet performance and durability specifications, regardless of the internal components chosen.
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