Corsair EX100U review

Value When Reviewed

Base Value €134.99, Mannequin reviewed €234.99

Corsair has created some thrilling SSD know-how up to now few years, particularly concerning NVMe drives. However till not too long ago, its exterior storage choices principally pivoted round its Flash Voyager vary, a profitable design that dates again some appreciable time.

With Essential, SanDisk, Seagate and others promoting loads of exterior SSDs, it was about time that Corsair entered this slice of the market with considered one of its uniquely styled choices, and the EX100U is that product.

Is that this the precise drive to compete with the Essential X8 and SanDisk Excessive, or has it come too late for the exterior SSD social gathering?

Design & Construct

The EX100U is a particular design that may confuse some purchasers initially.

It’s a silvery gray plastic lozenge measuring 79.37 x 36.65 x 11mm, with a lanyard slot at one finish and a rubberised cap on the different. I estimate that’s sufficiently big to have a 2240 M.2 NVMe inside, however that scale is perhaps a coincidence.

What isn’t obvious once you first take away it from the packaging is that the rubber cap is detachable, although there aren’t any different locations for an exterior connection, so finally, I concluded it should be below there.

Because the USB-C port behind the plug is recessed, and Corsair doesn’t declare the EX100U is waterproof, aside from stopping the ingress of mud to the port, why it’s included the plug is unclear past neatness.

What’s claimed by Corsair for the EX100U is that it may stand up to as much as 500Gs of acceleration, even when the individual holding that drive wouldn’t, and additionally it is vibration resistant.

Within the field are two cables, one every for USB-C and USB-A ports, however no carry pouch to carry them when not related to the drive or a lanyard. The cables are a good 30cm lengthy, and as a result of drive solely weighing 22g, having the drive dangle on the cable whereas connected to a desktop system most likely isn’t a difficulty.

One delicate annoyance is that I didn’t discover any exercise LED on the drive, one thing we’d sometimes count on.

Specs & Options

I’m so glad that Corsair doesn’t provide foolish 250- or 500GB fashions and as an alternative opted for 3 capacities that individuals will extra possible need and use, particularly 1-, 2- and 4TB.

Internally these are 3D NAND wafers wired to a Phison PS2251-18 controller and different electronics to facilitate a connection to the USB interface. Corsair quotes the identical efficiency for all of the capacities, and it additionally states that it doesn’t use a DRAM cache, however as an alternative has allotted a few of the NAND as a static pSLC cache.

It’s terrific to see a drive maker being so open concerning the internals of its drives reasonably than hiding the controller or cache mechanism prefer it’s a commerce secret. And I commend Corsair for its candid method.

The maker additionally quotes a TBW (whole bytes written) worth for every drive measurement, which is uncommon, and these begin at 250TB for the 1TB mannequin after which enhance to 500TB for the 2TB and 1000TB for the 4TB. These can be acceptable TBW values for M.2 NVMe inner drives with a lot greater speeds, so the chance of those limits being skilled by homeowners of the EX100U is on the low aspect.

Mark Pickavance

Whereas the controller on these drives operates rubbish assortment and SMART help, these models don’t help the TRIM perform or have {hardware} encryption.

Most likely the most important promoting level of the EX100U is the USB interface helps older USB requirements but additionally embraces the often-ignored Gen 2×2 commonplace. Whereas the variety of machines with Gen 2×2 ports is comparatively small, those that have it may expertise a doubling of the potential bandwidth out there over USB 3.2 Gen 2 brings the throughput according to that of Thunderbolt 3.

For many customers with solely Gen 2, the speeds on provide listed here are roughly 1,000MB/s, each learn and write, with a Gen 2×2 port permitting as much as 1,600MB/s reads and 1,500MB/s writes, regardless of capability measurement.

The 2TB assessment mannequin got here pre-formatted in exFAT, making it immediately useable on any trendy PC operating Home windows. And it may simply be reformatted to make use of with macOS or Linux for these working programs.

General, the EX100U has the important options to provide Essential, SanDisk and Kingston some competitors on this slice of the SSD market. However does it have the efficiency?

Efficiency

Whereas my take a look at tools has a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port, it ought to be realised that almost all programs don’t have this model of USB, and it’s a vital requirement to get probably the most out of the EX100U.

Due to this fact, the speeds quoted listed here are considerably higher than customers would expertise on USB 3.2 Gen 2, which might hit a restrict of round 1,000MB/s for each studying and writing.

Utilizing CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4 in default mode, the EX100U managed 1,701MB/s reads and 1,564MB/s writes, higher than the quoted efficiency. These outcomes have been supported by ATTO, reaching a peak of 1.69GB/s reads and 1.61GB/s writes.

Mark Pickavance

However most likely probably the most reasonable take a look at was AS SSD, which rated this drive at 1,476MB/s and 1,413MB/s for studying and writing, barely shy of the quoted speeds.

On this similar benchmark, the Kingston XS2000 managed 1881MB/s reads and 1720MB/s writes, near the utmost that Gen 2X2 bandwidth can obtain.

Due to this fact, this isn’t the quickest Gen 2×2 drive out there, but it surely’s at the least 50% higher than drives that solely help Gen 2 mode.

Value

As we’ve come to count on from Corsair, the EX100U isn’t the most cost effective exterior SSD round, but it surely’s fairly priced for its capability and efficiency.

Within the USA, the MSRPs for the 1-, 2- and 4TB are $90.99, $184.99 and $464.99, respectively. These prices translate into £99.99, £199.99 and £489.99 within the UK and €109.99, €219.99 and €549.99 in Europe.

As a rule, regardless of area or foreign money, the 2TB mannequin gives the very best cost-per-GB deal, and the 4TB is the costliest choice per GB. You should buy it from Corsair and retailers together with Scan within the UK and Amazon virtually in all places.

The competitor product that the EX100U competes with most intently is the Kingston XS2000, providing a really related measurement and enhanced efficiency over USB 3.2 Gen 2×2.

On Amazon.com, the Kingston XS2000 sells for $109.99, $199.99 and $555.06 for the three similar capacities as Corsair gives on the EX100U. That makes it a little bit costlier than the EX100U, however it’s marginally sooner.

Mark Pickavance

General, the present pricing of the EX100U is undoubtedly greater than the place it’s prone to relaxation as soon as preliminary calls for are met, and the channel restocks. For these solely all in favour of Gen 2 suitable drives with bigger capacities, the Essential X6 is simply $329.99 for the 4TB mannequin. Should you don’t have Gen 2×2 ports out there, these drives can carry out at a lot the identical velocity because the EX100U, representing higher worth.

Try our chart of the very best moveable arduous drives and SSDs for extra choices.

Verdict

We discover ourselves in a wierd know-how doldrum, to make use of a crusing reference, a useless area the place the prevailing winds of change refuse to blow.

In consequence, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, a know-how that almost all know-how pundits had handed over as area of interest and a stop-gap measure, seems to be getting surprising help from the Corsair EX100U and the Kingston XS2000, amongst others.

To be clear, this can be a false daybreak for Gen 2×2 know-how within the medium time period.

As soon as USB 4.0 seems in pressure with its superior bandwidth and potential Thunderbolt compatibility, the resurgence of this USB flavour is prone to sink with out a hint. USB 4.0 doesn’t embody help for two×2 mode, changing it with an equal bandwidth protocol that’s not backwards suitable.

In the meantime, the Corsair EX100U is an efficient choice for these fortunate sufficient to have Gen 2×2 ports on their programs, even when it isn’t the quickest drive of this flavour we’ve examined.

Mark Pickavance

Specs

• Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 2×2
• Velocity: 1600MB/s learn and 1500MB/s write
• Capacities: 1TB, 2TB and 4TB
• Dimensions: 79.37 x 36.65 x 11 mm
• Weight: 22 g
• Casing materials: plastic
• Working temperature: 0° C~70° C
• Guarantee: Restricted 3-year guarantee
• Suitable with: macOS 10.13+ (Time Machine suitable), Home windows 10+