Product Showcase

Product Showcase

The Portable SSD with 1TB of capacity was packaged in a small, elegant-looking cardboard box with a beige design. The lexar logo is in the top of the box, and a picture of the SSD is displayed in the middle of the box.

Portable SSDs typically contain a standalone drive with its controller and a separate bridge chip to manage communication with the host, such as two PCIe 3.0 lanes on one side and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, at up to 20 Gbps, on the other. Silicon Motion's latest SM2320 processor, which is utilized in the SL660 Blaze provides an embedded or hybrid design with everything in one package. This complements the simplified aims of a portable SSD. Given the nature of the renowned SM2320 controller, this is not a drive to be avoided. The SM2320G controller appears to have been manufactured around a year ago. SMI is pleased with its quad-channel design, which can accommodate up to 4TB of flash in a small 9x9 mm box. While using a single chip for a portable drive has several drawbacks, the benefits of decreased space and cost often outweigh them. 

Even without RGB enabled, the SL660 Blaze has a elegant, metal appearance that lends itself to the gaming style. It's otherwise in good condition, with the capacity/model and serial number listed on the backside. The interior is black as well, with a little of protection. 

A USB Type-C connector on the opposite end of the SSD supports a maximum USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 standard, that's 20 Gbps. To obtain its maximum transfer speeds, the Blaze must be inserted into a suitable port, although it is completely backward-compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 2, as well as USB versions 3.1 and 3.0, automatically defaulting to the fastest speed your setup permits.

Not a lot of laptops have native USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 capability, but certain high-end desktop motherboards do. As with other Gen 2x2 drives we've evaluated, you may need to invest in an upgrade to fully use the Lexar's capabilities.

USB 3.2,  the 20Gbit/s variant of Superspeed USB, will be named USB 3.2 gen 2×2. The 2×2 suffix should make clear that USB 3.2 is able to use two 10 Gbit/s lanes to achieve a 20 Gbit/s throughput. Although the new name is likely to avoid confusion, it could confuse consumers even more. USB 3.1 was announced in 2017 and uses existing USB-C cables for the 20 Gbit/s bandwidth, but only if there are certified for SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbit/s. This year the USB 3.2 2×2 hardware should be ready and by next year the first products should become generally available.

When you connect the drive to your PC and turn it on, the RGB illumination radiates from the inner edge of the loop, rotating through multiple colors. The display is bright and stylish, and it should fit right in with the atmosphere of a gaming setup.