Samsung X5 Portable SSD review - Introduction

Samsung X5 SSD: NVMe & Thunderbolt

We review the Samsung X5 Portable SSD (1000GB). This, by far, is the fastest portable storage ever released to date as puppy is both NVMe and Thunderbolt based, combined with the DNA of NMVe it can reach 2800 MB/sec (!) The X5 makes use of the latest Vertically stacked NAND and one could say, this is Samsungs fastest M2 unit packaged into Thunderbolt.  The storage solution is stronger, and faster compared to last year’s T5 thanks to an internal NVMe unit. 

The unit looks really slick, in an all-new but somewhat bigger and heavier design. This is needed as the device is so fast, it needs some sort of cooling. We'll show you that in the teardown of course. You need to connect the X5 to Thunderbolt 3 on your PCs or Macs. Important to mention is that the X5 is not backward-compatible with the anything USB, which is a bit of a deficit of course. It is external and a portable storage unit, so it will also offer optional password protection via robust AES (256-bit) encryption. You can set the password and manage the security mode through the Samsung Portable SSD Software which is available for computers (Windows and Mac OS) and Android devices through an app. You get maximum read speeds of 2800 MB/s and writes in the 2300 MB/s  range, the NAND used is Samsung's 64-layer 3d NAND  (TLC written, with an SLC cache) is used, and yeah that makes this a 970 Evo in a shiny red box really. 

The X5 comes with a three-year limited warranty and will be available globally from Sept. 3, 2018, with a manufacturers’ suggested retail price (MSRP) starting at $399.99 for the 500GB model, $699.99 for the 1TB model and $1,399.99 for the 2TB model. For this review we test the 1TB version of the Samsung X5, the recommended price at the time of writing is not yet known for the EU. We, however, know that the 500GB version is listed just above 400 euros. So double that up and you get the idea right?

Samsung X5 - 1TB - Thunderbolt 3