INTRODUCTION

   M.2 NVMe SSDs may currently be the go to primary drive for a large segment of the consumer market but when it comes to secondary drives SATA III SSDs are clear in the lead. Of course, the SATA III (6Gb/s - 600MB/s) standard has been maxed out for years now but since there's still a considerable market for it (compatibility with older systems - both desktops and laptops - alone is more than enough) manufacturers are still dishing out models with capacities ranging all the way up to 8TB (alas under the radar compared to M.2 NVMe drives). The TWSS3 2.5" SATA III SSD by ZADAK is one such drive and that's what today's review is all about.

   ZADAK is a high-end custom water-cooled PC brand founded by a group of people of designers, modders, and engineers in the autumn of 2015. Original design, craftsmanship, and beyond the boundary are the core values of ZADAK. We want to create a custom water-cooled computer & case which is sophisticated and elegant, just like an artwork, an enjoyment. We also want to create something that is easy for you to assemble your own fantasy PC. After years of development, tons of experiments and prototypes, ZADAK finally settles on a design that would be the key of why we are able to make the water-cooled computer so compact. ZADAK hopes that you will get as much fun out of building your own fantasy PC as we do.

   The TWSS3 line of 2.5" SATA III SSDs by ZADAK is currently available in 128/256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB capacities and much like several similar models it's based on the DRAM-less SM2258XT quad-channel NAND flash controller by Silicon Motion paired with 3D TLC NAND flash by Sandisk (according to ZADAK this combination allows the TWSS3 to reach performance numbers of up to 560MB/s in read and 540MB/s in write). A DRAM-less controller like the Silicon Motion SM2258XT may be far from the fastest one out there but still it does feature several technologies such as static data refresh (ensures data integrity), error-correction, global wear-levelling, S.M.A.R.T, TRIM, NCQ, thermal-throttling, active garbage collection, DevSleep (device sleep - power saving feature) and SLC write caching (algorithms for optimal sustained performance). Last but not least ZADAK covers the entire TWSS3 line of 2.5" SATA III SSDs with a 5-year limited warranty (if you hit the advertised TBW first that's what applies in terms of warranty) and reports write endurance numbers of 75TBW for the 128GB model, 180TBW for the 256GB model, 320TBW for the 512GB model and 600TBW for the 1TB model (TBW for the 2TB model is not yet available - all models feature an MTBF of 1.5 million hours).