INTRODUCTION

   From the very first (and very slow at that) USB flash drives to (the much higher capacity) portable HDDs and all the way to the latest (and blazing fast) portable SSDs not only has the entire concept of carrying all your needed/crucial files with you not changed at all but it has also improved considerably both due to the increased capacities and of course performance levels. Now leaving out the recently announced portable SSD models which advertise speeds of well over 2000MB/s the most popular ones currently are without doubt those with performance levels set at around 1000MB/s. Well since for the past two months or so some of you have asked repeatedly today, I’ll testing yet another such model, the SE760 1TB by ADATA.

   Founded in May 2001, ADATA Technology Co., Ltd. is committed to providing top-notch memory solutions that enrich the customer’s digital life. The company’s dedication to integrity and professionalism has made ADATA the leading memory brand with the most award-winning product designs. Backed by technical expertise, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, and premium customer service, ADATA offers complete memory solutions including DRAM modules, USB flash drives, memory cards, solid state drives and portable hard drives.

   Currently the SE760 portable SSD is available in 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB capacities (also in black and titanium gray colors) and is based on the DRAM-less RTS5763DL 4-channel NAND flash controller by Realtek which ADATA has paired with 64-Layer 3D TLC NAND Flash by Micron and the JMS583 USB3.2 Gen 2 to PCIe Gen3x2 host interface bridge chip by JMicron. The RTS5763DL NAND controller by Realtek is NVMe 1.3 compatible and comes packed with LDPC technology (low-density parity-check) for increased reliability/endurance, dynamic SLC caching, low power support with integrated DEVSLP (Device Sleep) and of course AES-256bit encryption. With the SE760 ADATA also gives you the ability to download their HDDtoGO (backup your drive to the SE760) and OStoGO (boot drive). Finally, ADATA covers the entire SE760 line of portable SSDs with a 3-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The company logo along with a large product picture and both the connectivity type and capacity are what you'll see at the front of the box.

Some of the features of the SE760 are listed on the left side.

At the rear of the box ADATA has printed the specifications of the SE760 in 6 languages.

Along with the drive itself you'll also be getting a USB-A to USB-C cable, USB-C to USB-C cable and the quick start guide.

THE SE760 1TB

The 95g heavy brushed aluminum enclosure of the SE760 measures 122.2mm in length, 44mm in width and 14mm in height (probably contains a full length M.2 NVMe drive inside).

Although compact the SE760 is by far not the smallest portable SSD out there and to showcase this i placed it right next to the iStorage diskAshur2 SSD, Samsung T3 and T1, Silicon Power PC60, Lexar SL200, Netac Z7S and the Lexar SL100 Pro.

Both ends of the enclosure are made out of plastic but only one has the USB-C port along with the activity LED (the enclosure opens from the opposite side but unfortunately even though i almost broke that side i wasn't able to open it so the specs mentioned on the intro page came directly from ADATA - if i do manage to open it however i will update this review with internal pictures).

The capacity of the drive along with several certifications and the country of origin are all printed at the base of the enclosure.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

Solid state drives are basically the same as USB flash drives and so we’re using almost the same testing methodology to successfully record achieved read & write performance numbers in our charts*. The benchmark suites used are HD Tach RW (Read Speeds / Long Bench 32mb Zone Testing), HD Tune Pro (Read / Write speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Titanium 2020 (Read / Write speeds), AIDA64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear / Random Read & Write speeds), Crystal Disk Mark 6.0.2 (2GB Read / Write speeds) and finally ATTO 4.00.0F2 (Max Read / Max Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into our charts (0 = we were unable to complete that test).

All tests are performed with our main rig running Microsoft Windows 10 Pro installation on a CORSAIR MP510 960GB NVME SSD* with all updates installed up to the day we started tests.

* Since August 2019 for portable SSD tests I started using our primary test rig.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA TITANIUM / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

CONCLUSION

   The SE760 is based on a M.2 NVMe v1.3 NAND flash controller which means that just like the previously reviewed X8 and SL100 Pro models it too is advertised for read & write performance levels up to 1000MB/s. Once again, I may not have been able to surpass that number (not in average anyways) but with performance levels going all the way up to 930MB/s the SE760 easily trades blows with both mentioned models. I was a bit surprised by the fact that the enclosure of the SE760 is not rugged (unlike that of the SE800 model) but my guess is that this time over ADATA wanted to release something more “elegant”.

   So just how much must potential buyers give to get their hands on the SE760 1TB portable SSD by ADATA? Well currently you can find it for USD209.12 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 147.42Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which at least over here is quite balanced. Price aside however the SE760 is not only available in several capacities and even in two colors but it performs very well, has a very nice brushed aluminum enclosure and is covered by a 3-year limited warranty and that’s more than enough for our Golden Award.

PROS

- Durable Brushed Aluminum Enclosure
- Near Excellent Performance (Surpasses 900MB/s)
- AES 256 Hardware Encryption
- Available Capacities (256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB)
- Available Colors (Black / Titanium Grey)
- 3 Year Limited Warranty
- Price (EU)

CONS

- Price (USA)
- Size (For Some)