INTRODUCTION

   Portable storage media are probably the most interesting storage devices for me, mostly because thanks to both all the different types (HDDs/SSDs/Flash Drives/Memory Cards) and available connectivity options they can easily cover every single user in the market from casual consumers to professionals. Yes, they may still not be able to achieve speeds of 6-7000MB/s and above like internal PCIe 4.0 Gen 4 M.2 NVMe drives but just the fact that in the market today one can find USB 2.0/3.2/3.2 Gen2/3.2 Gen2x2, Thunderbolt 3/4 and even eSATA compatible portable storage media with capacities ranging from 4GB and all the way up to 16TB is a huge deal in terms of market coverage. Lexar recently released their fastest portable SSD to date called the BLAZE SL660 and that's exactly what i have here with me today.

   For more than 25 years, Lexar has been a trusted leading global brand of memory solutions. Our award-winning lineup includes memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers, solid-state drives and DRAM. With so many options, it’s easy to find the right Lexar solution to fit your needs. All Lexar product designs undergo extensive testing in the Lexar Quality Labs with more than 1,100 digital devices, to ensure performance, quality, compatibility, and reliability. Lexar products are available worldwide at major retail and e-tail stores. For more information or support, visit www.lexar.com.

   The BLAZE SL660 is currently available in 512GB/1TB capacities and is based on the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 standard which allows it to hit performance numbers of up to 2000MB/s in reads and 1900MB/s in writes. To achieve such performance Lexar has combined the quad-channel (32 CEs) SM2320G NAND flash controller by Silicon Motion (supports their latest NANDXtend ECC end-to-end data path protection together with real time AES 256-bit encryption for full compliance with the Trusted Computing Group - TCG - Opal 2.0 specification) with their very own NAND flash (probably 3D TLC but could also be 3D QLC). This time over Lexar has also used a sandblasted aluminum enclosure complete with its very own RGB LEDs and a detachable stand. Well USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 USB flash drives are not very common so let's see how the latest BLAZE SL660 by Lexar does against the rest.