CONCLUSION

   When I received the X8 4TB portable SSD by Crucial my only thought was that they had just increased its storage capacity something which wasn’t really the case since they also swapped both the Silicon Motion SM2263 NAND flash controller and the ASMedia ASM2362 PCIe host interface bridge chip found in the 1/2TB models I reviewed a while back (reviews here & here) with the Phison SM2251-17 controller. Crucial also upgraded the NAND flash end of the X8 series so instead of using Micron’s 96-layer 3D QLC NAND flash this time over they’ve used 176-layer (N48R) 3D QLC NAND flash. These changes don’t really amount to much in terms of overall performance since even the previous X8 drives almost maxed out the USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard (if this was a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 drive however I think we’d see a substantial gap in performance) but according to Phison their controller is up to 56% more energy efficient compared to what was used in the past so even just that is something I welcome (Micron’s 176-layer 3D QLC NAND is also up to 50% more energy efficient compared to their 96-layer 3D QLC NAND). My sole concern about the X8 is performance and capacity and even though USB 3.2 Gen 2 is still very fast and 4TB is plenty more and more drives seem to be available with USB 3.2 Gen2x2 and up to 8TB. Now, I’m probably nitpicking since both the performance and capacity of the X8 should be more than enough for 99% of the people out there (which is why i am not placing these in the cons) but I do feel that staying ahead of things matters.

   Thanks to recent price cuts the Crucial X8 4TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 Portable SSD currently retails for just 224.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 343.85Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Once again things may not be as good over here as they are on the other side of the Atlantic but overall Crucial seems to be doing a great job in terms of pricing. Bottom line the X8 4TB by Crucial may not be the fastest or most compact portable SSD in the market today but it still is a very fast, high capacity and build quality model. On top of these add the very good price tag (especially on the other side of the Atlantic) and the Golden Award is well deserved.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Very Good Performance
- 4TB Capacity
- Temperature, Vibration and Shock Proof
- 3 Year Limited Warranty
- Updated Design
- Price (USA)

CONS

- None