Test Setup, PCMark 8, and Timing Test

Test Setup

The drives will be tested on our updated storage testbed using the Windows 10 operating system, which has the following specifications:

• Intel Core i7-4770K (3.5GHz)
• ASUS Z97-Deluxe/USB 3.1 (Intel Z97 chipset)
• 2 x 4GB DDR3-1600 memory
• MSI GeForce 8600 GTS
• Windows 10 Pro

We have also revised our benchmarks and the list used are as follows:

• AS-SSD benchmark 1.8.5636.36856
• CrystalDiskMark 5.0.2
• PCMark 8 (Storage suite)

We will be testing the maximum capacities of the drive and we will be including results of the ADATA SD700 and Samsung T3 to see how much improvement these trio of portable external SSDs, with their support for the faster USB 3.1 Gen 2 interface, will yield.

PCMark 8

The Samsung Portable SSD T5 came out tops in PCMark 8 with a score of 4972. That’s only marginally more than the other drives, but if you look at the average speeds recorded, you’ll see that the T5 is significantly quicker. In terms of average speeds, the Samsung Portable SSD T5 came in at 255.71MB/s - that’s 24% faster than the ADATA SE730H and a whopping 232% faster than the WD My Passport SSD. Also, despite supporting “only” the slower USB 3.1 Gen 1 standard, the older ADATA SD700's and Samsung T3’s numbers were still very respectable.

Timing Test

In this test, we timed how long it took for the drive to copy a folder of 16GB worth of movies, music, and photos. The ADATA SE730H came up tops with a time of 57 seconds and the Samsung Portable SSD T5 followed closely behind with a time of 60 seconds, which was about 5% slower. Finally, the WD My Passport Port SSD recorded a time of 66 seconds, which was about 10% slower than both the ADATA and Samsung drives.