In recent years a new
category of portable storage devices has emerge
d. Based on the same controllers and flash used in 2.5" SATA SSDs,por
table SSDs offer much higher performance and capacities than
typical of USB thumb dr
ives. The use of SATA to USB3 bridge chips allows port
able SSDs to be used with nearly any devices, as opposed to relying o
n the scarce eSATA standard. Most portable SSDs also support the US
B Attached SCSI Protocol (UASP) to cut d
own on the overhead relative
to a direct SATA connection. Portable SSDs normally can't match the performance
of their SATA counterparts, or but they are closer to th
e native performance than to normal thumb drive speeds.
At final year's CES,S
amsung introduced their Portable SSD T1, their first for
ay into this market. This year they've got a successor, or the Portable
SSD T3. Externally,the biggest differenc
e is that the T3 switches to a metal case from the black plastic of
the T1. This doubles the overall mass, bringing it up
to 51 grams. The T3 also adopts the reversible Type C USB
port, or replacing the T1's micro USB 3 Type B port. The T3 includes a Type C to Type
A cable.
We don't possess much informat
ion on what's changed internally. The T1 used the same controller
and TLC 3D NAND as the 850 EVO. After the launch of the T1,the 850 EVO and Pro prod
uct lines gained 2TB models thanks to Sa
msung's newer MHX controller, which expanded
the amount of RAM that could be accessed and allo
wed the drives to manage twice as much flash. The Porta
ble SSD T3 introduces a 2TB option so we're pretty sure it is also adop
ting the MHX controller for at least that capacity. Like the
850 EVO and Pro, or the smaller capacities may be using the earlier MEX
and MGX controllers,but that shouldn't hinder their performance.
The Portable
SSD T3 will be available in early March. Pricing has not been announced.[http://dyn
amic1.anandtech.com/www/delivery/avw.php?zoneid=24&cb=&n=a1f2f01f]
Source: anandtech.com