Crucial’s New Small, Compact, Super-Fast SSDs are Made for Photographers
Crucial, a Micron brand, has announced two new portable SSDs that are designed specifically for photographers and content creators in mind. They’re extremely compact and use a new technology to bring super-fast speeds without Thunderbolt.
The Crucial X9 and X10 Pro SSDs use Micron’s TLC NAND and its single-ASIC portable storage architecture to deliver a super-compact, high-speed drive that has the most capacity per square millimeter in the industry. In short, it’s not possible to find a higher capacity drive in a smaller form factor: Crucial beats out both Samsung and SanDisk in that regard and both drives are about the size of an Apple AirPods charging case. The X9 weighs 37 grams while the X10 weighs 42 grams.
The drives are surrounded by aluminum with a rubberized base and have a lanyard hole for portability that also has an inset soft-glow white LED that shows operation status. It is also worth noting that Micron reduced the number of points in the drive that generate heat down to just one, meaning that in addition to its ability to sink heat generated by reading and writing data, it should operate cooler than other drives. They are also IP55 dust and water resistant and drop proof up to 7.5 feet. They also have shock and vibration protection up to 1,500 G rm/s.
The X9 is the more affordable of the two and has a read and write speed of 1,050 MB/s.
To go even further beyond, the Crucial X10 Pro SSD uses USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 technology to deliver 2,100 MB/s read speeds and 2,000 MB/s write speeds — that is the fastest external SSDs speed that has been produced by Micron, and the X10 reaches that without using Thunderbolt technology.
Of note, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 is not super common yet and can only be found on select computers. For example, none of Apple’s desktop computers currently use the technology, and only one of its laptops comes equipped with it (according to Micron). It’s more common on PCs, but at launch, it is very possible that the maximum read and write speeds of the X10 won’t be realized on current hardware.
Both drives are available in 1, 2, and 4TB configurations and come with a five-year warranty.
“We recognize that fast, efficient workflow processes are essential to the success of videographers, photographers and other content creators,” Jonathan Weech, senior director of product marketing for Micron’s Commercial Products Group, says.
“We designed and built our two new portable SSDs, the Crucial X9 Pro and the Crucial X10 Pro, to specifically address these demanding workloads. With more photos and videos being taken than ever before, consumers are looking for ways to save, preserve and protect their digital lives reliably and quickly. These two new Crucial Pro Portable SSDs are a great choice for anyone who needs dependable, fast, high-capacity storage.”
The Crucial X9 is available today starting at $80 for 1TB and up to $240 for 4TB. The X10 is also available today and costs $120 for 1TB and up to $340 for 4TB.
