AData SC740 1TB Review

Final Score: 93 out of 100

With a sample size of just one, it is hard to call, with any level of certainty, the SC740 a phenomenal value. With that said, when we started to get such blatantly… way outside any reasonably sized standard of deviation results we did reach out to AData to confirm we had not gotten a “reviewers edition”. We sincerely doubted we had, as AData is a known good company, with a known good reputation. They quickly got back to us and told us point blank that our sample was not a special sample. It was a retail one and they guarantee 1,000/1,050MB/s levels of performance. Nothing more. Nothing less.

As such there are a few possible answers to what is going on. Most of which do not require any tinfoil hat conspiracies to accept. First. All modern NAND (even ‘older’) NAND is more than capable of saturating USB 3.2 gen 2×2 buses when there are four NAND ICs (with multiple layers per channel) of them. So it really could be as simple as the fact that the underlying controller was… “upgraded” by the ODM between the Request For Quote (and thus the creation of the official specifications) and the time of manufacture. This happens all the time. Typically due to older controllers being either no longer manufactured (“EOL’ed”) and are replaced with newer cheaper alternatives, or ODM contracts with said manufactures come up for renewal… making them relatively too expensive to use/source compared to newer cheaper versions. Thus what was supposed to be a Silicon Motion Inc. USB 3.2 gen 2(x1) “10Gbps” controller suddenly became an entry level USB 3.2 gen 2×2 ’20Gbps’ one.

The other is AData is wildly underselling this device as it is not quite up to 20Gbps performance levels. With 20G’ drives one expects darn near 2,000MB/s levels of performance in the real-world. Anything less and that model will be eaten by the competition who do routinely offer that level of performance. With ‘merely’ ~1,600MB/s it’s a tad on the… “mid” side for that class. Conversely, 1,600MB/s is not merely on the wild side for 10G’ drives… it is full-on insane. 10G is theoretically rated for 1200’ish MB/s. In reality, as USB does have massive performance-robbing overhead, 1000 to 1050 MB/s is about all one can expect from it. This drive does 1,600. Routinely. All one needs is a USB 3.2 gen 2×2 enabled system and it is off to the races it goes. First time. Every time.

Of the two most likely solutions we are inclined to believe the latter is the case and AData is just being ultra-conservative… but the former is equally as likely. As such, we strongly recommend picking up this incredible deal, testing it as soon as you yank it from its shipping container, and if it does perform like our sample keep it. Use it. Love its Real Deal performance… maybe even pick up a second ‘back up’. If it does not and “just” gives you everything AData promises it still is a very good option. One that can easily be upgraded so that it is drop, dust, and water resistant. One that can easily have its “integrated” cable repaired/replaced. One that does not break the bank and yet can take one hell of a beating before allowing any damage to your data to occur.

So if you are in the market for a rather handy dandy flash drive and do not mind taking a small risk on precisely how much performance it will offer… the SC740 1TB demands to be snatched up as soon as you can find it in stock. It may just be the deal of the year, or it may “just” be a good deal. Either way you probably will love what it has to offer… even if you might have to hot glue a small neodymium magnet to it the case to get it to ‘stick’ to your phone’s case.