Final Score: 80 out of 100
The all new Crucial X6 may not win any awards for sheer speed (as it is SATA and not NVMe based) nor for having the lowest asking price in the market… and certainly no awards for being the most robust; but those are about the only major negatives we can think of. This is a rather flexible, predictable, and not overly expensive model that we can see making waves in a corner of the market that has become rather saturated of late. That in and of itself is impressive.
The ‘secret’ to this external model’s almost inevitable success is simple. Crucial paired their good (for its class) BX500 internal SSD to the excellent (for its class) ASMedia ASM235CM controller. That is a winning combination. A winning combination that is surprisingly peppy and can hold its own against nearly any external SATA storage solution in its price range. A lot of this has to do with the fact that Crucial is not following the pack and just repacking an internal SSD for radically different external duties. They have tweaked the firmware and upsized the pseudo-SLC buffer… so the extra cost over the internal version is buying more than just a compact plastic SATA to USB enclosure.
To be perfectly candid, a good argument could be made that the Crucial X6 is a better general-purpose model than its 2TB X8 sibling. Compared to the P1 based X8 it may not offer the X8’s shear speed, but the speed the X6 does offer can be summed up in one word – consistency. Thanks to TLC NAND this drive does not rely nearly as much upon its upsized, pseudo-SLC write buffer to boost performance to reasonably fast levels. Furthermore, when this write buffer does get saturated the performance dip is nowhere near as severe as on the X8 series. Put simply, the X6 is a drive you can rely upon to provide relatively good performance and throw only the occasional wobbly over your I/O demands.
When you then mix in noticeably smaller form-factor with a weight that is all but unnoticeable, the end result is one versatile and flexible external storage solution. This combination of versatility and flexibility is a drive we can see throwing into our laptop bag and not hesitating to use as a portable CF/CFexpress/CFast/XQD/SD ‘dump drive’ if our main option gave up the ghost mid-shoot. That is cheap insurance and cheap peace of mind… and not exactly attributes the X8 can boast of having.
The same is true of the more typical buyer. Once again, it will not win any speed awards but its general usage abilities are also ‘good enough’. Good enough means it is not until you step up to models using NVMe with TLC NAND and ThunderBolt 3 interfaces that the performance differences are big enough to justify the added expense. Even then the X6 is not exactly slow. Do not be fooled by marketing telling you that NVMe is the only option these days. Many a PC over the years has had its operating system run off a BX solid-state drive. SATA is here to stay… or at least here to stay until USB 3.2 gen 3 2×2 (aka “Superspeed USB 20Gbps” or whatever they decide to call after the next meeting) becomes more than vaporware and a prayer or ThunderBolt 3 supplants USB 3.x as the de-facto standard for external storage. If/when either of these events come to pass, these SATA options will go from offering half(ish) the speed to only a quarter(ish) the performance. That day of reckoning is still a year or three down the road.
So, while we are not exactly enamored with Crucial’s future plans of ‘submarining’ or ‘silently’ upgrading the SSD used, the SSD it is based upon right now means the X6 can justify its asking price and then some… and is a viable option for everyone from prosumers to budget restricted buyers. The X6 2TB is a drive that all but demands to be on your short, short list for further consideration. Now if they would only think about a metal clad version like their X8, include a darn Type-C to Type-A adapter, maybe add in a lanyard, and we would be looking at arguably the perfect ‘carry around’ solid state external storage solution.
The Review
Crucial X6 2TB External SSD
The all new Crucial X6 may not win any awards for sheer speed (as it is SATA and not NVMe based) nor for having the lowest asking price in the market… and certainly no awards for being the most robust; but those are about the only major negatives we can think of. This is a rather flexible, predictable, and not overly expensive model that we can see making waves in a corner of the market that has become rather saturated of late. That in and of itself is impressive.
