Let’s face facts. Phone and tablet internal storage options have not kept up with demand. In fact, it appears that manufactures are going out of their way to make it as difficult as possible to add storage to these critical devices. This combination of the virtual nuking of onboard micro-SD card capabilities with the growing demand for more ‘on the go’ storage has transformed a once niche ‘sneaker net’ style device into one that can indeed make a long daily train/bus/etc. commute more palatable… possibly even enjoyable. Conversely it can even allow you to use your phone/tablet as a (mediocre) 120FPS 4K video camera for more than a couple minutes before running out of recording space. More importantly it allows you to do both content consumption and content creation while also promising to not nuke (as badly) your phone/tablet/etc.’s battery. We are of course referring to external solid-state based storage devices which sip power and yet are typically faster than the internal storage of your phone. To be precise we are talking about the new generation of highly portable, but too big to be called ‘thumb drive’ style, SSD based external storage devices that have started to become more and more popular. The latest to entry into this growing market is the MSI DataMag 20Gbps. Specifically the $125 priced, 1TB edition.
With its combination of ‘good enough’ capacity (1TB) and (relatively) excellent performance (1600 MB/s read, 1500 MB/s write) the MSI DataMag 20Gbps 1TB is part of a new breed of PHISON based (and built) models that are becoming extremely popular in certain circles. They are quickly gaining popularity because they offer the best of both worlds: high performance with low power consumption. To be precise, the PHISON PS2251-18 has quickly gained an enviable reputation for its high performance, low power consumption abilities because, and unlike earlier generations, both the NVMe and USB controllers have been combined into one ‘all in one’ package. Thus reducing power consumption (half the ICs to power!), reducing latency (no off IC communication lag!), and boosting performance compared previous two discrete controllers based models. Mix in what was once considered cutting edge SK Hynix NAND (circa 2019 128-Layer TLC NAND to be precise) and this is a combination that allows ‘next generation’ USB based portable storage devices to easily blow past the 1GB/s mark… and do so while sipping power.
Of course, the fly in the ointment with such promises is to actually harness all that horsepower one will (obviously) need a USB 20Gbps (or in USB-IF speak “USB 3.2 gen2x2”) bus to connect it to. Up until recently this gen2x2 requirement would have been the Achille’s heel of the DataMag 20Gbps 1TB. However, darn near all actual PC (and even Mac) systems have at least one of these high(ish) speed ports these days. Sadly, the same is not true of tablets and phones. Both of which rarely come with anything better than USB 5Gbps enabled and even Apple’s latest and “greatest” tops out at 10Gbps. Which potentially negates one of its main claims to fame.
Concerns over higher real-world performance or not, the promises of high speed portable goodness do indeed bring up another other issue that may or may not concern you. Specifically, weight. When dealing with devices that can absolutely crush USB 3 gen2x2 buses the byproduct of said domination is heat. This is why the MSI DataMAG 20Gbps is a chunky boi that is made up of almost entirely of aluminum alloy. Which theoretically turns its 81gram weight into a rather robust (for its class) heat sink that should (in theory) allow it to run cool as a cucumber. Thus, the MSI DataMAG 20G’ promises to be large enough to handle your (portable) raw multimedia file creation needs, fast enough to transfer said files in a blink of an eye to your workstation, and do both while not taking being all that noticeable while in use. Let’s see if it does indeed live up to that long list of promise.
