When you want to spend the least amount of money for the most external storage space, you buy a mechanical hard drive. But when durability, speed, and portability matter most, a rugged solid-state drive (SSD) is the way to go. The ADATA SD600, which comes in a $69.99 256GB version and the $109.99 512GB one tested here, is small enough to fit in your pocket, and its protective enclosure helps it to survive shocks and drops. My only quibble with this budget-minded model: With USB Type-C ports becoming more common, the SD600 doesn't ship with a USB-C cable or adapter in the box. If you want to use it with a post-2015 Apple MacBook Pro or a USB-C-based Android phone, you'll have to go BYO. Otherwise, the model we tested nets you performance just shy of our Editors' Choice external SSD, the Samsung Portable SSD T5, at a slightly lower cost.
A Rough-and-Ready Red Racer
Compact and ready to travel, the ADATA SD600 ($164.00 at Amazon) I reviewed is a fun-size external SSD measuring 0.6 by 3.2 by 3.2 inches (HWD). It weighs 3.2 ounces, twice that of the 1.6-ounce Samsung Portable T5 , but it feels more substantial while staying light enough to be trivial to tote.
Its enclosure is two-part. A textured, "X"-shaped red rubber piece extends from the center to all four of its corners, and a black plastic portion fills out the rest of the square. (It also comes in an all-black chassis design, in case the red-and-black outfit is too gaudy for your taste.) Four hex screws hold it all together. Pick it up, and you'll see a USB Micro-B port on the side of the device, beneath the logo. ADATA ships the drive with a USB Micro-B-to-Type-A cable that connects to your computer, or to an Android device via an adapter (not included).
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ADATA does not ship any software on the drive. The SD600 comes formatted for NTFS, which is fully compatible with Windows but is read-only on macOS. Part of PCMag's testing methodology for external SSDs is to test the drive on macOS with the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, so after running our Windows-based NTFS testing, I formatted the SD600 in the exFAT file format.
ADATA says that the operating temperature of the SD600 ranges from 41 degrees to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Although it is touted as shock-resistant, it is not formally rated for the waterproofing that another SSD in the ADATA line is. (I'm reviewing that one, the ADATA SE730H, alongside the SD600.) That said, the 512GB version of the SE730H does cost more than the SD600 of the same capacity, an indication that the SD600 is an entry-level SSD for casual users who don't need the more rigid IP68 rating that the SE730H brings to the table.
Reliable Interface, Aggressive Cost Per Gig
The SD600 supports USB 3.1 Gen 1 speeds over its USB Type-A connection. ADATA rates the SD600 for read speeds of up to 440MBps and write speeds up to 430MBps. Type-A is the far more common kind of USB connector, so you might appreciate the SD600 cable's widespread compatibility among computers and gaming consoles. However, as more and more devices adopt USB Type-C (especially Android devices), you eventually may need to get an alternate cable (Micro-B-to-Type-C cables do exist) or a dongle-style adapter.
That said, the SD600 is widely compatible with most non-Mac and non-mobile gear today, and its cost per gigabyte is agreeable. The SD600 works out to about 22 cents per gigabyte at the 512GB capacity I tested, and the 256GB model costs about 27 cents per gigabyte. Considering the 500GB model of the Editors' Choice Samsung Portable SSD T5 costs around 25 cents per gigabyte, and ADATA's SE730H costs roughly 29 cents per gigabyte, the SD600 is a decent value in terms of raw capacity for the money.
Contrast that with a typical mass-market portable hard drive. You can get a WD My Passport external drive for 3.9 cents per gigabyte. Price per gigabyte is important; however, it's not the be-all and end-all when it comes to buying storage. Performance matters, too, so let's take a look at how the SD600 shaped up in testing.
Performance: Real-World Versus Claims
You buy an external SSD instead of an external hard drive for the speed and reliability advantages. And while I can't account for how long this drive will last you under normal wear and tear, it does come with a three-year warranty in case anything goes wrong.
First off, I tested the shockproof claims. ADATA publishes no specifics for impact resistance or drop distance, so I just dropped the SD600 several times from around six feet in the air to a tile floor. It survived with the chassis (and its full functionality) intact. After that, I put the SD600 through our standard suite of external SSD tests.
For starters, in our PCMag Folder Transfer Test, I dragged and dropped our standard 1.3GB folder from the desktop of a 2016 Apple MacBook Pro onto the root of the drive, timing it...
For the SD600, the transfer took a grand total of 3 seconds. The Samsung Portable SSD T5 took the same time, as did the pricier ADATA SE730H. The WD My Passport SSD ($239.99 at Amazon) and SanDisk Extreme 900 Portable took a little longer (5 seconds).
Next, I ran the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test with the SD600 connected to the Apple MacBook Pro ( at Amazon) . This application simulates the process of moving a 5GB test set from the computer to the drive (write) and from the drive to the computer (read)...
The end results were a write speed of 423.2MBps and a read speed of 423.8MBps. To put those numbers into context, the ADATA SE730H, which supports USB 3.1 Gen 2, garnered a write speed of 470.3MBps and a read speed of 510.9MBps. When you go from USB 3.1 Gen 1 to Gen 2, you get a doubling of the maximum potential throughput, but the Gen 2-capable SE730H was only modestly faster.
Last, I ran the Secondary Storage Test in UL's (formerly Futuremark's) PCMark 7...
This widely known, trace-based benchmark measures the speed at which software commands can perform in a simulated daily workload. The SD600 scored 5,125 points. The Samsung Portable SSD T5 scored 5,449, for about a 6 percent performance delta between the two.
Seeing as the cost difference between the two drives (at 512GB/500GB) is a bit more than the difference in performance (the T5 being the higher-priced one), the SD600 shows some compelling value. You're getting roughly the same storage capacity for a lower cost and sacrificing only a little in the way of performance. For a budget external SSD, that's the kind of combination you want to see.
Solid-State Savings
When buying an external SSD, it's important to consider value. At 22 cents per gigabyte in its 512GB capacity, the ADATA SD600 is a lower-cost alternative to the 500GB Samsung Portable SSD T5, by a hair. Though it wasn't quite as zippy as that drive or the more expensive ADATA SE730H, the ADATA SD600 did beat out the SanDisk Extreme 900 Portable in one test, and it came awfully close in two others.
In short: For most workaday uses, you won't feel much, if any, difference. Assuming you like one of the two color schemes, we can recommend the ADATA SD600 to external-SSD budget hunters.
With an eye-catching bright-red casing, the ADATA SD600 External SSD delivers snappy data transfers and better-than-average durability at a reasonable cost per gigabyte.
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