By: Ben Joubert
October 6, 2023
What the inside of something looks like has always fascinated me. Growing up, I would peruse these Dorling Kindersley books over and over. They had the most interesting diagrams explaining concepts from nature to science. Each of them was as interesting as the last. For example, one would describe the ecosystem of a tree with a huge picture of the tree, but certain sections would be opened up to reveal the different animals or insects that made it home. Since then, what might murk underneath was an irresistible mystery I needed to solve when faced with these riddles. When I started to find an interest in technology, I similarly had the need to take a look under the hood. This has become increasingly harder with newer designs, which seek to keep you out from looking at what is going on, but I still remember the first time I opened up my laptop to see how it was all rigged together. It was such a cool experience. Hard drives, however, were an enigma all on their own. How do they store data? What is in that alluring silver box? Knowing that opening a hard drive would spell doom on whatever data was stored inside, I waited until one died. Sure enough, the time came, and I struggled for what seemed like hours to get the darn thing open. Once I was able to see those discs with the laser arm and play around with the mechanisms, I was satisfied. Unfortunately, opening up drives today is a less exciting prospect. Although solid state drives are a leap forward in so many ways, seeing them open is not necessarily the most exciting, although we have done so many times here at APH Networks. Today, we have a portable SSD, the Crucial X9 Pro 2TB, which I do not even know how to think about opening with its sleek small form factor and fixed enclosure. But will we be able to know all the details? Read on to find out.
The Crucial X9 Pro 2TB arrived in a medium-sized brown corrugated cardboard box. The package arrived all the way from Brownsville, Texas via FedEx International Priority. The box arrived safely in Calgary, Alberta with little to no damage. What we have got is quite large and I expect the retail packaging to be similarly big. Perhaps this portable drive is not as portable as I previously thought? Only opening the package will know.
After opening up the shipping box, it actually took me a bit of digging to find the X9 Pro 2TB due to how large the shipping box is and how small the actual SSD is. The difference was not at extreme as what we saw with the Crucial P3 Plus 4TB, but otherwise comparable to the Crucial X10 Pro 2TB we recently reviewed.
Fears put aside, I was pleasantly surprised at just how small the retail box was. The shipping box was filled with paper to prevent any damage to the drive, but at the same time made it a bit of an Easter Egg hunt to find the X9 Pro. The retail box design is pretty straightforward. The drive is front and center with the name found on its right. Three important features are highlighted along the bottom of the box, including its dust and water resistance as well as the password protection. On the right side, the capacity and read and write speeds are located. On the back of the box, similar features are highlighted once again, but in many different languages.
Before we move on, here are the features as obtained from the manufacturer’s website:
Interface: USB 3.2 Gen-2 (10Gb/s)
Form Factor: External Portable
SSD Series: X9 Pro
Capacity: 2TB
Sequential Read: 1050 MB/s
Sequential Write: 1050 MB/s
Limited Warranty: 5 years
Packaging for the Crucial X9 Pro 2TB is fairly simple. The side opens up presenting a plastic frame, which houses the SSD and the cable. A small booklet is included providing a brief overview of the SSD and some other miscellaneous information. This minimalist packaging is appreciated, reducing waste and keeping the box small.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 8.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 5.70
7. Conclusion
