The Important X10 Pro, as you may guess from its name, is targeted at the prosumer market. Pros who might usually shop Thunderbolt 3/4 for maximum performance.
However, the X10 Pro performs nearly in addition to the Thunderbolt 3 competition in our real-world transfers, yet at $120 for 1TB is $40 more affordable than the 10Gbps/T3 Sandisk Po-G40. Sounds like an excellent pro-position to us.
Additional reading: See our roundup of the best external drives to find out about competing products.
Essential X10 Pro USB SSD pricing and functions
At the time of this writing, the X10 Pro was also readily available in a $170/2TB variation, suggesting you can bag another TB for just $10 more than the abovementioned Pro-G40 (1TB/$160). It’s also quite a bit smaller sized than its rival at 2.56 inches long, 1.97-inches large, and only 0.38-inches thick.
The drive connects by means of a Type-C connector (Crucial bundles a Type-C to Type-C cable television) and likewise has a hole for a lanyard on its upper left corner. The activity light resides within said cavity.
Alas, no Type-C to Type-A adapter is included, so purchase one of those if you have the requirement. It ought to go without saying that a 20Gbps SSD is expensive overkill unless you have the matching 20Gbps port, which is generally Type-C.
Vital has actually guaranteed an energy for September, 2023 that will allow you to lock and open data on the X9 Pro.
The Crucial X10 Pro is an outstanding entertainer, and the closest thing to Thunderbolt 3 you’ll find in a 20Gbps USB SSD.
The X10 Pro is charcoal gray, which identifies it from its lighter, silver-gray, 10Gbps cousin– the X9 Pro– which I’ll review next. Both feature anti-slip coatings on the bottom.
Vital guarantees the X10 Pro for 5 years (limited), however, the company didn’t provide TBW (overall terabytes written) scores, which are no doubt the limiting element, the way mileage remains in a car service warranty. No business that I’m mindful of will turn down a warranty claim unless the drive has truly been savaged write-wise– i.e., utilized in a server 24/7.
How does the Crucial X10 Pro carry out?
While the X10 Pro didn’t blow our socks off in the synthetic standards, it was genuinely outstanding in our real-world screening– beating 2 Thunderbolt 3 rivals in the 48GB transfers. Hence the conversation and addition of the double 10Gbps/Thunderbolt 3 Sandisk Pro-G40 in the charts.
Note that the much better random efficiency of Pro-G40 (practically twice as quick) would make it the very best choice for running alternative os. Random ops are not the X10 Pro’s specialty– nevertheless, it was within spitting distance of its 20Gbps rivals.
The most recent generation of SSDs has improved quite a bit performance-wise, however we’re not sure if it’s the NAND, the controllers, or both. Likely the combination in some ratio favoring the NAND. Whatever the case, the 48GB transfer numbers (below) for the X10 Pro actually are professional.
The X10 Pro was also highly competitive in the 450GB write, which was not actually sufficient information to require it to write natively. It took another 900GB file composed twice, however the results were rather disappointing once it went south– 50MBps. Offered 2TB of capability, you should not experience that downturn extremely typically, if at all.
Overall, the Crucial X10 Pro is an exceptional entertainer, and the closest thing to Thunderbolt 3 you’ll discover in a 20Gbps USB SSD.
Should you buy the Crucial X10 Pro USB SSD?
If you desire top-flight real-world performance and can’t use, or don’t wish to pay for Thunderbolt 3, then the Crucial X10 Pro is what you desire.
