Adata SE800 Portable SSD Review: Compact, Waterproof 10Gbps Storage

Adata’s SE800 is a travel-ready storage device ready to take on almost any adventure. With IP68 dust and water resistance, along with military-grade drop ratings, the SE800 should hold up well, both on and off the road. And, with a fairly low price per GB for a 10Gbps portable SSD, it is a great deal for those looking to get more bang for their portable storage buck. In fact, it's one  of the best portable SSDs you can buy

When you are on the move, these storage devices are the perfect companion for work, hobby, or even just backup use, especially when you use an NVMe-accelerated system. But, with high performance usually comes high power draw and high heat output under load compared to slower counterparts. And, because of that, some of these devices can be a bit bulky to compensate.

What if you just want something small and light for on the go? There are a few you drives that fit this bill, but many aren’t waterproof. Cue Adata's SE800, which becomes quite attractive when you consider the design blends 10 Gbps performance along with water resistance into a compact and lightweight form factor that's also fairly affordable.  

Specifications

Preformatted as NTFS, the company rates the SE800 to hit read and write speeds of up to 1,000 MBps. Adata’s SE800 comes in the most popular capacity points: 512GB and 1TB. Priced comparable to slower SATA-based portable SSDs and roughly twice as fast, it's quite the value. Plus, the SE800 comes in either black or blue. At this time, the black is a few dollars cheaper than the blue model, making it the best value. Adata covers the SE800 with a 3-year warranty, too. 

Software and Accessories

The SSD comes with two short cables. Both the USB Type-C to Type-C & USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable measure a little over 8 inches. Other than that, Adata provides two software packages for download: HDDtoGo and OStoGO. HDDtoGo is feature-packed with backup, file sync, encryption, and compression capabilities. OStoGo is a simple piece of software that converts a Windows install disk to run off a USB drive instead.

A Closer Look

The SE800 very small, measuring 2.8 x 1.7 x 0.4 inches and weighing just 1.4oz. It features a brushed-aluminum enclosure that is STD-810G 516.6 impact resistant, meaning it has been tested to handle multiple 4ft drops and keep going. It meets IP68 standards, meaning it is dust-tight and can function after being submerged in water for 30 minutes up to 1.5m deep (with the cap on). There is a blue power and activity light next to the USB Type-C port. The end-caps are plastic with a rubber seal and snap into the metal enclosure.

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Within the device, an ASMedia ASM2362 USB 3.1 Gen2 to PCIe 3.0 x2 NVMe bridge chip manages the device-to-host 10 Gbps link. It also supports Trim and S.M.A.R.T drive data monitoring. With link power management support, this feature aids the SE800 to keep cool at idle. Also, to keep the internal drive cool, thermal pads fill the gap between the enclosure and components.

Interfacing with the 10Gbps bridge chip is an Innogrit Shasta IG5208 PCIe 3.0 x2 NVMe 1.3 controller with a 4-channel, DRAMless architecture to help save on manufacturing costs. With a lack of DRAM, this means the SSD will be a bit less responsive compared to DRAM-based competitors, but as we'll see in testing, it's no slouch. The controller interfaces with either Intel or Micron 64L TLC NAND flash at speeds of up to 533-667 MT/s, too.