Sabrent’s lineup of internal and external SSDs is popular among enthusiasts. The primary reason is the company’s tendency to be among the first to market with products based on the latest controllers,while also delivering an excellent value proposition. The company has a long-standing relationship with Phison and adopts its controllers for many of their products. The company’s 2 GBps-class portable SSD – the Rocket nano V2 – is based on Phison’s U18 native controller, and has been available in the market for well over a year now.
This review takes a detailed look at the Rocket nano V2 External SSD, including an analysis of its performance consistency, power consumption, and thermal profile.
Introduction and Product Impressions
Rapid advancements in flash technology (including the development of 3D NAND and improvements in TLC reliability) have been accompanied by the appearance of faster host interfaces for external devices in the last decade.Together,they have contributed to bus-powered direct-attached storage devices growing in both storage capacity and speeds. The Type-C standard has also achieved widespread acceptance in the consumer market.Protocols such as USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 / USB4 and Thunderbolt riding on top of the Type-C connector have enabled the introduction of palm-sized flash-based storage devices capable of delivering 2 GBps+ speeds.
One of the primary challenges with high-speed storage devices is the thermal aspect. Bridge-based solutions with multiple protocol conversion chips tend to dissipate more power due to the additional components. High-performance portable SSDs in the past have had no option but to use them – first, with SATA bridges, and then with NVMe bridges. The introduction of native UFD controllers capable of hitting 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps from Phison and Silicon Motion has opened up yet another option in this category. The Crucial X6, equipped with the Phison U17, was reviewed in August 2021 and was one of the first retail products to surpass the SATA speeds barrier by hitting 800 MBps speeds without using a NVMe bridge.Around the same time, Silicon Motion’s SM2320 powered the Kingston XS2000 to 2 GBps speeds without a bridge in the middle.
Products based on Silicon Motion’s SM2320 have gained a lot of consumer mindshare because they have typically been able to hit the interface speed limits for sequential accesses in both the 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps categories.Phison’s U17 and U18 were introduced with slightly lower peak performance numbers, and despite vendors like Crucial picking them up for the X6, the products didn’t make any waves. The best implementation of Phison’s U17, in our opinion, was seen in the OWC Envoy Pro Mini. The introduction of faster flash has since allowed portable ssds (PSSDs) based on the Phison’s native UFD controllers to hit higher speeds. As an inevitable result, we have seen an upticThe table below presents a comparative view of the specifications of the diffrent portable SSDs presented in this review.
| Comparative Direct-Attached Storage Devices Configuration | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aspect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Downstream Port | Native Flash | native Flash | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Upstream Port | USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C | USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C (Female) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| bridge Chip | Phison U18 | Silicon Motion SM2320 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power | Bus Powered | Bus Powered | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The performance of the Rocket nano V2 in these two synthetic benchmarks closely mirrors that of the PNY EliteX-PRO. Give the similarity in the platforms, it is not surprising. for small data spans such as 32 GB, the SM2320-based pssds surpass the performance of the U18-based ones. AnandTech DAS Suite – Benchmarking for Performance ConsistencyOur testing methodology for storage bridges / direct-attached storage units takes into consideration the usual use-case for such devices. A description of the AnandTech DAS Suite and its components is available here. ## PCMark 10 Storage Bench – Real-World Access Traces Ther are a number of storage benchmarks that can subject a device to artificial access traces by varying the mix of reads and writes, the access block sizes, and the queue depth / number of outstanding data requests. We saw results from two popular ones – ATTO, and CrystalDiskMark – in a previous section. More serious benchmarks, though, actually replicate access traces from real-world workloads to determine the suitability of a particular device for a particular workload. Real-world access traces may be used for simulating the behavior of computing activities that are limited by storage performance. Examples include booting an operating system or loading a particular game from the disk. PCMark 10’s storage bench (introduced in v2.1.2153) addresses this aspect with a variety of traces, as explained [here](https://www.anandtech.com/show/16798/silverstone-ms12-yottamaster-hc2-20gbps-usb-enclosures-reviewed/5). ### Component Scores The various component scores are graphed in the galler below. The Rocket nano V2 is consistently in the bottom half of the pack, but the delta is not extreme.### Overall Scores PCMark 10 reports an overall score based on the observed bandwidth and access times for the full workload set. The score, bandwidth, and average access latency for each of the drives are presented below.
External SSD Performance: Beyond Speed – Sustained Performance & Power EfficiencyThe quest for the fastest portable solid-state drive (SSD) doesn’t end with headline-grabbing sequential read/write speeds. Real-world performance hinges on sustained throughput – how consistently a drive delivers those speeds under prolonged use – and efficient power consumption, especially for bus-powered devices. Recent testing of several popular 2TB portable SSDs reveals critically important differences in these crucial areas. Sustained Write Performance: Avoiding the Thermal CliffMany external SSDs, despite boasting impressive peak speeds, suffer from thermal throttling. This occurs when the drive heats up during intensive tasks,causing it to reduce performance to prevent damage. The Sabrent Rocket nano V2 demonstrates a strong ability to maintain consistent performance, achieving approximately 800 MBps throughout 90% of its 2TB capacity.During testing, the drive reached a temperature of only 61°C. This contrasts sharply with drives like the PNY EliteX-PRO, which, despite utilizing similar hardware, experienced significant throttling. the EliteX-PRO’s write speeds plummeted to around 450 MBps within just six minutes of sustained operation, accompanied by a temperature spike to 76°C. This illustrates that raw hardware potential isn’t enough; effective thermal management is paramount. Competitive Landscape: Phison vs. SM2320 ControllersWhile the Sabrent Rocket nano V2 excels within the Phison controller-based SSD category, other controllers offer competitive performance. Drives leveraging the Silicon Motion SM2320 controller, such as the Crucial X10 Pro and Lexar ARMOR 700, generally exhibit strong results in sustained write tests. However, the Rocket nano V2 often outperforms other SM2320-based options, including the LaCie Rugged Mini, demonstrating the impact of firmware optimization and overall design. Power Consumption: A Critical Factor for PortabilityExternal SSDs rely on the host port for power, and the available power varies dramatically. Thunderbolt ports can supply up to 15W, while older USB 2.0 ports are limited to just 2.5W. Understanding a drive’s power consumption profile is therefore vital, especially for users relying on laptops or limited power sources. Testing using a ChargerLAB KM003C power meter while running CrystalDiskMark workloads revealed significant variations. Analyzing instantaneous bus power consumption over time, and identifying peak and minimum power draw, provides valuable insight into efficiency. (Detailed power consumption graphs for specific models are available through self-reliant testing resources.) Efficient power usage not only extends battery life on portable devices but also minimizes the risk of instability when connected to lower-powered ports. As of late 2023, the market for portable SSDs is projected to reach $18.7 billion globally, with a growing emphasis on both speed and efficiency as consumers demand more from their mobile storage solutions. Choosing a drive that balances performance with thermal management and power consumption is key to a seamless and reliable user experience.
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