Expert's Rating
Pros
- High data transfer rates
- Good fan
Cons
- No transport bag
- No rubber feet
Our Verdict
The SE920 External SSD is a high-performance USB4 SSD drive at a good price. The data rates are fast and stable over a long period and the thermal design works perfectly.
Price When Reviewed
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Best Prices Today: Adata SE920 USB 4 SSD
As a storage specialist, Adata has paid attention to the issue of SSD overheating. Its SE920 External SSD combines passive and active cooling; its compact metal housing is used for passive cooling, and a so-called micro-fan with openings is used for active cooling. The user can activate the fan simply by pressing on the housing. This expands the housing and the fan starts up.
When should you use the fan? If you use the drive to store documents and for filing, you can do without the fan. If you are working on a project such as a video or image edit, or another task that could require a lot of drive access over a period of time, then switch on the fan.
The fact that the SE920 is primarily designed for Windows users is evident from the formatting in the NTFS file system and the backup software for Windows. Both should not be a problem for experienced Mac users. The SE920 is quickly reformatted in APFS using the macOS Disk Utility.
Freshly formatted, I measured the data transfer rates directly with Aja System Test Lite. The SE920 immediately achieved 2992MBps for writes and 3161 MBps for reads The test results in the Blackmagicdesign Disk Speed Test were similar.
To see how hot the SE920 gets and how the results are affected, I used the Blackmagicdesign test to write and read for 30 minutes. With the fan activated, the results were pleasing, with the data transfer rates stable. And more importantly, the temperature did not rise above lukewarm to the touch.
Should you buy the Adata SE920 External SSD?
Adata has brought a high-performance USB4 SSD drive onto the market at a good price. The data rates are also stable over a longer period and the thermal design works perfectly. Even if the construction seems a little rickety. To protect the SSD and because the fan is very quiet, I usually have the fan on in practice. I can therefore recommend the SE920 to any content creator.
Best Prices Today: Adata SE920 USB 4 SSD
This article originally appeared on our sister publication Macwelt and was translated and localized from German.
Author: Thomas Bergbold, Contributor
Thomas Bergbold is a freelancer for our German sister site Macwelt, for which he has written regularly since 2007. He has been an active Mac user since he came into contact with the Macintosh LC during his studies in the early 1990s. Through Performa and various Power Macintosh G3, G4 and G5, he remained loyal to the Macintosh as a media creator. The trained communications engineer has had a love for high-quality hi-fi devices and music reproduction since his school days. As a photographer and media professional in the creative industry, he relies on Apple products professionally and also enjoys passing on his knowledge in training courses.