MSI Datamag 20Gbps Exterior SSD Overview: Tremendous-Quick USB Storage

	MSI Datamag 20Gbps Transportable SSD: Pricing TBA MSI’s first exterior SSD affords NVMe-like efficiency in a compact and engaging aluminum chassis.
	Strong USB SSD Efficiency Distinctive Magnetic Mounting Choices Sturdy Aluminum Chassis 5 12 months Guarantee

One key be aware that MSI mentions is that the drive is “ProRes / RAW Prepared.” Which means the drive is well-suited for capturing uncompressed video, whether or not in Apple or different codecs, like Blackmagic or RED. This drive is definitely notably well-suited for such content material creation use, given its potential to be connected to the again of an iPhone utilizing its built-in magnet.

The MSI Datamag 20Gbps comes with two USB Sort-C cables of various lengths.

Within the small paper field, you get the drive itself, two USB Sort-C cables, and a USB Sort-A to Sort-C adaptor. The inclusion of two USB Sort-C cables is handy, however quite than a brief and an extended cable, it is extra like a brief and a shorter cable. We’d most likely have most well-liked the longer cable to be longer than it’s, however that is the very first of first-world issues.

The rubber ring on the underside helps maintain the Datamag from sliding round when connected magnetically.

There’s not a lot to see on the underside of the drive, however you possibly can peep the ribs within the aluminum body. MSI says that these are to assist maintain the SSD cool, however we did not actually discover it heating up a lot; we suspect the unique designer put these there to assist with grip, contemplating the floor of the drive is fairly slick even with its grooved face. The rubber ring across the base of the drive serves a twin objective in limiting slippage in addition to marking the place the magnetic ring is.

The Datamag consists of two adhesive rings to simply connect it to your units.

That is proper: the MSI Datamag known as that as a result of it’s magnetic. The again of the drive features a quite-powerful magnet that can assist you to connect the drive to something ferrous. That does not embody most laptops or telephones, so MSI sends alongside two adhesive metal rings that you may follow no matter you need. Merely peel the backing and fix the ring to your machine, after which the Datamag will snap proper into place.

We did not apply the adhesive rings to something, however we did check the Datamag’s magnet by sticking it onto all the things in the home that it could connect to. As we famous above, the magnet is fairly {powerful} and desirous to snap to something ferrous. It will not pinch you, like among the greater neodymium magnets, nevertheless it’s fairly safe when connected to a floor.

MSI Datamag 20Gbps Exterior SSD Efficiency

To be able to check the efficiency of the MSI Datamag 20Gbps Transportable SSD, we enlisted the assistance of some benchmarks and actual world exams. First up is ATTO, a disk benchmark that measures sequential switch speeds throughout a particular quantity size with varied block sizes. It measures switch charges for each reads and writes and graphs them out in an simply interpreted chart. ATTO’s workloads are sequential in nature and measure bandwidth, quite than I/O response time, entry latency, and so forth.

In ATTO, we see the Datamag wrestle a bit in learn throughput at low switch sizes. That is clearly an SSD tuned for sequential throughput, and as quickly because the switch measurement hits 64KB, we see the Datamag climb into the higher echelons of efficiency. It nonetheless falls behind the 2 ADATA drives, nevertheless it matches the rated learn throughput of 1600 MB/sec and even exceeds the rated write throughput significantly.

Subsequent up are some numbers with SiSoft SANDRA, the the System ANalyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant. Right here, we used the Bodily Disk check suite and supply the outcomes from our comparability SSDs…

In SANDRA, we see the Datamag ship outcomes precisely in step with what MSI promised: a bit over 1600 MB/sec in reads, and a bit over 1500 MB/sec in writes. It is operating a bit behind the 2 ADATA drives in our comparability suite, however effectively forward of the Samsung SSDs on this comparability.

CrystalDiskMark is an artificial benchmark that exams each sequential and random small and mid-sized file transfers utilizing uncompressible knowledge. It offers a fast take a look at finest and worst case eventualities with regard to SSD efficiency, finest case being bigger sequential transfers and worse case being small, random transfers.

In CrystalDiskMark’s sequential throughput exams, the Datamag affords up a really constant efficiency as soon as once more in step with what MSI mentioned to count on from this drive. It offers us the perfect efficiency we have ever seen from a transportable SSD within the 512K switch check, sustaining its efficiency from the usual sequential benchmark. It is a nice outcome for MSI.

Within the random exams, MSI’s new SSD appoints itself fairly effectively. It could be simple to have a look at the QD32 outcomes and sneer, however all that knowledge actually tells you is that this SSD is not your best option for very intense random entry workloads, which, effectively, duh—it is a USB SSD. Do not host databases off USB SSDs, children. Within the extra “real-world” 4K Q1T1 check, the drive offers us comparable efficiency to the opposite NVMe-over-USB SSDs that we have examined.

This screenshot exhibits file copy efficiency on a 3.3GB file (the installer for the Closing Fantasy XIV Dawntrail benchmark). We needed to rapidly snap the screenshot earlier than the window vanished as a result of the file copy of the 4GB archive was carried out in about 3 seconds. That is significantly speedy storage.

That’s, so long as you’ve the requisite USB 20Gbps connection and dealing UASP in your system. A Thunderbolt port will most likely work too, in USB downward-compatibility mode. You should utilize the Datamag on any system with USB 2.0 or higher, however getting these sorts of efficiency outcomes goes to require a system that helps the proper connectivity. Even nonetheless, the Datamag will cap out any slower USB connection simply.

MSI Datamag 20Gbps Transportable SSD: Our High Take-Aways

What’s there to say concerning the Datamag? It is a tiny, glossy transportable SSD that provides up one million megabytes of very speedy storage. With this sort of pace, you might simply host functions off this SSD, or as MSI factors out, use it for recording ProRes footage out of your iPhone or different codecs from a mirrorless digital camera. The magnetic backing offers some versatility to the Datamag, when it comes to the place you possibly can put it, and we now have no complaints about its aesthetics, the included equipment, or the function set.