Micron Introduces Rugged Crucial X8, Its First Consumer Portable SSD

Micron, one of the biggest manufacturers of storage and memory solutions, just unveiled its very first consumer-oriented portable SSD here in San Francisco at Micron Insight 2019. The Crucial X8 Portable SSD is encased in a rugged chassis, which allows it to survive drops up to 7.5 feet – that’s quite an impressive feat.

Yes, the rugged nature of the Crucial X8 is one of its biggest selling points. Besides being drop-resistant, this portable SSD’s unibody core made from anodised aluminium also allows it to withstand “extreme temperatures, shock, and vibration,” as Micron puts it. The aluminium chassis lets it dissipate heat efficiently too in order to maximise performance. 

It’s also worth noting the sheer portability of the X8; you can see how it compares to the Apple Magic Mouse below.

Of course, the Crucial X8 itself is also a fast portable SSD with sequential read speeds of up to 1,050MBps. According to Micron, this makes the X8 up to 1.8 times faster than other portable SSDs in the same price range. Naturally, when compared to portable hard drives, it’s immensely faster by up to 7.5 times.

This being a Crucial product – a global brand of Micron – reliability should not be an issue with the X8. After all, Crucial is one of the leading flash storage manufacturers in the world. If anything were to go wrong, however, the X8 is backed by a three-year limited warranty worldwide.

Not surprisingly, the Crucial X8 also works with a wide range of devices. These include PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Chromebook, Android, and even the iPad Pro. However, only the 2018 iPad Pro with a USB-C port is compatible with the X8.

Speaking of which, the Crucial X8 can connect to these devices via USB-C or USB-A; a Type-C to USB-A adapter is provided with the portable SSD. Of course, if you want the best performance, connect via USB-C to get up to 10Gbps transfer speed. If you use the USB-A adapter instead, you’ll only get half of that speed at up to 5Gbps.

The Crucial X8 Portable SSD is offered in two capacities: 500GB and a whopping 1TB. It is also available right now in selected markets, though the Malaysian availability and pricing of the portable drive have not been announced yet.