SOLVED: VIDEO: Why Are Portable SSD’s So Slow?

In this short video we explain why portable SSDs are so slow compared to USB spinning disks and Internal SSD’s.

We benchmark a number of USB sticks and thumbdrives along with benchmarking two portable SSD’s and then we compare that to a benchmark of a USB HDD.

The primary reason that portable SSD’s are nowhere near as fast as internal SSD’s is the controller they are connected to. Internal SSD’s usually connect on the PCI Express bus whereas portable SSD’s connect on the USB bus. But that doesn’t explain why portable SSD’s are so much slower than USB HDD’s.

Portable SSD’s Are slow not just because they’re connected on USB controllers but because:

1. the controller that’s built into them isn’t very good
2. Portable SSD’s use very very cheap, poor quality NAND Flash which is dramatically slower than the memory used on internal SS flash’s

This video should give you an idea of what the best portable ssd is or more specifically with the best portable USB drive is.