Kingston XS1000 Portable SSD, rot, 1TB, USB-C 3.1

Kingston bringt mit der XS1000-Serie eine besonders kleine externe SSD unterhalb der XS2000-Serie. Die XS1000 muss sich mit USB-3.2-Gen2 begnügen und kommt nur mit Speicherkapazitäten bis 2 TB auf den Markt. Dafür liegt sie preislich deutlich unter den Modellen der XS2000-Serie. Was in dieser kleinen SSD steckt und welche Leistungen sie abrufen klären wir in unserem Test.

Schnell genug. Die kleine SSD von Kingston soll via USB bis zu 1.000 MB/s schnell sein und somit viel Leistung für wenig Geld bieten. Wie viel davon in der Praxis übrig bleibt und ob sie damit auch für Spiele schnell genug ist, soll unser Test zeigen.

Portable SSDs are nothing new, but every now and then, we get a refresh that gives a proven product a little extra flair. This time, Kingston’s XS1000R is a new addition to the XS1000 portable SSD lineup. Internally, it’s the same reliable and fast drive we’ve seen before, now dressed in a sleek, red-accented shell.

When I opened up the enclosure of the XS1000 and found out that it uses the same exact controller as the XS2000 I couldn't figure out why Kingston would effectively hold back its performance. Yes, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 is not that common for an interface (nor USB4 for that matter) but it’s still backwards compatible and so everyone would be able to use it. Now I do realize that Kingston already has the XS2000 so my guess is all this was done to cut down costs and thus make available something more affordable to the masses (Silicon Motion could have charged Kingston less for their controller since it’s set at USB 3.2 Gen 2?). Still the end result is not bad at all with the XS1000 2TB easily surpassing 1000MB/s in most of the tests (placing it in the top 5 of my portable SSD charts). Again, just like with the XS2000 I was hoping Kingston would use a more robust enclosure (aluminum would be nice) but I do realize that would up cost and weight by quite a bit (worth pointing out is that the rubber sleeve bundled with the XS2000 is not bundled with the XS1000).