ADATA SE880 1TB OUTDOOR SSD

It’s strenuous to get excited about slightly older external SSDs, but sometimes they can surprise you – the key x9, for example, certainly surprised me with its consistent performance and low price. Unfortunately, the SE880 is not such a pleasant surprise. Okay, but “fine” is all, and there are better options.

The SE880 suffers primarily from the existence of newer drives such as its rumored successor, the Adata SD810, which does everything a little better and has a little more to offer, just for the extra cash. That’s why the SD810 is the best external SSD for gaming at the time of writing, and why the SE880 probably isn’t worth picking up while the SD810 is available at a similar price.

However, it’s not all negative. The SE880 has something to offer, even if it’s on the performance and value fronts of the newer ESSDs. The main advantage to this Dinky Little Drive is its miniature size. It’s actually smaller than the minuscule PD20 Team Group, which I rate highly for its portability, though it doesn’t look as suave nor does it have the PD20’s key hook.

However, if you’re looking for something miniature, the SE880 will serve you well. My first impressions out of the box were its minuscule 64.8 x 35 x 12.25mm shell, and its brushed metal casing is quite nice to see – and hold, come to think of it.

However, its plastic ends and delicate weight don’t give me a ton of confidence in its durability, unlike more premium drives like the Samsung T9 that feel like they can be deployed on a particularly solid surface without a worry in the world (Don (Don actually this don’t). Additionally, the SE880 lacks the dust protection of other drives like the SD810, which has a cap to cover the USB-C port that gives it an IP68 rating.

And make no mistake, the main problem with this drive is the ADATA SD810. Sure, being smaller and more portable isn’t anything to turn up your nose at, but first of all, it isn’t This Much smaller than the SD810 – if one fits in your pocket, so does the other. But secondly, and most importantly, size isn’t everything when it comes to portability. There’s also attachment and durability to consider, and there are better options on these fronts than the SE880.

These two things, apart from looking pretty, are what make the PD20 such a great portable drive: it has a rim that you can apply for a keychain, and it has a dust plug for the USB-C port, which gives it an official IP54 rating. If I had to choose between a slightly smaller drive, free of solid dust and droplet protection, and a slightly larger one With He said security, I choose the latter every time.

This is much more vital for portability than an extra few millimeters in length, because taking your ride everywhere means putting it at greater risk of damage, and a dead ride is a dead ride, no matter how miniature.

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None of this would be fatal to the SE880 if it were a great performer, but it isn’t. It’s not bad, but again, other drives may do better for little extra cost. Ignoring the wildly inconsistent iometer performance the drive achieved in many different tests – a problem that a full, true format seemed to fix – I found the SE880 to offer decent transfer speeds close to its 2,000 MB/s rating, but only for about a minute. After that – after the pseudo-SLC ended – it slowed down dramatically, sitting at around 70 MB/s for the rest of the iometer’s 15-minute run.

Compare that to the SD810, which not only held its similar peak for about two and a half minutes – twice as long as the SE880 – but dropped to about 150 MB/s after that. Sure, 150MB/s isn’t much, but it’s twice the speed of the SE880 70. It’s a performance difference worth the slight price augment.

In my opinion, even the PD20 is a better contender for sequential saves. Yes, peak speeds are only maintained for about 30 seconds, but that will give you about 50GB of data transfer, which is more than most people will need. If you need significantly more portability at peak speeds, the SD810 is for you, leaving the SE880 in a bad spot between these two drives, which both have added durability/portability/aesthetic benefits.

So much for sequential, but what about random reads and gaming performance? The SE880 is certainly far from a terrible selection of game libraries. But again, it’s not as good as other options like the SD810 or Samsung T9. Yes, it performed as well as (if not better than) the SD810 in my FFXIV tests, but in 3DMark stock it fell consistently and significantly behind the SD810 and T9. However, it remained in line with the PD20, which makes sense considering both mini drives.

Honestly, all of these drives should be useful as a portable game library. I tried out the SE880 with my installation of the beloved Crab Masters game, transferring the steam files to the drive using Steam Helper, then loading the game and playing a few levels.

The 1.7GB transfer was quick, though not instantaneous like some other drives (the key x9 in particular worked a charm), and when in-game levels loaded immediately and there was no stuttering.

So yes, it works great as a gaming drive, but the point is that there are other, better options for even RND4K Read and Gaming Performance, whether it’s the super-chunky, actively powered, and ultraree wite SD810.

Don’t get me wrong, a minute of peak speeds compared to a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 connection, as well as decent game storage performance. These are just the better options on the market, whether it’s performance, durability or portable aesthetics. And some of them barely cost extra, which really makes the SE880s seem a little dated.

I suppose if you want USB 3.2 20Gbps speeds for that budget-friendly, the SE880 isn’t a bad choice. But if you’re willing to spend even a little extra, the SE880 quickly loses its appeal.