High-speed storage continues to be affordable as the technology matures and higher speeds are achieved. Portable SSDs continue to be a must-have item for gamers, enthusiasts, and professionals thanks to the convenience and massive speed boost advantage compared to flash drives and external SSDs. The Adata SC610 is a portable SSD inside the chassis of a USB flash drive making it one of the smallest SSDs to come in our lab.
A Closer Look
The Adata SC610 even comes in your typical flash-drive packaging design. There are markings underneath the model name stating that it’s an SSD, to not confuse customers.
Inside you only get the SSD itself with no manuals or any other accessories.
The Adata SC610 looks like your typical thumb drive. Without the SSD label, anyone could easily mistake it as a regular USB thumb drive.
The USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A connector is retractable to maximize its size as well as protect the connector itself.
The Adata SC610 is a USB 3.2 Gen2 SSD meaning it has a 10Gbps transmission speed. It’s rated at 550MB/s read and 500MB/s write and is available in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities. Our specific review sample is a 1TB variant.
There’s a hole at the end allowing the user to tie in some kind of strap so that you won’t easily lose your external SSD.
The Adata SC610 1TB External SSD measures 67.3 x 23.5 x 10.2mm making it one of the smallest SSDs in our lab narrowingly beating out our Kingston XS2000 SSD in terms of width but is slightly taller due to the USB type-A connector. The SC610 is also slightly larger when compared to your traditional thumb drives.
Benchmark Setup and Test Methodology
Gadget Pilipinas’ testing philosophy is to provide detail-oriented results as accurately as possible so that our readers can replicate our tests given that these conditions are met. Different benchmarking apps and sequences are used depending on the component or device being tested.
| CPU | Intel Core i9 14900K |
| COOLER | ASUS ROG RYUJIN II 360mm V2 – Noctua NT-H2 Thermal Paste |
| MOTHERBOARD | ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming |
| MEMORY | Kingston Fury Beast RGB 32GB(2x16GB) 6000 MHz DDR5 |
| GPUs | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition |
| STORAGE | Kingston Renegade 2TB PCI-E Gen4 NVMe SSDD |
| POWER SUPPLY | FSP HYDRO GT PRO 1000W Gold ATX 3.0 |
| OPERATING SYSTEM | Windows 11 Pro Build 22H2 |
We use CapFrameX 1.7.2 Beta as our primary FPS capture and analysis tool for all our gaming benchmarks. The latest build version of Windows 11 Pro and WHQL-certified drivers are used for our benchmarks. Readings such as temperatures and power draws are recorded using HWINFO64, and other relevant software for cross-checking.
For more information read our Benchmark Methodology article.
ADATA SC610 1TB External SSD Benchmarks
We pit the ADATA SC610 1TB External SSD against various SSD types. We decided not to include thumb drive benchmarks as we don’t have a 512GB or higher capacity to compare with. The Adata SC610 is tested against an Orico USB-C 10gbps enclosure paired with a Sabrent Rocket 512GB Gen3 SSD, TeamGroup PD400 512GB Gen3 SSD Portable, Kingston XS2000 Gen4 Portable SSD, and two 2280 NVMe Gen4 SSDs for reference.c
THROUGHPUT Performance
Developed by Noriyuki Miyazaki, CrytalDiskMark is a free benchmark tool that is being used by thousands of experts. This tool measures SSD’s sequential read and write speeds. That means how fast files can be read from and written to the drive, usually measured in MB/s.
IOPS Performance
IOPS or Input/Output Operations Per Second is a measure of how many inputs or outputs an SSD can perform in a short period. IOPS is a useful parameter to measure how fast it can process small amounts of workload that are similar to real-world usages, such as loading a webpage and launching apps.
ACCESS TIME
Access time or latency is just as crucial as sequential, random, and IOPS for an SSD. It wraps up all the values from the previous performance and shows the SSD’s responsiveness, whether it be small or heavy workloads.
AS SSD’s Copy benchmark simulates copying various file types namely, ISOs, Games, and applications. Different file types result in different transfer speeds.
ADATA SC610 1TB SSD Temperatures
Considering the Adata SC610 has the same external housing as a regular USB flash drive, the recorded temps are passable. Although Adata’s spec lists the operating temperature of the Adata SC610 at 0°C to 60°C – we recorded a peak of 72°C throughout our testing. A higher temp may lead to a dip in performance.
Performance Summary and Conclusion
The Adata SC610 External SSD is without a doubt faster than a typical flash drive however that’s all to the SSD. Sure, it’s small versus getting an enclosure for your 2280 NVMe SSD but the 500MB/s relative speed seems slow especially considering you have the DIY enclosure or other portable SSD alternatives. That said, these alternatives all suffer from a lower performance at heavier workloads, the SC610 included. But when you consider their relative speed to the performance loss, the SC610 seems to be a fair deal.
Overall, the SC610 External SSD is a viable option for those looking for faster and more compact storage to store their files whether it be apps, games, or videos so long as they’re comfortable with the SATA-SSD-like speeds. That said, it would’ve been nice to see the SC610 also have a USB-C version to push for higher speeds or at least, be a very viable option to the OTG market.
The Adata SC610 USB 3.2 Gen 2 1TB External SSD is your jack-of-all-trades portable SSD solution. It has arguably last-gen SSD speeds without the sacrifice in form factor thanks to its thumb-drive size. Sad to say that it’s a master of none of the aspects of portable SSDs as it’s slower compared to what’s currently available in the market and the lost opportunity to add in USB-C. Not only is it slower but it’s considerably pricier with its retail price of Php 3,305. It’s more expensive than a DIY solution but is cheaper than other external SSDs.
So, if you’re looking for a fast, portable, and compact drive the Adata SC610 is a great option especially if you’re main concern is the ability to carry it around and use it primarily for cold storage. If you want to load it up with your game library then you may want to consider the faster options. That said, the Adata SC610 is a no-brainer buy at less than Php 3,000 or ideally around Php 2,500 so be on the lookout once it gets on sale.
Grant is a Financial Management graduate from UST. His passion for gadgets and tech crossed him over in the industry where he could apply his knowledge as an enthusiast and in-depth analytic skills as a Finance Major. His passion allows him to earn at the same time help Gadget Pilipinas' readers in making smart, value-based decisions and purchases with his reviews and guides.
