Angelbird SSD2Go USB 3.0 External 480GB SSD Review – Unbelievable Build & Performance + 10% Off

SSD2GO BUILD AND COMPONENTS

The SSD2Go exterior shell is a very well machined and thick aluminum casing, the cover of which is sealed by a base plate with four torx security screws.  It has a semi smooth finish and its paint job is as perfect on the inside of the unit as it is on the outside.  Once opened, we discover that the SSD2Go is an actual complete SSD that is connected to the the USB3.0 PCB and we tested the SSD alone to confirm that there was little to no bottle neck from the drive SSD itself and final USB 3.0 output.

The SSD2Go SSD is LSI SandForce driven and contains a SF-2281 flash storage processor along with 16 pieces of Micron 25nm MLC synchronous 3000 P/E cycle NAND flash memory, and each piece of our sample 480GB SSD is 32GB in capacity for a total of 512GB of RAW storage.  In taking a look at the components, you may notice staining on the FSP and memory that has been caused by the rubber thermal conductors seen on the inside of the shell.  These actually help dissipate the heat of the components through transfer of the heat to the exterior shell.

On the back of the SSD is a Super X HZ202 H-Series super capacitor that we know we have never seen on an external SSD, much less any consumer SSD that we are aware of.  The HZ202 ensures that data completes its travel into the memory from the controller at times of power loss by maintaining power to the drive for up to four seconds and flushing the cache.

As much as we love the fact that we are finally hands on with a LSI SandForce external SSD solution, LSI is going to have to share that admiration with the devices USB 3.0 PCB which merits full description as well.  It is through the components chosen in this PCB that we see true LSI SandForce speeds being passed through the USB 3.0 connection.

Contained on this PCB are the ASMedia ASM1053 and ASM1456 integrated circuits (IC).  While the ASM1053 is a single chip solution that creates a bridge between SATA 3 and the USB 3.0 interface, the ASM1456 is a two-differential channel signal switch (multiplexer) that provides for the increased performance seen in the Angelbird SSD2Go.