An external drive for photos? – Review of Adata SE880 1TB

The market for external ssd drives is growing rapidly. Manufacturers are fighting with each other to create media, with increasingly smaller sizes and larger capacities while maintaining high data write or read transfers. However, many people are asking themselves – which USB external drive for photos to choose? In this short review, we will explore the Adata SE880 1TB drive – a micro drive with huge possibilities.

Technical data

• Product intended use: PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S, MacBook, iPhone 15, Android
• Capacity: 1TB
• Interface: USB 3.2 Gen. 2 x 2
• Read speed (maximum): 2000 MB/s
• Write speed (maximum): 2000 MB/s
• Additional information: Compatible with Windows and Mac OS, Compatible with Xbox and PlayStation
• Dimensions: 64.8 x 35 x 12.25 mm
• Weight: 31 g
• Manufacturer’s warranty: 60 months (5 years)
• Manufacturer code: AELI-SE880-1TCGY

Specifications: Manufacturer’s website

And what’s in the kit?

The drive arrives in a sleek, glossy black box. Inside we find the necessary cables needed to plug in the drive (USB-c – USB-c, usb 3.1) and (USB-c – USB-a, usb 3.0). Of course, the manufacturer has not forgotten about the paperwork. The media itself was placed on a plastic extrusion to protect it from damage in transit. I… that’s it – on the other hand we get everything we need for happiness.

Solid player

Coming back to the product itself – the Adata SE880 is enclosed in a neat, tiny, anthracite-colored aluminum case , measuring 64.8 x 35 x 12.25 mm and weighing 31 grams. Front and back, the manufacturer covered with “piano black” plastic – which unfortunately scratches from looking at it. In addition, Adata, next to the USB-c port, has placed a small blue LED for the drive’s operation. Despite its low weight, the SE880 does not give the impression of being filigreed and vulnerable. On the contrary, it feels like a well-fitted and decent device – here a big plus for the manufacturer.

The size of the drive can be compared to… case from Airpods Pro 2 – whose test you can see here: AirPods Pro 2 USB-C – couldn’t this have been done right away?

Formatted professional

The Adata SE880 comes pre-formatted as an exFat – so it can immediately work as an external drive on both Mac and Microsoft hardware. The manufacturer also mentions compatibility with Xbox and Playstation consoles. Adata can also be connected to most smartphones with USB-c* – including the iPhone 15 series – giving you instant access to storage or at least the ability to record movies directly to the connected media.

*Before buying, make sure your smartphone supports external ssd drives.

Performance

Of course, most of you are probably waiting for the performance tests of the reviewed drive. The tests were performed in the Black Magic Disk Speed Test 3.0 program – so we checked how realistically the drive performs when working on large image files, photos or movies. In addition, we performed some tests in CrystalDiskMark 8.0.5.

The results in CrystalDiskMark almost matched those declared by the manufacturer. The drive achieved 2002.15 MB/s read and 1767.32 MB/s write.

On the Mac, on the other hand, the results fall far short of those quoted by the manufacturer. Adata achieved 1650.0 MB/s write and 912.4 MB/s read as follows.

Work culture

Here the first drawback of the microscopic casing used in the SE880 manifests itself. Unfortunately, the heat generated by the drive is not effectively dissipated, but the aluminum housing valiantly tries to fight it. The drive, even without a load, heats up from about 38℃, while being mildly warm. However, during load tests in the aforementioned programs, the drive “hits” as high as 72℃ which is already a very noticeable temperature and not very comfortable to the touch. The competition is sometimes quite a lot cooler. But well, this type has it….

External drive for photos?

The Adata SE880 is a downright ideal USB external drive for storing photos or videos. Thanks to its compact size, high levels of writing and reading – as demonstrated by the tests above – the drive will cope well with copying many gigabytes of movie files or hundreds of RAWs ready for further processing. The only thing Adata should work on – is the working culture of the device – the drive could be quite a bit cooler, although then it would probably increase its size. However, Adata’s good price (PLN 349), partially compensates for this drawback.

Take a peek at the other hardware reviews in the category: Reviews and tests