Review ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 External SSD

USB 3.0 SSD. SSDs are especially appropriate as robust and fast external media. With the SE720, ADATA offers an external 128 GB SSD with an elegant metal chassis. The following article will reveal how well the device performed in our review.

Klaus Hinum, ✓ Stefanie Voigt (translated by Martina Osztovits), Published 03/19/2014 🇩🇪

Storage

For the original German review, see here.

Solid State Drives also have their place as external media storage: fast access times, robustness, compact size and silent operation are big advantages. The only disadvantage is their steep price compared to conventional HDDs in external cases.

The ADATA SE720 is a relatively cheap external SSD with 128 GB in an elegant metal case. We liked the simple appearance and its straight design. But, unfortunately the surface is very prone to fingerprints and looks ugly quickly. The included padded plastic bag will solve this problem. The SSD can remain in the case if it is only used for a short time and the lining gives extra protection during carrying. However, we won't recommend using the drive in the bag for a long time since waste heat could have a negative impact on the lifetime of the drive.

Otherwise, ADATA only includes a small information sheet and a cable for connecting the USB 3.0 Micro B plug on the SSD to a standard USB 2.0 /3.0 type A interface.

The stability of the case is good and only yields slightly under strong pressure in its center. It seems the SSD is well prepared for all kinds of transport with the bag.

With 104 grams without cable and bag, the SSD is also very light compared to external HDDs. E.g. the HD 650 weighs 176 grams, and a 2 TB WD My Passport even reaches a high weight of 231 grams.

ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 External SSD

SandForce SF-2281VB2-SPC controller
29F32B08NCME2
USB 3.0 (5 V powered via USB)
5 °C to 50 °C operating temperature
3 years limited warranty
117 x 79 x 8.9 mm
110 grams (manufacturer's information), 104 grams without cable, 128 grams with cable, 145 grams with cable and bag
128 GB capacity (gross)
ADATA Sync Software and Backup button on the SSD (did not work in our test with the S413)

Case

Opening the case of the SSD requires puttering around with several spudgers/screwdrivers on the surrounding plastic frame. Unfortunately, damaging the outer frame cannot be avoided, since the two metal sides are not only hooked but also fixed with an adhesive pad.

Inside, we finally find the familiar SandForce SF-2281VB2-SPC controller with four NAND chips called 29F32B08NCME2 from Intel. A VLI VL711 USB 3.0 SATA bridge is used for transferring SATA commands to USB.

Performance

We primarily tested the SE720 on a Schenker S413 via USB 3.0 port (directly on the Intel Haswell chipset) and Windows 8.

Sequential Data Transfer Rates

The sequential data transfer rates are close to the internal ADATA SP900 SSD's, which also uses a SandForce controller. However, it performs significantly worse than the internal high-end Samsung SSD 840 Pro SSD. But, the HDD DashDrive HD650, the internal HDD in the Lenovo B590 (Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0) and even the old SSD 320 are left behind.

AS SSD
Seq Write (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	184 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	498 MB/s +171%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	208.4 MB/s +13%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	221 MB/s +20%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	110.2 MB/s -40%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	87.8 MB/s -52%
Seq Read (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	349 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	513 MB/s +47%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	502 MB/s +44%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	165 MB/s -53%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	111.2 MB/s -68%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	100.4 MB/s -71%

CrystalDiskMark 3.0
Write Seq (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	192 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	513 MB/s +167%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	237 MB/s +23%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	230 MB/s +20%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	117 MB/s -39%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	101.6 MB/s -47%
Read Seq (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	355 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	531 MB/s +50%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	497 MB/s +40%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	277 MB/s -22%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	117 MB/s -67%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	105 MB/s -70%
Read 512 (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	361 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	471 MB/s +30%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	439.5 MB/s +22%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	180 MB/s -50%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	42.7 MB/s -88%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	33.93 MB/s -91%
Write 512 (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	191 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	501 MB/s +162%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	234.2 MB/s +23%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	219 MB/s +15%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	20.9 MB/s -89%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	45.67 MB/s -76%

ATTO Disk Benchmark
8192KB read (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	363569 KB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	560538 KB/s +54%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	284359 KB/s -22%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	116711 KB/s -68%
8192KB write (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	386238 KB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	468882 KB/s +21%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	230912 KB/s -40%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	113985 KB/s -70%

Legend

ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 USB 3.0

Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop Intel Core i7-2600K, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470, Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB MZ7PD256HAFV-0Z000

ADATA SP900 256 GB , ,

Intel SSD 320 Desktop Intel Core i7-2600K, AMD Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5, Intel SSD 320 Series SSDSA2CW300G310

ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 USB 3.0

Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE Intel Core i3-3110M, Intel HD Graphics 4000, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0 12-9WS142

4k Performance

While the external SSD performs significantly worse than the internal models in random access to 4 KB files, it is still significantly faster than HDD models.

AS SSD
4K Read (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	15.5 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	32.3 MB/s +108%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	18 MB/s +16%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	18.7 MB/s +21%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	0.48 MB/s -97%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	0.45 MB/s -97%
4K Write (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	25.6 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	73.5 MB/s +187%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	57 MB/s +123%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	34.4 MB/s +34%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	0.2 MB/s -99%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	0.73 MB/s -97%
4K-64 Read (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	19.3 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	381 MB/s +1874%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	191 MB/s +890%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	135 MB/s +599%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	0.41 MB/s -98%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	0.89 MB/s -95%
4K-64 Write (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	26 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	329 MB/s +1165%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	177 MB/s +581%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	61 MB/s +135%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	0.2 MB/s -99%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	0.66 MB/s -97%

CrystalDiskMark 3.0
Read 4k (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	21.7 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	35.7 MB/s +65%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	29.18 MB/s +34%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	21 MB/s -3%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	0.51 MB/s -98%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	0.411 MB/s -98%
Write 4k (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	27.2 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	88.9 MB/s +227%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	59.1 MB/s +117%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	40.2 MB/s +48%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	0.27 MB/s -99%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	0.753 MB/s -97%
Read 4k QD32 (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	18.8 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	402 MB/s +2038%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	185.8 MB/s +888%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	142 MB/s +655%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	0.57 MB/s -97%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	0.419 MB/s -98%
Write 4k QD32 (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	27.4 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	370 MB/s +1250%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	231.7 MB/s +746%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	70.8 MB/s +158%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	0.27 MB/s -99%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	0.735 MB/s -97%

Legend

ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 USB 3.0

Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop Intel Core i7-2600K, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470, Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB MZ7PD256HAFV-0Z000

ADATA SP900 256 GB , ,

Intel SSD 320 Desktop Intel Core i7-2600K, AMD Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5, Intel SSD 320 Series SSDSA2CW300G310

ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 USB 3.0

Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE Intel Core i3-3110M, Intel HD Graphics 4000, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0 12-9WS142

Copy Performance

We tested the copy performance with the AS SSD test with the same name. Several drives show significantly different results in multiple runs. Overall, the SE720 ranks in slightly behind the old SATA 2 SSD Intel 320. External as well as internal hard drives perform much worse. So, those copying big amounts of data will save a lot of time with the SE720. A difference of 15 seconds versus 104 seconds in the program copy test (SE720 vs. HD650) is huge.

The SE720 also performed well in our real-life copy test with 24.6 GB of video files. 110 MB/s in writing and 230 MB/s in reading are very good results.

AS SSD
Copy Game MB/s (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	107.4 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	269 MB/s +150%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	364.9 MB/s +240%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	116 MB/s +8%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	17.3 MB/s -84%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	32.47 MB/s -70%
Copy Program MB/s (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	96.6 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	222 MB/s +130%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	172.7 MB/s +79%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	97 MB/s 0%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	13.5 MB/s -86%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	24.75 MB/s -74%
Copy ISO MB/s (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	111.7 MB/s
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	429 MB/s +284%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	340.5 MB/s +205%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	134 MB/s +20%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	19.1 MB/s -83%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	21.09 MB/s -81%

Legend

ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 USB 3.0

Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop Intel Core i7-2600K, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470, Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB MZ7PD256HAFV-0Z000

ADATA SP900 256 GB , ,

Intel SSD 320 Desktop Intel Core i7-2600K, AMD Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5, Intel SSD 320 Series SSDSA2CW300G310

ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 USB 3.0

Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE Intel Core i3-3110M, Intel HD Graphics 4000, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0 12-9WS142

Access times

The USB interface also has an impact on the access times. Compared to the ADATA SP900 the difference is not big and the two drives are even on par in writing. As expected, hard drives perform much worse.

AS SSD
Access Time Read (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	0.275 ms *
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	0.056 ms * +80%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	0.201 ms * +27%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	0.072 ms * +74%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	17.3 ms * -6191%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	19.38 ms * -6947%
Access Time Write (sort by value)
ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720	0.232 ms *
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop	0.046 ms * +80%
ADATA SP900 256 GB	0.251 ms * -8%
Intel SSD 320 Desktop	0.102 ms * +56%
ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650	19.5 ms * -8305%
Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE	34.05 ms * -14577%

Legend

ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 USB 3.0

Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB Desktop Intel Core i7-2600K, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470, Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB MZ7PD256HAFV-0Z000

ADATA SP900 256 GB , ,

Intel SSD 320 Desktop Intel Core i7-2600K, AMD Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5, Intel SSD 320 Series SSDSA2CW300G310

ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 USB 3.0

Lenovo B590 MBX2JGE Intel Core i3-3110M, Intel HD Graphics 4000, Seagate Momentus Thin ST500LT0 12-9WS142

* ... smaller is better

Performance of Compressible Data

Dependence on compressibility of date is typical for SSDs based on SandForce. The better data can be compressed, the higher the write rates since the controller automatically compresses all write commands. So, the result of the AS SSD compression benchmark ranges from 170 to 350 MB/s in writing. As expected, the read rate remains constant. This is also evident in other benchmarks. AS SSD and CrystalDiskMark use rather poorly compressible data. So, the result is quite low, while the ATTO result of up to 377 MB/s is relatively high.

PCMark 8 Storage

Finally, we ran the Storage Test of PCMark 8 on the external SSD. The OS system remained on the internal Intel SSD 525 mSATA SSD of the Schenker S413. With 4649 points and 95.6 MB/s, the ADATA SSD achieved an impressive result. However, the difference between the slow SATA 2 Samsung SSD 470 and the fast 840 Pro is also relatively low in this test.

PCMark 8 - Storage Score (sort by value)
ADATA SE720	4649 Points
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB	4983 Points +7%
Samsung 470 256 GB	4732 Points +2%
Intel 525 180 GB	4892 Points +5%
Hitachi Travelstar Z7K500 HDD	2138 Points -54%

Legend

ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 USB 3.0

Desktop GTX 680, Intel Core i7-2600K Intel Core i7-2600K, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB MZ7PD256HAFV-0Z000

Asus F2A85-V Desktop, 16 GB DDR3-2133 AMD A10-6800K, AMD Radeon HD 8670D, Samsung SSD 470 Series MZ-5PA256/EU

SCHENKER S413 Intel Core i7-4750HQ, Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200, Intel SSD 525 Series SSDMCEAC180B3

Toshiba Tecra A50-A-12Z Intel Core i5-4300M, NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M, Hitachi Travelstar Z7K500 HTS725050A7E630

Verdict

The ADATA External SSD SE720 is a robust and silent external storage solution. Our tests prove that it is significantly faster than external hard drives. Although the drive cannot reach the claimed rate of 400 MB/s in writing (best result: 387 MB/s in the ATTO 512 test), the results are very good and partly reach slow internal SSDs'.

So, the SE720 is especially suitable for users copying big amounts of data. The current street price of the 128 GB model is alright, but it is certainly much higher than that of external hard drives.

In our opinion, the only weakness is the included ADATA Sync Software, which could not find the SSD in our test model in our test.

The ADATA SE720 is currently available from 109 Euro at Amazon.de.

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Editor of the original article: Klaus Hinum - Founder, CTO - 2983 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2005

I am one of the founders of Notebookcheck. My primary focus is on articles about new CPU and GPU technology. With my scientific background (Ph.D. in computer science) I try to put facts before feelings in my work. I have been writing and working for Notebookcheck since 2005.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Archive of our own reviews > Review ADATA DashDrive Elite SE720 External SSD

Klaus Hinum, 2014-03-19 (Update: 2021-05-18)