Crucial CT1000X9SSD9 X9 1TB Portable USB-C SSD

The first thing that caught my attention about this external SSD was its physical size. At 2.5” x 2”, this is easily the smallest SSD I have ever owned. It's just the right size to fit comfortably in your hand and slip into your bag or pocket without any fuss. I can now carry my essential data around without feeling like I'm lugging a brick, which is definitely a win in my book.But don't let its size fool you; it packs a lot of power into this small package. When paired with a high-performance PC, the manufacturer was able to achieve disk speeds of 1050 MB/s. On my mid-tier MacBook, I consistently achieved read and write speeds between 800-900 MB/s in my disk speed test program with the SSD formatted in exFAT, which was still very impressive. In a real-world test, ... MoreThe first thing that caught my attention about this external SSD was its physical size. At 2.5” x 2”, this is easily the smallest SSD I have ever owned. It's just the right size to fit comfortably in your hand and slip into your bag or pocket without any fuss. I can now carry my essential data around without feeling like I'm lugging a brick, which is definitely a win in my book.But don't let its size fool you; it packs a lot of power into this small package. When paired with a high-performance PC, the manufacturer was able to achieve disk speeds of 1050 MB/s. On my mid-tier MacBook, I consistently achieved read and write speeds between 800-900 MB/s in my disk speed test program with the SSD formatted in exFAT, which was still very impressive. In a real-world test, I managed to transfer a hefty 50GB of ProTools sessions in just about 2 minutes.The matte black finish gives it a touch of sophistication without being overly flashy. One unexpected yet practical design feature is the lanyard hole, addressing the real risk of misplacing or dropping it due to its small size.As someone who misses the expandable microSD storage on my previous smartphone, the Crucial X9 provides a straightforward plug-and-play solution for transferring files and backing up my Android phone by directly connecting to its USB-C port. It's great to have a physical backup option instead of always having to rely on cloud-based solutions.In summary, the Crucial X9 2TB External USB-C SSD has made managing my digital life easier. Whether you're a tech enthusiast or just an average person looking for a reliable external drive, this fast, small, and user-friendly SSD is the way to go.

The Crucial X9 2 TB SSD Portable hard drive is a very reliable, inexpensive, easy to use and compact means of backing up your precious files, photos, videos and music from all of your primary devices. It is an essential accessory which can be used in an automatic or manual (batch) mode to very rapidly create backups of your data and preserve them against loss or corruption. It utilizes solid state NAND memory which is much faster and far more reliable than physical hard drive technology.Crucial is a line of DRAM and flash memory products produced by Micron Technology, Inc. Micron was founded in Boise, Idaho in 1978 as a four person semiconductor design company. In 1980 Micron built its first fabrication plant, producing its first product, a 64K DRAM in 1981. It ... MoreThe Crucial X9 2 TB SSD Portable hard drive is a very reliable, inexpensive, easy to use and compact means of backing up your precious files, photos, videos and music from all of your primary devices. It is an essential accessory which can be used in an automatic or manual (batch) mode to very rapidly create backups of your data and preserve them against loss or corruption. It utilizes solid state NAND memory which is much faster and far more reliable than physical hard drive technology.Crucial is a line of DRAM and flash memory products produced by Micron Technology, Inc. Micron was founded in Boise, Idaho in 1978 as a four person semiconductor design company. In 1980 Micron built its first fabrication plant, producing its first product, a 64K DRAM in 1981. It became a public company in 1984 and that same year produced a 256K DRAM, followed by a 1 MB DRAM in 1987. Crucial was created in 1996 to sell memory upgrades to end-users. Later Micron acquired Texas Instruments’ memory business and Toshiba’s DRAM operations. In 2002 Micron created the first 1 GB DDR DRAM, then in 2004 the first 2 GB NAND flash memory product. Micron Technology continued to make acquisitions, including Lexar Media, and today has annual sales of $16 billion.Here are the key features of this great backup tool:• Crucial X9 2.0 Terabyte portable external solid state hard drive (SSD) (Model: CT2000X9SSD9)• USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 GB/sec) interface and power source, USB 2.0 compatible• Up to 1,050 MB/sec data transfer rate• Utilizes Micron 176 level 3D QLC NAND• Endurance: 1,000+ write cycles• Drop-proof up to 7 feet• Highly resistant to shock, vibration and extreme temperatures• Music capacity: Approximately 11,000 albums (240,000 songs) at high quality compression• Video capacity: Approximately 240 hours of HD video• Matt black ABS plastic case• 9.5 inch USB-C to USB-C connection cable• Very Compact: 2.0 x 2.5 x 0.4 inches• Featherweight: 1.6 ounces (including cable)• Lanyard hole (no lanyard included)• Includes Acronis True Image software for backing up and cloning drive• Also includes one month trial of Mylio Photos for photo organizing and one month trial to Adobe Acrobat Pro software• Three year limited warrantyThe Crucial X9 is very tiny, much smaller than a conventional external drive (see photo comparison with a standard 2 TB drive next to the X9). The SSD is an attractive little package in matte black with glossy edges. But more importantly, it seems solid and should give good protection for the drive. Crucial states that the X9 drive can survive a 7 foot drop and is resistant to shock, vibration and temperature extremes.Most users really don’t understand how fragile a conventional hard drive can be. They consist of a set of magnetic platters rotating at high rate (usually 5400 RPM or higher) with a set of pickup arms moving across their surface to read the data and transfer it. While hard drives are somewhat shock resistant, a hard jolt can actually cause the arm to contact the platter surface and permanently damage the drive. That is why laptops frequently have hard drive failures – users casually bump them, drop them or otherwise abuse them. Solid State Drives (SSD) are immune to this kind of damage.Use of this Crucial external drive could not be easier. Just attach the included USB connection cord, plug it into a USB C port on your computer and look for a drive labeled “Crucial X9.” The connection cable provides the power for the drive. The included Acronis and trial software is on the SSD and there is a link to register the drive’s warranty with Crucial. I suggest that you copy all files to a folder on your PC. Then reformat the X9 to use the NTFS file system. This is a quick process and will enable you to store larger files on the SSD.While the Acronis backup software will do a nice job of backing up your hard drive, I suggest that you follow a simple manual procedure which is reliable and fool-proof.First, download a copy of the free Belarc Advisor software. It will create a detailed inventory of your programs and hardware, but most significantly, it will record the software license keys needed to reinstall some software (such as the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office.) Save this as a PDF with the date in the file name.Next, create a new folder on the Crucial X9, labeled with the name of your computer and the date. Find the “Users” folder in the C drive and drag the subfolders (Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Videos, Music, etc.) it over to that new folder on the SSD. That will copy all of your personal files and key hidden files (like the PST file used by Outlook to store emails, calendar and contacts.). Don’t bother copying your programs or the Windows files since if your PC fails, you will need to reinstall all of them. But the list of programs in the Belarc PDF will tell you what you need to reinstall. The more important files are your personal documents, photos, music, videos, etc. You might also make a practice of creating a copy of any of your downloaded software into a separate subfolder in your Users folder. That will make it easier to recover.Do the above procedure as often as you feel necessary. I suggest once every three months for each of your computers for all of your User files. Keep the two most recent backups and (if you wish) delete the older backups.But here is the most important piece of advice I can give: Don’t assume that your backup folder is safe on just one backup hard drive! Buy a second Crucial X9 and make a second backup of your precious files on it. If you are really paranoid (or just very safety conscious) store that second external hard drive in your safe deposit box or at a storage facility. That will protect it in the event of theft or fire destroying your PC and your on-site backup hard drive.How long does it take to back up all of your files? The Music folder on my primary computer is 42.191 GB and it took just 138 seconds to copy it to the Crucial X9. That was an average data transfer rate of about 305.7 MB/second. Keep in mind that data transfer rates will vary based upon your own computer’s processor, RAM and hard drive, but you can assume that it will take about 10 minutes in most cases and you can keep using your PC while the backup is proceeding. By the way, if you have an older PC which does not have USB-C ports and has only USB 2.0 ports, the backup process will still work, but it will take much longer (10X-20X) as long for the data transfer to take place. You will also need to use a USB-C to USB-A cable (which is not included with the Crucial X9, but readily available.)For comparison, I copied that same Music folder over to a standard 2GB external HDD, connected to a 3.2 USB Type A port. That port is about half as fast (10 GB/sec vs 20 GB/sec) as a USB Type C port. The copy process took 4,086 seconds – an average transfer rate of just 10.3 MB/second. The older style HDD took about 30 times as long as the Crucial X9!Are there any drawbacks to SSD technology? Theoretically, the NAND memory cells have a limited number of write/erase cycles. Each time the cell is erased to store new data an oxide layer necessary for operation is slightly eroded. Eventually the data in the cell cannot be changed. At that point the drive will still allow access to the stored data but it cannot be changed. For the type of memory used in the Crucial X9 the maximum number of write cycles is about 1,000. However, no user is likely to ever hit that number of write cycles in normal use. It would mean writing and erasing about 2,000 terabytes of data on the same Crucial X9. That would mean backing up your PC and replacing that backup about 5,000 times since a full backup would be about 400 GB of data. That would never happen!The Crucial X9 is very rugged – you can drop it, shake it, store it in a hot attic or an unheated garage – and it will still function perfectly. It is ideal for long-term storage of your precious data.Bottom line: Don’t hesitate; buy a pair of these Crucial X9 2.0 TB drives! It is a bargain at a price of about $50 per TB, is made by a premier semiconductor manufacturer, could not be easier to use and will ensure that you will always have a reliable copy of your irreplaceable photos, videos, documents and all of the other essential elements of your personal history. But after you buy it, make sure that you use it every few months to create a full backup of your files. Someday you will be very grateful that you did so!

This Crucial X9 is a very nice option for additional storage as it seems like our files are ever growing with photos, videos, games and documents. Routinely, it seems like we keep getting a warning that our cloud storage needs upgraded. Well, no longer with this as we’re now expanding our storage and backup capabilities with this 2TB SSD and saving the added fees of cloud storage.Crucial supplies a USB-C to USB-C cable for connectivity to multiple devices that include Macs, PCs, mobile phones, tablets and gaming consoles. There is also an adapter available from Crucial should you need to connect to a legacy USB-A port. The X9 is an upgrade for us as it is much smaller in size than our previous external storage which is great for portability. Even better is that we ... MoreThis Crucial X9 is a very nice option for additional storage as it seems like our files are ever growing with photos, videos, games and documents. Routinely, it seems like we keep getting a warning that our cloud storage needs upgraded. Well, no longer with this as we’re now expanding our storage and backup capabilities with this 2TB SSD and saving the added fees of cloud storage.Crucial supplies a USB-C to USB-C cable for connectivity to multiple devices that include Macs, PCs, mobile phones, tablets and gaming consoles. There is also an adapter available from Crucial should you need to connect to a legacy USB-A port. The X9 is an upgrade for us as it is much smaller in size than our previous external storage which is great for portability. Even better is that we no longer have the concern of our traditional hard disk drive incurring a failure due to it having moving and spinning parts. The X9 is shock, vibration, extreme temperature and drop proof up to 6.5 feet.We’re appreciating the fast file transfers with read speeds up to 1,050MB/s. Even gamers will appreciate how fast this SSD is and the Crucial reputation for durability and quality will ensure one’s storage remains safe and accessible as they additionally stand behind the product with a 3-year warranty. This particular X9 2TB is a good value given its speed, quality and size, but there are additional pro model options and varying storage sizes should your need be somewhat different.Password protection can be utilized on the Crucial X9 via use of builit-in operating system tools such as Microsoft Bitlocker To Go or Apple’s Filevault. If the drive password is associated with your Windows or MacOS account these tools will also allow one to recover drive data should your password be lost.