ADATA SE900G 1TB RGB External SSD Review

SE900G – A Seriously Fast Portable SSD with RGB

The USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 interface looks like it is preparing to take off in 2021. Intel has integrated USB 3.2 Gen 22 into their Intel Z590, H570, and B560 chipsets and those boards are starting to enter the market. Chances are the next PC that you buy or build may have one of these connections as it is also offered on many AMD platforms. This is a good thing as SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps speeds will allow you to transfer data to external drives at over 2 GB/s (2000 MB/s) speeds!

ADATA recently introduced their SE900G RGB external solid state drive (SSD) and it features a Type-C port that utilizes the USB3.2 Gen 2×2 interface. It boasts sequential read/write speeds of up 2000 MB/s and a front panel featuring RGB lighting. ADATA says the SE900G is up to 25 times faster than a traditional external hard drive!

ADATA’s SE900G RGB external drive series is being heavily targeted at gamers as it will allow you to store more of your game collection locally. It will then load them up faster than a traditional external hard drive when you’re ready to play them. But, at the end of the day it is an SSD and you can use it in pretty much and device that has a USB port with whatever data you’d like to put on it.

ADATA sent over the SE900G 1TB model to review that is sold under part number ASE900G-1TU32G2-CBK. Street pricing on the SE900G 1TB drive when we did this review was $159.99 shipped (buy at Amazon). If you need more storage space you can also find a 2TB model that runs $289.99 shipped (buy at Amazon). That puts pricing in the $0.14 per GB to $0.16 per GB range.

Inside the box you’ll find a USB 3.2 Type-C to Type-C cable, USB 3.2 Type-C to Type-A cable, quick start guide, and finally the the drive itself.

The ADATA SE900G Portable NVMe SSD measures 4.36″ x 2.60″ x 0.65″ and our 1TB sample tipped the scaled at 160 Grams without the cable. The enclosure feels sturdy and this drive comes with a standard 3-year warranty.

On the back of the ADATA SE900G you’ll find the usual regulatory information, part number, serial number, capacity, place of manufacturer and so on. Other than that the back is smooth as there are no rubber anti-skid pads found on the back.

The USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type C connector is located along the bottom edge of the SE900G. All the power for this external drive is bus-powered, so no external power source is needed. USB 3.2 2×2 devices are backwards compatible with all existing USB ports, but will operate at lower operating speeds.

Console gamers will be happy to know that the SE900G works on the Sony PS5 and Microsoft XBox Series X|S consoles. It also works on Android, macOS, and Windows. This means you’ll be able to store your favorite games, videos, photos, music or whatever else you’d like with ease!

Along the bottom edge of the drive we noticed the black finish was chipped on the metal housing. This won’t impact performance, but we can see silver metal peaking out on our otherwise blacked out drive.

We couldn’t easily get inside the SE900G and didn’t want to mess up the RGB cover, so we won’t be taking a look inside. ADATA PR said that it likely used the XPG SX6000 Pro PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 SSD inside. That SSD uses the Realtek RTS5763DL controller and is paired with Micron 64L 3D TLC NAND Flash memory. The XPG SX6000 Pro 1TB by itself is $102.99 shipped over at Amazon.

Once the ADATA SE900G is connected to a USB port the RGB lighting turns on and it looks amazing. The checkered pattern covers about 75% of the top of the drive and gets people asking about the drive. Our friends over at ADATA USA let us know that the RGB lighting is not customizable as there is no controller to handle such customizations. This means you can’t turn the RGB lights off! If you hate RGB lights or want them off at night, then this might be a deal breaker.

Here is a good video that ADATA did that gives a quick overview of the SE900G RGB External SSD!

Let’s move along and see how this drive actually performs!