EX400U: Corsair’s fast USB4 SSD is very compact 11 comments
Image: Corsair
External SSDs are also getting faster. The still rarely used USB4 interface is introduced at Corsair in the form of the EX400U, which reads data at a maximum of 4,000 MB/s. The compact format offers up to 4 TB of storage space. Thanks to MagSafe compatibility, the SSD can be connected directly to the iPhone.
External SSDs with USB4 are still relatively new and rarely found. Adata had announced such data storage media years ago with the SE920, but it wasn’t available until fall 2023. SanDisk followed suit a year later with the Extreme Pro with USB4 in last November and OWC also offers USB4 SSDs.
Corsair is now also among the pioneers, because even storage giants like Micron or Samsung do not yet have such a product in their portfolio.
The characteristics of the Corsair EX400U
The Corsair EX400U can read data sequentially at up to 4,000 MB/s and write sequentially at up to 3,600 MB/s. This would be a bit faster than Adata or SanDisk, both of which promise a maximum of 3,800 MB/s /s. It remains to be seen whether the promised transfer rates will also be possible in the long term. The issue of cooling plays a very important role in this performance class, even though SSD controllers operate more and more efficiently.
To operate the EX400U on a PC, Mac, or mobile device, all you need is the included USB-C cable, which also provides power delivery. Compatibility with Thunderbolt 4, but also with slower USB standards, is always guaranteed. Even if the exact dimensions are not yet available, the EX400U appears significantly more compact than the solutions from Adata and SanDisk.
Thanks to the support of Apple’s MagSafe standard For example, the SSD can be magnetically locked to an iPhone 15 or newer model. MagSafe can now also be used on Android smartphones with special cases. The USB4 SSD can be used directly on the smartphone as a fast storage expansion and can record high-resolution videos directly.
Price and availability
The EX400U USB4 external SSD is expected to be available directly from Corsair and at retailers on January 23, 2025 in storage capacities of 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. The manufacturer has not yet announced pricing.
The editorial team received information about this article from Corsair under NDA. The only requirement was the earliest possible release date.
Topics: CES 2025 Corsair Flash Memory USB4 SSD Storage Source: Corsair
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