Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/13427/mydigitalssd-pocket-vault-express-pvx-thunderbolt-3-ssd-capsule-review



The emergence of NVMe SSDs in the compact M.2 form-factor, along with the increasing popularity of Thunderbolt 3, has enabled a new class of portable high-performance flash storage devices. Within this product category, we have the premium range using PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs and the budget-friendly options using PCIe 3.0 x2 SSDs. Wallet-friendly choices are emerging, thanks to Phison's 3D TLC-based low-cost reference design. We have already reviewed the Patriot Evlvr in this category. MyDigitalSSD has its own take on this design in the Pocket Vault eXpress (PVX) - adopting the same hardware, while using the firmware from the MyDigitalSSD SBX in the internal SSD. This review presents our in-depth evaluation of the MyDigitalSSD Pocket Vault eXpress (PVX) 1TB version.

Introduction

The MyDigitalSSD PVX is a 90mm x 45mm x 12mm gray-colored external SSD with an aluminum chassis. It sports a single Thunderbolt 3 interface for both power and data. The port is enabled by the Intel JHL 6340 Thunderbolt 3 Controller - note that this belongs to the Alpine Ridge family, and hence, works only with Thunderbolt 3 Type-C ports. On the other side of the JHL6340 is a PCIe 3.0 x4 connection that leads to a M.2 slot capable of accommodating M.2 2260 or 2280 PCIe SSDs. There are no plastic components in the chassis. The chassis also incorporates thermal pads for the the M.2 SSD. Note that the previously evaluated Patriot Evlvr incorporated a thermal pad for the Thunderbolt 3 controller as well. However, that is not present in the PVX.

Despite the main board supporting a PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD, the PVX uses a PCIe 3.0 x2 NVMe SSD. As the photographs in the gallery above show, the SSD uses a Phison PS5008-E8 controller. The stick includes four flash packages (Toshiba BiCS 2 64-layer 3D TLC flash), along with 512MB of DDR3L DRAM.

CrystalDiskInfo provides some insights into the internal SSD

Drive Power Consumption - CrystalDiskMark Workloads

The worst-case power consumption for the PVX 1TB version seems to be around 5.5W, and the device idles around 2.8W. The power consumption peaks are similar to the Patriot Evlvr, but the idling power is a full 1W higher. As such, power-efficiency is not a strong point of the PVX - even the PCIe 3.0 x4 external SSDs consumer less energy at idle.

MyDigitalSSD is known for delivering products with great performance at attractive price points. The PVX is no different. At launch, the product was priced around $40 lower than the Patriot Evlvr. Since then, the prices have tended to fluctuate wildly. The graph and table below present the current scenario for the pricing aspect.

Price per GB

It must be noted that our DIY configuration still delivers the best performance per dollar - the only drawback is that it is not a ready-to-go out of the box solution, and the consumer ends up with a spare 240GB SSD.

Thunderbolt 3 Flash Storage Devices - Pricing
Product Model Number Capacity (GB) Street Price (USD) Price per GB (USD/GB)
DIY TEKQ Rapide - SanDisk Extreme Pro TB3 SSD 1TB N/A 1000 $187 + $290 - $70 = $407 0.407
Patriot Evlvr TB3 SSD 1TB PE1TTB3ECSSDR 1024 $430 0.419
MyDigitalSSD Pocket Vault Express (PVX) 1TB MDTB3-PVX-1T 1024 $452 0.441
Samsung Portable SSD X5 1TB (NTFS) MU-PB1T0B/AM 1000 $700 0.7

Between the Patriot Evlvr and the MyDigitalSSD PVX, the choice is a bit more difficult, as the pricing difference / relative positions in the above table have tended to shift around. Assuming that the cost is not a significant factor, the good performance numbers might tilt it in favor of the PVX, particularly for desktop-only use-cases where the idling power is not an issue. Both devices do not have any hardware encryption capabilities with value-added software like the Samsung X5. However, the pricing makes up for it. The real competition for devices such as the Patriot Evlvr and the MyDigitalSSD PVX comes in the form of bus-powered USB 3.1 Gen 2 to NVMe storage enclosures such as the MyDigitalSSD M2X which deliver equivalent write performance. We will be taking a closer look at the M2X in the coming weeks.

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