Crucial's zippy X9 portable 2TB SSD is £105 from Amazon right now
A speedy drive in a sensible capacity.
Crucial's X9 portable SSD is one of our favourite external drives available, succeeding the fantastic X8 mid-range choice with even higher speeds and some fantastic value for money. From Amazon at the moment, this 2TB model has been reduced to £105, which is a great price for such a capable drive.
The X9 is rated for speeds of up to 1050MB/s for both reads and writes, giving you a serious amount of power for accessing files on the drive and adding new ones to it. This matches the older X8, which is fantastic considering the X9 is more of the mid-range customer where the X8 was the top of the line choice at the time of its release.
2TB of capacity offers some decent scope for storing a lot of important files on, while a USB-C connection gives you the chance to use the X9 with everything from a Mac or PC to Xbox and PlayStation consoles without a hitch. The only thing to note is that if you pair the X9 with a Xbox Series X/S or PS5, you can't play games directly off the SSD as the consoles treat external drives as 'cold storage'. That means you'd have to load games from the drive to the internal SSD to play them. It's the same for all external drives that are plugged in, not just the X9.
The fact also remains that the X9 is a seriously tiny drive, measuring at just 6.5cm x 5cm x 1cm with regards to its dimensions. It's an easy drive therefore to sling in a bag to take with you. Crucial also rates it to be able to survive drops from up to 2.2 metres in height, making this quite a rugged choice, too.
If you want to grab a seriously powerful and compact portable SSD at a discount, this Amazon deal on the Crucial X9 is fantastic.