Transcend SSD370S 512GB SATA III SSD Review

Introduction

Transcend is a company with a broad portfolio of consumer electronic products ranging from memory cards to body cameras. The SSD370S or 370S as we will refer to it going forward is Transcend's premium SSD product. The drive is powered by a Silicon Motion 2246EN four-channel controller. Despite only four channels, the SMI 2246EN is capable of delivering excellent performance when paired with quality flash. This is why the SMI 2246EN has become today's most prolific third-party SSD controller.

On the flash side, Transcend lets us know that the drive sports an MLC flash array, which we like. We approached Transcend as to the brand of flash they are using because the flash packages utilized are not branded. Transcend chose not to disclose the brand of flash they are using, but we have a pretty good idea. It's 16nm, it's synchronous, so that narrows the field down to Micron. Update: Transcend contacted us after publishing the review and informed us they are packaging their flash in-house using genuine Micron 16nm wafers.

The 370S 512GB SATA III SSD ships as a complete package upgrade for HDD users. Included is a 3.5" to 2.5" adapter and downloadable cloning software, making the transition from a 3.5" HDD to a 2.5" SSD easy for first timers. The 370S 512GB SATA III 2.5" SSD is currently retailing for $180 at Amazon.

Specifications: Transcend SSD370S 512GB SATA III SSD

The 370S SATA III 2.5" x 7mm FF SSD is available in six capacities: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. We could not find any performance specifications for the 370S at Transcend's website, but we did find performance specifications given for the 1TB model on the back of the drives packaging. The performance of the 1TB model is listed at 560 MB/s sequential read, 460 MB/s sequential write. Random performance is listed at 75,000 IOPS for both read and write. Transcend backs the 370S with an industry standard three-year warranty. No TBW is given, but one is implied.