BIOSTAR P500 Portable RGB 1TB SSD Review

1. Introduction & Drive Details
2. Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, ATTO & Blackmagic
3. Real-World Testing: PCMark 10 & Transfer Rates
4. Final Thoughts

Introduction & Drive Details

BIOSTAR has a new portable SSD that will appeal to RGB lovers across the globe. The BIOSTAR P500 offers up to 1TB of fast, durable, and stylish storage. The drive has a rugged aluminum body that is EMI/ESD certified. This unique USB 3.2 Gen2 device offers sequential throughput of up to 1,000 MB/s and nearly universal compatibility due to its backward-compatible USB interface.

RGB is a nice feature, and it appeals to a lot of consumers. However, there are times when one needs to be more discrete, and BIOSTAR recognizing this, has added a smart RGB switch. The switch is motion-activated, and when the drive is tilted at a 45-degree angle, RGB is switched off. We like that. We also like that the RGB lighting strips show full RGB color when the SSD is running and automatically switches to "breathing" mode when idle.

Enclosure Details

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We searched but did not find the P500 for sale in the Americas. The drive comes with a Type-C to C cable and a Type-C to A cable, which is nice to see.

Jon's Test System Specifications - Intel NUC 11 Pro

Note: For USB 3.2 Gen2 x2 SSDs, we test on our Z590 system set to match our Intel NUC 11 specs (4.8GHz, 8-threads, DDR4 3200, balanced power plan).

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, ATTO & Blackmagic

CrystalDiskMark

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CDM verifies that the P500 is fully capable of 1 GB/s throughput. Write throughput within the drive's pseudo-SLC layer is checking in at 950 MB/s.

ATTO

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ATTO results demonstrate a good consistent pattern that doesn't show any signs of throttling along the way. Excellent.

Blackmagic

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Blackmagic shows the P500 1TB to be a capable device up to 2160p 30 fps if you should choose to employ it as fast digital video storage.

Real-World Testing: PCMark 10 & Transfer Rates

PCMark 10 Data Drive Benchmark

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We would like to see better results here to be sure.

Transfer Rates

We brutalize our test subjects with our extremely hard-to-swallow 100GB data block. This data block is the same one we use for our internal SSD testing and is composed of more than 62K files. As we see it, this excellent performance when transferring data more than makes up for lower than expected PCM10 results. This is where portable performance matters most, and this is where the P500 delivers. Excellent.

Final Thoughts

With the best RGB implementation we've seen to date for a portable storage device and exceptional transfer rates with wide compatibility across devices, BIOSTAR's P500 has a lot to offer. However, there are a couple of things that give us pause. The first is availability. We could not find the P500 for sale in the Americas yet, so availability is a potential problem for half the globe. The big one for us, though, is BIOSTAR's lack of warranty info. Does it even come with a warranty? We have no idea.

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Pros

• Transfer Rates
• Portability
• RGB

Cons

• Unknown Warranty Terms
• Availability