VisionTek mSATA mini to USB 3.0 Adapter Review

TweakTown's Rating: 86%

The Bottom Line

If you're in the market for a DIY storage solution, the VisionTek mSATA adapter is a great way to go about building your storage to fit your needs.

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There is no doubt the portable storage market is growing at a very rapid pace. Fuelling this movement, SSD technology has enabled smaller more energy efficient devices, and has allowed higher performance via USB 3.0.

VisionTek may not be known for its storage prowess, most of us know them for being a vendor of AMD Radeon video cards. As of late, VisionTek has expanded and started offering competing solutions in the storage and memory spaces. One product they have begun offering is the mSATA to USB 3.0 adapter.

This adapter allows you to repurpose or build your own portable bus-powered storage solution by using a single mSATA SSD of your choice. Compatibility of the mSATA adapter extends to Windows XP and higher, OS X 10.4+ and Linux.

MSRP of the VisionTek mSATA Adapter is listed at $29.99 with a three-year warranty.

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Packaging for the mSATA mini encases the adapter in plastic. We have a view of the enclosure with features listed above.

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Scope of delivery includes the enclosure, USB cable, and small screwdriver with screws.

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The enclosure itself carries a very small footprint, not much bigger than an mSATA SSD.

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Here you can see the adapter itself. The mSATA slot needs no screws to hold the SSD, as it uses a retaining mechanism.

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The VisionTek mSATA adapter utilizes the ASMedia 1053 USB 3.0 controller, one of the best on the market.

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To test the VisionTek mSATA adapter, we installed a 128GB Toshiba THNSNF mSATA SSD. As you can see, the adapter almost allowed us to max out USB 3.0 in both read and write, but alas, we touched 433 MB/s read and 393 MB/s write.

The VisionTek mSATA adapter is a great device for anyone wanting to repurpose an mSATA SSD or build a very portable storage solution. Build quality is great, with the enclosure made of metal adding durability, and it's remarkably easy to use.

Performance of the adapter was rather impressive, as I stated above, we almost maxed out USB 3.0 in read and write. Read performance topped out at 433 MB/s, while write performance fell just below 400 MB/s.

With an MSRP of just $29.99, the VisionTek mSATA adapter is one of the most cost effective solutions for adding portable storage to your arsenal, especially if you already have the mSATA drive.

PRICING: You can find the VisionTek Products 2.5-Inch mSATA Mini USB 3.0 Bus-Powered SSD Enclosure for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The VisionTek Products 2.5-Inch mSATA Mini USB 3.0 Bus-Powered SSD Enclosure retails for $29.17 at Amazon.

Canada: The VisionTek Products 2.5-Inch mSATA Mini USB 3.0 Bus-Powered SSD Enclosure retails for CDN$31.50 at Amazon Canada.

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