Tuesday, May 16th 2023
SK Hynix Launches the Beetle X31 Portable SSD with Unusual Design
SK Hynix seems to be getting into being a retail brand in the storage market space and its latest addition to its product range looks pretty interesting, in more ways than one. The compact 74 x 46 x 14.8 mm (WxDxH) SSD goes under the name of Beetle X31 and judging by the packaging, it's meant to look like a golden Egyptian scarab, although SK Hynix was clearly not bold enough to follow through with the housing design. Regardless, the small golden puck looks pretty nifty, but it also hides some rather interesting technology under its shell.
Fortunately for us, a Korean YouTuber has already disassembled the drive and based on the specs, it appears to have an ASMedia ASM2362 PCIe 3.0 x2 to USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) bridge chip, which allows the internal NVMe drive to interface with the USB Type-C port on the device. The internal NVMe SSD is also rather intriguing and it'll most likely be found in some other devices. It appears to follow the M.2 2242 form factor, but it's only equipped with a single chip, which is said to house not only the NAND flash, but also the SSD controller and some kind of DRAM, as this is not a DRAM-less SSD. The Beetle X31 will be available in 512 GB and 1 TB sizes, with the 1 TB model retailing for 138,000 Korean won, or around US$103. An optional protective case is also available as an accessory.
Sources:
Quasar Zone, via @harukaze5719 (on Twitter)
Fortunately for us, a Korean YouTuber has already disassembled the drive and based on the specs, it appears to have an ASMedia ASM2362 PCIe 3.0 x2 to USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) bridge chip, which allows the internal NVMe drive to interface with the USB Type-C port on the device. The internal NVMe SSD is also rather intriguing and it'll most likely be found in some other devices. It appears to follow the M.2 2242 form factor, but it's only equipped with a single chip, which is said to house not only the NAND flash, but also the SSD controller and some kind of DRAM, as this is not a DRAM-less SSD. The Beetle X31 will be available in 512 GB and 1 TB sizes, with the 1 TB model retailing for 138,000 Korean won, or around US$103. An optional protective case is also available as an accessory.
10 Comments on SK Hynix Launches the Beetle X31 Portable SSD with Unusual Design
The YouTube video says it's USB 3.2 Gen 2. Can't find a product page, so not sure if the youtuber or TPU has the right USB version.
The chip in question is listed as USB 3.1 Gen 2, which is why I stuck with that.
this 1 chip solution is probably their bc711 oem ssd that comes in 2230-2280 sizes
iow, it's quite good
that's the P3 Plus result ... faster than that Beetle X31 ;) (it's a 4.0 but due to the enclosure same speed limitations ;) )
this is the Arion P1
the SE770G is also around the same speed, all 3 of them are USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, so all three have good performance and one of them is DRAM-less :laugh:
although i like that Beetle X31 formfactor (well it's smaller than the SE770G which is already a compact one ) 1 chip 1tb is nice too (specially if it contain all on one chip ) and the price is not bad at all.