Package

The Drive

The Kingston XS2000 is really compact, much smaller than most other external SSDs we've tested so far.


The outer shell of the XS2000 is made out of plastic. Kingston combined black with silvery highlights to create the impression of a metal case.


Also included in the package is a rubber sleeve, which is required to achieve the IP55 resistance rating. The first "5" in IP55 stands for "dust protected"—"Ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment." No surprise there, dust really doesn't affect the operation of an SSD anyway. The second "5" stands for "Water jets"—"Water projected by a nozzle (6.3 mm (0.25 in)) against enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects." This one is more interesting, but not a big surprise considering the rubber sleeve is required for such protection in the first place.

Internally, the drive doesn't have any liquid protection, no seals or rubber gaskets.


A single USB-C port lets you connect to the drive. A blue activity indicator is located right next to the USB-C port.

Disassembly

The drive uses a clipping mechanism to hold the two sides together. Opening the SSD without breaking the little clips or leaving marks on the plastic will be almost impossible.


On the SSD, we find four NAND chips and the SSD controller. A DRAM cache is not available.


We don't know the exact specifications of these flash chips, only that they are 3D TLC NAND.


The Silicon Motion SM2320G is a brand-new design that combines the USB interface and SSD controller logic into a single processor. It uses four channels to connect to the flash chips and has support for QLC and TLC NAND.