Crucial X10 Review: Micron’s Best USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Portable SSD

The Crucial X10, first announced on May 19 together with the Crucial T710, is Micron’s latest portable SSD. If the name rings a bell, that’s because the company had the Crucial X10 Pro back in late 2023.

So, what’s the point of this new drive?

Despite being very similar to its Pro namesake, the X10 is actually faster and now available in double the storage space, up to 8TB, while remaining the same physically—it’s tiny.

Here’s the bottom line: The new Crucial X10 is not a must-have, but it has enough to be a welcome option among the crowded pool of pre-USB4 portable SSDs. If you need lots of storage space on the go, definitely consider it.

Dong’s note: I first published this post on May 19, 2025, as a preview when the Crucial X10 was announced and updated it to an in-depth review on May 25.

Crucial X10: Double everything of the previous models

That said, this new Crucial X10 doubles the raw specs of the Crucial X9 (and therefore the X9 Pro).

Specifically, it has up to 8TB in capacities and features USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, which has twice the bandwidth at 20Gbps compared to the USB 3.2 Gen 2 of the X9 and X9 Pro. Interestingly, it also has a 6TB version, which is an unusual SSD capacity.

How about the X10 Pro, you might ask? Other than the new 6TB and 8TB options, the new X10 proved to be noticeably faster in my hands-on testing.

On this front, a few years ago, at the time of the X10 Pro, the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 standard was a novelty. Now, in 2025, with USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 drives becoming commonplace, this standard is subdued if not somewhat dated. Still, 20Gbps is plenty fast.

Before we get to the real-world performance, though, let’s take a look at the hardware specs of the two.

Crucial X10 vs. X10 Pro: Hardware specifications

	Crucial X10 Portable SSD	Crucial X10 Pro Portable SSD
Capacity	1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB	1TB, 2TB, 4TB
Part Number	CT1000X10SSD9 (1TB) CT2000X10SSD9 (2TB) CT4000X10SSD9 (4TB) CT6000X10SSD9 (6TB) CT8000X10SSD9 (8TB)	CT1000X10PROSSD902 (1TB) CT2000X10PROSSD902 (2TB) CT4000X10PROSSD902 (4TB)
Internal Storage	NVMe SSD
Product Color	Gray	Black
Dimensions	2.56 x 1.97 x 0.39 in (65 x 50 x 9.91 mm)
Weight	1.48 oz (42 grams)
Write Speed (up to)	2,100 MB/s	2,000 MB/s
Read Speed (up to)	2,100 MB/s
Interface	USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C (20Gb/s)
Compatibility	USB 2.0 and newer
Ruggedness	IP65-rated	IP55-rated
Security	None	Password protection, 256-bit AES hardware encryption
Power Usage	USB Bus-Powered  via a USB-C port
Package Content	The portable SSD USB-C Cable
Supported Platform	Windows, macOS, Android, Linux
Warranty	3-year limited warranty	5-year limited warranty
US Price (at launch)	$119.99 (1TB)  $209.99 (2TB) $329.99 (4TB) $429.99 (6TB) $599.99 (8TB) (Buy now!)	$119.99 (1TB)  $169.99 (2TB) $289.99 (4TB) (Buy now!)

A frill-free portable SSD that’s slightly rugged

As shown in the table above, the new Crucial X10 features IP65 for its ruggedness. That means the drive is dust-tight and is resistant to water jets. Micron says the drive can also survive drops from up to 9.8 feet (≈3 meters).

I did toss the drive around quite a bit, and it survived without issue. Additionally, I intentionally left it inside my jeans’ pocket, and the drive also survived a trip through the laundry process. So, it’s safe to say Micron didn’t overstate its ruggedness. Still, generally, you should handle storage devices with care.

Other than that, the Crucial X10 is a frill-free drive. Out of the box, the Crucial X10, like most portable SSDs, is preformatted in the exFAT file system, meaning it’ll work right away when connected to any popular platform, be it Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android.

The drive has no fancy features or bundled applications, though it does come with a 30-day trial of a few software titles, including Acrobat Pro and Acronis True Image. None is worth the time unless you intend to pay a monthly subscription fee in the future.

That said, overall, the Crucial X10 is a plug-and-play portable SSD with various storage space options. Most importantly, it won’t make you wait if you need to fill it out. The drive proved to be fast in my trial.

Micron Crucial X10: Excellent USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 performance

I tested the Crucial X10 for a week using all USB standards between USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, and it did well.

In fact, it proved to be among the fastest in the crowd of pre-USB4 drives. Most importantly, it was faster than the X10 Pro in almost all scenarios except for read speed using USB 2.0, which is minor.

Despite having no “Pro” in the name, the Crucial X10 performed consistently even during long operation without slowing down. The drive didn’t become hot during my trial. In fact, it barely got warm at all. The lack of excessive heat is always a good thing.

Conclusion

While not earth-shattering, Micron’s new Crucial X10 is an excellent portable SSD in all aspects. It’s currently the most compact drive that can give you up to 8TB of storage space and has the performance to match. Consider one day!