Introduction
The ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD Storage device is a small, compact, efficient all-in-one external storage drive for portability with a built-in USB Type-C cable that is always attached. The ADATA SC740’s claim to fame is also its 1.22m MIL-STD drop resistance, allowing it to survive accidental drops and jarring for outdoor environments, or people on the go. The ADATA SC740 is a USB 3.2 Gen2 SSD rated at a read/write speeds of up to 1,050MB/s read and 1,000MB/s writes over a 10Gbps Type-C interface. It comes in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities for portable storage.
ADATA is a well-known manufacturer of memory, storage, and computer cases since 2001. Under ADATA’s consumer External SSDs/External Hard Drives, you’ll find many types of external storage with different interface options, capacities, form factors, and performances. Looking at ADATA’s external storage lineup, the “SC” line consists of the SC730, SC740, and SC750, all are USB 3.2 Gen2 10Gbps drives; the SC740 is a new drive. The drives vary by form factor, use case, and performance. The SC740 is among the fastest of the SC series.
ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD
At its heart, the ADATA SC740 has a quoted and rated performance of up to 1,050MB/s read and 1,000MB/s write. It is based on a USB 3.2 Gen2 10Gbps interface, using a Type-C connector. This makes it compatible with devices like game consoles, portable laptops, and even mobile devices like phones with iPhone 16 support, and supports multiple operating systems. It comes in capacities of 500GB, 1TB and 2TB. It has a rugged operating temperature from 5c (41F) up to 50c (122F).
The ADATA SC740 has two unique features, the first is the built-in transfer cable. The Type-C connector cable is always attached to the USB and is stored in a convenient clip on the backside, folded up when not in use. It can be unclipped and provides 5″ (inches) of extension length. The other claim to fame is the fact that the ADATA SC740 meets the MIL-STD-810G 516.6 impact resistance standard to survive accidental drops and jarring. The MIL-STD-810G 516.6 standard means the device has passed drop-testing from a height of 1.22 meters.
On the box, you’ll find the speed rating specified, as well as the interface connection type, which is important, and the capacity. There is also a logo to indicate that this SSD will work with the PS5 and XBOX Series X and S. Free backup software can be downloaded from ADATA that will work with this SSD. Otherwise, inside the box is a simple manual and the drive itself.
The ADATA SC740 is fully plastic and very light at 40g (1.41oz), there isn’t any weight to it. The blue bits on the edges are fully rubberized and take impact force, though the bottom edge is fully plastic; no rubber there on that end. The rubber does make gripping it easier, else it would slip out of your hand since the plastic is very smooth and slippery. The dimensions are: 121.75mm x 40.5mm x 22.3mm (4.8″ x 1.6″ x 0.88″) with the cable folded. The cable tucks in underneath the drive, folded, and clips in. When it is extended, you get 5″ of length.
Above, you can see a screenshot from CrystalDiskInfo. The ADATA SC740 runs utilizing the UASP Serial ATA interface, not NVMe. This is akin to a SATA SSD, though faster since it is running UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) over a USB Type-C 10Gbps interface. The ADATA SC740 was pre-formatted in an exFAT partition with a 128MB reserved partition. We were able to delete partitions, and format into NTFS as well, and it should be noted that exFAT cannot run the TRIM command; you will need to format to NTFS for that functionality.
We are testing the ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD on an ASRock X870E Taichi Motherboard with an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, and the external storage device is connected via the USB4 40Gbps Type-C connector.
Throughput Benchmarks
CrystalDiskMark
In CrystalDiskMark we are achieving a result beyond the quoted and rated performance. In CrystalDiskMark the ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD is providing 2,114MB/s read and 1,849MB/s sequential write performance, despite the drive being quoted and rated at 1,050MB/s read and 1,000MB/s write performance. This performance result exceeds expectations by quite a bit, and really puts it into a good light on performance.
It was shocking to see it so fast; however, the result is true, and we tried it many different ways to verify, as well as on different USB ports. We even searched the web for other SC740 reviews and verified that our result does match other reviews as well, so it seems that the ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD consistently performs faster in CrystalDiskMark sequential testing across the board for all reviews. We aren’t going to complain; faster is always better. In the random performance, we are getting 300MB/s for Q32T16 read and 351MB/s for Q32T16 write. For random Q1T1, we are getting 32MB/s read and 63MB/s write performance.
ATTO
In ATTO, we are hitting a maximum of 1.98GB/s read and 1.71GB/s write, again exceeding the quoted and rated performance, which backs up the CrystalDiskMark results.
System Storage Benchmarks
3DMark
Not that you would use the ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD as a primary gaming SSD, but we went ahead and ran 3DMark’s storage benchmark for the sake of it. The total or overall score was 1,172, which, naturally, is low, as expected. For comparison, the ADATA SE920 scored 2,060. The latency or average access times are quite low as well, for a primary gaming SSD, so we wouldn’t use this for gaming directly off of, but rather for storage.
PCMark 10
The overall PCMark quick system drive benchmark result was 1,068, which is also a low performance number compared to internal M.2 NVMe SSDs, or faster external drives like the ADATA SE920. The ADATA SE920, for example, scored 2,328 in this benchmark. The average access time was 130 here, and the ADATA SC920 was 55, so quite a big difference.
PassMark PerformanceTEST
In PassMark PerformanceTEST Disk Mark, the total score was 13,170, which puts it in the 43% percentile. For this drive, that’s a good score, but compared to an NVMe-level performance from the ADATA SE920, you’ll find that it scores 31,375 in the 80% percentile.
Disk Copy & Gaming
DiskBench
With DiskBench, we will run four different tests. First, we place a 1GB single file onto the test drive. We copy this file from the test drive to a new folder on the test drive, volume to volume. This tests the performance of the drive’s ability to copy a single large file from itself to itself, as if you were copying files on the same drive; it replicates this drive being your primary and only drive. Then we will do the same thing with a 10GB file, a 50GB file, and a 100GB file.
In the screenshots above, the time for file copy is in milliseconds, and we will start with the 1GB file to the very left, then 10GB, then 50GB, and finally 100GB on the very right. The 1GB file copy was very fast, and consistent at less than a second, at 0.977 seconds. The 10GB file copy was also consistent, and took 9.1 seconds at its fastest. Performance does start to really slow down once we hit the 50GB mark on this 1TB SSD, it takes 81 seconds or 1.3 minutes to copy, so that one you really start to feel it now. The 100GB file takes anywhere from 2.7 minutes up to 3.2 minutes, and we start to lose consistency run-to-run.
In the file copy test above, we are copying the large 100GB file from our primary C: drive, which is an internal M.2 NVMe SSD (CORSAIR MP700 PRO with Air Cooler 2TB PCIe Gen5), to the ADATA SC740. In the first screenshot, the ADATA SC740 is formatted in the default partition of exFAT, and we can see that we are indeed hitting the quoted and rated speed of 1.05GB/s, so for this particular copy test, it is not exceeding the speed like CrystalDiskMark showed. In the second screenshot (right), we have re-formatted the drive in NTFS and run TRIM before doing the test. The performance has now increased slightly to 1.10GB/s-1.15GB/s in this file copy, so just a slight increase, but still close to the rated speed.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Benchmark
In Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Benchmark, the average total loading time was 8.682 seconds. If you compare this with the ADATA SE920, it took 6.519 seconds, so the SC740 is slower, but not majorly slower; still, a marked and noticeable difference in performance.
Cooling
The goal of our temperature testing is to push the SSDs as hard as possible by performing a stress test of read and write. We run PerformanceTESTS’s advanced disk benchmark with a 10GB file, set to run each read/write test for 2 iterations, culminating in a 20-minute run. This is not typical usage behavior, but our goal is to find the maximum limits of the cooling. We utilize HWiNFO64 for reporting SSD temperatures.
The ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD reached a maximum temperature of up to 81c according to HWiNFO64, and this tests the internal drive ASIC or composite temperature. While this is quite a warm temperature, the drive has a robust temperature range it can operate within for this build, and we didn’t detect any thermal throttling. The outer case does get quite hot at this temperature. If you are going to be pounding on this SSD with constant writes, we suggest using it in a cool environment. Otherwise, it should work fine outside, on the go, especially in shorter bursts or with smaller file sizes; it won’t have any problem in harsh environments.
ADATA SSD ToolBox
ADATA offers the SSD ToolBox for download, which provides useful information and features for the ADATA SC740. From the main screen, we can see the external SSD’s temperature, drive health, and remaining lifetime, which is really useful information for an external drive. It also has a diagnostic scan function to scan for drive problems. The utility feature allows for a Secure Erase function, great to see, and the ability to check for Firmware Updates. System Optimization allows you to set some Windows optimization commands to improve performance. There is also a built-in benchmark mode. It also includes a CloneDrive function built right in, which is great to see. As we mentioned, Backup software can also be downloaded from ADATA.
Conclusion
The ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD Storage is a small portable SSD that comes in capacities of 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB. It has a rated performance of up to 1,050MB/s sequential read and 1,000MB/s sequential write, for on-the-go performance utilizing a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C 10Gbps connector. This makes it very compatible with the likes of gaming consoles, and mobile devices, as well as, of course, laptops, notebooks, and desktop PCs. It is really the ‘on-the-go’ nature of this SSD that most of its form factor and features are designed for.
The ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD Storage offers an always attached 5″ cable that folds in and clips onto the backside. This makes it compact and able to be stored away very quickly when not in use. Then, you can simply grab it, extend the cable, and plug it into whatever device you need in any environment. The other notable feature is the MIL-STD-810G 516.6 impact resistance standard, allowing it to withstand drops up to 1.22 meters. It has a plastic shell, but rubberized grips.
Final Points
In our performance testing, the ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD Storage device performed extremely well, exceeding its specified performance. In CrystalDiskMark, we experienced speeds twice that of what it says it should be doing, delivering up to 2,114MB/s of read performance, and 1,849MB of sequential write performance, well beyond the 1,050MB/s / 1,000MB/s it says it should be doing. This was also backed up in the ATTO benchmark. Hey, we aren’t complaining, and the result does seem to be consistent with other reviews; it’s just faster, and that’s nice. It also wasn’t a slouch in random performance, though it does suffer more than an NVMe SSD, but we are talking about an SSD that’s closer to SATA in spirit, though utilizing UASP.
In terms of the overall system drive benchmarks, the results were as expected in 3DMark and PCMark 10, as well as PassMark. The ADATA SC740 does perform well for its class, beyond well in fact, but it can’t compare to NVMe-based external SSDs in performance, but that isn’t the point, of course. It did well on the file copy testing, with consistent performance up to about 50GB files in size. Once we reached to the 100GB file size, consistency run-to-run started to diminish, and the drive progressively gets slower on this 1TB capacity drive; the 2TB model would suffer less of this, perhaps up to a larger file size. When copying from a fast NVMe to this drive, we consistently hit the 1.05-1.15GB/s write performance range that was quoted.
The ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD is not going to be utilized as a primary gaming drive, for a DIY desktop PC, but that isn’t its goal anyway. It will, however, work very well for laptop or notebook storage on the go, or mobile phone devices, as well as a gaming console extra storage if needed, but we wouldn’t primarily use it for that.
We found that the ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD does seem to have what it needs to perform in more extreme outdoor environments, or areas where things might get dropped or shuffled around a lot. Our only gripe is the plastic nature of the SSD. While the rubberized bits feel nice, the rest of it feels a bit hollow, light, and well, plastic-y; it really could use a little more weight to it. The ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD is the kind of drive you don’t have to worry about damaging as much if you move around a lot, or are constantly storing and bringing out devices while you are on the move.
If you are in the market for a compact, efficient little drive for external storage and need that robustness, with performance for quick storage, give the ADATA SC740 1TB External SSD Storage device a look.