Conclusion
This has been our first look at the ORICO K20 Mini Magnetic Portable SSD, an ultra-thin and ultra-slim external SSD for mobile or those on the go. The ORICO K20Mini offers three different capacities: 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB. Current pricing on Amazon (link in our pricing widget at the bottom) is at $119.99 for the 1TB model we reviewed, and $179.99 for the 2TB model (regular $189.99). The ORICO K20 Mini Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD has a rated performance of up to 2,000MB/s over a USB Type-C 20Gbps interface. It features a strong magnet, a very light and slim profile, and two different color options, gold or silver, and has a 3-year warranty.
In our review today, we put the ORICO K20 Mini 1TB Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD through its paces, testing the performance potential in a controlled test on a desktop PC. In this way, we could see the maximum potential, and compare it with a couple of other USB Type-C 20Gbps external portable SSDs we have previously tested as well. We refreshed all of our data for this review and put all three SSDs up against each other in many different scenarios.
Keep in mind that the use case you intend for the drive will ultimately determine what features you are looking for. The ORICO K20 Mini 1TB Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD, with its magnetic ring, is designed primarily for mobile phone storage expansion, but can also be used on cameras, tablets, notebooks, and laptops as well.
Temperature Testing
We ran some intensive stress testing on the ORICO K20 Mini 1TB Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD, and fired up HWiNFO64 to look at drive temperatures, as well as an external temperature gun. In our intensive 20-minute stress test, HWiNFO64 indicated a maximum temperature of NAND or composite temperature, maxing out at 60c, as the hottest temperature. On the surface of the device, we detected the hottest temperature on the aluminum alloy cover hit 36.8c, and on the back, the hottest temperature detected was 52.4c.
Overall, these temperatures are not bad at all. The ORICO K20 Mini 1TB Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD remains warm to the touch under stress, but not too hot to handle at all. The outer casing seems to dissipate the heat evenly across the device. If you are constantly writing to the device, and it is attached to the back of your phone, it could possibly get warmer than this. However, it would have to get much hotter to thermal throttle, so there seems to be plenty of headroom for it to warm up a bit more and still be ok.
Final Points
In our testing, we found the ORICO K20 Mini 1TB Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD to perform well according to its specs. The ORICO K20Mini’s strength is its sequential read and write performance. When it comes to random read and write performance, the results are mixed, based on the workload that is being asked of it. CrystalDiskMark was the lowest result, showing some very low performance, relative to the other comparable external SSDs. However, this was not always replicated.
In system benchmarks, the ORICO K20 Mini Magnetic Portable SSD did well, with respectable 3DMark and PCMark 10 storage benchmarks. In fact, the ORICO K20Mini had the fastest access time result. In PassMark Performance Test, the ORICO K20Mini was near the top of performance, and this test does take into account random read and write performance into the results. In ATTO, performance was at the top. In file copy tests, we found that small file sizes performed slower, while performance improved the larger the file size grew, with a respectable 10GB and 50GB file copy performance. Where it counts, recording ProRes video file formats, the ORICO K20Mini performed very well, with top-end performance.
Overall, the ORICO K20 Mini 1TB Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD was much faster than the MSI DATAMAG 20Gbps Magnetic Portable SSD in more scenarios than not, and by large margins. The ADATA SC740 gave the ORICO K20Mini some tough competition in terms of performance. However, one thing the ADATA SC740 doesn’t have is the form factor of the ORICO K20Mini and its magnetic personality.
The ORICO K20 Mini 1TB Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD is ultra-thin and designed to fit easily on mobile phones and other mobile devices, while the ADATA SC740 is not. It all comes down to form factor and use cases. The ORICO K20 Mini 1TB Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD is much more compact. We found the magnetic ring to work really well; it holds very tightly on our phone, and the phone feels natural in the hands with it attached.
We were impressed with the ease of use, and the cable is of very high quality for this device. It is just the right length for mobile devices, but could end up being a bit short if you plan to use this device on a desktop PC. The ORICO K20 Mini 1TB Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD is made well and feels like a premium product. If you are looking for some extra storage on the go, check out the ORICO K20 Mini Ultra-thin Magnetic Portable SSD.
