The Silicon Power MS70 emerges as a contender in the high-capacity, high-performance UFD segment, offering competitive pricing and technical capabilities. As one of the first reasonably-priced 2TB thumb drives, it stands out in a market traditionally focused on well-established specifications.
Silicon Power has introduced a new line of flash storage products designed for beginners. In October 2023, they launched two portable SSDs that resemble thumb drives. The MS70, featuring a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A interface, is available in sizes ranging from 250GB to 2TB. The DS72, also available in the same sizes, comes with both Type-C and Type-A interfaces. Claiming high performance, they state speeds of 1050 MBps for reading and 850 MBps for writing for both the MS70 and DS72.
The company usually introduces products in well-established markets without many standout features. However, these two new products are turning heads as they are among the first reasonably-priced 2TB thumb drives available in retail.
In the realm of high-performance USB flash drives (UFD/thumb drives), more options have emerged since the release of Kingston’s DataTraveler Max in late 2021. Products like Transcend’s ESD300 and ESD310, alongside Silicon Power’s MS70 and DS72, are aiming to set themselves apart by offering 2TB choices. This review takes a closer look at how the 2TB version of the Silicon Power MS70 performs and assesses its value proposition.
USB flash drives have significantly improved in recent years, thanks to advancements like 3D NAND technology and regular updates to enhance performance in USB specifications. These developments have led to the creation of SSD-in-a-stick products capable of delivering speeds exceeding 1GBps.
The thumb drive form factor is popular for various reasons, and one major advantage is the absence of a separate component.
Thumb drives are well-liked because they’re small, don’t require an extra cable, and are usually lightweight. In the mid-2010s, there were high-performance thumb drives using SSD technology, but they faced issues with heat and size. Things improved when controllers from companies like Phison and Silicon Motion were introduced. We’ve reviewed several thumb drives based on these controllers, including the Transcend ESD310C and the OWC Envoy Pro Mini.
The Silicon Power MS70 is a unique and speedy thumb drive. It stands out because it comes in different sizes, and despite its small size, it can achieve high speeds with its USB connection. The company sent us the 2TB version to test its performance.
The package includes just the thumb drive, and all the necessary information is printed on the back. Our sample is from an early batch, but the current version available for purchase also comes with a Type-A to Type-C adapter.
The Silicon Power MS70 thumb drive is priced competitively at around 5¢ per GB for the highest capacity version, and it skips extras like lanyards or bundled software. For this kind of thumb drive, buyers likely aren’t interested in backup software or encryption tools.
The casing, made of rubber and aluminum, feels sturdy, distinguishing it from some other thumb drives. Although the MS70 is a bit larger, it remains small enough to avoid blocking ports.
While we couldn’t take it apart to see the internal components, we discovered that it uses the Phison U17 controller and features SK hynix 3D TLC NAND in our sample. The company might use a different NAND with similar performance in future versions.
The Silicon Power MS70 emerges as a contender in the high-capacity, high-performance UFD segment, offering competitive pricing and technical capabilities. As one of the first reasonably-priced 2TB thumb drives, it stands out in a market traditionally focused on well-established specifications.
With promised speeds of up to 1050 MBps reads and 850 MBps writes, the MS70 undergoes rigorous benchmarking. Tests include synthetic assessments using CrystalDiskMark and ATTO, real-world access traces with PCMark 10’s storage benchmark, custom robocopy workloads, and a sequential write stress test. These benchmarks evaluate the drive’s performance under varied workloads and usage scenarios.