Review: Kingston XS2000 Portable SSD – Size isn’t everything!

As I’ve mentioned in another Kingston product review, I seem to have been carrying Kingston portable drives around with me for decades. In fact I’ve had various brands’ drives in pockets and bags, which have varied in size and shape over the years. But I’ve never had one quite as small or with the potential to pack as much storage as the Kingston XS2000 SSD. Let’s have a closer look (you won’t need a magnifying glass, I promise).

Mini But Mighty

I really can’t stress that the photos don’t do it justice. The Kingston XS2000 Portable SSD is one the smallest external solid-state drives I’ve seen. Measuring a tiny 0.5 by 1.3 by 2.7 inches (HWD) and weighing only an ounce (28.9 grams), the XS2000 could easily be mistaken for a usb thumb drive.

In terms of design, the XS2000 has a sleek and stylish look, almost a 1950’s aesthetic, with a narrow band of black plastic, sandwiched between 2 sections with a brushed metal finish that give it a premium feel. It’s size make it a super-tactile metal block with an indent on it’s top metal surface forming a perfect resting place for your thumb – and it always seems to end up in my hand. The metal and plastic housing feels super-durable with no flex at all, giving you the confidence to grab it when you’re on the go.

But it’s not just about the build, the drive also has an IP55 rating so, while it’s not completely waterproof, it will survive sweat, water splashes and dust. And just to make it even more robust it comes with a form-fitting rubberised sleeve which, as well as protecting against bumps and spills, stops the smooth metal surface slipping out of your hands. Just don’t be tempted to take it swimming!

The Kingston XS2000 is available in 4 capacities; 500Gb, 1Tb, 2Tb and 4Tb and is fitted with USB-C port at one end of the device.

Bigger Than The Sum Of Its Parts

So, You may be thinking, “Yeah and?” But this is no basic USB-C interface. The port is a super up-to-date USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 interface which Kingston have combined with 3D TLC NAND flash memory and a SMI 2320 controller and have created a device with a maximum data throughput of 2000 Mb/s. Yep it’s a 20Gbps SSD! Of course this is all very much dependent on your computer having an equivalent speed port too or you obviously wont be able to reach those mega-speeds.

Unfortunately I actually don’t have anything with that much bandwidth to test the XS2000 on, but the drive was extremely fast on a couple of up to date HP and Lenovo laptops with older gen USB-C ports. I also decided to give the device a go on some much older hardware I have lying around with the use of a USBC to USB A adapter. The drive took my clapped-out hardware in stride and performed faster than any of my other current portable storage devices. It appears to work perfectly with thunderbolt 3 or 4 or any older USB ports barring the understandable reduction in performance.

The Kingston XS2000 doesn’t require any special software, you can just plug it in, drag and drop and off you go.

A Big Win In A Tiny Box

Overall, the Kingston XS2000 SSD is an excellent, portable, solid-state drive that offers durability, high-speed data transfer and high storage capabilities. It’s a sleek and compact device that can easily fit into your pocket or bag, making it convenient for people who are always on the go.

Even ignoring the usefulness of portability, the XS2000’s overall speed and the fact that it tops out at 2Tb makes it a perfect choice for creative users and professionals, sorting and storing videos, photos, and music, without worrying about running out of storage space, with the very big positive of of super-fast data transfers. Hey, you could even free up all that space on your pc by shifting over your latest AI project or all your crypto. What’s not to love??

The Kingston XS2000 is available direct from Kingston themselves here. Or from Amazon here