This review is about choosing an external SSD drive for a smart home control server based on Raspberry Pi 4B. This explains my meticulousness when conducting tests – it is obvious that there is no big difference for transferring music and films. And to work in the mode of constant reading and writing, 24/7 – you need a careful choice.
Some time ago, in an Ingelon drive review – I did a series of tests showing the difference in speed between different types of media – eMMC, micro SD, USB Flash and SSD, as well as between USB 2.0 and 3.0 interface versions. For those who haven’t watched, the link is in the description.
In this review, I will test two SSD drives – Kingdian and Ingelon, only on USB 3.0. But the tests will be much more detailed. And after looking at the review – you will get an answer – why there is a difference in price between seemingly identical devices.
Where can I buy ?
- Buy Ingelon USB SSD – Price at time of publication $24.99 for 128GB version
- Buy Kingdian USB SSD – Price at time of publication $29.99 for 128GB version
Supply
The Kingdian USB SSD comes in a handy zippered hard case. It also serves as protection during shipment.
Inside there are two compartments with mesh pockets – one contains a hard drive, the second contains a cable and an additional adapter. I plan to further adapt the case for headphones.
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The delivery set is completely self-sufficient, it includes a disk and a cable for connection and even an adapter for the USB Type C port
The cable seems quite small, but in fact its total length is 27 cm, if you take only a cable without connectors, then 19 cm. If necessary, it turns into a USB-Type C cable, so there will be no problems connecting to modern gadgets. e, for Raspberry Pi 4B an adapter is not needed
Appearance
The disc is made in a case measuring 70 x 35 mm and about 8 mm thick. Part is made of metal, this is where the inscription is, the rest is made of plastic
As a scale – next to an ordinary matchbox. The device is very compact and lightweight – only 22 grams
For connection, on one of the ends there is a USB Type C connector – convenient in that it is symmetrical, unlike micro USB
Comparison
As I said, I will compare the hero of the review with an Ingelon USB SSD of the same size. Which in its design is more like a flash drive.
The way they connect is also different – Ingelon is inserted directly into the port. This is a less universal solution, but from the point of view of my goal, it is more convenient with Raspberry Pi 4B
Testing
Let’s get started with the tests. They will be hosted on the same USB 3.0 port. For Kingdian, its complete cable without an adapter is used.
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The first test is with Crystal Disk Mark 5, similar to the test in the review of the first disc. In multi-threaded sequential read mode, Ingelon was slightly faster, while almost twice as slow as Kingdian in random reading. Sequential multi-threaded writing from Kingdian is faster by about 55 MB / s, and random – by almost 7 times!
In single-threaded mode, sequential reads are about the same, while Kingdian writes are better by about the same 50 MB / s. Random speed is much better.
 Ingelon |
 kingdian |
Error checking
Next, I used the HD Tune Pro 5.70 test. Both hard drives were successfully checked for errors, no problems were found
 Ingelon |
 kingdian |
Sequential Read Mode
These tests involve the entire disk space, and in sequential read mode, the speed Ingelon ranged from 112 to 230 MB / s, showing an average of about 135 MB / s
kingdian – turned out to be much faster, its worst performance did not fall below 213 MB / s, and the average speed was higher than the maximum for Ingelon – 236.7 Mb / s
Sequential recording mode
For Ingelon huge peaks are also characteristic here, because the speed here jumps from 16 to 213 MB / s, on average giving out a little less than 56 MB / s
At kingdian – the difference between the minimum and maximum is much smaller and is in the range of 202 – 230 MB / s, and the average result is 223 MB / s, which is also higher than the maximum for Ingelon
Random Reading Mode
This test is performed in blocks of different sizes – the smaller the file, the more operations and the slower the speed. Test Ingelon showed for blocks of 512 bytes – these are 3111 operations per second and 1.519 MB / s, for blocks of 1 MB – 288 operations per second, respectively 288 MB / s
kingdian showed the expected best result for files of all sizes. For example, the smallest volume of 512 bytes is 4629 operations per second and 2.26 MB / s, and 1 MB files are 349 operations or megabytes per second.
Random recording mode
Let’s start again with Ingelon – by analogy with reading, let’s take the minimum files – with indicators of 878 operations per second, which corresponds to a speed of 0.429 MB / s, and 1 MB files – with 166 operations / megabytes per second
kingdian just breaks it in all indications, from the minimum with 6620 operations per second and 3.2 MB / s to megabytes with a result of 298 operations / megabytes per second. Moreover, with small files, its write result is better than its read result.
File test
And the last test is a file test, which, in my opinion, will most fully reflect how the disk will cope with its duties. The graph shows periodic dips in the write speed Ingelon less than 50 MB/s, read speed about 330000 Kb/s, write 286000
At kingdian There are also gaps, but they are often not lower than the 200 MB / s mark and there is not one that would pass the 150 MB / s mark. Reading speed of about 372,000 Kb / s, writing – more than 353,000
Conclusion
I believe that this testing gives an answer to the question – why external drives of the same volume, significantly differ in their cost. To use a disk as the main data carrier for a smart home server, you obviously need to choose more expensive and high-quality models.
Thank you for your attention
