Monster Digital OverDrive 3.0 1TB External SSD Review – Unheard of SSD Portable Capacity at an Amazing Price

TEST BENCH AND PROTOCOL

Our analysis today will be conducted with our Asus Z77 Premium Test Bench. Clicking on any pictures or benchmarks will bring up a more easily viewable high resolution image.

In testing, our main objective is to obtain results as pure and as accurate as possible and we want to ensure that no anomalies slip through. Simply put, we want to provide you with the absolute best results the tested hardware can provide. Repetition in testing is standard and, if necessary, we may conduct specific tests in Windows 7 ‘safe mode’ to ensure the OS has little to no influence on the end result.

Test-Bench1

In order to validate and confirm our findings, testing is supported by industry accepted benchmark programs. All results are displayed through capture of the actual benchmark for better understanding of the testing process by the reader.

TSSDR-Test-Bench-Details

We would like to thank ASUS (P8Z77-V Premiumblankblank), Intel (Core i7-3770Kblank), Crucial (Ballistixblank), Corsair (H100blank) and Be Quiet (PSU/Fans) for supporting the build of our Z77 Premium Test Bench. In addition, we would also like to thank HighPoint for their contribution of the RocketStor 5322blank, RocketRAID 2711blank and their External Mini-SAS to Esata cablingblank. Through this configuration we are able to benchmark all notebook and mSATA SSDs, whereby achieving identical performance as a direct system connection, yet we simply hot swap from the external storage dock.

BENCHMARK SOFTWARE

The software we will be using for today’s analysis is typical of many of our reviews and consists of ATTO Disk Benchmark, Crystal DiskMark,  and Anvil Storage Utilities. As well, we will be doing a bit of testing today on our new 2013 MacBook Air and using QuickBench 4.0, Zone Bench 2.0 and Disk Speed Test.  Testing of such hardware limits our benchmark programs as performance of low 4K benchmarks is very low, resulting in extremely long testing and failure to test correctly in programs such as AS SSD and PCMark Vantage. Much of the software is free and can be downloaded simply by clicking on the linked title.

THE PHISON PS2251 CONTROLLER

The Phison PS2251 controller was introduced back in 2011 and is described as being a super speed USB 3.0 to flash micro-controller.  It is a SATA 2 controller, has an integrated 32-Bit processor and built-in hardware 60-bit ECC circuit (BCH).

Phison ControllerToshiba MemoryLittle information is known of the Toshiba memory as it’s model number could not be found on the internet at the time of the report.  Suffice to say that it is Toggle Mode and each piece is 32GB in size.

ATTO DISK BENCHMARK VER. 2.46

ATTO Disk Benchmark is perhaps one of the oldest benchmarks going and is definitely the main staple for manufacturer performance specifications. ATTO uses RAW or compressible data and, for our benchmarks, we use a set length of 256mb and test both the read and write performance of various transfer sizes ranging from 0.5 to 8192kb. Manufacturers prefer this method of testing as it deals with raw (compressible) data rather than random (includes incompressible data) which, although more realistic, results in lower performance results.

For our testing with ATTO and Crystal DiskMark, we will publish both results in USB 3.0 (left) and USB 2.0 (right). A simple click will bring up a higher resolution image.

Monster Digital OverDrive 3.0 1TB ATTOMonster Digital OverDrive 3.0 1TB ATTO USB2We found the ATTO results to be very lower for the OverDrive 3.0 and had to wonder if it was just an incompatibility with the software which sometimes occurs.  As we will see, it is just that. Clicking on any image or benchmark will bring up a higher resolution and definitely clearer image.

21 comments

  1. blank

    I have been looking for a product like this for ages. Thanks a lot for this review.

  2. blank

    Would the Monster SSD be powered adequately by present day 3.0 USB technology? I read a review on Amazon that identifies this point as a problem; thanks!

    • blank

      I don’t know exactly what you mean but…both the 512GB and 1TB capacity drives have been in use for transferring piks and videos for several months now without fail.

      • blank

        That sounds like good news. I don’t have a background to rely on or knowledge of the power supplied by the 3.0 USB technology vs. power required to operate the Monster SSD as rated or promoted in their advertisements. Happy New Year!

      • blank

        A few months back, I bought a 64Gb USB 3 memory stick (don’t recall the brand) to quickly back-up my desktop harddisk. Unfortunately, Win 7 indicated it would take some 6-12 hours to back-up 10 Gbyte — a speed comparable to that of USB 2. While I was waiting for copying the disk, I shopped around and found a Sandisk USB 3 64Gb (Extreme?). I drove to the shop and was back 1.5 hours into the copying process. With the new Sandisk USB memory stick, copying 10 Gbyte took some 12 minutes.

        My point is that USB 3 and SSD doesn’t guarantee fast operation. The use may be without fail, but it may be fast or slow — depending on the implementation. The criticism on Amazon is that the SSD they reviewed was not much faster than a fast HDD for small files.

        Angelbird SSD2go seems to be fast (indicated r/w speeds of up to 460Mb/s). But they don’t have a 1Tb version yet. Even with slow operation, SSDs may be useful — they are more rugged than HDDs. If speed is important, it is probably smart to check reviews that consider this aspect.

      • blank

        Small 4k files are a great deal more work to transfer than large files and this has always been known. The SSD is much more than a simple file transfer size, however, and the first step you take with access time increase is massive. IMHO, USB 3 alone has been set aside by today’s Superspeed and new releases. Angelbird is that example.

  3. blank

    I analyse large data sets for a living. I need large capacity portable drives. What kind of performance improvement can I expect from the Monster SSD compared to read/write to a powered non-ssd 3TB Seagate external? Thanks!

    • blank

      Comparing ANY SSD to a hard drive when transferring large amounts of data is like comparing apples and oranges. The hard drive doesnt come anywhere close to transfer speeds. Look around our site though and see what we have posted with SuperSpeed and UASP.

      • blank

        Thank you for your reply, Les! I looked around and came across the Drobo Mini. It seems to be a good option for me with upgrades and expansion abilities. Your thoughts? I am wondering how the disk management software that comes with the Drobo will impact on my computer’s RAM?

      • blank

        The only hesitancy I might have with that is transfer speeds. The Drobo (which I am not totally familiar with by the way) uses HDD for storage which will still limit your transfer speeds from the external to the system. The SSD increases this significantly. As a more recent example, look at the MyDigitalSSD OTG we recently reviewed. Similarly, we will be reviewing the MyDigitalSSD Pocket Vault in the next few days…both with SuperSpeed that triples and even quadruples transfer rates compared to such a device.

      • blank

        Thanks again Les! I will investigate the MyDigitalSSD further. I see however that the Drobo (www.drobo.com) now caters for SSD as well and even have a mSATA ssd slot. It might be a product to review?

      • blank

        Read this…preformance sucks.

        https://reviews.cnet.com/external-drive-bays/drobo-mini/4505-3033_7-35544730-2.html

        Better yet:

        https://www.drobospace.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=37629

        We have a similar NAS on the way that we know does twice that for performance…and is very similar. To me, that is still WAY TOO LOW! I don’t know why these companies haven’t caught on yet.

      • blank

        Thanks again Les! I am looking at the MyDigitalSSD at the moment. Final question please. I saw you gave the OWC Envoy USB 3.0 an editors choice award. Since I am after speed and not safe storage, which would you prefer, MyDigitalSSD or OWC. Keep in mind my data analysis software runs on Windows. Also can I put a 1TB Samsung in the OWC? Thank you!

  4. blank

    I just bought a monster digital usb 1tb ssd. I plug it in and it doe snot show up in my removable storage. I can find it in my Disk manager but I am unable to format it. I have called and emailed Monster Digital but I get do response from them. Is there a driver for this device? If so where can I get it. Is is not on the Monster Digital web site.

  5. blank

    It’s USELESS to me in the Case. How do i remove the ssd from monster
    digital case? I needed a 500gb SSD to permanently mount as the system
    boot drive in a new PC. The SSD had the lowest price. But then it
    shows up in the “Overdrive Mini” case–USELESS TO ME!!! How do I remove
    it so I don’t have to waste $$$ on buying another SSD?

  6. blank

    Hi Les, thanks for the review and the info. I purchased the 1TB version and love the product. Now my issue is that the drive has stopped working and I have a feeling that it’s the cable. How do I remove the cable and replace with my own? My drive is already past the 3 years warranty. Martin

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *