The Package
It is a general rule of thumb that PC enthusiast devices must be either be black or silver and the Patriot Pyro SE does not differ. With a black base for the theme, instead of using silver or blue which is the other common color, Patriot uses orange as the offset color to highlight the Pyro nomenclature. The box is a standard cardboard package holding a SSD clamshell inside.
Instead of using stickers on the box to differentiate model sizes the front of the package sports a large cutout allowing easy viewing of the top of the drive. The remainder of the top of the package shows format and some minor things MLC, SATA III and 2.5”. The Patriot logo and Pyro SE branding are of course included.
The back of the package goes into little bit more detail marketing-wise, offering standard SSD features like low power consumption, silent operation and shock resistant. It offers this information in a few different languages. Physical and email addresses are included for their 3 main offices, HQ (California), Asia and Europe. The 3 year warranty is displayed in bright yellow colors.
The Drive
Unfortunately only exterior shots are available of this drive. Like the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro reviewed last year, the drive is enclosed in what appears to be pop rivets. Other reviewers have had success opening it up, and like the OWC drive, one reviewer even mentioned it used Allen screws. The multi-key Allen tool on hand did not open it up, and the high res pictures do not show any surface for them to bite on. Short of adding a cross slot for a screwdriver (and with recessed screws that was not being done), the drive was not getting opened.
Fortunately we can tell from performance this is a SandForce controller (as if the marketing telling us so was not enough) and as another reviewer did happen to get an easily opened one, we also know it uses micron NAND.
The SSD enclosure looks identical to the OWC mentioned earlier with a different paint scheme. the powder coated black enclosure’s only break in color comes from the beveled top edge which is milled aluminum You can actually see the marks from the cutting tool. Very cool.
The top gets a black and orange sticker that we saw through the package shot. The back of the drive as usual gets a large sticker covering more pertinent details of the drive. Model and serial numbers, UPs, Firmware revision and a do not open warning. Standard logos for recycling and various industry standards round out the back of the drive.
Since opening the drive was not an option, let move on to testing…
