Teamgroup PD20M portable SSD review: Fast for light duties only

Cost When Reviewed

1TB: $110 I 2TB: $165

Finest Prices Today: Teamgroup PD20M

While being a good 20Gbps USB SSD with light work, the Teamgroup PD20M is not the drive for composing big information sets on a consistent basis. The parsimonious 20GB of cache on our 1TB test system had it dead last total in our efficiency rankings.

That’s an embarassment, due to the fact that it’s likewise among the lightest and most appealing SSDs we’ve evaluated– i.e., it takes a trip well, particularly with the convenient bring case that Teamgroup packages.

More reading: See our roundup of the best external drives to find out about contending items.

What are the Teamgroup PD20M’s functions?

The PD20M is a 20Gbps USB 3.2 × 2 external SSD sporting a thin, however squarish profile determining 2.45-inches broad, by 2.75-inches long, by a simple 0.32-inches thick. The top is rounded, while the bottom is completely flat.

Abnormally, there’s no anti-skid product on the bottom of the system, however it makes best sense: The PD20M weighs a simple 1.1 ounces by itself, and just 1.3 ounces with the Type-C cable television that plugs into one edge. With so little heft for gravity to result, you ‘d need to utilize semi-adhesive tape to protect this featherweight young puppy in location.

The PD20M is the lightest SSD we’ve ever checked.

The big advantage is that if you’re trying to find an SSD you can hang off of a port without harming it, this is it. Efficiency issues aside, that is. Simply take care that you do not forget it’s in your pocket and put it through the wash!

Teamgroup service warranties the PD20M for 3 years, however no reference is made from the service warranty’s TBW (terabytes that might be composed) score. Offered the drives sluggish compose rate when cache goes out, which was rather at an early stage the 1TB variation we checked, you need to never ever need to fret about composing a lot information that the business considers it unjust use.

Just how much does the Teamgroup PD20M expense?

The PD20M is offered in 1TB and 2TB capabilities, which retail for $110, and $165, respectively. Provided the efficiency, that’s a little bit expensive. When we examined Amazon, the magnificent 1TB Crucial X10 Proa far remarkable SSD, was readily available for $100. Ideally, the PD20M will drop in cost substantially in brief order.

How quick is the Teamgroup PD20M?

In our preliminary screening, the Teamgroup PD20M kipped down a far lower (364MBps) CrystalDiskMark 8 consecutive compose number than the 2GBps declared on package. It lastly composed at 1.8 GBps, however just after I lowered the size of the 64GB information set I generally utilize four-fold to 16GB.

Ie’ve consisted of both the 64GB and 16GB results to show precisely how essential cache, and the absence thereof can be.

Keep in mind once again, that the PD20M we checked was a 1TB drive. The Corsair EX100U on the charts, which experienced comparable downturns at one point or another, was a 2TB drive. If Teamgroup has actually sent us the 2TB variation, it likely would’ve outmatched the Corsair.

The Important X10 Pro is a much faster drive, and considered that it’s presently $10 less for 1TB, and just $10 more than the PD20M for 2TB, there’s little factor to select latter aside from weight.

The parsimonious caching once again appeared in our real-world transfers. While the PD20M was not the slowest external SSD we’ve evaluated (there are 4 or 5 slower 10Gbps systems), it was quickly the slowest 20Gbps SSD we’ve seen.

Listed below you can see where the PD20M lacked cache– at around the 20GB mark.

The story was no much better in the 450GB compose, which essentially continued at 364MBps from the relative start. Slow.

In reality, couple of users compose even 48GB at a time, so like the Corsair EX100U, the RD20M will get the job done most of the time when composing– and all of the time when reading.

Should you purchase the Teamgroup PD20M?

The PD20M is great for light tasks, however the compose downturns happen far to early, a minimum of on the 1TB design, for me to advise it for anything aside from a light-duty drive. Compare costs. A minimum of at the minute, there are many 20Gbps SSDs, a few of them much more constant entertainers, for less.

How we evaluate

Drive tests presently use Windows 11 (22H2) 64-bit operating on an X790 (PCIe 5.0) motherboard/i5 -12400 CPU combination with 2 Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 modules (64GB of memory overall). Intel incorporated graphics are utilized. The 48GB transfer tests use an ImDisk RAM disk using up 58GB of the 64GB overall memory. The 450GB file is moved from a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, which likewise consists of the os.For external drives, the motherboard’s devoted Thunderbolt 4 and 20Gbps USB ports on the rear panel are utilized.

Each test is carried out on a freshly NTSF-formatted and TRIM ‘d drive so the outcomes are optimum. Keep in mind that as any drive fills, efficiency will reduce due to less NAND for secondary caching, and other aspects.

The efficiency numbers revealed use just to the drive we were delivered along with the capability evaluated. SSD efficiency can differ by capability due to more or less chips to read/write throughout and the quantity of NAND offered for secondary caching (composing TLC/QLC as SLC).Suppliers likewise periodically switch parts.

If you ever observe a big disparity in between the efficiency you experience which we report (systems being approximately equivalent), by all ways– let us understand.

Finest Prices Today: Teamgroup PD20M

Author: Jon L. JacobiFreelance factor