Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Great 20Gbps learn efficiency
- Handy type issue with journey case
- Weighs solely barely over an oz
Cons
- Slows drastically when writing over 20GB of information
Our Verdict
For gentle obligation, the 20Gbps Teamgroup PD20M SSD will get the job executed. But sluggish write efficiency with bigger information units means professionals ought to look elsewhere.
Price When Reviewed
1TB: $110 I 2TB: $165
Best Prices Today: Teamgroup PD20M
$109.99
$109.99
While being an honest 20Gbps USB SSD with gentle workloads, the Teamgroup PD20M isn’t the drive for writing massive information units on a continuous foundation. The parsimonious 20GB of cache on our 1TB take a look at unit had it lifeless final general in our efficiency rankings.
That’s a disgrace, as a result of it’s additionally one of many lightest and most tasty SSDs we’ve examined — i.e., it travels properly, particularly with the useful carrying case that Teamgroup bundles.
Further studying: See our roundup of the best external drives to find out about competing merchandise.
What are the Teamgroup PD20M’s options?
The PD20M is a 20Gbps USB 3.2×2 exterior SSD sporting a skinny, however squarish profile measuring 2.45-inches vast, by 2.75-inches lengthy, by a mere 0.32-inches thick. The high is rounded, whereas the underside is completely flat.
Unusually, there’s no anti-skid materials on the underside of the unit, nevertheless it makes good sense: The PD20M weighs a mere 1.1 ounces by itself, and solely 1.3 ounces with the Type-C cable that plugs into one edge. With so little heft for gravity to impact, you’d have to make use of semi-adhesive tape to safe this featherweight pet in place.
The PD20M is the lightest SSD we’ve ever examined.
The massive upside is that for those who’re in search of an SSD you possibly can dangle off of a port with out damaging it, that is it. Performance issues apart, that’s. Just watch out that you simply don’t overlook it’s in your pocket and put it by the wash!
Teamgroup warranties the PD20M for 3 years, however no point out is fabricated from the guarantee’s TBW (terabytes which may be written) score. Given the drives sluggish write price when cache runs out, which was somewhat early on the 1TB model we examined, you need to by no means have to fret about writing a lot information that the corporate considers it unfair utilization.
How a lot does the Teamgroup PD20M value?
The PD20M is on the market in 1TB and 2TB capacities, which retail for $110, and $165, respectively. Given the efficiency, that’s a tad expensive. Indeed, after we checked Amazon, the mighty 1TB Crucial X10 Pro, a far superior SSD, was accessible for $100. Hopefully, the PD20M will drop in value considerably in brief order.
How quick is the Teamgroup PD20M?
In our preliminary testing, the Teamgroup PD20M turned in a far decrease (364MBps) CrystalDiskMark 8 sequential write quantity than the 2GBps claimed on the field. It lastly wrote at 1.8GBps, however solely after I lowered the dimensions of the 64GB information set I usually use four-fold to 16GB.
Ie’ve included each the 64GB and 16GB outcomes as an example precisely how essential cache, and the shortage thereof could be.
Note once more, that the PD20M we examined was a 1TB drive. The Corsair EX100U on the charts, which skilled comparable slowdowns at one level or one other, was a 2TB drive. If Teamgroup has despatched us the 2TB model, it seemingly would’ve outpaced the Corsair.
The Crucial X10 Pro is a a lot quicker drive, and on condition that it’s at present $10 much less for 1TB, and solely $10 greater than the PD20M for 2TB, there’s little purpose to go for latter apart from weight.
The parsimonious caching once more confirmed up in our real-world transfers. While the PD20M was not the slowest exterior SSD we’ve examined (there are 4 or 5 slower 10Gbps models), it was simply the slowest 20Gbps SSD we’ve seen.
Below you possibly can see the place the PD20M ran out of cache — at across the 20GB mark.
The story was no higher within the 450GB write, which mainly proceeded at 364MBps from the relative get go. Slow.
In fact, few customers write even 48GB at a time, so just like the Corsair EX100U, the RD20M will do the job the vast majority of the time when writing — and the entire time when studying.
Should you purchase the Teamgroup PD20M?
The PD20M is okay for gentle duties, however the write slowdowns happen far to early, at the least on the 1TB mannequin, for me to suggest it for something apart from a light-duty drive. Also, examine costs. At least in the intervening time, there are quite a few 20Gbps SSDs, a few of them much more constant performers, for much less.
How we take a look at
Drive checks at present make the most of Windows 11 (22H2) 64-bit operating on an X790 (PCIe 5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 modules (64GB of reminiscence complete). Intel built-in graphics are used. The 48GB switch checks make the most of an ImDisk RAM disk taking over 58GB of the 64GB complete reminiscence. The 450GB file is transferred from a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, which additionally comprises the working system. For exterior drives, the motherboard’s devoted Thunderbolt 4 and 20Gbps USB ports on the rear panel are used.
Each take a look at is carried out on a newly NTSF-formatted and TRIM’d drive so the outcomes are optimum. Note that as any drive fills up, efficiency will lower attributable to much less NAND for secondary caching, and different elements.
The efficiency numbers proven apply solely to the drive we had been shipped in addition to the capability examined. SSD efficiency can range by capability attributable to extra or fewer chips to learn/write throughout and the quantity of NAND accessible for secondary caching (writing TLC/QLC as SLC). Vendors additionally sometimes swap parts.
If you ever discover a big discrepancy between the efficiency you expertise and that which we report (techniques being roughly equal), by all means—tell us.