SK Hynix Tube T31 1TB Stick Type SSD with DRAM | up to 1000MB/s | 10 Gbps | USB-A 3.2 Gen2 | External Solid State Flash Drive Compatible with PS4, PS5, Xbox, Window PC & Mac

I recently got my hands on the **SK hynix Tube T31 2TB Stick Type SSD**, and it’s a game-changer for portable storage. Here’s my honest review after using it extensively: Design and Build 9/10 The Tube T31 looks like a regular USB stick, but don’t let its compact design fool you—it’s packed with SSD-level performance. The aluminum casing feels sturdy and premium, while also helping with heat dissipation during heavy use. It’s slightly bulkier than a typical USB flash drive, which might make it awkward if you’re using adjacent USB ports, but the trade-off is worth it for what’s inside. Performance 9/10 This little stick delivers **blazing-fast speeds of up to 1000MB/s**, thanks to its USB-A 3.2 Gen2 interface and onboard DRAM. File transfers are incredibly quick, whether it’s large video files, game installations, or backups. I’ve used it to transfer multi-gigabyte files, and it performs consistently without slowing down. The DRAM cache ensures smooth performance, which is something you won’t find in cheaper drives. However, it lacks TRIM support, so if you’re constantly writing and deleting large files, you might see some performance degradation over time. Compatibility 8/10 Plug-and-play functionality makes it super easy to use across PCs, laptops, and even gaming consoles. I tested it on my PlayStation 5, and it worked flawlessly for storing and running games. The only downside is its reliance on USB-A—if you’re using a device with USB-C ports only, you’ll need an adapter, which feels a bit outdated in 2025. Pros: - **Insane speed** for its size (up to 1000MB/s). - **Compact and durable** aluminum design. - Onboard DRAM for sustained performance. - Perfect for gaming, backups, and portable storage. Cons: - No TRIM support, which could affect long-term performance. - Slightly bulky, might block nearby USB ports. - USB-A only, requiring an adapter for USB-C devices. My Final Verdict The **SK hynix Tube T31 2TB SSD** is a powerful and portable solution for anyone needing high-speed, high-capacity storage. It’s perfect for gamers, content creators, or anyone who wants SSD performance in a pocket-sized device. While it’s not without its minor flaws, like the lack of TRIM and USB-C, the overall performance and build quality make it a fantastic investment. Highly recommended!

It's an amazing palm sized external hard drive. Clone your drive and run it from this. Back up your video or data files. Mirror a hard drive for security. It's a reasonably priced option that didn't intimidate me from the start. It works well using a free disk genius app that allowed me to clone a drive on my laptop that has a buggy camera. They recommended saving what I could. I'll give them a clean slate and hopefully they get it right.lol Yeah the drive isn't a thumbdrive but I bet you could find one of those here instead. I was amazed how fast the thing was reading and writing. It was effectively slowed when I used my USB hub and the card reader but that was for experimental purposes. It is always going to find your computer bottlenecks and shake them in your face so you buy the next big thing. 😀 It's good from the box and a sleek design. Like others said. Get a usbC adapter and find a longer one so it plays well with the old USB hound dog. Crazy how that real estate is so valuable on these new machines.

If you're looking for a really fast drive in the form factor of a USB stick, here it is. (It's not as fast as an internal NVMe drive, but anything that connects to a standard USB port can't be.) If you carry around a small flash drive for quick backups or reimaging of systems, this is about as good as it gets. If you catch it on sale it's around the same price as an ordinary thumb drive with the same capacity, but it's a far better drive. This is actually an M.2 SSD in a stick-shaped case. Its read speed is as high as a USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (also known as SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps) drive can be; it saturates the USB bus. That, in turn, is as fast as a USB-A port can go; higher speeds would require a USB-C connection. The rated write speed isn't QUITE that fast but it's close, and independent testing showed it beating that spec and saturating the bus. If you plug it into a Superspeed 5Gbps port it will only be half as fast, but will still equal or beat any other drives; it won't be fast in a USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) port but it will still work, and will be as fast as any drive can be on that slow port. SK Hynix doesn't publish a TBW spec for this drive, but it's likely to be comparable to other consumer SSDs; hundreds of terabytes written per terabyte of capacity. It supports S.M.A.R.T and TRIM, though many operating systems won't make full use of those on an external drive. The form factor is the one negative here. Being able to plug directly into a USB-A port is handy, but the drive is big enough that it blocks adjacent ports on many systems and won't fit into some laptops at all. If you regularly face space constraints, you might prefer the X31 Beetle from SK Hynix instead; that's essentially the same drive in a small package with a USB-C port, and comes with C-C and A-C cables for use with computers with either type of port. Because of the need for included cables, the X31 Beetle is usually slightly more expensive than the T31 Tube.

Let me preface this by saying that I have particular expectations for a product like this because of personal history. If I was coming into this without those prior expectations I would rate it as excellent. I think most people just looking for a device like this would be more than satisfied with it. That said, I personally was slightly disappointed. A couple years ago I spent a good while looking for a product like this. After finding the options at the time lacking, I made something myself out of machined aluminum and one of the m.2 2242 NVMe to USB carrier boards you can buy here on amazon or on aliexpress. When I recently saw that SK Hynix, a brand I respect and trust, had come out with what looked like exactly the product I had been looking for, without the hassle of making another one myself, I excitedly grabbed one. Functionally it’s excellent and preforms well. It uses good components and is easy to recommend over traditional usb sticks for longevity, consistency, speed, and versatility. Additionally SK Hynix deserves praise for filling a glaring hole in the market. Now, when I first saw this, I assumed it would be made of aluminum, since that seemed the most logical choice, since it is sturdy, durable, and also has favorable thermal properties, allowing you to just use the case for thermal management, forgoing a more complex solution. However, this is instead made of plastic. This decision, while likely made for good reasons, also means that they needed to fit an additional thermal solution inside the case along with both the ssd board and the carrier board. This, and other considerations of the construction, means that this thing is a good 4mm wider and thicker, as well as 12mm longer than the device I made from aluminum. Now for most people who wouldn’t have anything to compare it to, this wouldn’t be an issue, but for me it takes it down from perfect to just ok. My only real nitpick with the device is that the cap is likely to get lost immediately, since it’s just friction fit and not connected to the device at all when loose. Still, it is a good device, and one that I can easily recommend to someone that just wants an off-the-shelf, portable, self-contained solution at a good price that can handle the kind of things you need a proper ssd for. For those looking to do a little more work there is also now an off-the-shelf solution with an aluminum case that is also available on Amazon sold under the brand ElecGear. Though the fit and finish is only so-so, it is considerably smaller and only requires that you purchase your own 2242 or 2230 drive and assemble the enclosure, which takes at most a few minutes. I still think I would recommend the T31 over that option for most people, but there are some people who would likely prefer the smaller sturdier construction.

Intended use: USB-A backup/transfer drive This thing rocked as I performed multiple 1TB transfers. It did get hot but not excessively. No slow downs in transferring large amounts of files of all sizes. Verified 10Gps throughput by using USB-C 3.2 on a laptop. Only dings (slight): fairly chubby so USB port access could be physically limited but in the same category as some 2230 M.2 based USB drives. Now my go to transfer drive.

There are reviewers here stating that the drives format to only 32GB. This is only true if you format it as FAT32 (which the Windows 11 installer does by default). To fix this, you can see the drive by right clicking start, and hitting Disk Management, and adding a partition that supports larger storage, like NTFS. **IF you are not sure it is the correct drive, right click the gray area and hit Properties. It should show as SKHynix T31. ### Formatting the wrong drive can cause loss of information, or your computer to not boot any more. PLEASE be sure you format the right one ### ** This particular stick is a little bit bulky in size/shape, but I don't mind personally. It is very solid as well. I was able to move an 800MB video file to this drive in about 2 seconds, so the speed is definitely there.

Works great. Had a hard drive crash, and used this as an external drive until I could get around to replacing the internal one with a suitable replacement. The only thing that would make it any better for me would be USB C instead of A.

This is a great drive - compact and very fast. I use it to do periodic backups from my computers and then back this drive up to a hard drive. I've been using these since they came out and they have been solid. Would I buy it again? I did!

Prestazioni eccellenti, come Hynix ci ha abituati. Niente da eccepire sulla bontà del prodotto, soltanto che avrei preferito un case in metallo (sulla falsariga del Corsair Voyager GTX) e, magari, anche un laccio per appendere il pennino al collo. A tenerlo fra le mani, si ha quella sgradevole sensazione di economia che è all'opposto di Hynix. Ripeto, il prodotto è eccellente, ma questi due dettagli avrebbero aumentato la "professionalità" del prodotto.

書き込み速度もサクサク。 軽くて小さいので持ち運びも楽々。 ただ、蓋を反対側にくっつけれたら もっと良かったな、と思いました。

Un des meilleurs SSD compact sur le marché. Débit excellent, chaleur maîtrisée. Rien à ajouter, à choisir les yeux fermés.

Very high speeds. Had no problems with it.

Très bon SSD externe