Review: Team Group T-Create P31 External SSD

I've reviewed many external SSDs over the years, but beyond the expected size and speed improvements that the new devices typically offer over their predecessors, it's rare to find a product that genuinely does something different to what's already out there.

It's for this reason I was interested in taking Team Group’s T-Create Cinema P31 External SSD for a spin, as it is a quite specific product with a specific use case - it's optimised for filmmakers and videographers with its design featuring a series of cage mounting holes.

The drive is also relatively fast, with 1000mb/s transfer speeds on its 1 and 2TB models, and it's also IP67 waterproof, all while still coming in at a relatively affordable price point. 

If you're wondering who Team Group is, it's a Taiwanese company that has traditionally sold computer hardware, including solid state disks and RAM at an affordable price point.

Team Group's T-Create series of Cinema External SSDs are available in 1TB (as tested), 2TB and 4TB versions, and in Australia can be bought from a number of PC/Computer stores, including mwave.com.au and PCByte, among others.

The 1TB drive I tested is available from jw.com.au for $289, the 2TB for $449 and the 8TB for $849 at the time this review went live. 

The build

Out of the (recyclable-friendly) box, the T-Create is a beautifully engineered piece of kit. The drive is made of a slick black CNC aluminium finish, with a rubber patch on the rear to stop it sliding off a table, and 12 evenly spaced ¼” threaded holes, in groups of three, on one end, underneath and on both sides.

It means if you shoot with a cage there's seemingly endless ways you can mount this drive, making it particularly versatile. And at just 97g, it's lightweight while also very compact at 93mm x 51 x 11.6mm.

This versatility is also helped by what's included in the box, with the device shipping with three ¼” screws fixings, one of which is double-ended with a locking nut, to give you a few options for mounting the drive onto a cage.

In fact, even if you don't have a cage, you can use this screw fixing to connect the drive to a tripod thread in a pinch - it may not be pretty, but it does work. 

One slight disappointment is that the drive doesn't have a magnetic exterior, which would allow it to magnetically 'stick' to the latest generation iPhones.

For those who are looking for a drive for a mobile videography workflow, Team Group's tiny PD20M drive has this functionality and may be a better option.

Further, Team Group also include a USB-C to USB-C cable, allowing the drive to be connected to your device of choice. Interestingly, both this and the drive are water, dust and shock proof.

In this case the 6 refers to dust and the "7" means it can withstand short periods underwater down to a metre.

I didn't test it to this depth, but did give it a bath and the drive didn't even need to be dried off before plugging it back in.

Apparently, an o-ring inside the drive makes the connector waterproof, and negates the need for a cap or cover for the USB Type-C port.

And yes, the cable is also IP67 rated, which is a nice touch. 

Finally, the drive is capable of withstanding some pretty dramatic temperature extremes - it's rated to run from 0 °C to 70 °C and can be stored from -40 °C to 85 °C with no impact on its performance. 

In use

This SSD is rated up to 1,000MB/s read/write speed at at its maximum transfer speeds, although the key word here is maximum and to achieve these kind of speeds is reliant on the perfect combination of device and SSD.

Unfortunately my 2020 Macbook Pro only has USB-C Generation 2 ports, but I was still able to achieve read and write speeds of around 830mb/s using BlackMagic's Disk Speed Test with a 5gb file with the drive remaining relatively cool to the touch throughout.

This meant even on my relatively basic setup, 8K DCI 60 transfers would be possible in both H.265 and Blackmagic RAW, and 8K DCI 24 transfers in both these formats plus ProRes 422HQ, so the drive is ready to perform with larger files sizes as common in video workflows.

The drive made short work of a 36.6GB file, moving it from my Mac to my SSD in 1m 17s. 

In addition, most cameras that capture 4K will offer faster read/write speeds as well, so the drive is well suited to leverage these transfer speeds.

Overall

The Team Group T-Create P31 External SSD is a novel SSD that is well suited to filmmakers, but there's also plenty here for photographers too, especially so if you plan to move into the videography route down the track.

It would be great to see the same magnetic functionality found on Team Group's PD20M which would enhance this drive further, but the screw holes, build quality and relatively solid transfer speeds make this a great option.

You can find out more about the Team Group T-Create P31 External SSD here.