By The Teamgroup X2 Max surprised me. Since it’s as little as any thumb drive in my collection, I was anticipating a slowish commodity drive.
But in the end, the X2 Max outperformed many far larger 10Gbps SSDs in almost every test we ran, delivering exceptional 10Gbps USB performance. It’s a jewel, to put it briefly.
What features does the X2 Max SSD have?
Even for a thumb drive, the X2 Max is remarkably small, measuring just under 3 inches in length, 0.75 inches in width, and 0.25 inches in thickness. It also has both a captive Type-C connector and a Type-A port. It’s so slim that most of its kind appear bulky in contrast.
It is also simple to use with almost any USB-enabled device on the planet thanks to the dual port types, which are displayed below. Naturally, Apple products with lightning connectors are accepted.
The drive operates at 10Gbps USB 3.2 speeds thanks to NVMe internals; continuous transfers can reach a maximum of little less than 1.1GBps. The controller and the particular kind of NAND involved were not something that the teamgroup wanted to talk about.
What is the price of the X2 Max?
The X2 Max isn’t as slow as a generic USB stick, but it’s also not as inexpensive. The 2TB version we tested costs $130, while the 1TB version costs $70. However, you pay for what you get. This isn’t your typical USB stick; it’s a powerful 10Gbps SSD in a small package. The pricing is appropriate for that.
What is the X2 Max’s speed?
The X2 Max isn’t as slow as a generic USB stick, but it’s also not as inexpensive. The 2TB version we tested costs $130, while the 1TB version costs $70. However, you pay for what you get. This isn’t your typical USB stick; it’s a powerful 10Gbps SSD in a small package. The pricing is appropriate for that.
The X2 Max is actually faster than several of its larger 10Gbps siblings, making it the quickest thumb drive I’ve tested.
The X2 Max outperformed the Seagate Ultra Compact SSD and SK Hynix Tube T31 in sequential transfers, but it wasn’t significantly superior in CrystalDiskMark 8.
TEAMGROUP 1TB X2 MAX External/Portable SSD 1000MB/s, Dual USB Hard Drive Compatible with iPhone15,16&iPad&Mac, Steam Deck/ROG Ally/PC/Windows/Android/PS5/Smart TV/Laptop/Tesla, Type C &A, USB 3.2 Gen2
Under CrystalDiskMark 8, the X2 Max’s performance was inconsistent, which was the only area where it fell short of its rivals. Not catastrophically, but definitely — particularly in the 32-queue write. Naturally, I’m not aware of any software in the real world that utilizes more than four queues.
When it came to our 48GB transfers, the X2 Max was back to its best.
Please take note that my approach to evaluating storage has changed. I’ve swapped out the RAM disk for a 25GBps twin RAID 0 SSD array as the second drive in transfer tests, and we’re using Xcopy and our new favorite tool, FastCopy, to demonstrate the drives’ full capability. For more information, see the part at the conclusion of the article titled “How we test.”
Is the X2 Max a good purchase?
Of course. It’s nearly tough to beat if you want compact and speedy. Despite its compact size, the X2 Max can compete with much larger 10Gbps SSDs in terms of speed. It’s not inexpensive, but the best are rarely. Well done, Teamgroup.
