This is easily the nerdiest thing I’ve ever written, but I’m a sucker for external SSDs. Seriously. I love the idea of tiny devices that can store a massive amount of data. They’re so versatile for gamers, allowing you to set up portable emulation, take your Steam library on the go, or even just expand the storage of your consoles. That’s exactly what the SK Hynix Tube T31 offers, and to make things even nerdier, the latest drives are adorned with the unique artwork from Lies of P.
It’s almost like this product was made exclusively for me.
I’ve been messing around with the drives for about a week, and I’ve already found homes for both of them. They’re not going to give you the speeds of an NVMe SSD, but if you’re looking for a portable solution with a ton of capacity, the Tube T31 is easily one of the best SSDs for gaming you can buy — and a whole lot of nerd fun.
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Out of the box
I’ll get to the SSDs themselves next, but let’s talk about the Lies of P branding first. SK Hynix goes out of its way to make this feel like a collector’s item. You can only purchase these two SSDs as a package, and they arrive in a large box adorned with the Lies of P logo.
Inside, you’ll find two smaller boxes, each sporting art from the game. They’re labeled inside, representing two of the Legion Arms in the game — Flamberge, which spits fire in a short range, and Fulminis, which charges up to release a large electrical shock.
As someone who played through Lies of P three times — and is constantly looking for an excuse to dive back in — it’s incredible seeing the renditions of these two Legion Arms spread out across the SSD. It’s completely original artwork, combining the design of the arm itself with a flood of the element it carries. I’m partial to the Fulminis design — that Legion Arm helped me out a lot in the game — but both look stunning.
I’d be satisfied with two 1TB SSDs featuring artwork from one the best games released last year — especially considering the price — but SK Hynix went further. Included in the box are 24 large stickers with artwork from the game. There are some expected inclusions like the Lies of P logo and the designs on the two SSDs, but there’s also some original artwork.
There’s what looks like concept art for the Black Rabbit Brotherhood, a seal for the city of Krat, and a cartoonish rendition of the Puppet String Legion Arm, among others.
It doesn’t take much for a company like SK Hynix to do a collaboration. The Tube T31 isn’t a new product, so all it needed to do was figure out the revenue split with the publisher and grab a couple pieces of original artwork. The packaging and stickers really make this feel like a special product, though. The goodies aren’t much, but for someone who’s a fan of the game like myself, I was giddy as I took these two SSDs out of their box.
Let’s talk about the SSDs
I just gushed about this set of SSDs, but it’s not about their looks alone. If they were terrible, this would be a much different article. The Tube T31 is already a product that exists, and this Lies of P version is the same SSD in a different shell. That means you’re still getting speeds of up to 1,000MB/s, a three-year warrant, and compatibility with Windows, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation.
That’s great, but it’s really the price that stands out. SK Hynix normally asks $100 for the Tube T31, and this set of Lies of P versions comes in at $200. Sure, you have to get two 1TB SSDs when you might only need one, but you’re still getting two 1TB SSDs. With these types of limited-edition collector’s items, the sky’s the limit when it comes to pricing. It’s nice to see that this set is something that’s both a collector’s item and a legitimately useful product at a reasonable price.
I’ve called the Tube T31 an SSD up to this point, but you’d probably think of it more as a flash drive. It’s a stick with a USB-A connector on one end, typical of what you’d see with a flash drive. The difference is that it’s much larger, and SK Hynix packs a 1TB SSD inside. The Tube T31 straddles the line between an external hard drive and a flash drive. The capacity is enough to carry around all of your games, and the size is small enough that you can slip it into your pocket without a second thought.
For the Fulminis one, I took advantage of the portability by making it an emulation drive. I spent hours getting portable versions of all of the emulators I use, which can run off an external drive without being installed, organized my ROMs, and downloaded all of the metadata I need directly to the drive. Now, I can take a massive library of emulated games, plug it into any Windows PC, and just start playing. Even my saves come along with the drive.
The other one is plugged into my Xbox Series S; those Game Pass games aren’t going to install themselves. The Tube T31 works with both Xbox and PlayStation, and I tested both. The only reason I chose to stick with the Xbox is that the PlayStation 5 doesn’t allow you to play PS5 games from USB storage. The Xbox can play games from the internal storage or USB storage. Regardless of your console preference, you’ll need to format the SSD before installing games on it.
You don’t need to worry about speed here, either. You can see that from my results in CrystalDiskMark above. As advertised, the Tube T31 can hit up to 1,000MB/s for both sequential reads and write speeds. That’s not NVMe SSD fast, but it’s on the level of an external hard drive like the Samsung T7. It’s plenty fast for something like your Steam library. You can load all of your games up on the Tube T31 and take them between PCs.
The only caveat to that is the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface. This drive is simply limited by the port you plug it into. You’ll need the full USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) to get the full speed of the drive. It’ll still work if you plug it into a slower port — I have one plugged in a front panel USB 3 connector for emulation since speed isn’t a top concern — but you won’t get as fast of speeds. If you want to know more about what’s best for speed when choosing an SSD, make sure to read our SSD buying guide.
A lot of possibilities
The Tube T31 is basically an external SSD, but it comes in a unique form factor that makes it much more portable. I love the idea of having something so small that I can throw in my backpack and still have access to 1TB of storage. It’s a simple device, but it plays its role well. As long as you have access to a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, you’re getting speeds on the level of a proper external SSD.
As for the Lies of P version, I’d have a tough time recommending it if it was much more expensive than a Tube T31 like I expected — but that’s not the case. If you’re a fan of the game, this is a great love letter to the world of Krat, and it comes in at a totally reasonable price assuming you can handle two 1TB SSDs instead of just one. If you’re interested in the Lies of P version, I’d recommend picking it up soon. SK Hynix says they only made 1,000 units, and only 300 of those are available in the U.S. at Newegg.
