Samsung T7 Shield portable SSD evaluation: Ultra-fast and constructed to last

At a look

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• Fast 10 Gbps storage
• Rugged external skin for IP65 ranking
• Up to 2TB in capability
• Svelte styling

Cons

• No 20 Gbps
• Not complete immersion ranked

Our Verdict

Faster than its Touch predecessor, the T7 Shield is likewise more rugged. It does not have finger print scanning, however is otherwise a much faster, more resilient external SSD.

Price When Reviewed

T7 Shield: $160 for 1TB|$290 for 2TB

If you’ve had your eyes on Samsung’s quick USB 10 Gbps T7 Touch, however weren’t sure it appropriated for your rough and topple environment, your problem is at an end. The most recent model in the T7 series– the T7 Shield– is IP65 ranked to stand up to a damp weather condition and uses extra security versus shock (though undoubtedly, shock is a larger offer for portable disk drives than it is for portable SSDs). This is another top-tier USB drive from Samsung.

Design

The Samsung T7 Shield is a USB 10 Gbps enclosure with an NVMe SSD inside. We’re a bit amazed the current variation didn’t choose 20 Gbps USB, though undoubtedly, such ports are quite uncommon and will stay so till complete USB4 applications end up being the standard The T7 Shield is offered in 1TB and 2TB capabilities for $160 and $290 respectively, and you can purchase them with blue, beige, or black silicone-like protective coverings.

The drive determines 3.5-inches long by 2.3-inches large by 0.5-inches thick, and weighs simply under 4 ounces. That’s a little much heavier than the T7 Touch, however covered in a silicone protective sleeve, it’s barely unexpected.

The additional weight is irrelevant in regards to portability, and provides the T7 Shield a good heft. I considered tossing it versus a wall to evaluate shock resistance. I didn’t, though I dropped it from about 4 feet onto a wood flooring without any ill results.

The T7 Shield’s USB port is Type-C and attentively, Samsung consists of both USB Type-A to Type-C and Type-C to Type-C cable televisions.

As to the IP ranking, 65 is a bit uncommon. Many gadgets declare67 If you desire the whole IP rundown, read this post by yours genuinely on our sis publication TechHive. The essence of it is …

The very first number, 6, implies the T7 Shield can keep out simply about any kind of particle matter. The 2nd number, 5, suggests you can spray it with water, however not immerse it. (7 would show that immersion is survivable). No doubt the Type-C port is the perpetrator for the lower liquid resistance score, though we’ve seen them on lots of Bluetooth speakers sporting the very same port that declare IP67 Many cover the port with a captive plug, however not all.

Perhaps, Samsung is simply a little bit more conservative in their conclusions. I’m not stating drop the T7 Shield in the swimming pool, however I would not be shocked if it made it through a brief dip– as long as it’s not linked and active. If it is, you’ve got other concerns.

Though the Shield does not have the Touch’s finger print reader, it can still be password protected utilizing Samsung’s Portable SSD software application. Obviously, you should then set up stated software application on any computer system you wish to access the drive from. That’s definitely not as useful as a basic finger scan, however practical.

Performance

The Samsung T7 Shield revealed a visible efficiency enhancement over its T7 Touch predecessor, particularly when it pertained to composing files. Once again, our Shield test system was 2TB, where the Touch was 500 GB. This will make a distinction, particularly throughout long composes as the drive can deal with more NAND as single-bit/level, SLC secondary cache.

We just recently changed to the most recent CrystalDiskMark, variation 8.04, and a brand-new testbed so these charts are not direct equivalent with those for previous drives. The 2 drives the Shield is compared to listed below were retested. That stated, CDM 8 shows that visible compose speed enhancement I simply mentioned. (Right-click on images and select “Open image in brand-new tab” to see full-size variations.)

Quicker writing was likewise mainly accountable for the much better total efficiency in our 48 GB transfers revealed listed below. The older Touch in fact showed a somewhat much faster reader.

Having 2TB rather of 500 GB to have fun with was an advantage for the T7 Shield when it pertained to composing our single big 450 GB file. That stated, the LaCie was likewise 2TB and not as fast. Samsung has actually undoubtedly been upping its video game (or parts) considering that the last T7 model.

There aren’t lots of 10 Gbps SSDs that will top the Samsung T7 in efficiency.

External USB drive tests presently use Windows 11 64- bit operating on an MSI MEG X570/ AMD Ryzen 3700 X combination with 4 16 GB Kingston 2666 MHz DDR4 modules, a Zotac (Nvidia) GT 710 1GB x2 PCIe graphics card, and an Asmedia ASM3242 USB 3.2 × 2 card. Copy tests use an ImDisk RAM disk utilizing 58 GB of the 64 GB of memory.

Conclusion

Though we ‘d like to see a bit much better water-proofing, the Samsung T7 Shield is undoubtedly a far better drive for extreme environments than the Touch. Certainly, it does not have the benefit of finger print security that the Touch provides, however it’s a much better entertainer and you can still protect it by means of software application. Once again: This is another excellent portable drive from Samsung, and extremely advised.