Samsung T7 Shield Review: Safe Data Wherever You Go

Would you belief your transportable SSD within the rain, sleet, or mud and particles? The Samsung T7 Shield’s IP65 score makes it a resilient companion for storage wherever knowledge takes you. It’s not only a fairly face with rugged safety, although; this 1TB NVMe drive additionally places up severe learn/write speeds.

When you want extra room for backups, 4K footage, or the rest, you may also decide up the 2TB T7 Shield for $229.

Design and Sturdiness: Slick and Robust

SSDs (Stable State Drives) don’t often have ridges—then once more, they don’t often have IP65 protection, both. Take your decide from a Beige, Black, or Blue rubber exterior that retains the drive secure and separates this mannequin from the unique Samsung T7 SSD.

The rubber defend that protects its aluminum physique additionally contributes to the 9.8ft drop sturdiness, which suggests no extra worrying about your drive after it takes a nostril dive off of your desk and clangs to the ground.

The outside shell has dynamic thermal management built-in, and it really works. In contrast to many different transportable SSDs, the T7 Shield by no means became a warmth supply that I’d take into account huddling round within the winter. It stayed room temperature to the contact all through testing.

The T7 Protect is an in any other case easy gadget with a single USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port and a blue LED indicator on the front-facing facet. At 98g (3.46oz) in weight and a couple of.32 x 3.46 x 0.51in (59 x 88 x 13mm) in measurement, this SSD slips proper into pockets or backpacks for on-location capturing or just bringing a sport to a pal’s home. It’s smaller than most wallets, extra akin to a cardholder than your common bifold.

You’ll additionally obtain USB-C-to-C and USB-C-to-A cables to connect with your Home windows PC, Mac, Android units, iPads, or consoles (together with another units which have a USB port and retailer knowledge). It’s necessary for transportable SSDs just like the T7 Protect to accommodate a variety of working programs as a result of fast file transfers, a key characteristic of those drives, must be seamless throughout units.

There are few issues that sting greater than painstakingly modifying hours of footage right into a video solely to run into compatibility issues when it comes time to export and retailer on an SSD—that is one thing you’re not prone to face with the T7 Protect.

You plug it in and it really works. It’s trendy and it retains your knowledge secure, in and out. What extra do you want from a conveyable SSD?

Software program and Efficiency: Simple to make use of, Blazingly Quick

The included software program is about as straightforward to make use of because the drive itself. Plug the T7 Protect right into a suitable laptop and also you’ll be prompted with a folder containing set up recordsdata. Run the right setup on your machine’s working system and soar into Samsung’s transportable SSD software program.

There are only a few issues you are able to do with this app, together with locking your knowledge up behind password safety, monitoring the remaining cupboard space in your drive, and conserving the software program itself updated.

If you’d like an additional layer of protection on your private knowledge, you’re just a few clicks away.

Safety

Samsung makes it straightforward to safe your recordsdata behind a password. Along with your T7 Protect plugged into your laptop, open the Samsung Moveable SSD software program and click on Settings. Now, flip the Safety Mode toggle to the On place and set your password. That’s all there may be to it.

Your knowledge can also be backed by AES 256-bit hardware encryption—thought of “military-grade”—by default with no effort wanted out of your facet.

Learn/Write Speeds

Samsung boasts learn/write speeds of as much as 1,050/1,000MB/s for this drive. Whereas it didn’t hit these numbers on both of my computer systems, my MacBook Pro acquired fairly shut.

Take a look at the leads to BlackMagic’s Disk Speed Test (accessible for Mac) in comparison with these from CrystalDiskMark (accessible for Home windows). I ran these assessments with the identical included USB C-to-C cable and identical SSD, however the assessments are totally different—your learn/write velocity outcomes will differ because of many components, together with check and cable alternative, the CPU (Central Processing Unit) you may have in your system, USB port technology, and extra.

My MacBook Professional 2016 (geared up with an Intel core i7 CPU) practically hit the max goal, persistently reaching 900MB/s or above for each learn and write speeds.

My Home windows PC (constructed with a Ryzen 5 2600), however, barely eked out over 400MB/s every (close to the primary 2 much less strenuous check instances). It’s nonetheless a quick drive; 400 MB/s utterly blows HDDs out of the water, however there’s a efficiency drop from system to system.

When you’re backing up your childhood photographs or storing footage you simply shot out within the wild, there’s likelihood you’ll be as impressed as I used to be with the velocity of this little drive. How is it so quick, it’s possible you’ll ask? That’s due to the T7 Protect’s utilization of NVMe storage, reasonably than the age-old SATA normal. What meaning for you: much less time spent ready round for loading bars, and extra time to refill the drive with all the info you need.

Ought to You Purchase the Samsung T7 Protect?

The one purpose I wouldn’t advocate the T7 Shield is that if you have already got a T7 that stays at your desk greater than it travels with you. If that sounds such as you, the complete value of this drive for the additional safety it offers is probably not definitely worth the improve. The unique T7 places up the very same learn/write speeds as its IP65 companion; you wouldn’t be lacking a lot.

However should you’re on the hunt for a brand new transportable SSD, make it the T7 Shield if it matches your finances. It has all the things you want—safety in opposition to the weather, robust efficiency metrics, portability, and magnificence.

Seize the 1TB T7 Protect for $133 or the 2TB model for $229.