Samsung T7 Shield review: secure data wherever you go

Would you trust your portable SSD in rain, sleet, or dust and debris? The Samsung T7 Shield The IP65 rating makes it a resilient storage companion wherever data takes you. It’s not just a pretty face with rugged protection, though; this 1TB NVMe drive also offers serious read/write speeds.

If you need more space for backups, 4K footage, or anything else, you can also take the 2TB T7 Shield for $229.

Design and durability: smooth and solid

SSDs (Solid State Drives) usually don’t have ridges, but again, they usually don’t. IP65 protection, That is. Choose from a beige, black or blue rubber exterior that holds the drive securely and separates this model from the original Samsung T7 SSD.

The rubber shield that protects its aluminum body also contributes to the 9.8-foot drop resistance, meaning you never have to worry about your drive after it noses over your desk and clung to the ground.

The outer shell has built-in dynamic thermal control, and it works. Unlike many other portable SSDs, the Shield T7 never turned into a heat source that I would consider snuggling up in the winter. It stayed at room temperature to the touch throughout testing.

The T7 Shield is an otherwise simple gadget with a single USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port and a blue LED indicator on the front. With a weight of 98 g (3.46 oz) and dimensions of 2.32 x 3.46 x 0.51 inches (59 x 88 x 13 mm), this SSD slips right into pockets or backpack for filming on location or just to bring a game to a friend’s house. It is smaller than most wallets, closer to a card holder than your usual folding.

You will also receive USB-C to C and USB-C to A cables to connect to your Windows PC, Mac, Android devices, iPads or consoles (as well as other devices with a USB port and storing data) . It’s important that portable SSDs like the T7 Shield fit a wide range of operating systems because fast file transfers, a key feature of these drives, need to be seamless across all devices.

There are few things that sting more than painstakingly editing hours of footage into a video only to run into compatibility issues when it comes time to export and store on an SSD – it’s something you don’t. you’re not likely to encounter with the T7 Shield.

You plug it in and it works. It’s sleek and protects your data, inside and out. What more do you need from a portable SSD?

Software and performance: Easy to use, incredibly fast

The included software is about as easy to use as the player itself. Plug the T7 Shield into a compatible computer and you will be prompted with a folder containing the installation files. Run the correct setup for your machine’s operating system and access Samsung’s portable SSD software.

There are only a few things you can do with this app, including locking your data behind password protection, monitoring the remaining storage space on your drive, and keeping the software itself up to date.

If you want an extra layer of protection for your personal data, you’re just a few clicks away.

Security

Samsung makes it easy to secure your files behind a password. With your T7 Shield plugged into your computer, open the Samsung Portable SSD software and click Settings. Now turn the security mode toggle to On position and set your password. That’s all we can say about it.

Your data is also backed up by AES 256-bit hardware encryption– considered “military grade” – by default without any effort on your part.

Read/write speeds

Samsung offers read/write speeds of up to 1050/1000 MB/s for this drive. Although it didn’t hit those numbers on any of my computers, my Macbook Pro got pretty close.

Discover the results in BlackMagic Disk Speed ​​Test (available for Mac) compared to those of CrystalDiscMark (available for Windows). I ran these tests with the same included USB C-to-C cable and same SSD, but the tests are different – your read/write speed results will vary due to many factors, including test and choice of the cable, the CPU (Central Processing Unit) you have in your system, generation of USB port, etc.

My 2016 MacBook Pro (equipped with a Intel Core i7 processor) nearly hit the maximum target, consistently hitting 900MB/s or more for read and write speeds.

My Windows PC (built with a Ryzen 5 2600), on the other hand, barely exceeded 400MB/s each (as far as the first 2 less strenuous test cases are concerned). It’s still a fast reader; 400MB/s blows hard drives completely out of the water, but there is a performance drop from system to system.

If you back up your childhood photos or store footage you just shot in the wild, chances are you’ll be as impressed with the speed of this little drive as I was. How is that so fast you may ask? This is thanks to the T7 Shield’s use of NVMe Storage, rather than the age-old SATA standard. This means for you: less time spent waiting for bars to load and more time filling the reader with all the data you want.

Should you buy the Samsung T7 Shield?

The only reason I wouldn’t recommend the Shield T7 is if you already have a T7 that stays at your desk more than it travels with you. If that sounds like you, the full price of this drive for the extra protection it offers might not be worth the upgrade. The original T7 offers exactly the same read/write speeds as its IP65 partner; you wouldn’t miss much.

But if you’re looking for a new portable SSD, get it. Shield T7 if it fits your budget. It’s got everything you need: protection from the elements, solid performance metrics, portability and style.

Grab the 1TB T7 Shield for $133 or the 2TB version for $229.