Windows has BitLocker built in and Mac OS X has FileVault, but neither are directly compatible.
One of the best things about Samsung’s encryption technology is that it works across multiple platforms – Mac OS X (10.7 or higher), Windows (7 or higher) and Android KitKat (version 4.4 or higher). With Samsung’s new T3, a 2TB USB 3.0 external Solid State Drive (SSD), however, protecting your data has never been so easy. Whatever the company is doing, it works.With a shockresistant metal case and the inherent durability of flash memory, Samsung says the T3 can survive a drop of up to two metresĭrive encryption isn’t rocket science, but if you don’t know your BitLocker from your BitTorrent, then it might be something you’ve ignored. Samsung talks about using encapsulated phase change materials (ePCM), which is a fancy way of describing stuff that radiates heat in a controlled, gradual fashion. That’s nice when you need to grab it and skedaddle as soon as an operation is over. The T7 ran only slightly warm during long transfers. In our 48GB write test, our Samsung T7 drive slowed from over 500MBps to around 325MBps at around the 20GB mark. Note that 300MBps writing is still fast compared to most external 2.5-inch hard drives, though the best modern 3.5-inch hard drives write at 250MBps. The screen capture below more vividly illustrates the drop in speed when theT7 runs out of cache. Again, with the 1TB or 2TB T7 with their larger amounts of cache, this likely would not have happened. The T7 was eventually caught by the T5 and posted a longer time, as you can see above.The T7’s 500MBps write speed while its cache lasted gave it a hefty head start however, the T5’s steady 50MBps advantage off cache allowed it to catch up at the very end. FIX It was near run thing as the T7’s cache gave it a hefty head start writing at well over 500MBps. In our 450GB write test, which we use largely to spot any dips in performance due to running out of cache, the T5 eventually caught the T7. With very small amounts of data that’s true, but in real-world copies, its reading and writing is about half what CDM 6 (and AS SSD–not shown) show. With very small amounts of data it is, but in real-world copies, it’s not nearly this fast.Īccording to CrystalDiskMark 6, the T7 is megafast. IDGĪccording to CrystalDiskMark 6, the T7 is mega-fast. There are smart cache allotment controllers out there that will increase cache according to need, but from the behavior, it doesn’t seem as if the T7 is one of them. Samsung and most vendors have historically assigned cache by percentage, but we didn’t have the larger-capacity drives to check that theory on the T7. Our test 500GB model had around 20GB of cache, so we expect that the 1TB will have 40GB of cache, and the 2TB, 80GB. The SSD creates cache by treating some of the NAND as SLC (generally) by writing only 1 bit-a much quicker operation than writing the 3 bits TLC is capable of storing, and especially the 4 bits QLC can store. While it’s reading or writing to cache, it does. If you saw nothing but the CrystalDiskMark 6 and AS SSD 2 synthetic benchmark results, you’d think the T7 outperformed the T5 by a mile.
The improved performance is largely because the unit is NVMe on the inside, but Samsung was mum as of the time of this writing as to which type of NAND is employed, whether TLC or QLC.
I’d actually prefer if it were a bit more substantial in the palm of my hand.
The T7 is a USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) SSD that’s roughly the shape of the older T5, but at 3.3 x 2.2 x 0.3 inches, it’s thinner and weighs a mere 2 ounces. Go there for information on competing products and how we tested them. This review is part of our ongoing roundup of the best external drives. (Corporations generally require FIPS, and secure government use always does.) That makes it a sweet deal for the average user who still wants effective data protection. Sure, you could get an official FIPS-certified secure drive, but those cost far more than the T7, which gives you this extra bit of security while remaining within the price range (currently $130 on Amazon) of a normal USB SSD. It’s thinner, a significantly faster reader, and it also sports a fingerprint scanner that you can employ, or not-your choice.
Samsung’s Portable SSD T7 Touch is a very nice upgrade to the older T5 (which will still be available).