How Fast is the Samsung T7 Shield?
With the recent Sandisk fiasco, I decided to get a new external SSD to hold all my RAW images. Looking around, I went with the Samsung T7 Shield, which essentially the equivalent of Sandisk E61 SSD that I have.
So here’s a quick review of the Samsung T7 Shield
Reviewing the T7 Shield
Firstly, let’s take a quick look at the packaging. It comes in a nice decent box which clearly shows the capacity of the SSD, its theoretical 1050MB/s speed and IP65 rating. So, no mistaking what you are purchasing right from just looking at the front of the box.
Inside the box, you will find another box that houses the SSD unit itself and a secondary compartment where you will find the USB-C to C and USB-C to A cable.
The SSD unit
The SSD unit has an interesting rugged design. However, the protective rubber cover is a real dust magnet as you can see from the photos below.
Initially, I thought the T7 Shield was small. However, when I compared it with the Sandisk Extreme E61 and the Samsung T5, the T7 Shield turns out to be the largest and thickest unit of the lot.
While the Sandisk Extreme E61 unit is taller, it still feels smaller as it was significantly thinner compared to the Samsung T7 Shield.
In terms of ruggedness, the T7 Shield does feel like it can take a better beating compared to the Sandisk Extreme E61. Also, you can’t remove the protective rubber off the T7 Shield. It feels like the cover is glued to the aluminium housing unit.
All in all, there’s not much to fuss about the design of the T7 Shield. So, let’s now check to see how it actually performs.
How fast indeed is the T7 Shield?
To test the disk, I simply using Blackmagic’s disk benchmark too to compare the read and write speeds and comparing it with the results from the Sandisk Extreme E61.
Samsung T7 Shield – 1GB Disk Speed Test
Sandisk Extreme E61 – 1GB Disk Speed Test
Both disk performs pretty much on par based on the benchmark tests. I also did a simple disk sync using Forklift from the Sandisk Extreme E61 and write to the Samsung T7 Shield. As you can see, it the write speed comes pretty close to the 900MB/s rate. That’s not too bad for a simple real-life test.
All in all, the Samsung T7 Shield is a decent USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10GB/s) portable SSD. It performs as advertised and for the usual price point I see it on the shelves, it is also great value for money!
In short, it is one that I would recommend if you are looking for a simple but speedy portable SSD.
