Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD Review

The Samsung T7 Shield is the latest portable SSD in the popular T7 portfolio. This tougher portable SSD was made for those looking to deploy worksites that extend past the safety of a desk. With a stylish and well-designed exterior shell, the T7 Shield allows users to expand their work environment without worry when it comes to their drive’s physical safety.

The Samsung T7 Shield is the latest portable SSD in the popular T7 portfolio. This tougher portable SSD was made for those looking to deploy worksites that extend past the safety of a desk. With a stylish and well-designed exterior shell, the T7 Shield allows users to expand their work environment without worry when it comes to their drive’s physical safety.

The T7 Shield, similar to other T Series products, utilizes NVMe protocols to take advantage of the USB 3.2 Gen2 interface to allow bandwidth up to 1,050MB/s read and 1,000MB/s write.

Samsung T7 Shield

The T7 Shield has been designed especially for professional content creators and those that need quick local storage regardless of the environment. The T7 Shield also comes with the standard Samsung software for added security as well as features Samsung’s unique Magician management software suite similar to the other T Series products. The Samsung T7 Shield offers a wide range of compatibility from mobile devices all the way to professional cameras.

A feature that Samsung is proud of is that the T7 Shield is made sustainably to minimalize the ecological impact of the materials used in the T7 Shield. The T7 Shield, just like other T products, is made from eco-friendly pulp material and uses one-third less material in packaging giving a smaller carbon footprint overall.

The SSD comes in at 88 x 59 x 13mm (3.5 x 2.3 x 0.5 inches) which is relatively compact for such a large amount of storage as compared to other “tough” portable SSDs on the market. Since this T7 Shield portable SSD is built for durability, Samsung has included quite a few features to allow this device to be used and deployed anywhere without worry of external damage.

The T7 Shield sports a strong aluminum body along with a rubber shell designed for rough handling. The aluminum body allows for maximum heat dissipation due to thermal conductivity. The tough rubber makes gripping easy and prevents scratches and stains along with protecting against drops and external shocks to the SSD.

The T7 Shield was given the IP65 certification, which means it’s dust and water-resistant. withstanding drops of up to three meters (9.8 feet).

The T7 Shield is available in blue, beige and black colors in 1TB and 2TB capacities. Pricing at Amazon has all colors at $134.99 for the 1TB and $229.99 for the 2TB. This places the Shield at a little more than the standard T7, but quite a bit less than the T7 Touch, which includes a biometric security feature.

Samsung T7 Shield Specifications

Samsung T7 Shield Performance

For testing the Samsung T7 Shield, we first ran the Blackmagic Design Disk Speed Test. In this benchmark, the T7 Shield was able to get 939MB/s write and 914MB/s read. Although not the fastest drive that we have seen, it does come close to the numbers reported by Samsung, however, what is more impressive, is that the T7 was able to hit nearly every checkmark in the “Will it Work?” section.

The next test that we ran was the IOMeter Benchmark, 1 thread. The single thread benchmark showed the T7 did not quite reach the speeds that were in the Blackmagic Design Test, however, the T7 did remain quick. In the 2MB sequential section, the T7 saw 804MB/s write and 804MB/s read, along with 804MB/s write and 766MB/s read in the 2MB random tests. Lastly, in the 4K random sections, the T7 showed 14,383 IOPS write and 4,046 IOPS read.

The last test we ran was a continuation of the IOMeter Benchmark, but a 4 thread, which is a more intensive test than the 1 thread. The T7 showed speeds very close to the ones reported by Samsung, starting with the 2MB sequential test, the T7 got 1,019MB/s write and 1,041MB/s read. In the 2MB random tests, the T7 showed 1,019MB/s write and 1,020MB/s read, and lastly, in the 4K random tests, we saw 39,356 IOPS write and 17,342 IOPS read.

Conclusion

Overall the Samsung T7 Shield is a solid continuation of the T7 line of portable SSDs. The T7 Shield is built for content creators on any device, ranging from a phone to a camera, and is great for those on the go looking for mass storage both indoors and outdoors.

When looking at performance, we ran our standard Blackmagic Design and IOMeter speed tests. In the Blackmagic Design benchmark, we saw 939MB/s write and 914MB/s read, fairly close to the top speed reported by Samsung. What was more impressive however in the Blackmagic Design test was that the T7 Sheild hit nearly every checkmark in the “Will it Work?” section.

In our IOMeter benchmark, the 1 thread 2MB sequential workloads showed 804MB/s write and 804MB/s, a little light compared to the Blackmagic design test, but still decent. In the 4 thread 2MB sequential test, 1,019MB/s write and 1,041MB/s read, essentially hitting the limits of the interface.

Overall the T7 Shield isn’t a major leap forward for Samsung, but it does evolve the very popular platform with a drive that looks great and can take a little more abuse than the standard T7.

The Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield will be available in a 1TB model and a 2TB model for $134.99 and $229.99 respectively, and for those looking for more information, it can be found on Samsung’s product page.

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