- Portable SSD with Internal SSD-level Performance
- Superfast Read-write Speeds of up to 450 MB/s
- AES 256 bit Encryption for Cutting Edge Data Security
Amazing Little Portable SSD
04/06/2015
This review is from: SAMSUNG 1TB Portable USB 3.0 Portable SSD T1
Pros:
Fast.
Very Secure.
Build Quality.
Highly Portable.
3D V-NAND.
External storage is something I have a lot of, every system in my home has one or two USB 3 external HDD's connected to it, some connected 24/7, some not. That's in addition to the home NAS. Most of this drive space is used for backups and redundant data storage.
However there are two 1TB HDD's that I use when I want to travel with data, both have always been reliable and have done their jobs as expected. Both are USB 3 and are basically 2.5 inch laptop HDDs in portable enclosures. So they are relativity small and "fast enough" for most tasks.
After benchmarking (see "Other thoughts") I decided to use this Samsung T1 as a replacement for one of those two HDDs. I wanted to really see where that extra speed paid off.
The first and most obvious is the saved time coping/moving files to and from the T1. Especially large files, or large groups of files, that normally take quite a long time when using an HDD.
These speeds also make it possible to stream media and other content from the drive. You can use it to stream HD+ videos or to run a presentation without having to copy the data to a local drive. No slowdowns, no hiccups.
Secondly, you can easily install software and games to the drive and have them run just as good or better than if they were installed on an internal HDD.
I installed a couple DRM free games on the drive, took it to a friends, and was able to load them up on his PC with ease. On my own system I copied over my Battlefield Hardline installation ran the game from the T1, and it ran wonderfully. Much faster load times than via HDD, nearly as fast as the internal SSD the game sits on normally.
So while the speed benefits of using a portable SSD like the T1 are pretty obvious, what makes this drive any different than other options?
For me this comes down to two points. One being the fact it's a Samsung drive, a tried, true, and trusted world leader in SSD technology.
The other being the AES 256 bit encryption, no software installation is required. I really like having this amazing feature available to you right out of the box, taking only a few moments to setup.
Connecting the drive to your PC will prompt you to name the drive, and choose if you wish to enable the encryption or not. Once done, your data is password protected and secure.
The level of protection is such that forgetting your password will make the T1 unusable, requiring you to use a factory reset tool to reset the T1 back to it's out-of-box state. This will allow you to use the drive again, but data recovery is not possible. I really like this feature, just be sure you don't forget your password.
Overall I am impressed with the Samsung T1. It's fast, secure, and so easily used. It's much more portable than most other options. I really like this drive.
Cons:
Short USB3 cable, about 4.5 inches.
Other than that, I didn't find any other cons with the T1.
Overall Review:
Benchmarking the T1 consisted of two different main systems, one AMD 990FX based, the other Intel Z97, both running Windows 7 Ultimate 64. The software tools used were the latest versions of CrystalDiskMark 64 and ATTO, with queue depth of 10. 1000MB file size on CDM 64 and all default settings on ATTO.
The AMD 990FX based system was running an FX-8350 on the ASUS Sabertooth R2.0 motherboard.
Both CDM 64 and ATTO gave nearly identical numbers, these are the averages.
Sequential Read: 351.5 MB/s
Sequential Write: 335.3 MB/s
512K Read: 315.6 MB/s
512K Write: 313.4 MB/s
If you're experiencing slower than average speeds, about a max of 250 MB/s, on the ASUS Sabertooth (or any other supported ASUS board), you should install the included USB 3 driver, as well as the AI Suite "USB 3.0 Boost" software and enable UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol). Once UASP is enabled, you do not have to leave the software installed, but you're speed boost will remain.
The Z97 based system was tested running the i5-4690K. The motherboard was the ASRock Fatal1ty Killer. Again, average speeds between CDM 64 and ATTO since they got nearly identical results.
Sequential Read: 421.1 MB/s
Sequential Write: 403.5 MB/s
512K Read: 374.2 MB/s
512K Write: 378.5 MB/s
Note that using encryption seems to have little to no noticable impact on performance, at least it didn't in my testing, less than 2 MB/s on average between the two.
You may have also noticed that the there is a performance gap between the AMD FX and Intel Z97 systems, up to 70 MB/s on the high end. This actually happens a lot on FX based AMD systems. The older chipset, hardware, and even the drivers can cause this to happen.
I ran CDM 64 on a friends brand new 7850K and MSI A88X-G45 GAMING based build, running Windows 8.1. On that system the numbers much more closely matched the Z97 system.
In closing, this drive is fast, pure and simple. No matter what hardware you're using it with, it's going to be much faster than portable HDD options. The data encryption feature is simple to setup, very effective, and something I really enjoy.
If you're looking for a sleek, stylish portable SSD, that's also blazing fast and secure to store your data on the go, or to just add external storage to your system, then these Samsung T1 drives should really be at the top of your list.
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