Samsung T9 Portable SSD review: Serious external SSD speed

Specs

The Samsung T9 is available in three different capacities of 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB and comes in a form factor that will be familiar to anyone who’s bought an external SSD at all recently. Indeed, this T9 drive has the merest tweak to the design of the Samsung T7 Shield, which is the previous-gen version of this drive.

To that end, it measures just 88 x 60 x 14mm and features just a single USB port on one end, alongside which is a single LED to indicate when the drive is active. The drive also comes with two 45cm cables, one of which is USB-C to USB-C and the other is USB-A to USB-C. It’s a simple setup, with none of the clever cable stowage options of some alternatives, so you’ll always need to make sure you bring a cable.

The inherent ruggedness of SSD NAND storage means any external SSD drive is much more knock-resistant than a hard drive, but the compact dimensions, light weight of just 122g, and a thick coating of rubber on this drive make it particularly tough. The rubber is several millimeters thick and slightly extends beyond the ends of the drive, so it provides a good deal of protection, and  Samsung rates it as being able to stand drops from a height of up to three meters (10ft).

One feature you don’t get here, though, is any official IP-rated water resistance or dust resistance. The drive will certainly survive most spills and splashes, but its open USB port isn’t rated to stop water ingress and is vulnerable to dust too.

Inside the drive is Samsung’s own NAND flash storage, with the internals of the drive very much not accessible for future user upgrades, thanks to the rubber outside being fused with the case of the drive. As such, whatever capacity you buy now is what you’ll always have.

The 4TB version of the Samsung T9 we’re testing is rated to 2,000MB/s sequential read and write speeds, with Samsung not making any claims about the random read and write speed of the drive. Opt for the 2TB drive and the sequential write speed drops slightly to 1,950MB/s but the read speed remains at 2,000MB/s. Those same speed figures apply if you choose the 1TB version too.

Crucially, while those are the peak speeds the drive can manage, it can only deliver these if your USB ports and cables are up to it. You’ll need to make sure you’re using the included cables with the drive, or cables that you know are rated for USB 3.2 Gen 2×2  (20Gbps) speeds. Likewise, you’ll need the ports on your laptop or PC to be rated to this level – they’ll often have a little “20” written next to them if they support these speeds. Plug this drive into a USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps port, and the speed will drop.

For an indication of the relatively modern and rare nature of these ports, across my older Intel 11th gen test PC, my main work PC based on an AMD AM4 chipset, and a newer AMD AM5 motherboard, only the new AM5 board had a port able to reach 20Gbps. What’s more, that board only had one out of its eight rear USB ports rated to this speed. All the others are 10Gbps ports or slower. So, be sure to double-check before taking the plunge on buying a drive this fast.

The package includes Samsung’s Portable SSD software, which you can access when you first plug in the drive – it will just appear as a new drive, just like any SD card or USB thumb drive. The drive comes formatted initially in exFAT format but can be changed to whatever file system you like.

Performance

Samsung’s claims for the speed of this 4TB drive were largely matched in our tests. Using the CrystalDiskMark benchmarking software, the drive registered a sequential read speed of 2,030MB/s but fell slightly short of its claimed write speed, managing only 1,868MB/s. That’s still blazing fast for an external SSD, though – it’s twice the speed you’ll get from Samsung’s next tier of drive, the Samsung T7 – so it’s close enough to not cause concern.

We also tested if the drive’s hardware encryption has an impact on performance and found that the drive’s pace dropped pace every so slightly, hitting a 2,029MB/s read and 1,822MB/s write speed, but these figures are so close as to be considered the same. Moreover, the drive is still fast enough to write a 2GB file to itself or read it back to your system in just over one second. That means you can fling 100GB game installs to and from the drive in just a minute or so.

So, it’s clear this drive really is lightning fast for file transfers, but does it have an advantage for gamers? Can you safely install your Steam games on this drive and have them run smoothly?

Price

With a starting price of $134.99 for the 1TB version of this drive, the Samsung T9 is among the pricier options for a portable SSD. For comparison, the also ruggedized Samsung T7 Shield is available for $99.99, as is the non-ruggedized version of that drive. Meanwhile, many slower drives are available for less too, such as the 800MB/s SanDisk Portable SSD for $84.99. As such, you’re definitely paying a premium for the extra speed of this drive.

Samsung T7 Shield

If you like the idea of the rubber protection provided by the Samsung T9 and still want a decently fast external SSD that’s still ideal as a game boot drive, the Samsung T7 Shield fits the bill. It’s only rated to a top speed of 1,050MB/s but that’s still very fast and won’t hold back your game loading. Crucially, for any given capacity, it’s considerably cheaper than the T9.

Samsung T7

Verdict

The Samsung T9 is an amazingly fast, compact, and tough external SSD that’s ideal for anyone needing a huge capacity drive that can stand up to life on the road, while also delivering all the speed a pro content creator or gamer could need.

However, its extra speed over alternative drives doesn’t impact game loading times, so if you’re just after a drive for offloading your Steam game library, a slower drive will do the same job and save you money. If you’re regularly moving around massive files, though, the extra speed here will come in useful, if your PC/laptop has a port that’s fast enough.