Customer Ratings & Reviews

This is my second Samsung external SSD. My first also being a 1TB T7 but the non shield version, which I also wrote a separate review on almost 2 years ago. In just about every way the T7 Shield is the same as the regular T7, outside of the obvious exterior casing. Most importantly though, it's still just as great. In fact I still use my original T7 to this day, but I needed more storage, so that's where this new T7 Shield comes in. My main reason and use for having this external SSD is for storing video footage used on my youtube channel, so this SSD sees a LOT of use with a LOT of reading and writing. As I said initially, I already have one T7 that's doing a great job for me still, but I'm always concerned about the abuse it sometimes takes as it travels quite a bit with me. This new T7 Shield puts my mind at ease with all the extra protection it has. As much as my original T7 has held up all this time, this one may be near indestructible! It's not a lot of extra cost either over the non-shield so it's definitely worth it when you use it the way I do. Back to performance though, this SSD easily keeps up with my demands. The typical cycle starts with me transferring footage from my various SD cards to the SSD. In cases where I'm at an event doing a lot of filming I'll clear out my SD cards nightly and then go back into the SSD later on to organize all the files. I then edit my videos on my MacBook using Final Cut Pro, which uses a lot of storage space for each project. Since space on my MacBook is limited, I keep all the source files on this SSD for Final Cut Pro to read from. Once edited I write the final videos to this SSD and then when it comes time to upload to YouTube, my videos again are being uploaded directly from the SSD. Finally once I'm done with a given video I move all the files to another hard drive I keep solely for archiving. Then rinse and repeat all over again for the next video project. Of all the bottlenecks in transferring data this SSD is never one of them. Whether writing to it, organizing files, reading files, etc., it handles it all easily. I've never had any type of data corruption issues with my first T7 or this new T7 Shield and they've become absolutely essential to me. I honestly can't say enough good things about the T7 SSD. If you need a storage solution that's durable and can take a lot of use, and abuse, I highly recommend this Samsung T7 SSD.

For those of us that snap 30 pictures of the same thing in hopes that one picture will turn out perfect you know how fast your phone fills up! I was looking for a way to safely pull the photos off and keep them in a safe place and this external drive was a great find! The external drive itself is compact with huge storage. I downloaded about 5000 photos in only about 5 minutes! Very happy with the compatibility and cute design of the drive! Will definitely purchase another when the time comes

I needed and new drive to store movies on. It needed to be portable so we can take it camping with us. This drive is fast transferring file is quick and easy. I like that the cover is "rubber" and does not slip out of your hand. It uses USB without the need for external power supply. I use this for my Plex server and have no issues streaming videos from this drive. I will be buying more of these drives. USB C to USB C works great

I've been using NVME drives for awhile, including a 1tb drive in an usb-type c enclosure, so I had big expectations of this drive's performance. I'm still impressed. It's exactly as fast as you'd expect, and it's in this great form factor. Build quality is that rubberish rubberized kind of material. I still wouldn't go tossing this around in the rain or anything, but it does feel nice and durable. I love that it's just straight c to c cabling on this instead of some proprietary nonsense, great job there samsung - keep it up. You get two cables in the box (a to c - and c to c), they're pretty short but will get the job done if you don't have anything else laying around. For best results you'll want that c to c cable in most situations, those ports are usually the fastest. So how fast? I've attached a photo of the full benchmark, but according to the manufacturer it's rated at 1050MB/s sequential up and 1000MB/s sequential down and my unit exceeds both of those numbers by a fair bit, so yeah it's great. No this is not internal NVME speed, which is roughly 3x as fast ... or more with gen 4 drives, but for most people this will be perfect. To put it in practical terms I run a media server on a laptop from time to time and I keep all of my media on a external drive - a traditional external drive. So it took about 48 minutes to transfer hundreds of gigabytes of data from that thing to my PC. Sending that from my PC to the T7 took about 12 minutes. It's fast. You can even play games from it, but I don't have need to. But this would be a great option if you're on a thin and light laptop or newer console. Storage is only 1.81TB as formatted, don't be thrown by that it's completely normal. Temps are good as well. It's sitting at 26C after being "on" for about 20 minutes and having run those synthetic benchmarks. Ambient temp is only about 10C though so keep that in mind. It's a fair sight cooler than my two internal NVME drives which are running at 33C and 43C in the same room. So make of that what you will. The drive does get noticeable warm to the touch, but that's just how it maintains it's temperature, it's letting that heat out. It's good. Yeah it's just a great drive. I don't know what else I can say about it. It's exactly what it's supposed to be. I wish I had a few more.

Compact, fast, and sizable. Incredibly useful for transferring large amounts of data effectively, and it's size and weight make it a great portable option.

Super fast and reliable SSD. This gave me huge storage and fast transfer speeds perfect for video editing and backups. Compact design and sturdy build.

I think this is the perfect portable storage solution for my iMac. I use it between the iMac and my iPad to keep my business files that I don’t want stored on the cloud. It’s plenty fast for my needs. It’s also small but a nice weight and feels durable. I don’t worry about it getting bumped around. Setup was very easy. The Samsung software wasn’t necessary for my Apple devices so I simply formatted the drive for Mac and plugged it in.

The main selling point is that this is supposed to be tough. You can drop it. It can handle a bit of rain and dust. If that appeals to you, then this might be the right portable SSD for you. On the other hand, that durability comes at a price, so if you don't need it, there are other, cheaper solutions out there. The two end caps appear to be solid aluminum, and the outer surface is coated in soft rubber (presumably there is aluminum under this, but I am not taking mine apart to verify this). This rubber extends past the edges of the end caps, so even if you drop this and it lands on a corner, it should survive. Other than maybe the USB-C port, there is no visible place for water or dust to ingress. But just looking into the port, it appears to be sealed with a red rubber gasket between the port and the end cap. As to performance, my PC only has 5Gb/s USB ports, so I was able to get nowhere near the advertised maximum. But I still found the performance to be very acceptable. Note that this unit advertised 256-bit hardware encryption, but that must be enabled using the included software. The Windows version is actually an installer! This baffles me. For a portable device that you might want to use on multiple computers, the software should be stand-alone and just run by itself. However, I don’t really see myself using the on-board encryption. If I need encryption, I could easily install the open-source VeraCrypt. That software can make an encrypted partition and run off of the drive itself, (no installation required). VeraSrypt is also available on Linux, something that the Samsung encryption software can’t claim. So, if you are going on safari and need something reliable to hold your photos, this seems like it might be a great option. Or if you travel a lot and need something to survive bangs in your carry-on luggage, then this would also be a good choice. But, of course, even rugged devices fail, so don’t forget to have another backup!

The Samsung T7 Shield works well overall and does what it’s supposed to do. The transfer speeds are fast and reliable, and I like how durable and water-resistant it is, which makes it feel safe for storing important files. It’s also compact and easy to carry around. However, the price is a little high compared to other external SSDs with similar performance. Still, it’s a solid option if you want something sturdy and dependable.

I use it to back up photos on my iphone and has so far worked flawlessly. My iphone had no issues recognizing. Photos transfered over pretty fast. It’s small and portable. I carry it in a little hardshell case. I’m glad I went with this vs a usbc thumb drive.

Love the size and color. It is fast, convenient, and easy to use.

Samsung has come out with a great option for a more active lifestyle way of transporting your external drive data. It's the new Samsung T7 Shield. The packages includes the SSD external T7 drive, USB-to-USBC cable, USBC-to-USBC cable, and a brief user manual which comes in various languages. Both cables are approximately 17-inches. The SSD drive come with a manufacturer's 3-year limited warranty. It can come in 3 colors (black, blue, and beige) and in 1TB or 2TB sizes. I am using the black 2TB. PROS: ----------- * Simple plug-n-play interface for USB-C or USB 3.2. * I do not believe in using CrystalDiskMark in testing speeds though one can definitely do that. These programs may damage the drive in some instances. Instead of using stats from CDM, which I'm sure other users will post, I'll give a real-world test case that might give you similar information. I copied a folder from my SSD hard drive on my high-end gaming desktop that had 591 files in 27 folders and tallied 7.2GB of data. I was able to copy all of the data in 35 seconds. The write speed is very impressive. I got the same speed using both the USB-C and the USB-A cables provided. I was able to copy that same data back to my desktop SSD internal drive in 45 seconds. * This SSD does offer possible updates which can be installed using the executable program that's already on the drive. * For the outdoors people, this is a great option with rugged durability and IP65 rating. If you film things in damp areas, this may be a great option for extra SSD space for 4K video. With its high speeds, it's also possible to edit massive projects directly from the drive itself instead of putting on a PC hard drive first. * Samsung claims the outer rubber-like surface can help protect the drive after a drop of 9.8 feet (under "controlled conditions"). I'm obviously not going to test that. The best thing is to simply not drop it - but if you do, this one should have a better chance of surviving normal drops. * In addition to connecting to PC's and Macs, it will also connect to Android phones. If you need to backup your Samsung phone, simply connect using the USBC-to-USBC cable, and it works easily. This is another option instead of (or in addition to) cloud backup - just don't lose the drive! CONS: ----------- * After plugging in the drive multiple times, I noticed that I lost function of my Logitech wireless mouse seconds later. I'm unsure what driver collision is causing this or why it is happening, but once the SSD is unplugged, the issue goes away. I'm able to temporarily retain movement of my mouse if I unplug then plug back in my wireless mouse dongle... enough time to safely disconnect the drive. I would be happy to know what can be done to avoid this T7 SSD drive making my mouse freeze. * It does pick up dust and dirt pretty easily and sticks to the outer surface as shown by my pictures. * There is no rubber cap or cover to go over the USB-C end of the SSD. If you're on-the-go in a dirty area, just keep it clear of dust and dirt when possible. OTHER OBSERVATIONS: ----------- * The drive has its own password protection software built-in which you can install on your PC or Mac. From there, you can setup a password to keep others from seeing your data; however, if you forget that password and lose access to your drive due to forgetting your password, the drive can only be reset back to factory settings by sending it back to Samsung. There is no factory reset button or any other way to do this. This option will also erase any data that was already on there. So if you create a PW, don't forget it. You can rename the drive from that same program if needed. There isn't much else the program does that's of significant use IMO. CONCLUSION: ===================== There's not much to this device usage-wise. It's a single cable used to connect to another device to store data. It's nothing we haven't seen before. The great thing about this SSD is the "shock-proofing" it offers in case the SSD is dropped or hit with something. Speeds are as good as you'll find out there at advertised ~1000MBs speeds. My only issue is with this device freezing up my wireless Logitech mouse when it is used - which means I likely won't be able to use it much unless I use another mouse or a wired setup. I'm unsure how this might affect other mice including touchpads on laptops. Given this one major issue with my mouse, it's not a 5-star product until I can use both at the same time and without issue. Other than that, everything else is top notch.

Its been 2 years amd the drive still works. Its fast and portable.

Excellent storage. Durable. And easily transportable.

The Samsung T7 Shield 2TB external hard drive combines speed, durability, and portability. Its rugged design is shock-resistant and IP65-rated for water and dust protection, making it ideal for outdoor and travel use. With transfer speeds of up to 1,050 MB/s via USB 3.2 Gen 2, it handles large files quickly and efficiently. The compact size ensures easy portability, and the included software supports password protection and encryption for added security. While slightly pricier than standard drives, the T7 Shield is an excellent choice for those needing robust performance on the go.

This drive has been delivering steady performance right out of the gate. Load times are quick, transfers move efficiently, and it’s handled day-to-day use without any hiccups. The build feels durable and the compact size makes it easy to carry on the road. Only reason it’s not getting five stars is that the cable could be a bit longer. Overall, it’s a strong value play and gets the job done.

Samsung’s external SSD delivers exceptional speed and reliability, making it a top choice for data storage. With sleek design and impressive performance, it’s a reliable companion for those needing fast and portable storage solutions.

By far the fastest and most portable SSD I’ve used in a long time. It’s so great to be able to transfer files and edit photo/video quickly with this drive.

I've had the Samsung T7 Shield 2TB external SSD for a couple of months now. It almost installed itself. It triples the storage capacity of my laptop, is blazingly fast for an external drive using the USB 3.2 interface and is easily portable when I'm on the go. I have nothing but good things to say about this drive.

Wanted to wait and use this for awhile before I reviewed it so I can give the best review I could. I have had nothing but horror stories with device powered mechanical and SS drives - but I have to say that this little baby is incredibly tough, fast, light and sleek. I’ve used it primarily with my ‘23 MacBook Air, but have also done some TM backups from some of my older Macs. I have also done some Final Cut edits directly against the drive without even a flutter. Really, this thing is awesome. They also go on sale often so keep that on your radar - but the price is already pretty good and it’s well worth it for the quality and speed.