Customer Ratings & Reviews

I’ve been a fan of the Samsung T-series external hard drives for some time now…they’re commonly regarded as among the fastest portable SSDs you can buy, and while the price is not trivial, they’ve been in the space for some time and have demonstrated decent reliability. The T7 Shield is another portable SSD from Samsung with a sort of “encrypt” function which optionally locks down the hard drive (provided you install the Samsung software) with a password. It is cross platform capable, supported on Windows, Mac (although not iOS, sort of) and Android. Without the software, it is just an external hard drive. It has a rugged, rubberized design and comes with two USB-C cables (one A to C and one C to C). As such, without the software, it can be used on virtually any platform supporting external storage (including iOS). With the software, and assuming the drive is locked down, only the read-only partition shows up on iOS devices. The only way to unlock the drive is with the software and the password, and without the password any stored data is inaccessible (it would be a pain if you forget the password, so make sure you store it in a vault or can remember it). When connecting the drive while it is “locked,” without unlocking it your computer will show a read-only partition with the installation media…so you won’t have to worry about being in front of a computer without the software installed. The software is super basic - allowing you to name the drive (although that doesn’t show up in the naming of the partition), and to turn on and off the drive lock. It’s a relatively simple installation unless you use a modern Mac. On a Mac, you need to boot to system security settings (something that I would bet most casual Mac users have never done) and adjust what kind of software is permitted for installation on your computer. It’s fine that it has to happen that way, but I really think the instructions for this should be included with the device. Other than the somewhat irregular installation requirements for Mac users, there isn’t a lot to complain about here. The price at $239 is in line with what I’d expect to pay for Samsung’s drives (considering their speed capabilities) currently, and having added functionality allowing locking down access to the drive is a nice bonus.

Fast , reliable ,compact, easy to use lightweight and durable

The Samsung T7 Shield is just what I needed. It is durable, small, and easy to use.

I bought this for use away from the office so I wanted something sturdy that could stand up to being shoved in a backpack and repeatedly moved around without breaking. So far so good! An unexpected bonus is how much faster data transfers are with this device than the thumb drives I’m more used to. I would definitely buy this again.

Small, portable, fast. Great storage device. Highly recommend

Great piece of equipment. Fast. Easy to access. Reliable.

Was new to Samsung hard drives. Own 3 now. Great for backing up and editing photos Have recommended multiple times

Rugged and ready to get the job done. I was so tired of backing up my data on a flash drive then you end up losjng it. With this product, it takes the thinking out of it. Plug in device, download or up load and thats it.

Nice design looks great on my desk. HD speed and capabilities are as advertised

Works great, fast and reliable. It's also nice and small.

Fast, clean, waterproof and very durable and portable

It does not connect with my Android device, other than that just a regular SSD

I wasn't really sure why I'd need a mega-rugged external harddrive because I usually keep all my electronics in safe spots and treat them like invaluable devices, because the data some contain are. So Samsung comes out with a external drive built like it's ready to go to war and back...I'm certain it can do it! First impression was "Wow, this thing has some weight!" I've had other portable NVME drives that were build for normal folks, but they don't have near the heft of the Samsung T7 Shield. The body is encased in a non-slip rubber that adds grip as well as shock absorption. As a test, I knocked it off my desk onto the carpeted floor and good golly the data survived, lol. Most drives can take a small drop like that, but the way the T7 Shield is built I'd bet I could drop it on the concrete floor at work and not worry a bit. Testing the drive proved that's it's not too bad at data transfer. Read was 464MB/s and writes topped at 464MB/s also. I didn't test other USB C ports I have so it might be the limit of that particular port, which really isn't anything to be mad at. Old school USB HDD's hit around 100MB/s and most people are fine with them. This one is surely going to get some use in my "service bag" and I won't have to worry about being too gentle knowing the T7 can take a few rounds ring and come out still standing.

We have used Samsung SSDs in our business for some time, and have found them reliable, fast, and in the case of the ruggedized Shield drives extremely resistant to damage when transported. We have never had problems with any Samsung SSD and have standardized on them for backup and data transport.

Ever since I bought and attached the drive to my phone (s22) my phone has not been working correctly.

I’m doing bar studies right now, so I needed a way to have my study aids and videos everywhere I went. I thought about a USB drive, but prefer the reliability and speeds of solid state drives. The Samsung T7 Shield was a great option for me, so I went with it. One of my main reasons for going with the T7 is, like I said, solid state drives are far more reliable than the old portable hard drives with moving parts. I had an old WD portable hard drive that quit working on me after only a few times used. The thing looks new, and practically was new. I tried a few things to try to fix it, but nothing worked. So, I went with the T7. As soon as I received the T7 shield, I moved close to 1tb of data (videos, audios files, and docs). The wiring speed were great. The drive did get a bit hot, but I didn’t have any issues getting all of my files saved to the drive. As for security, you have the ability to setup a code so that only you can access it. Just make sure not to lose your code, as there is an explicit warning of not being able to recover if you forget. Overall, I am very happy with my Samsung T7 shield. The rugged protection is great. It is water resistant and dust resistant. I would highly recommend the T7 shield.

This review will not show up as verified as I purchased it from a major online retailer, that has their own delivery vans, and has for no reason at all banned me from reviewing. So I'm reviewing it here. Let the little guys get some business too! I have used a 500GB Samsung T5 drive for many years, and I have quite liked it. However, the 500GB drive is no longer big enough for today's file sizes, so I decided to upgrade when the T7 Shields were on sale. Please note that I have abused the T5 a lot, dropped it, accidentally tripped on the cable, carried it with me on travels into the wilderness, and photo shoots so I know Samsung makes an extremely good portable SSD. I got 2 of the T7 shields as upgrades, a 2 TB one and a 4 TB one. I got the shield version for more protection against drops and abuse since I'm pretty rough of my electronics, and I go into the wilderness a lot with my photography. The drives have a silicone jacket on it, which also puffs it up a little bigger than the T5 I have. These drives according to H2TestW (if my memory serves me correctly) was around 437MB/s read and write, while plugged into my USB 3.0 port on my computer. Unfortunately my computers don't have faster ports, but I'm sure this drive would go faster on those. This is plenty fast, and I think on par with my old Samsung T5 drive. With the overhead in the USB 3.0 protocol, I think I maxed out the ports on my desktop PC. I do have some complaints about the product however. It would appear some bean counter at Samsung decided to skip on the 2 cable ties that original came with the T5 drive. I wonder how much money they are saving, but I'm not totally satisfied, and stuff like this leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. Also the silicone surface makes it impossible to stick a label with your name and contact info on it, which I do on my old drive.

Didnt do what i hoped it would. Will probably end up returning it.

First of all, it looks just like the pictures. It is a lovely shade of blue, not too bright but a nice deep color of blue. Second, the marketing statements about it say it's mighty tough and ready for the rough and tumble. Well, it accidentally fell off my desk hitting a tile floor. Not only did it hit the floor, it bounced off the side of the table where the printer sits. It ended up between the desk and printer table, a spot that gets a bit dusty and has a collection of the dog's fur. Not the best for electronics. I picked it up, wiped it off, plugged it in and starting transferring files. So yes, its pretty rough and tumble and doesn't mind a bit of dust. I wasn't able to transfer files at first. Stopped into the Geek squad and they said to use file explorer, click on the T7 and then choose format. Changed it from the delivered NTFS format to exFAT and viola I'm dragging and dropping files. I use this to copy files from my PC so I have a backup. The speed is fine for my use, no issues.

I travel for work and bring a gaming laptop with me to have something todo and it works great having games on it would recommend purchasing if your traveling and need something safe to store.