Introduction and specs
As a lover of technology, I've bought a bunch of portable hard drives and flash drives. Unfortunately, I always find myself wishing for something bigger or faster. It looks like I don't have to wish any longer. The Samsung T1 SSD drive is everything I've ever wanted in an external hard drive, and more.
How much does this super light Samsung T1 SSD cost? Well, the 250GB SSD size is $179 (£117.91, AU$218.91), the 500GB is $299 (£197.26, AU$365.66), and the 1TB is $599 (£395.18, AU$732.99).
Say you're looking for a nice backup drive and maybe you're looking at getting a bigger hard drive, like the Toshiba 4TB Canvio USB 3.0 as opposed to the Samsung T1 SSD. The Toshiba is great because it crams 4TB into one device, but this option lends itself towards a purely stationary setup, whereas the Samsung T1 SSD allows more portability.
Also, the Toshiba 4TB is a standard 7200 RPM mechanical hard drive which will read and write data slower than an SSD drive will, even though the both hard drives use USB 3.0 connectivity. But, say you're looking for something that can be fast and store a decent amount of data, then the Samsung T1 SSD 1TB is truly your go-to option.
Specs
The Samsung T1 SSD is amazingly thin, small, light, and fast. The dimensions of the Samsung T1 hard drive are 2.8 inches (71mm) long by 2.1 inches (53mm) wide, and the T1 weighs in at about 1.06 ounces (30 grams).
The Samsung T1 is easy to set up. When I plugged it in, the T1 opened an application and guided me through a four-step process: Welcome Screen, Name the Device, (Optional) Encrypt the Device, and Finish. No ad-ware, no bloatware, just simple and fast.
Samsung incorporated their new N-VAND technology into the T1 product line. N-VAND is Samsung's way of being able to work around the challenges that are apparent when devices get smaller. Specifically, when memory and hard drives get smaller, data tends to get corrupted, and interference occurs as the cells get closer and closer. Samsung T1 incorporates N-VAND which helps prevent data-corruption but also allows the T1 to use half the power consumption, 10 times more endurance, and twice the write speed of other drives.
The Samsung T1 does have an optional 256-bit encryption method that is built into the device itself. This can be set up at installation or done later on. No need for an operating system-based encryption key, such as Microsoft's BitLocker or Apple's Vault, as you can have it solely on the external drive. No keys needed for encryption - the T1 just uses a password.
As stated earlier, the Samsung T1 comes in three different sizes: 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB. The model given to us to review was the 250GB. The T1's sheer performance with data handling and speeds is amazing, even at the smallest form factor.
Performance and verdict
Performance
Samsung claims that the performance of their T1 SSD drives are capable of superfast read-write speeds of up to 450 MB/s via their USB 3.0 connection (the T1 is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0).
However, according to our benchmarks, the T1 didn't reach 450 MB/s. The ATTO Disk Benchmark test put most read and write rates for this disk at 250 MB/s on a USB 3.0 enabled port. But, it also depends on the size of the file. For smaller files you don't see much of a speed increase, which makes sense. Read and Write speeds do increase as the file gets bigger but we did not see anything get close to 300 MB/s.
The speeds of the Samsung T1 using the USB 2.0 interface were dismal in comparison but, to be fair, that makes sense. The highest Read and Write speeds on USB 2.0 were only at 30 MB/s using the ATTO Disk Benchmark tool. So, if you're a user with a computer that only has USB 2.0 and are looking for speed, then you may want to hold off on the Samsung T1. But, PCMark 8 gave the Samsung T1 a score of 4717.
Although our benchmarks did not hit Samsung's advertised 450 MB/s that doesn't mean the Samsung T1 is not a wonderful portable device. My computer has some serious hard drive storage and, in it, includes some older SSD drives that I use for video games like Battlefield 4. I transferred my installation folder onto the external Samsung T1 drive and it ran unbelievably smooth for something that is an external hard drive. Running Battlefield 4 was faster than running it on some more traditional hard drives and I did not notice a huge difference between running it on my internally connected SSD drives.
As a power user I'm always in need of a drive to install an operating system, huge data transfers, or just a quick file transfer - the Samsung T1 SSD is just perfect for these use cases. It has the size, the speed, and the ease that allows itself to be ahead of other hard drives on the market.
Not only that but the Samsung T1 SSD drive is a wonderful tool for anyone who hates lugging technology around with them. The T1 is so light that no reasonable person can call it cumbersome.
The benchmarks are as follows:
- ATTO Disk Benchmark: 252 MB/s on USB 3.0, 30 MB/s on USB 2.0
- PCMark 8 rating: 4717
We liked
The T1 is sleek, light, and versatile. It has a straightforward set-up, which was incredibly easy to navigate. Simplicity is true heaven.
We disliked
The benchmark results of the Samsung T1 were disappointing. I was hoping for a 450 MB/s transfer rate, or at least something in the 300-350 MB/s range but was unable to achieve it with the computer used for this test. However, as stated above, 250 MB/s is not an awful speed, and it is more than applicable for practical use cases.
Verdict
The Samsung T1 is amazing on all levels, however, its design is really separates it from any other portable hard drive on the market. As someone who hates lugging around big drives for multifaceted reasons, the T1 is heaven-sent. Although the device didn't run as fast as advertised, the 250 MB/s rate I clocked it at is not a bad speed on a USB 3.0 port. There's no such thing as the perfect technology, but the Samsung T1 comes pretty darn close.
The Samsung T1 is a great device that we recommend for a lot of different needs: speed, portability, physical size, capacity, or a device that provides 256-encryption.
from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1ErVlK2
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