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On April 26, 2022, Samsung released the T7 Shield—a new variant of its flagship portable solid-state drives (SSDs), the T7 Touch, and T7 that came out in January and July 2020.
For the most part, the new mobile storage device is essentially the same as the T7 version but now has a protective layer—called, well, a shield—that makes it even tougher and more rugged.
After spending some serious time with it, I found the new drive an excellent alternative to its old cousin, though far from perfect.
If you're looking for a rugged, fast, compact, and reliable portable drive to use on the go, at the current street prices of $135 (1TB) and $230 (2TB), the Samsung T7 Shield is an excellent buy. Get one today!
There likely will be higher capacities of the drive in the future.
Dong's note: I first published this as a new piece on April 26, 2022, and updated it to a full review on May 18, 2022, after thorough hands-on testing.
Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD: A new level of ruggedness—possibly even overkill
Per Samsung, and as I could confirm in my testing, the new T7 Shield is IP65-rated in durability. Specifically, it's shock-resistant from drops of up to 10 feet (3m) and is dustproof and water-resistant.
The new drive also has a unique design with grooves on its body, making it easy to grab and presumably less slippery, which is always a good thing. Its outer layer is made of soft protective material that feels like suede which, like swede, seems to attract dirt easily.
Generally, you should keep storage devices with care, but for testing, I left the drive in my full bathtub overnight and let it through a washing and drying process with my laundry, and the drive survived with its content intact.
On top of that, I gave it to my toddlers to play with for a few hours, and it also survived intact. It's worth noting that the kids have consistently been able to put dents, cracks, and scratches on most of my other tech toys "by accident."
The point is the T7 Shield is a tough portable drive. However, I put the original Samsung T7 through similar real-life ruggedness "tests," and it survived, too, albeit with some scratches. So the Shield's toughness is likely overkill in most cases.
But that doesn't hurt. Despite the added protection, the Samsung T7 Shield remains compact—it's merely a tad heavier and slightly larger than its older cousins, as you'll note in the hardware specification table below.
Samsung says it's about the size of a credit card, which is a bit of a stretch—that's only true if you look at it directly from the top or bottom.
In reality, the drive is significantly thicker than the height of its USB-C port located on one side. (This port alone has the thickness of some two credit cards stacked up horizontally.) Like all portable SSDs, this port works for both data and power connections.
Samsung T7 Shield vs. T7/Touch: Hardware specfications
| Full Name | Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD | Samsung T7 Touch Portable SSD | Samsung T7 Portable SSD |
| Capacity | 2TB/1TB | 2TB/1TB/500GB | |
| Interface | USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Backward compatible through USB 2.0 | ||
| Dimensions | 3.5 x 2.3 x 0.5 in (88 x 59 x 13mm) | 3.3 x 2.2 x 0.3 in (85 x 57 x 8.0 mm) | |
| Weight | 3.47 oz (98 g) | 2.0 oz (58 g) | |
| Transfer Speed | Up to 1,050 MB/sec | ||
| UASP Mode | Supported | ||
| Encryption | AES 256-bit hardware data encryption | ||
| Security | Password Protection Software | Fingerprint Recognition (Touch) Password Protection Software | Password Protection Software |
| Software | Samsung Portable SSD Software 1.0, Samsung Magician Software | ||
| Certifications | CE, BSMI, KC, VCCI, C-tick, FCC, IC, UL, TUV, CB, EAC, UKCA, BIS | CE, BSMI, KC, VCCI, C-tick, FCC, IC, UL, TUV, CB | |
| RoHS Compliance | Yes | ||
| Colors | Beige, Black, Blue | Black, Silver | Metallic Red, Indigo Blue, Titan Grey |
| Included Cables | USB type-C-to-C, USB type-C-to-A | ||
| US MSRP (at launch) | $159.99 (1TB) $289.99 (2TB) | $120 (500GB) $230 (1TB) $400 (2TB) | $110 (500GB) $200 (1TB) $370 (2TB) |
| Warranty | 3 years | ||
Like the previous versions, the new T7 Shield features a USB-C port and supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps). It's designed to work with computers, game consoles, and Android-based mobile devices.
Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD: Detail photos
Plug-n-play with extras
Out of the box, the Samsung T7 Shield is formatted in the exFAT file system. As a result, you can use it on any computer interchangeably—Windows, Linux, or Mac.
exFAT doesn't support Mac's Time Machine backup, so you will need to reformat the drive if you want to use it as a backup drive. But for general storage and file sharing, the T7 Shield is plug-and-play.
The drive includes two USB cables—one is a full USB-C, and the other is a USB-A to USB-C. Consequently, you can grab it out of the shell, and rest assured you'll be able to use it anywhere.
The T7 Shield features hardware encryption and includes the Samsung Portable SSD software that works as a password management tool for those caring about data privacy.
Once installed, the software enables password protection for the entire drive. Here's how it works:
- When plugged into a computer with Samsung Portable SSD software already installed: A window will pop up for users to enter the password.
- On a computer without the software: The drive will appear as a small read-only partition that contains the installer of Samsung Portable SSD.
So, if you use the drive with a Windows or a Mac computer, the Samsung Portable SSD software works as intended. However, if you want to use the T7 Sheild with an Android device, that's a different story entirely.
Buggy Android app
Samsung says the T7 Sheilds works with Android phones or tablets, which proved to be the case in my trial. However, things were less than straightforward.
First of all, most Android devices don't support exFAT, so you will need to format the drive into FAT32—the host device will ask you to. After that, you can use it via Android's built-in file management function. However, if you want to use the drive's security feature, you'd be out of luck.
The reason is that the Samsung Portable SSD app—the mobile version of the software mentioned above—proved useless. As shown in the photo above, it never recognized the plugged-in T7 Shield in my trial.
That said, while the new drive works with Android, don't expect it to work the way you use it on a computer. Specifically, in this case, chances are you can't use it in any file system but FAT32, nor can you password-protect it.
Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD: Excellent performance
The T7 Shield performed well in my testing. It was among the fastest portable SSDs on the market.
Most importantly, compared to the older T7/Touch cousins, the new drive no longer suffered from speed degradation in prolonged operation. You can expect it to be speedy when copying lots of data to or from it.
In terms of throughput speed, the new drive was slightly slower than the T7/Touch when used with USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps). However, when connected via a USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps), it had doubled the sustained speed of its older cousin.
The T7 Shield also remained cool—it literally showed no change in temperature that my hand could detect—even during extended operation.
Samsung T7 Shield's Rating
Pros
Fast performance, compact and rugged design
Hardware encryption with effective password protection
USB cables included
Cons
The Android app is a joke
Attracts dirt easily
Conclusion
While far from perfect, the T7 Shield is the best portable SSD from Samsung yet.
While you might not need its extra ruggedness, that doesn't hurt. On top of that, the excellent performance plus the relatively reasonable price tag only help.
Looking for a quick decision on a portable SSD for the next field trip? The Samsung T7 Shield is an easy recommendation.
You mention that the Samsung T7 Shield will need to be reformatted to use with Time Machine on a Mac. Would the reformatting be to Apple File System (APFS)? Thanks
Yes, Gregory, you have to use it with the native file system of your current Mac whichever it is depending on your Mac version.
Bought the 4tb T7 Shield on prime day for around $200. I’m only getting around 700 MB/s write, 250 MB/s read. With my regular T7 I am getting 700/700 so disappointing. Have tried different cables, checked on different macs and pc, tried different formats, etc.
Found quite a few complaints about the slow speeds online, so not sure if I should try to get a replacement or just return it.
Try to see if there’s a new firmware. Else, something is definitely wrong with the particular drive. Or you got a knockoff.
Thanks, checked and no new firmware. Interestingly I noticed that when I leave the drive plugged in for 20-30 minutes, the read speeds improve to around 600 MB/s. But when I disconnect/connect again the read speed is back to 250 MB/s. Going to request a replacement.
Dong, just to update in case anyone else has the same problem, you were right about the firmware. I was able to borrow a PC to install Samsung Magician. It showed there was a new firmware available and after updating to it, I’m getting ~ 800/750 now. Updating the firmware on Mac did not actually do anything, so a PC is required.
Thanks for the help.
Hi Dong,
I purchased the earlier version Samsung ssd t7 Touch 1tb, and formatted it to NTFS for use on a windows PC. I did not notice the drive capacity before formatting, but afterwards the 1T capacity is reduced to 635gb. That seems like a terrific hit just for the file system. Have you had any similar experience, or do I perhaps have a defective drive? Thanks, Steve M.
You might have other partitions on the drive that take up space. Remove them and extend the current one. More in this post.
Hi Dong,
How does this T7 Shield compare to SanDisk Extreme V2 (non PRO) version? I’m planning to buy a 2TB SSD and looks like both offer USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) but SanDisk offers 5 years of warranty (2 more compared to Samsung). And the Extreme is pretty rugged as well?
They are about the same, Ray. You can get either.
The other day I was able to get a 1TB T7 for $80, new. It would be nice if Samsung or a third-party sold some sort of cover to convert the older models. But does this one have any thermal modifications? A lot of reports say the T7 overheats easily.
If you use the drive in an open space, I don’t think you need to worry about the heat issue, Sunil.