Samsung Portable SSD T3 features USB 3.1 Type C and up to 2TB capacity
Portable external storage is hardly newsworthy nowadays. If you go on Amazon or Newegg, you will find countless products that should meet your needs. The problem, however, is that not all drives are created equally. There are differences in capacity, reliability, and durability. If you are putting important files on the drive, you want to stick to a reputable brand known for quality.
One such trustworthy company is Samsung, and today, it announces the new Portable SSD T3. This fast external SSD features USB 3.1 Type C, meaning it is compatible with the newest such connector. Don't have a Type C connector yet? Don't worry, you can totally leverage an adapter so it can work on an older machine too.
Samsung describes the Portable SSD T3 as "a premium, palm-sized, external solid state drive (SSD) that offers multi-terabyte (TB) storage capacity. Equipped with Samsung’s proprietary Vertical NAND (V-NAND) and SSD TurboWrite technology, the T3 drive provides advanced performance, enabling consumers, content creators, business and IT professionals, to quickly and easily store and transfer large multimedia content across a variety of devices".
The company further says, "featuring an adopted USB 3.1 Type C connection, the T3 is compatible with a wide range of USB supported devices, including the latest Android smartphones and tablets, and computers with Windows or Mac OS. Users can send data from the T3 to a PC and vice versa, access content on the T3 through mobile devices, and view the drive’s multimedia content on large-screen devices such as TVs. The T3 uses exFAT, a widely adopted file system, as its default file recognition format to create a seamless user experience. The T3 also works with a brand-new complementary Samsung Portable SSD Android mobile app which supports password changes and remaining capacity checks".
Samsung shares the following specifications.
| Category | Samsung Portable SSD T3 |
| Capacity | 250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB |
| Interface | Compatible with USB 3.1, USB 2.0 |
| Dimensions (LxWxH) | 74 x 58 x 10.5 mm |
| Weight | 51 grams (less than 2 oz.) |
| Transfer Speed | Sequential: Up to 450MB/sec |
| UASP Mode | Support |
| Encryption | AES 256-bit hardware encryption |
| Security | Password setting (optional)Requires Windows 7 or higher, Mac OS 10.7 or higher and Android KitKat (version 4.4) or higher. |
| Certification | CE, BSMI, KC, VCCI, C-tick, FCC, IC, UL, TUV, CB |
| RoHS Compliance | RoHS2 |
| Warranty | Limited 3-year |
Samsung is wise to use exFAT, as it is supported natively on Windows 10 and OS X. If you use a Linux-based operating system, such as Ubuntu, do not worry -- you can easily add the necessary packages to gain support too. The AES 256-bit hardware encryption makes this very attractive for businesses too. I can see a small business using it for backup and storing it in a physical safe at night, or an enterprise employee safely using it on the go.
This beautiful and functional drive will go on sale in February, but pricing is not yet known. With that said, I expect the 2TB variant to be quite pricey -- it is also the capacity many consumers will likely covet.
What do you think of this new drive? Would it meet your storage needs? Tell me in the comments.