Samsung Portable SSD T5 Review: Speedy, Durable External Storage

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, August 15, 2017, 10:00 AM EDT

Performance Summary: The Samsung Portable SSD T5 offered strong performance throughout the vast majority of our testing. For all intents and purposes, when attached to a USB 3.1 (preferably gen 2) controller, it is as fast as a typical internal SATA SSD. The drive excels with large, sequential transfers, and although 4K transfers were good, they trailed the previous-gen T3 in one instance. At higher queue depths, which would be an uncommon scenario on an externally attached storage device, the T5 can't match the speed of an internal SSD, but that shouldn’t be an issue in real-world use cases.

Samsung Portable SSD T5 -- Find Them At Amazon

The Samsung Portable SSD T5 is a streamlined, refined, and higher-performing iteration of the previous-gen T3. The partially rubberized enclosure is gone in favor of an all-metal design, newer 3D V-NAND is employed in the drive, and Samsung has included two types of USB cables (Type-C and Type-A) to accommodate users of all systems.

All four capacities of the Samsung Portable SSD T5 should be available immediately. Pricing for the four models is as follows...

In light of current SATA SSD prices, the Samsung Portable SSD T5 commands somewhat of premium, though the three largest capacities arrive at lower MSRPs than the T3's. You could easily grab an USB 3.1 Gen 2 enclosure and standard SSD and save a few bucks. Going that route, however, will result in a larger, heavier, and less elegant solution.

Overall, the Samsung Portable SSD T5 rocks. If you’re in the market for some speedy, highly-portable, durable external storage, the Samsung Portable SSD T5 should be on your short list. You'll pay a premium for the form factor, but that’s probably acceptable to many of you for something as compact and fast as the Samsung Portable SSD T5.


Streamlined, Metal Enclosure Excellent Performance USB Type-C / USB 3.1 Gen 2 Capacity Up To 2TB	Price Premium

Tags: Samsung, SSD, Storage, portable, usb-c, usb 3.1, samsung t5

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com