As portable SSD hard drives get faster and smaller, they look poised to replace media cards as the go-to archival option for shooting longer-form video.
Samsung is fueling that trend with the new T9 portable SSD, which is not only faster but ruggedly stylish with a new carbon fiber silicone case.
Designed with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 throughput, the Samsung T9 is capable of transfer speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s*, doubling that of the previous T7 SSD models.
Image Credit – Samsung
Samsung achieves this speed thanks to a larger 22 GB buffer in the 1 TB base model, while the 2 TB and 4 TB models enjoy buffers of 88 GB and 180 GB respectively.
But there’s an asterisk with all that high performance, as the connection must be a complete USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 chain from computer to drive.
In most standard PCs and Macs, users are likely to use a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 or Gen 4 interface, which looks to only maintain the current 1,000 MB/s threshold. Still, that’s more than capable of recording up to 8K video and shooting high-resolution still images.
Image Credit – B&H
Home-built computer users who like the latest and greatest, however, can insert a Gen 2×2 USB3 interface which will serve to achieve that rated 2K speed and provide for ingesting of video files at 12K and above. The drive also writes securely, using AES 256-bit hardware encryption.
Moreover, Samsung uses a technology known as TurboWrite in the buffer architecture which offers high-performance data writing and then moves that data to the primary storage area when the drive is idle. So it’s kind of like the old scratch disk technology from back in the day.
Image Credit – Samsung
The T9 is also designed with a unique thermal protection system that can wick away heat during extended use thanks to the heat dissipation quality of the silicone and aluminum materials used in the SSD’s construction.
The thermal interface is capable of keeping the T9 cooler across the surface and interior, protecting the bridge chipset, PCIe NVMe control hardware, and NAND flash memory.
The T9 also suffers from no thermal throttling due to its heat dissipation. The drive is also incredibly stingy on energy requirements, offering up to 5 times less energy consumption when idle than the previous model.
All of this high-performance circuitry is encased in aircraft-grade aluminum and wrapped in a silicone coating with a stylish carbon fiber print. And gone are the indented knurls that were used to help hold onto the drive which was built into the T7 and T5 series.
Image Credit – Samsung
About the size of a credit card, the drive is 88 x 60 x 14 millimeters (3.5 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches) in dimension and weighs about 122 grams (4.3 ounces). The drive is also a bit thicker than the previous drive, but it is barely noticeable.
Image Credit – Samsung
Pricing and Availability
The Samsung T9 portable SSD is available at a retail price of $140 for the 1 TB model, $240 for the 2 TB model, and $440 for the 4 TB model. It comes with two 1.48-foot (.45 m) cables, with one USB-C to USB-C cable and one USB-C to USB-A connection.
[source: Samsung]
Order Links:
- Samsung 1 TB T9 Portable SSD (B&H)
- Samsung 2 TB T9 Portable SSD (B&H)
- Samsung 4 TB T9 Portable SSD (B&H)
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate partner and participant in B&H and Adorama Affiliate programmes, we earn a small comission from each purchase made through the affiliate links listed above at no additional cost to you.
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