Samsung T9 Portable SSD 2TB USB 3.2 Gen 2

The Samsung T9 is a tiny speed demon that shrugs off drops and heat like it's nothing. Find it under USD 300 or CAD 600 and it's a no-brainer for anyone moving big files on the go.

The headline numbers are legit. 2000 MB/s sequential read and write puts this in the upper half of our speed rankings, and for real-world use like moving RAW photo dumps or game libraries, it feels instant. What surprised us is the thermal story. Samsung's Dynamic Thermal Guard actually does its job here. Owners consistently report no overheating issues even during long transfers, which is not something we can say about every compact NVMe enclosure we've tested. The DRAM-less design had us skeptical, but with MLC NAND and that USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 pipe, sustained performance holds up better than we expected.

Against the Western Digital Black SN850X, the T9 trades blows on speed but the SN850X is an internal drive, so it's not really a fair fight unless you're adding your own enclosure. The Crucial T500 and Kingston Fury Renegade are both internal NVMe drives too, and they'll beat the T9 on raw throughput when installed in a PCIe 4.0 slot. But for a plug-and-play external drive that works with Mac, Windows, Android, and cameras out of the box, the T9 is in a different category. The Micron T710 is the closest internal competitor on endurance, but again, no enclosure, no portability. If you want a portable drive that just works everywhere, the T9 is the pick. If you want maximum speed per dollar and don't mind building your own enclosure, grab an internal SN850X instead.

This is where it gets tricky. In the US, prices range from USD 250 to USD 490 for the same 2TB drive. That's a USD 240 gap for identical hardware. Best Buy has the low end at USD 250, which is actually reasonable for a 2TB portable NVMe with this build quality. In Canada, the spread is CAD 555 to CAD 780, and Memory Express has the best deal at CAD 555. At the low end of those ranges, it's a solid buy. At the high end, you're getting fleeced. Shop around before you click buy.

The Samsung T9 is the portable SSD you buy when you're done messing around with slow transfers and flimsy enclosures. It's a 2TB NVMe drive in a palm-sized shell that hits 2000 MB/s reads and writes over USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. That's a 2GB file in about a second. We've seen a lot of external drives in our database, and this one sits near the top for social proof and features. The catch? You'll pay for the privilege, and the price swings wildly depending on where you shop.

If you're looking for cheap bulk storage or a drive to expand your console's game library, this isn't it. The console support is weak and the price per gigabyte is high compared to internal drives. Go grab a 2TB internal NVMe like the Crucial T500 or WD Black SN850X and a USD 20 enclosure instead. You'll get better random performance and save real money.

Buy the Samsung T9 if you want a fast, durable, pocketable SSD and you find it at the low end of the price range. It's the drive we'd hand to a photographer or video editor who needs to move big files between machines without thinking about it. The 5-year warranty and drop protection seal the deal. Just don't pay full retail when Best Buy or Memory Express has it for significantly less.