Samsung 1TB Portable SSD USB 3.2 Gen 2x2

The Samsung T9 hits 2,000 MB/s reads and writes and stays cool doing it. It's a great creator drive at USD 145 from Amazon, but skip it if you're paying over USD 200. Console users should look elsewhere, the T9 scores just 24.1/100 there.

The headline numbers are 2,000 MB/s read and 2,000 MB/s write over USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. That's fast enough to edit 4K footage directly off the drive without proxies. The DRAM-less controller keeps costs down, but it means sustained writes can dip when the cache fills up. For most people moving a few hundred gigs at a time, you'll never notice. The Dynamic Thermal Guard does its job, the drive stays cool under load and never throttles into oblivion. Speed lands at the 51st percentile in our database, which sounds mediocre until you remember this is an external drive competing against internal NVMe monsters.

Against the Crucial T500, the T9 trades blows on speed but loses on raw endurance. The WD Black SN850X is an internal drive, so it's not a fair fight, but if you're putting it in an enclosure you'll get better sustained performance for less money. The Lexar NM1090 PRO and MSI SPATIUM M480 PRO are also internal drives that beat the T9 on paper. But none of them come in a ready-to-go portable package with a 5-year warranty and hardware encryption. The T9's real competition is other portable drives, and there it holds its own.

Pricing is all over the place. In the US you'll see it anywhere from USD 145 to USD 260 depending on the store, and that USD 115 spread is the difference between a great deal and a hard pass. Amazon has the best US price right now at USD 145. In Canada the spread is tighter, CAD 345 to CAD 390, but still worth shopping around. At the low end this drive is a steal for creators. At the high end you're paying a Samsung tax for a name that's good but not magic.

The Samsung T9 is a pocketable NVMe drive that pushes USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 to its practical limit. Samsung claims 2,000 MB/s reads and writes, and in our testing it gets close enough that you won't care about the last few megabytes. It's built for creators who move big video files around and don't want to babysit thermals.

It's not the cheapest drive in its class, and the DRAM-less design shows up in sustained heavy writes. But the 5-year warranty and Samsung's track record with flash memory count for something. This is a drive you buy once and forget about.

Console gamers should skip this. The T9 scores 24.1/100 for console use, and you're paying for Gen 2x2 speeds your PS5 or Xbox can't use. If you need a drive for game storage, grab a cheaper USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive and pocket the difference. Also skip it if you're on a tight budget and don't need the absolute fastest portable speeds, there are plenty of 1,000 MB/s drives for half the price.

Buy this if you're a creator who needs fast, reliable portable storage and you find it at the low end of the price range. It's perfect for editing 4K footage on a laptop, backing up a camera in the field, or moving large project files between machines. The 5-year warranty and Samsung's flash pedigree make it a safe long-term bet.