Even though the Samsung Portable SSD T3 has been available for several months now, as they say so nicely: Better late than never – and here’s our review of the external SSD.
Why should you buy an external SSD at all? USB sticks are becoming cheaper and cheaper and are getting more and more memory. Of course, they don’t quite reach the capacity and speed of an SSD, but are mostly on the level of an HDD.
The Samsung Portable SSD T3 is available with four different capacities. It starts with 250 GB, over 500 GB and 1 TB up to 2 TB. It offers almost the speed of an internal SSD – Samsung talks of up to 450 MB/s. But the T3 is hardly bigger than a USB stick. This is made possible by Samsung’s space-saving 3D V-NAND, which is also used in all current Samsung SSDs.
In our test we decided to use the Samsung Portable T3 with 2 TB. You will find our results below.
Technical Data
| Storage capacity nominally | 250 GB | 500 GB | 1 TB | 2 TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interface | USB 3.1 Gen. 1 (USB 3.0) | |||
| Form factor | External | |||
| Cell type | Samsung 3D V-NAND | |||
| Speed (up to) | 450 MB/s (read) /450 MB/s (write) | |||
| Model number | MU-PT250B/EU | MU-PT500B/EU | MU-PT1T0B/EU | MU-PT2T0B/EU |
| Dimensions | 74 x 58 x 10.5 mm | |||
| Weight | 51 g | |||
| Guarantee | 3 years | |||
| Special features | AES encryption, UASP support | |||
| Price (UVP) | 139 Euro | 229 Euro | 429 Euro | 849 Euro |
Workmanship
The Samsung Portable SSD T3 comes in a stylish aluminum case. There is a little bit of plastic, but thanks to the soft-touch surface it feels very high-quality and pleasant. With a weight of only 51 grams, the case is very light. Thanks to its small size, it fits in any pocket and can also be carried in a trouser pocket.
The flash memory is very well protected inside the housing. In any case, flash memory is much less affected by crashes than standard HDDs. Falls from a height of 2 meters are no problem, so you can also drop the Portable SSD T3.
The T3 is connected to the end device via a USB 3.1 cable, a USB type C connector is located on the SSD side. So you don’t have to pay attention to how the plug gets in now.
Test system
- ASRock Z87E-ITX Mainboard
- Intel Core i7 4770K Processor
- 16 GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DD3-1600 RAM
- MSI GeForce GTX 770 Twin Frozr 2GB
- 250 GB Samsung 840 Evo SSD
- 530 Watt be quiet! Pure Power L8 CM Modular 80+ Power Supply
- Windows 10 Pro
Benchmarks
According to Samsung, the Portable SSD T3 provides a speed of up to 450 MB/s. This makes it almost as fast as internal SSDs and USB 3.1 is almost fully loaded. In our test we didn’t get there, but nibbled on the 400 MB/s. However, this can have many influencing factors, such as the connection, operating system or driver. In the test reports of AllroundPC or All about Samsung, for example, higher results were achieved than with us.
Also, don’t forget that the T3 allows 256bit AES encryption of the files. We didn’t activate it in the test, but it would also slow down the speed. The encryption of the files is nevertheless very practical and you can decrypt them on almost any device – even on the smartphone.
AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD compression benchmark
AS SSD Copy Benchmark
CrystalDisk Benchmark
ATTO Disk Benchmark
HD Tune
Zugriffszeiten
Conclusion
The Samsung Portable SSD T3 is a stylish external SSD that has very good speeds. It is significantly faster than external HDDs and also depends on some external SSDs. Only SanDisk has a similarly fast, but less handy offer. Of course you can also build your own SSD in an external case, but this will also be bigger and probably slower. And the T3 is a little more expensive, but you can accept the surcharge well.
Because the Portable SSD T3 is nice and handy, fast and well protected, it is the ideal storage for on the go. If USB sticks are too slow and unwieldy or even too small for you, you will find a good alternative here.
Samsung Portable SSD T3 2TB
Access Time
Transfer Rate (read)
Transfer Rate (write)
Workmanship
Value for Money
Fast and handy.
The Samsung Portable SSD T3 is small and handy, it fits in any pocket. It also offers high speed, high capacity and security for the data.
