It is not surprising to see high-capacity SKUs fare a bit worse than the lower capacity ones, but, yes, the gulf in random performance is quite bad.
It appears Samsung has optimized completely for sequential DAS workloads (we can see improvement in the 'SLC cliff' scenario), but at the cost of random access performance.
You can buy any number of NVME thunderbolt enclosures add your own SSD and far exceed these numbers for the same price. The fastest speed I have gotten so far is the new Samsung 990 Pro which was close to 2700mps read and write, but that is only available in 2TB.
IP65-rated enclosures for NVMe SSDs are not very common. Also, 4TB internal SSDs are way overpriced compared to their external counterparts.
There is a value proposition possible with these high-capacity PSSDs (very evident in the Crucial X6 and SanDisk Extreme Pro v2) - just that the current pricing makes it a bad one for the T7 Shield.
4TB version of that drive is supposed to be released in March or April. Its a real shame Samsung has been sticking 2TB as upper celing on their M.2 drives for for so long while there are higher capacity M.2 drives on market for quite sometime now and seem to be selling well.
Shame that Samsung has started to fully solder components on their external SSDs while in past there was an option to remove SSD in case of failure.
I bought the Asus external nvme SSD enclosure, the most expensive one. Nothing but problems, random disconnects. Meanwhile my Samsung external is reliable. So yeah.
It's shit products like this that are still having enthusiasts building their own portable SSD's out of an NVMe USB adapter, which cost less, cool better and achieve 20Gbps.
I'm genuinely curious to know if IP65 is even necessary. Do people spill liquids onto their external drives? I know that people spill liquids onto their laptops and keyboards all the time, because those are in the primary work space, and people tend to put their drinks in that space. However, I have yet to encounter anyone who got liquid onto their external drive, because those tend to sit off to the side, or behind the primary work space.
I wonder this very thing. Maybe for the crowd that treats these things like USB thumb sticks.. I have washed a few of those by mistake in laundry...I suppose it's possible? I'd like to think people are a little more careful with $100+ devices than free ones but you never know? Beyond that - the water/dust resistance of this drive isn't a needle mover for me.
Some people use their portable drives outdoors, away from the protection of a building. That's one of the advantages of portable storage. When I'm trekking in the Himalaya or Andes, it's reassuring to know my portable SSDs are IP65 rated. You never know when your bag is going to fall into a mountain stream or get drenched in a rain storm. Of course you can wrap everything in plastic bags or use a waterproof PeliCase, but extra protection for irreplaceable photos and video files is important.
A large US online retailer offered this 4TB T7 Shield in Europe for 269€ (339€-70€ rebate coupon) instead of the MSRP of 429,90€ last week. I believe that works out to ~$230 before tax at the time of writing.
I have one here because the smaller 2TB version works well and ~68€ per TB for an external non-QLC drive seemed like a good deal. It is still in the packaging because it looks like I should have searched for reviews first.
The controller seems proven, but I can't work out if the recent 980 Pro/990 Pro reliability problems are controller, firmware or NAND related.
If it is the latter then that could explain a sale so close after the launch. Or in theory the "fix" could be reliability related and affect performance compared to older models, but that's just wild speculation on my part.
In any case, the prices in the EU are currently nowhere near MSRP.
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ballsystemlord - Tuesday, January 31, 2023 - link
This drive loses to it's own other SKUs. I'm laughing at it. This is ridiculous, especially at this price point.ganeshts - Tuesday, January 31, 2023 - link
It is not surprising to see high-capacity SKUs fare a bit worse than the lower capacity ones, but, yes, the gulf in random performance is quite bad.It appears Samsung has optimized completely for sequential DAS workloads (we can see improvement in the 'SLC cliff' scenario), but at the cost of random access performance.
kkromm - Tuesday, January 31, 2023 - link
You can buy any number of NVME thunderbolt enclosures add your own SSD and far exceed these numbers for the same price. The fastest speed I have gotten so far is the new Samsung 990 Pro which was close to 2700mps read and write, but that is only available in 2TB.ganeshts - Tuesday, January 31, 2023 - link
IP65-rated enclosures for NVMe SSDs are not very common. Also, 4TB internal SSDs are way overpriced compared to their external counterparts.There is a value proposition possible with these high-capacity PSSDs (very evident in the Crucial X6 and SanDisk Extreme Pro v2) - just that the current pricing makes it a bad one for the T7 Shield.
Chaitanya - Tuesday, January 31, 2023 - link
4TB version of that drive is supposed to be released in March or April. Its a real shame Samsung has been sticking 2TB as upper celing on their M.2 drives for for so long while there are higher capacity M.2 drives on market for quite sometime now and seem to be selling well.Shame that Samsung has started to fully solder components on their external SSDs while in past there was an option to remove SSD in case of failure.
Alistair - Friday, February 3, 2023 - link
I bought the Asus external nvme SSD enclosure, the most expensive one. Nothing but problems, random disconnects. Meanwhile my Samsung external is reliable. So yeah.Samus - Wednesday, February 1, 2023 - link
It's shit products like this that are still having enthusiasts building their own portable SSD's out of an NVMe USB adapter, which cost less, cool better and achieve 20Gbps.meacupla - Wednesday, February 1, 2023 - link
I'm genuinely curious to know if IP65 is even necessary.Do people spill liquids onto their external drives?
I know that people spill liquids onto their laptops and keyboards all the time, because those are in the primary work space, and people tend to put their drinks in that space.
However, I have yet to encounter anyone who got liquid onto their external drive, because those tend to sit off to the side, or behind the primary work space.
CalifLove00 - Monday, February 13, 2023 - link
I wonder this very thing. Maybe for the crowd that treats these things like USB thumb sticks.. I have washed a few of those by mistake in laundry...I suppose it's possible? I'd like to think people are a little more careful with $100+ devices than free ones but you never know? Beyond that - the water/dust resistance of this drive isn't a needle mover for me.Maldon - Friday, February 17, 2023 - link
Some people use their portable drives outdoors, away from the protection of a building. That's one of the advantages of portable storage. When I'm trekking in the Himalaya or Andes, it's reassuring to know my portable SSDs are IP65 rated. You never know when your bag is going to fall into a mountain stream or get drenched in a rain storm. Of course you can wrap everything in plastic bags or use a waterproof PeliCase, but extra protection for irreplaceable photos and video files is important.JohnUSA - Thursday, February 16, 2023 - link
I will not buy this SSD external USB drive as it only comes with only a 3-year warranty instead of a 5-year warranty like the SanDisk model.ydeer - Tuesday, February 21, 2023 - link
A large US online retailer offered this 4TB T7 Shield in Europe for 269€ (339€-70€ rebate coupon) instead of the MSRP of 429,90€ last week.I believe that works out to ~$230 before tax at the time of writing.
I have one here because the smaller 2TB version works well and ~68€ per TB for an external non-QLC drive seemed like a good deal. It is still in the packaging because it looks like I should have searched for reviews first.
The controller seems proven, but I can't work out if the recent 980 Pro/990 Pro reliability problems are controller, firmware or NAND related.
If it is the latter then that could explain a sale so close after the launch.
Or in theory the "fix" could be reliability related and affect performance compared to older models, but that's just wild speculation on my part.
In any case, the prices in the EU are currently nowhere near MSRP.