Samsung T5 500GB
A classy-looking portable SSD
£190 FROM Samsung, samsung.com features USB-C port (USB 3.1 Gen 2), optional AES-256 encryption
Samsung’s latest portable SSD looks a lot like the T3 that came before it, and comes in black or ‘alluring blue', the latter being quite apt, but it’s a shame there are no rubber feet on one side to help keep it that way.
Cables are provided for Macs with USB-C or USB-A ports, and the former enables transfer rates of up to 540MB/ sec, says Samsung.
That’s a big improvement over the peak of 437.4MB/sec the T3 managed, but behind our current best drive’s peak of 908MB/sec, that being Freecom’s (also USB 3.1 Gen 2) mSSD MAXX. But that’s more costly, in part as it’s an import item.
We tested the 500GB T5 using a 2016 MacBook Pro. In our tests, the fastest transfer rate returned was 527.9MB/sec, when reading a large file sequentially. Though a little short of Samsung’s quoted maximum, it’s not enough to be a concern.
Mean average and max ransfer rates are good, too. They’re from 30.9 to 97.7MB/ sec better compared to the T3, and skew toward the higher end. That it doesn’t soar as much as a rival and more costly SSD is no concern: the T5 is a marked improvement over its predecessor.
The T5 is strong, truly portable and also offers password protection.