Samsung's upcoming 8TB portable SSD is kind of slow and expensive, but what else will...

[Daniel Sims]

In context: Samsung sells TechSpot's favorite portable SSD (the T7), which recently received a successor that while expensive, offers an impressive speed boost. A new upcoming option looks to exchange speed for capacity. Uniquely roomy for its size, it could prove worthwhile in specific situations.

German computer outlet WinFuture has obtained images of the packaging for an unannounced Samsung portable solid-state drive, which boasts a maximum storage option of 8TB. Although a release date is uncertain, the packaging design, complete with a 2023 copyright marker, suggests a likely launch before year-end.

Named the T5 Evo, this pocket-sized SSD appears to be similar to the company's well-regarded T7 Shield or its recently released Samsung T9. However, while those and other ultra-portable SSDs max out at 4TB, the T5 Evo offers an 8TB variant.

The listed prices for the new product are steep – $189.99 for 2TB and $349.99 for 4TB. These do not seem competitive when considering that the T7 Shield and T9 offer 4TB for approximately $230 and $299, respectively. Moreover, the T5 Evo is limited by a USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface, capping its maximum read/write speeds at 460MB/s – significantly slower than the T7 Shield's 1GB/s and the T9's 2GB/s.

Additionally, the unannounced SSD's durability is somewhat lacking, withstanding falls from only up to two meters, whereas the T7 Shield can handle three.

Nevertheless, for those in need of an 8TB SSD that fits in a jean pocket, the T5 Evo may be the only option. Weighing just 102 grams and with dimensions of 95 x 40 x 17 millimeters, it aligns with the size of Samsung's other portable SSDs. Considering this, the highest storage tier's price of $655.99, which is roughly 8 cents per gigabyte, doesn't seem that terrible.

A subtle yet potentially significant feature that the T7 Shield and T9 lack is the T5 Evo's metal ring, which facilitates attachment to hooks or strings – similar to the rings found on Western Digital's popular SanDisk portable SSDs. However, WD's recent issues with their Extreme Pro model, leading to a class-action lawsuit due to high failure rates, may drive consumers towards Samsung's offerings.

As expected, the T5 Evo is compatible with operating systems including and beyond Windows 7, macOS 10.10, and Android 5.1. Like Samsung's other drives, it is also likely to support game consoles, meaning the forthcoming 8TB variant should accommodate a substantial collection of 100GB games.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/100754-samsung-upcoming-8tb-portable-ssd-kind-slow-expensive.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The price isn’t terrible since sabarent charges $999 for the same capacity, but I don’t trust Samsung anymore and being limited to 5 gbps is near criminal.

 

[toooooot]

HDDs will be useful for a long time with SSDs of larger sizes costing so much.
And I would be satisfied with 8tb for now, not the price per TB.
I am a bit annoyed when people tell me there is no reason to use HDD.
No, there is, money.

 

[torchyear]

Moreover, the T5 Evo is limited by a USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface, capping its maximum read/write speeds at 460MB/s

Hmm, not particularly compelling when Samsung's own SATA 2.5" 870 QVO 8TB isn't far performance-wise and currently around USD$370. The savings (even after adding an enclosure) justify the difference in form factor.

 

[yRaz]

Hmm, not particularly compelling when Samsung's own SATA 2.5" 870 QVO 8TB isn't far performance-wise and currently around USD$370. The savings (even after adding an enclosure) justify the difference in form factor.

If you need a portable SSD Tylenol more than a small fraction of computers aren't going to have anything better than USB3.2 gen 1. Also, it's been my experience that outside of laptops, if a computer has USB 3 or higher it's in hard to access areas. Most people are going to be using this at usb 2.0 speeds. It being faster would only make it more expensive and be useful in a very small fraction of cases.

Also, I'm curious. How many people are transferring multiple terabytes of data from computers on a regular basis? I have a 1TB jump drive and I don't think I've ever needed to transfer more than 60-70GB at a time and that's probably been less than 10 times. I'm certain some people do, but 99% of what I'm transferring between PCs using portable storage is less than 10MB with 90% being less than 1MB

 

[UdyrL]

Also, I'm curious. How many people are transferring multiple terabytes of data from computers on a regular basis?

I agree. Some people forget this is mass storage/data backup on the go, not a daily drive to transfer massive amounts of data.

 

[torchyear]

Also, I'm curious. How many people are transferring multiple terabytes of data from computers on a regular basis?

Our business regularly uses 8TB external hard drives as photo/video media sync for production and editing between field and studio. Have been seriously considering the 870QVO in enclosures to speed up transfers and eliminate the DC power adapter. Haven’t quite jumped yet because various online benchmarks show quite a small write buffer and we could be easily doing 500+ GB sequential writes several times a day. So at least for my use-case, sustained write performance beyond the buffer (where many lower tier SSDs aren’t much different to a good HDD at 150MB/s) is more important than peak read - and for this it’s a big price jump to NVME + Thunderbolt/USB4 when talking 8TB or more. Edit: also the 3-year warranty on the 870QVO and this leaked SSD isn’t particularly impressive.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

So you put a garbage class 870 QVO in a portable package, double the price and bingo instant sales success. Scamsung are utterly irrelevant now in storage IMO.

 

[yRaz]

Our business regularly uses 8TB external hard drives as photo/video media sync for production and editing between field and studio. Have been seriously considering the 870QVO in enclosures to speed up transfers and eliminate the DC power adapter. Haven’t quite jumped yet because various online benchmarks show quite a small write buffer and we could be easily doing 500+ GB sequential writes several times a day. So at least for my use-case, sustained write performance beyond the buffer (where many lower tier SSDs aren’t much different to a good HDD at 150MB/s) is more important than peak read - and for this it’s a big price jump to NVME + Thunderbolt/USB4 when talking 8TB or more. Edit: also the 3-year warranty on the 870QVO and this leaked SSD isn’t particularly impressive.

I'm certain there are business reasons for why someone would need to transfer multiple hundreds of gigabytes from computers everyday, but the economy at scale is not that business. There are business solutions for that problem, but most people are not that business and don't have that problem. The idea that nearly 500MB/s isn't fast enough is really one of the most foolish things I've ever heard. That's fast even for SATA speeds. I'm not saying it's going to win any races, but 99% of the time it's going to be plugged into USB 2.0 and most people wont even be reading it at its rated speed.

 

[toooooot]

So, this is it, we are stuck at 8tb for now?
I was kind of hoping they would get bigger indefinitely, slowly but surely.

 

[GTP USER 91]

I mean

Do we actually need 8TB of portable SSD? What are you carrying?
What you need that much storage for?

4TB SSD is enough for carrying I guess and I'd better buy 2 4TB because that will be much reliable and less painful to the pockets and you can have more speed in a 4TB one compared to 8TB

P.S :- By pockets I meant their life and having only 1 Drive and relying only on that