Samsung T5 Evo: One-minute evaluation

The Samsung T5 Evo 8TB moveable SSD is the primary of its variety, a storage machine that has been designed from floor as much as assist this capability – and doubtlessly extra sooner or later. It is vitally nicely designed – a intelligent mixture of metallic and rubber – particularly with the built-in carry deal with (Samsung calls it a hoop) that makes it immediately likable.
It feels fashionable in comparison with its direct competitors, eschewing the flat Equipment-Kat form design adopted by different gamers like Vectotech, Oyen Digital or Glyph, a legacy from the times of two.5-inch SSDs. I like its lengthy Kind-C cable, the Samsung’s Magician SSD administration software program (with {hardware} encryption) and its three-year guarantee however that’s the place the great bit ends. This can be a sluggish moveable SSD and is particularly poor worth on the decrease capacities (2TB and 4TB) with Samsung’s personal T sequence, SanDisk and lots of others delivering far, much better worth for cash.
And talking of worth, its urged retail worth is surprising to say the least however Samsung has cleverly positioned the 8TB as an exterior HDD substitute. The advertising and marketing literature reads “T5 Evo is an optimum product to interchange exterior HDDs in all points, together with efficiency, sturdiness, compatibility, compact design and excessive capability”. So, with the 8TB mannequin at the least, the T5 Evo delivers simply sufficient worth for cash to ensure that the target market, artistic professionals.
Keep in mind as nicely that it doesn’t carry any IP or MIL-STD scores; so ensure it would not get moist, it isn’t a waterproof machine. Whereas it might not act because the greatest rugged laborious driveit nonetheless feels fairly stable however concentrate on this limitation. It’s troublesome to suggest the T5 Evo at this worth, just below $650, about twice that of the 8TB Samsung 870 QVO (albeit inside) and there are different cheaper alternate options that can carry out simply as nicely. As such, the drive received’t enter our greatest moveable SSD shopping for information with out a vital drop in worth.
Samsung T5 Evo: Pricing and availability
- How a lot does it price? $650
- When is it accessible? Now
- The place are you able to get it? Within the US, UK, Australia and different territories
Extremely massive capability SSDs are far and few between as a result of they are usually far dearer and the marketplace for such drives could be very small in comparison with smaller capacities (2TB or 4TB).

Samsung T5 Evo: Design
The parts contained in the T5 Evo are housed in a metallic enclosure (unibody aluminum) and wrapped in a rubber sleeve. There’s a blue LED indicator and a Kind-C port. The moveable SSD itself is heavier than anticipated at 102 grams (0.23 kilos) and much bigger as nicely. At 17mm (0.67 inches) thick and 95mm (3.74 inches) lengthy, I’d discover it a bit tougher to slide in my denims’ pockets. The bundle features a 46cm Kind-C to Kind-C cable and there’s no adaptors must you wish to use it with a conventional Kind-A connector.
A tear down carried out by our sister publication, Anandtechconfirmed that the drive seems to be like a repackaged 870 QVO, which prices about half the value and makes use of cheaper QLC NAND chips (versus dearer however extra resilient TLC). Try the evaluation carried out by one other of our friends, Tomshardware.

Samsung T5 Evo: Benchmark
The T5 Evo is without doubt one of the slowest moveable SSD we’ve examined in current occasions. It’s one thing Samsung could be very open about in contrast to a few of its opponents.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Learn (MBps) | Write (MBps) |
| AJA | 422 | 405 |
| CrystalDiskMark | 466 | 466 |
| ACT | 445 | 445 |
| AS SSD | 429 | 429 |
| Actual Life | 366 | 366 |

Samsung T5 Evo: Specs
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Row 0 – Cell 1 |
| Capacities accessible | 2TB, 4TB, 8TB |
| Dimension | 95 x 40 x 17mm |
| Weight | 102g |
| Enclosure materials | Rubber |
| Connector | USB-C |
| Know-how | USB 3.2 Gen 1 |
| Guarantee (in years) | 3 |
| Rated R/W speeds (MBps) | 460/460 |
| Software program bundle | No |
Ought to I purchase the Samsung Transportable SSD T5 Evo?

Samsung Transportable SSD T5 Evo alternate options
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Hey Digital U32 | Vectotech | Titanium One |
| Capability | 8TB | 8TB | 8TB |
| Value | $509 | $539 | $480 |
| Pace | 540MB/s | 540MB/s | 450MB/s |
| IP rated | No | No | Sure |
| Guarantee (yrs) | 3 | 3 | 3 |
There are at the least three different 8TB SSD, extensively accessible available on the market – the Hey Digital U32, Vectotechand Titanium One – all being cheaper than Samsung’s T5 Evo. The Titanium One is the one we’d go for because it comes with an IP score. If you happen to want a quicker SSD, you possibly can both construct one your self (utilizing a suitable NVMe enclosure and an off-the-shelf SSD) or go for a PCIe-based mannequin that can price you nearer to $1,000.

How I examined the Samsung Transportable SSD T5 Evo
After having formatted the T5 Evo to exFAT, I check it the identical manner I check different storage parts (exterior HDD, microSD playing cards and so forth) utilizing my trusty Honor Magicbook 14 2022. I exploit the most recent variations of CrystalDiskMark, Atto, AS SSD and AJA benchmarks, noting one of the best scores achieved in every. They’re all free and could be downloaded by anybody. I then switch a folder of information, roughly 10GB in dimension, to get a tough concept of actual life efficiency.
