Though storing your precious files in the cloud is an ever tempting option, I would still rather rely on my own physical storage media. The great thing about an external SSD is that it's pretty difficult for someone else to access without you knowing about it—unless, of course, you have a bad habit of losing pricey personal hardware. My messy ways aside, Cyber Monday has seen some cracking deals, offering external SSDs for much less.
- We're curating all the Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here
A case in point is the Samsung T9 Portable SSD 1 TB, currently going for only $95 at Amazon. If you've spent a lot of time perusing our Cyber Monday SSD deals hub, you'll note that it's currently cheaper than the older Samsung T7 Shield, as well as another one of our 1 TB favourites, the Crucial X9 Pro.
I point out these two other drives not just because of the similar capacity and price point, but because the Samsung T7 Shield drive is our current pick for the best budget durable drive, while the Crucial X9 Pro is our budget favourite for the best external SSDs for gaming. But it's not just the grounds of cents per gigabyte that the Samsung T9 Portable SSD is showing up both of these SSDs.
For one thing, the Samsung T9 Portable SSD outpaces both of those aforementioned external SSDs by boasting read and write speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s. Though Jacob notes in his Samsung T9 4 TB external SSD review that USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 external SSDs often see their performance capped by their choice of USB protocol, the T9 surprises by just how consistently it is able to maintain its peak speed.
Jacob digs deeper in his review, writing, "The drive's top speed is maintained by pseudo-SLC cache—a section of the NAND flash acting as speedier memory to make transfers a breeze. This maintains a speed of around 1,800 MB/s. Once this pSLC runs out, the native NAND flash speed for the T9 kicks in. [...] Where the other USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 drives I tested drop down to sub-500 MB/s—and often much lower—speeds once the pSLC cache has run out, the T9 maintains a steady 900-ish MB/s the whole way through."
So, if you're playing musical chairs with some big game files, the T9 shouldn't keep you waiting around. As Jacob puts it, "if you're thinking of regularly transferring more than 250 GB at a time—perhaps moving across multiple game installs or system backups—then a T9 makes perfect sense. It'll keep things moving smoothly at about 1 GB/s for as long as you need."
However, there are some drawbacks to this speedy drive. Though its rubberised, textured shell does mean the Samsung T9 Portable SSD can endure a drop from 9.8 ft, it's not actually that hardy a drive. Completely lacking an Ingress Protection (IP) score, there's no guarantee your files will be protected from dust or moisture on this drive, severely limiting just how portable this SSD can actually be.
Look after it, though, and it'll serve you well for many years.
👉Click here for all of Amazon's external SSD deals👈
1. Best overall: Adata SD810
2. Best budget: Crucial X9
3. Best for video editing: Samsung T9
4. Best USB4: Sandisk Extreme Pro
5. Best thumb drive replacement: Seagate Ultra Compact
6. Best durable drive: LaCie Rugged Pro 5
7. Best budget durable: Samsung T7 Shield
8. Best for backups: SanDisk Desk Drive
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