If you thought the WD My Passport SSD was a dinky exterior SSD, the Samsung T5 actually takes the cake. Measuring simply 74mm tall, 57mm extensive and 10.5mm deep, the T5 is nearly precisely the identical dimension as a small field of matches. Weighing a featherweight 51g, it’s exceedingly mild, too, its cool metallic chassis placing greater, bulkier exterior laborious drives to disgrace.
This is exterior storage finished proper. The solely downside is that you simply’ll should pay via the roof for the privilege.
This slightly good blue one I’ve received right here is definitely certainly one of two colors out there on the T5: these after a 250GB or 500GB mannequin get this snazzy shade of turquoise, however the bigger 1TB and 2TB variations are solely present in boring outdated black. A disgrace, actually, as a splash of color makes a welcome change from all the opposite black packing containers which might be consistently vying for valuable desk area.
As I discussed in my WD My Passport SSD overview, nevertheless, the T5 is, for essentially the most half, significantly dearer than its WD counterpart, costing £108 / $124 at 250GB in comparison with the My Passport’s £87 / $100. Things get a bit nearer at 500GB, the place each cost round £170 within the UK (within the US, it’s a distinction of simply $10 over the $150 you’ll be paying for the My Passport), however at 1TB the hole will get even wider, with the T5 costing £330 / $350 in contrast with WD’s £279 / $297.
Is it value paying additional? It all slightly will depend on what you’re going to be utilizing it for. For occasion, Samsung declare the T5 is able to switch hastens to an enormous 540MB/s when utilizing its bundled USB Type-C cable, which is round 4.5% quicker than the WD’s claimed switch fee of 515MB/s and virtually as quick as a number of the best SSDs you may get that go inside your PC. There’s additionally a USB-C to USB3 cable within the field for non USB-C gadgets very like the WD My Passport, however in any other case you’re getting just about the identical form of safety package deal, which features a three-year guarantee, 256-bit AES {hardware} encryption and shock resistance as much as two metres in case you occur to drop it.
Now my laptop computer and PC don’t help USB-C, so I examined each the T5 and My Passport SSD over USB3. This will naturally put the brakes on each’s information speeds barely, however even you then’re nonetheless taking a look at some fairly quick switch charges.
In AS SSD’s copy benchmark, as an example, which includes a drive studying and writing information concurrently, the T5 was just about neck-and-neck with the WD My Passport SSD, as you possibly can see within the graph beneath. This take a look at includes transferring three totally different file sorts from the OS onto the drive – an ISO folder comprising of two giant information, a packages folder with plenty of little information, and eventually a sport folder that’s made up of each large and small information.
Here, the T5 simply edged forward of the My Passport within the ISO take a look at with a switch fee of 327MB/s, however fell behind it within the Program and Game take a look at. In equity, although, it’s unlikely you’ll discover the distinction in daily use, as we’re speaking a distinction in velocity that comes right down to mere factors of milliseconds. The distinction between 148MB/s and 152MB/s, it seems, is simply 0.25ms, in line with the benchmark’s inside timer. As for 259MB/s and 265MB/s, it’s even much less, coming in at simply 0.13ms.
In this sense, there’s completely no cause to pay a lot extra for the T5 over the WD My Passport SSD. However, for those who’re after a drive for getting a great deal of information off a PC or laptop computer all on the similar time so you possibly can improve to a brand new machine, or one thing for organising information on like an everyday inside drive, then the T5 could have the sting.
In AS SSD’s regular studying and writing exams, as an example, its random 4K speeds have been a lot larger than these of the My Passport, because it was capable of learn information at 24.5MB/s and write them at 40.1MB/s. The My Passport, alternatively, solely managed 21.3MB/s learn and 25.9MB/s write.
It additionally fared considerably higher in CrystalDiskMark’s intense 4K random 8-thread-8-queue take a look at, displaying it’s extra able to dealing with bigger portions of knowledge with higher effectivity. Here, the T5 impressed with 181.7MB/s learn speeds and 183.8MB/s write speeds. The My Passport, nevertheless, might barely muster 24.4MB/s learn and 29.3MB/s write.
Admittedly, the latter take a look at is extra consultant of the kind of workload you’d see on a server or workstation, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever put both exterior SSD underneath this sort of strain. However, for those who’re repeatedly working with plenty of giant video information, modifying large batches of images, or like backing up your whole Steam library in a single go for some cause, then the T5 is arguably going to get the job finished rather a lot quicker than the My Passport.
In this mild, anybody averse to thumb-twiddling might imagine it’s value spending the additional cash on getting the T5. Personally, I feel I’d slightly get the WD My Passport and save that money for one thing else, whatever the distinction in velocity. CrystalDiskMark outcomes apart, its studying velocity is just about an identical to the T5 throughout the board, and I’m keen to put aside its barely slower write velocity attributable to it being a lot cheaper. Of course, the T5 has a barely simpler journey for those who’re pondering of getting one of many 500GB fashions, as any distinction in worth is so minuscule right here that there’s actually no cause not to get the T5. In all circumstances, although, the WD My Passport is by far the higher worth for cash SSD.
