INTRODUCTION

   If there's one thing electronics manufacturers know very well that's the difference between market segments so although for enterprise users, professionals and in some cases even enthusiasts they offer products with performance and reliability as their primary features when it comes to casual consumers the all-time classic price/performance ratio takes their place. So you'd think that the same "rule" would also apply in the storage media segment of the market right? Well that's not really the case since when it comes to USB flash drives most storage media manufacturers focus primarily in reliability and security for enterprise grade models, speed and capacity for models aimed at enthusiasts and professionals and finally price and capacity for models aimed at casual users. There are some exceptions to that rule but the one that stands-out from the crowd is the latest Samsung Portable SSD T1 which we have here with us today.

   Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of televisions, smartphones, personal computers, printers, cameras, home appliances, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. We employ 236,000 people across 79 countries with annual sales of US$187.8 billion. Samsung's Memory Business offers the industry's most advanced and extensive range of memory semiconductor products. As a leader in both the design and manufacture of memory semiconductor since 1993, the business provides key memory products including dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), NAND flash memory, Solid State Drives (SSD) and a range of green memory solutions for use in PC, server and mobile applications. Samsung is also leading the industry in advancements of next generation DRAM and NAND flash technologies while nurturing future memory technologies. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

   As the name of the product clearly states the T1 (available in 250/500/1000GB capacities) is basically an SSD (850 EVO mSATA model to be exact) placed inside an USB 3.0 compatible external enclosure which thanks to the size of interior components (just like with any SSD) is very compact and not that much larger compared to a regular USB flash drive. As for features well since the T1 is based on the 850 EVO it supports hardware AES-256 encryption (password protection is also a feature) along with Samsung’s TurboWrite technology but unfortunately due to compatibility issues with USB 3.0 the T1 doesn't feature TRIM (at least for now) and RAPID technology although since this is an external USB flash drive it doesn't really have to (unless you plan to boot your OS from it in which case the drive would certainly benefit). So how fast is a very fast mSATA SSD when using USB 3.0 connectivity?