Samsung T5 EVO review – time to update your hard drive

Samsung makes a wide range of high-performance solid-state drives, including the seriously rugged T7 Shield, which has been on our list of best SSDs for Mac for the last couple of years.

Its new T5 EVO isn’t as fast as some of its SSD rivals, but rather than competing with more expensive, high-end drives, Samsung is really promoting the affordable T5 EVO as a general-purpose backup device that provides a faster and more portable alternative to a conventional hard drive. And, unlike many solid-state drives, it provides up to 8TB of storage, making it a good option for people who need a lot of storage space for their work files, photos and videos. It’s competitively priced too, starting at $189.99/£146 with 2TB of storage, while the 8TB model costs $479/£493.

It might not have the armour-plated protection of the T7 Shield, but the sturdy little T5 EVO doesn’t cut corners on build quality. The drive is very compact, measuring just 17mm thick, 40mm wide and 95mm long – although that 95mm also includes a chunky metal ring on one end that can be used to attach the drive to a backpack or belt when you’re travelling. It only weighs 102g as well, so it’s no trouble to carry it around when you’re out and about.

The drive is very solidly built, though, despite its lightweight design, as the body of the drive is also made out of metal, and then wrapped in a rubber sleeve to provide extra protection. Samsung states that the T5 EVO can withstand being dropped from a height of 2m, although it’s a little disappointing that it doesn’t quote an IP rating for resistance to water and dust. If you’re worried about dropping the drive in a puddle or exposing it to heavy rain then you might want to opt for the T7 Shield with its rating of IP65, or rivals such as the LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5, which also provides support for high-speed Thunderbolt 5.

We found that weren’t able to get Samsung’s Magician app to run on our MacBook Pro using Sonoma, or Sequoia on a Mac mini either, as it seems to require system extensions that aren’t supported in current versions of the macOS. That’s not a major problem, though, as you can use Disk Utility or Time Machine on your Mac to format the drive and handle your regular back-ups.

It’s not the fastest back-up drive you can buy, though. The T5 EVO has a standard USB-C port for connecting to a Mac or PC, with a USB-C cable included in the box (although there’s no USB-A adaptor for older computers). However, it only supports the relatively old USB 3.2 (Gen 1) standard, and Samsung quotes fairly modest speeds of 460MB/s for both read and write performance. Our tests showed that the drive’s write performance was right on the nose with a speed of 460MB/s when running the Black Magic disk speed test, although read performance was slower at 370MB/s. Admittedly, that’s relatively modest performance for a solid-state drive but, as mentioned earlier, Samsung is really pitching the T5 EVO as an affordable alternative to a conventional hard drive, and those speeds are certainly a lot faster than most portable hard drives that we’ve seen in recent years. And, with up to 8TB of storage in a highly compact and lightweight design, the T5 EVO will be a great option for laptop users who want to ditch an old hard drive and replace it with a more portable solid-state drive that provides plenty of storage for their Time Machine backups.

Should You Buy The Samsung T5 EVO?

Professional or creative users who need really high-performance for working with large video or graphics files may prefer a faster SSD that supports Thunderbolt. But, if you’re still using an old mechanical hard drive for your back-ups, then you’ll find that the T5 EVO provides a fast, portable alternative, with plenty of storage at a competitive price.