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Samsung Announces Next-Generation 'Portable SSD T3' With USB-C Port

BeSweeet said:
So the internal SSD is SATA-based? Thought it would've used a different interface for the sake of increased speed.
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I think the article is simply saying that it uses the latest Samsung MHX Flash controller, not that it's using USB-to-SATA internally.

The MHX has three Cortex-R cores. One for reads. One for writes. One for external I/O.

So Samsung most likely programmed the I/O core to talk to the host computer via USB, instead of via a SATA interface.
 
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mangonights said:
About time! The USB-C takeover can't come soon enough. Every USB-C product should come with a bag to ship off to recycling all the ******** cables of years past.
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Don't throw out your old cables just yet.

Until every device has USB-C and every computer has USB-C... you're still gonna need a variety of cables.

We've had USB-A on the host end of the cable for over a decade... while the other end has been a variety of plugs depending on the device (USB-B... USB-Mini... USB-Micro... 30-pin... Lightning... etc)

But now the host end of the cable is changing. (though don't expect USB-A ports to disappear anytime soon)

I don't have any computer with a USB-C port. Hardly anybody does, actually. So in order to use this Samsung SSD... I'd need a USB-C to USB-A cable.

If I had a Macbook... I'd use a USB-C to USB-C cable.

But in order to plug in an older external hard drive into a Macbook... I'd have to use a USB-C to whatever the drive uses (most likely USB-Micro-B)

Yes... the goal is for all computers and all devices to use USB-C... but that's gonna be a looong time before that happens.

At least your old devices will still work. You just might need a different cable instead of throwing out the entire device!
 
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cmChimera said:
I want one of these badly.

Sandisk makes one with about double the read/write, but I don't think it's Type C. It's also more expensive. Wonder if they'll update that line as well.

They offer up to 2TB SSDs right now right? At least 1TB. That's not really limited.
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Sandisk already has one with Type C half a year ago. quoted at about $600 for 1TB.

 
Hate samsung in general but love the idea of these data rates on a backup/timemachine/proxy media type applications. Having video on the drive and not on the computer. Hopefully some new software can take advantage of basically native speeds in external drives. Not sure what but there will be some uses.
 
robeddie said:
With the limited amounts of internal SSD storage Apple will put in their computers (and then zero internal upgrade ability after purchase), solutions like this will become increasingly necessary unfortunately.
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What's worse:

Apple being arrogant enough to limit their computers like this?

or

Apple fans being stupid enough to be apologetic about it?
 
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mangonights said:
About time! The USB-C takeover can't come soon enough. Every USB-C product should come with a bag to ship off to recycling all the ******** cables of years past.

WiFi, Bluetooth and USB-C is the only thing the consumer sphere should ever need.
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You're right, and Ford, Dodge and KIAs should be the only cars the world needs. :rollseyes:

Get real dude.
 
rtdunham said:
Not as simple as it seems. The T1 weighs 26 grams, about half the weight of the new one. Users might be better advised to get a T1 at a discounted price once the new ones are out, and rely on the USB C to USB adapter they already have.

Also give this thread a careful read. The T1 doesn't work as simply as all other external drives I've ever used, possibly due to its encryption or other software schemes. It's unclear whether the T3 works the same proprietary way or "fixes" the problem/inconvenience. That said, I've been using a 500 GB T1 for external backup and am very happy with it, and in awe of the speed and tiny size and weight. If I could overcome the confidence issues referenced in the thread below, I'd replace all my external drives with T1s (or T3s).

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/arti...off-on-new-samsung-t1-flash-ssd#comment-87207
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That's quite a review, sheesh.
 
Adithya007 said:
Meanwhile, Apple doesn't want to go away from the 5200 rpm ones on the iMac...Sad Life.
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Weird, I just bought an iMac with an SSD that has 1500MB/s transfer rate. Sounds like they are providing options for customers.

But the options aren't to my liking! SCREW APPLE!
 
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Piggie said:
You had better tell Apple that when they show off at their Public Keynote the iPhone with it's 5.5" screen yet at the same time point out it's only 7.3mm thick :)
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You are being ideologic. I'm being pragmatic.

Everywhere in the world, screens are measured in inches.
 
From a Mac point of view, this is worthless until the MacBook USB-C model comes with TWO ports. You know, one on each side -- would it really kill your sense of "design," Mr.Jony?
 
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Are SSDs much more reliable than HDDs?

HDDs seem to die around 2 years time or so with their mechanical internals. It will take a serious dent in my budget to replace a 1TB SSD if it dies.
 
BeSweeet said:
So the internal SSD is SATA-based? Thought it would've used a different interface for the sake of increased speed.
Click to expand...

several reasons, primarily of which would be cost to manufacture. secondly, there is hardly anything out on the market that supports 3.1 Gen 2 (how's that for confusing?) which is the only spec that goes above what you would get on a direct SATA III connection (5 gigabit for USB 3.1 Gen 1, 6 gigabit SATA III, 10 gigabit USB 3.1 Gen 2)... not even the MacBook has gen 2. You would have more people returning the product for failing to meet advertised speeds than you would people who could actually take advantage of it.

for the time being, it makes little sense to implement such a product. however I have no doubt we will see this in time.
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MacBH928 said:
Are SSDs much more reliable than HDDs?

HDDs seem to die around 2 years time or so with their mechanical internals. It will take a serious dent in my budget to replace a 1TB SSD if it dies.
Click to expand...

by the time it dies the cost would probably be cut in half or more, the rate at which they are dropping is growing fast. i bought two SSDs for Christmas 2014, this year the same models were half the price I paid.
 
MacBH928 said:
HDDs seem to die around 2 years time or so with their mechanical internals. It will take a serious dent in my budget to replace a 1TB SSD if it dies.
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Dang... I've got 7 hard drives in service today... and most of them are over 2 years old.

Plus 6 more older hard drives on the shelf that are not in service but still work.

What are you doing to your hard drives? :D
 
macs4nw said:
You might not be too far off; the 2TB 850 Pro goes for close to that.....
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the 2TB evo goes for like 600 on sale, 700 normally. unless its specifically stated you should always expect the lowest cost/performing part to be used in these kinds of products, but priced to match the highest tier.
 
I love my Samsung T1 SSD external drive -- it's speedy and it does the job quite nicely. As far as setting things up, I simply went ahead and installed the software and the .kext file and then went into Disk Utility and erased the drive and reformatted it to Mac's extended journaling. Once that was done, I checked everything to be sure I had the full capacity of the drive in the right format, then unplugged it from the older machine which I'd used to set things up and plugged it into the machine with which I'm actually using the drive -- and no problem with that unneeded software on my current machine, the formatting and capacity are correct -- totally good to to go! I've only had this for a few days so can't really attest to longevity and such but I am very pleased with its performance so far. I'd been hoping for a 2 TB version and it looks as though Samsung is now going to be offering that but I think I'll wait a while.....what I've just gotten will serve quite nicely as an adjunct to my rMBP 512 GB SSD in terms of storage. It's so unbelievably tiny and lightweight that it will be great for traveling.
 
Michael Scrip said:
Dang... I've got 7 hard drives in service today... and most of them are over 2 years old.

Plus 6 more older hard drives on the shelf that are not in service but still work.

What are you doing to your hard drives? :D
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depends on what he bought to begin with. ive yet to see a "Green" drive make it to 2 years :(
however i still have top-shelf 15 year old ATA drives that will fire right up if i were to need them.
 
Clix Pix said:
I love my Samsung T1 SSD external drive -- it's speedy and it does the job quite nicely. As far as setting things up, I simply went ahead and installed the software and the .kext file and then went into Disk Utility and erased the drive and reformatted it to Mac's extended journaling. Once that was done, I checked everything to be sure I had the full capacity of the drive in the right format, then unplugged it from the older machine which I'd used to set things up and plugged it into the machine with which I'm actually using the drive -- and no problem with that unneeded software on my current machine, the formatting and capacity are correct -- totally good to to go! I've only had this for a few days so can't really attest to longevity and such but I am very pleased with its performance so far. I'd been hoping for a 2 TB version and it looks as though Samsung is now going to be offering that but I think I'll wait a while.....what I've just gotten will serve quite nicely as an adjunct to my rMBP 512 GB SSD in terms of storage. It's so unbelievably tiny and lightweight that it will be great for traveling.
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Thanks for the info.

I've had my eye on the 1TB Samsung T1... glad to know it works well.
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kwikdeth said:
depends on what he bought to begin with. ive yet to see a "Green" drive make it to 2 years :(

however i still have top-shelf 15 year old ATA drives that will fire right up if i were to need them.
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Oh no! Four of my drives are Greens!

I've got a pair of 2TB Greens and a pair of 4TB Greens. Since they are for archive purposes... I bought them in pairs just in case one fails.

One pair is only 1 year old... but the other pair is over 2 years old. And I bought them from different stores so there wouldn't be a problem with a bad batch. So far so good!

I've actually only ever had one drive fail... a WD Black. Luckily I was able to copy files off... albeit very slowly. Then it was replaced under warranty.

I'd love to replace all 4 drives with just a pair of 6TB Reds or Blacks... but that would cost $500-600 right now. Maybe next summer.
 
This looks great, but as a person in the market for a MacBook, I wish Apple was more competitive with their internal SDD prices. Then I wouldn't have to look at external discs for what for me would be a secondary computer anyway.
 
kdarling said:
I think the article is simply saying that it uses the latest Samsung MHX Flash controller, not that it's using USB-to-SATA internally.

The MHX has three Cortex-R cores. One for reads. One for writes. One for external I/O.

So Samsung most likely programmed the I/O core to talk to the host computer via USB, instead of via a SATA interface.
Click to expand...

It's SATA 6Gbps internally with a SATA to USB bridge.
 
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