Is SSD Samsung T7 Shield good for storing movies/series? Plus backing up data for the long run?

[on the rocks]

Hello I have the following dilemma. At the moment I have a 4K tv always hooked up with my Macbook M1 to watch movies and series I've downloaded. I am planning of buying myself an OLED for a better movie experience. Therefore I will probably also download larger quality content as REMUX files for a better experience. Which results to my internal storage running out of space. At the moment I am using an external HDD drive. It's a hassle to move large files because it takes a lot of time.

At the moment the SSD Samsung T7 Shield is on offer and I am thinking to buy it as a solution to move downloaded content more faster.

My question: Is this a good choice?

Additionally I have a second question. I would like to backup my external HDD drive which is now +/- 8 years old. It contains movies, series, photos and data files. Would the SSD be suitable for this purpose? I ask this because as I remember SSD's are not good for data storage for the long run. Or is this nowadays not the case anymore?

If you know the answer to my questions, please share your insight as you will help me a lot with doing so. Thanks in advance

 

[Bigwaff]

SSD is suitable for both your use cases, however, the same storage capacity HDD is significantly cheaper.

At the moment I am using an external HDD drive. It's a hassle to move large files because it takes a lot of time.

What is the specific USB rating of your external HDD? Maybe you simply need an ext HDD which supports newer USB protocols.

I remember SSD's are not good for data storage for the long run. Or is this nowadays not the case anymore?

Depends on your definition of "long run". SSD/HDD are not archival mediums. I'd use M-DISC optical discs for that purpose. Where backups are concerned, your backup drive(s) should be 2x-3x size of your drive you are backing up. If the files are precious, and considering SSD/HDD do fail, you'll want a multiple backup strategy. Recommendation is typically two physical local backups (could be SSD + HDD or NAS), an online backup, and one physical backup you leave offsite (e.g. HDD in bank deposit box). Your comfort level w/ risk of losing your data will determine your backup strategy.

 

[Fishrrman]

How much storage space do you need?
T7 comes in sizes up to 4tb, I believe.

I have a t7 Shield drive on which I save movies and videos, works fine. But I'm selective about what I choose to keep around.

I realize that some folks... um... "save" a lot more...

 

[on the rocks]

How much storage space do you need?
T7 comes in sizes up to 4tb, I believe.

I have a t7 Shield drive on which I save movies and videos, works fine. But I'm selective about what I choose to keep around.

I realize that some folks... um... "save" a lot more...

That is good to hear that it works fine for you.

Thinking about the 2Tb version and the 4TB. Probably going for the 4TB, just to be safe for the long run.

 

[herbert7265]

Personally I am using the Samsung T7 and T7 Shield mainly for image and data storage, all of them in the 2 TB version.

I do not get the stated 1,050 MB/s, "only" in the area of 700 to 800 MB/s, but for my needs that sufficient.

So, from my point of view a reasonably priced and good product, nothing negative to say about here. Yes, there are faster SSDs on the market, but I think you may be fine with the speed of the T7 Shield.

Herbert

 

[Darth-Kylie]

Maybe you simply need an ext HDD which supports newer USB protocols.

The 5 Gbps theoretical maximum bandwidth of USB 3.0, which equates to 625 MBps. far exceeds the transfer rates you’d get from even a two-disk RAID 0 (striped) array of hard disks, no matter the (edit: later) USB type. The hard disk technology itself is the severely limiting factor there.

if you want truly fast transfers, An SSD with at least a SATA interface (internally) is the minimum you should go for.

it sounds like you want an archival drive that you occasionally offload a ton of large files onto. There is much less of a difference these days between the prices of high-capacity (2TB+) SSDs that use SATA or a more modern and faster internally.

i use several T7s and find their ~1000 MBps transfer rates more than acceptable for this kind of scenario. There are a few faster external drives (~2000 Mbps) but that seems like overkill if I’ve assumed correctly about how often you need to put stuff on the drive.

 

[on the rocks]

Thanks for the clear explanation! It means that I will probably go for a T7 shield then!

@herbert7265 and @Darth-Kylie

 

[Boyd01]

I have a bunch of external SSD's, including four 2tb Samsung T7's, one 2tb Samsung t7 shield and two WD Black game drives. The oldest ones were bought in 2020, three of them are permanently connected to my 2018 Mini where they are hammered pretty heavily. No problems with any of these and I get around 800-900MB/sec performance, although there have been a number of threads here about slower performance on the older M-series Macs (apparently related to USB issues).

I also have a 2014 Mini that I use as an iTunes server (runs iTunes under Mojave 24/7 with home sharing enabled). All of my media (about 2tb) is stored on a Oyen Digital 4tb external SSD that only has USB 3 and gets around 400MB/sec. It has been running continuously like this for around 4 years now. I moved that machine to a SSD after having two external hard disks fail after about two years each.

So, yes, it should work very well for storing your media. However, I definitely would not use the same disk for backups. IMO, backup disks should be dedicated to only backups.

 

[on the rocks]

So I have decided to purchase the T7 Shield 4TB and also include cloud storage and an extra offsite backup for my regular backups. Thanks for the advice everyone.

I would like to have my files secured for my T7. With password or encryption protection. So I have done some research of what would be the best fit on Macrumors, Google, Quora and the Mac platform. To my surprise the advice is quite contradictory. In short it was advised to stick with the easiest solution by sticking to the standard format and Samsung's password protection. While another explained that it's risky to rely on this by not knowing for certain that Samsung will continue releasing required updates in the future.

It was advised to switch entirely to APFS and encrypt the T7. While others advised to use HFS+ instead as APFS tends to crash and is not repairable/recoverable.

So my question is what would you recommend me how to secure my files on the T7?

My goal is to use it for temporary movie/series storage and the backup of movies and photos (for the long term). No Time-Machine backup.


P.s. btw does the standard format of the T7 reduces the transfer rates or not at all?

@Fishrrman , @Darth-Kylie, @herbert7265 and @Boyd01 and @Bigwaff

 

[Bigwaff]

While another explained that it's risky to rely on this by not knowing for certain that Samsung will continue releasing required updates in the future.

I agree. If you search the forum, you’ll find posts lamenting the use of drive manufacturer protection software. A simple OS update could render your data inaccessible if the manufacturer software is incompatible.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"In short it was advised to stick with the easiest solution by sticking to the standard format and Samsung's password protection. While another explained that it's risky to rely on this by not knowing for certain that Samsung will continue releasing required updates in the future."

DO NOT use "Samsung's" protection.
Stick with what Apple offers.

In fact, when you get the new drive, the first thing you want to do with it is ERASE IT COMPLETELY CLEAN and "go on from there".

"So my question is what would you recommend me how to secure my files on the T7?"

What follows is my opinion only, and others' replies will be different.

If this is to be "a backup drive", my advice is to use NO ENCRYPTION AT ALL.
Why?, you're thinking...
Because -- if it's a backup, what happens if... in "a moment of extreme need"... you reach for the backup and then... find you can't "get through" the encryption?

I've seen numerous posts from folks with that problem here.

If you're worried about "keeping the data" safe, either hide the drive or store it in a locked box or safe.

You WANT a backup drive to be "easy to reach" in that moment of need.

 

[on the rocks]

I agree. If you search the forum, you’ll find posts lamenting the use of drive manufacturer protection software. A simple OS update could render your data inaccessible if the manufacturer software is incompatible.

Wauw that is to much of a liability for me so no Samsung password protection than.

 

[on the rocks]

DO NOT use "Samsung's" protection.

Clear!

Stick with what Apple offers.

As in Format wise or as in encryption? And what format or encryption would you recommend? This might sound a bit wet behind the ears, don't get me wrong . But when I know I will work further and find out with Google how to set it up. Or is it something different that you are on about what Apple offers?

If this is to be "a backup drive", my advice is to use NO ENCRYPTION AT ALL.
Why?, you're thinking...
Because -- if it's a backup, what happens if... in "a moment of extreme need"... you reach for the backup and then... find you can't "get through" the encryption?

Yes, I get your point. This is actually why I don't want to use any protection option for my other devices. But I thought as I will be using this drive the most, because as expected I will be frequently unloading and offloading movie files. So I won't store it away for some years without giving it any attention.

I have to be honest that I'm quite inexperienced with encryption. As I am only known with it by turning on Filefault on my Mac. What would be a most likeable cause for not being able to get trough encryption?

---

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have never had a problem with the T7 drive. Amazon has it on sale a lot.

 

[Basic75]

I ask this because as I remember SSD's are not good for data storage for the long run. Or is this nowadays not the case anymore?

SSDs have worse unpowered data retention than HDDs, and this has become worse over time because of cheap crappy TLC and now QLC flash that crams more bits into a single charge reducing both write cycles and data retention.