# Samsung T7 SSDs



## Rory (Jun 5, 2020)

I’ve just transferred my sample libraries from a Samsung T5 to the new, non-fingerprint version of the Samsung T7, and I thought that I’d share my initial impressions. The computer itself is a 2018 Mac mini, i7 (3.2GHz, 6 core), 32GB of RAM.

What stands out is that instruments are loading noticeably faster. This satisfies my desire for zippiness, but I don't know yet whether the T7 will make a practical difference. In a recent video, Guy Michelmore suggested that faster SSDs result in more efficient use of RAM, a view that I've seen expressed elsewhere. I don't understand how that would be so, but perhaps someone who believes it will explain. My working assumption is that this is voodoo computerology. If that isn't a word, it should be 

I also have a Windows Bootcamp partition that I'm using with a Samsung 970 EVO Plus in an external enclosure. The 970 is wicked fast. However, I want to see whether the T7 results in any substantive benefit before I consider using the 970 in its stead.

As it is, the T7 does help satisfy my need for speed. At US$200 for 1TB, I think that it's also attractively priced. At the moment, it costs about $20 more than a 1TB T5, which makes me wonder whether the T5, itself a capable drive, is on the way out. With that small a price difference, the choice is obvious.

Cheers


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## unclecheeks (Sep 23, 2020)

Rory said:


> I’ve just transferred my sample libraries from a Samsung T5 to the new, non-fingerprint version of the Samsung T7, and I thought that I’d share my initial impressions. The computer itself is a 2018 Mac mini, i7 (3.2GHz, 6 core), 32GB of RAM.
> 
> What stands out is that instruments are loading noticeably faster. This satisfies my desire for zippiness, but I don't know yet whether the T7 will make a practical difference. In a recent video, Guy Michelmore suggested that faster SSDs result in more efficient use of RAM, a view that I've seen expressed elsewhere. I don't understand how that would be so, but perhaps someone who believes it will explain. My working assumption is that this is voodoo computerology. If that isn't a word, it should be
> 
> ...



How are you liking your T7 so far? In the market for a small external SSD, but some of the reviews mentioned quite a lot of heat from these, which worries me. I have the same Mac mini as you. How are your read/write speeds?

As far as RAM, I think the idea is that if you have a fast enough SSD then you can set your Kontakt preload buffer to be very small, thereby offloading the sample streaming to the SSD instead of putting more into RAM from the get-go. So, smaller preload = more available RAM.


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## Rory (Sep 23, 2020)

unclecheeks said:


> How are your read/write speeds?



I'm happy with the drive and unconcerned about heat. As you know, speed test results vary. This one was done at Blackmagic's recommended, maximum stress of 5GB:


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## unclecheeks (Sep 23, 2020)

Oof, that write speed is definitely less than advertised... However, I suppose once the samples are on there, who cares about write speed!  Thanks for the reply.


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## Rory (Sep 23, 2020)

unclecheeks said:


> Oof, that write speed is definitely less than advertised... However, I suppose once the samples are on there, who cares about write speed!  Thanks for the reply.




That write speed is on a 5GB file.


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## unclecheeks (Sep 23, 2020)

Rory said:


> That write speed is on a 5GB file.



In my experience, large files are faster to write than lots of smaller files. Still not bad, considering that we mostly use our drives for reading anyway. Another factor could be that the drive might be getting full. One of my SSDs shows a similar pattern once I filled it up 80-90% - near optimal read speed, much less on the write than when it was new and empty.


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## Rory (Sep 23, 2020)

unclecheeks said:


> In my experience, large files are faster to write than lots of smaller files. Still not bad, considering that we mostly use our drives for reading anyway. Another factor could be that the drive might be getting full. One of my SSDs shows a similar pattern once I filled it up 80-90% - near optimal read speed, much less on the write than when it was new and empty.



Blackmagic stress tests for smaller files don't measure lots of little files. If you are interested, the levels of test are explained in the User Manual.


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## Technostica (Sep 23, 2020)

Rory said:


> That write speed is on a 5GB file.


The drive should have a sequential write speed of somewhere between five and nine hundred MB/s provided that no part of the chain is compromised.
The default file system is probably exFAT which could be a bottleneck.


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## Rory (Sep 23, 2020)

Technostica said:


> The drive should have a sequential write speed of somewhere between five and nine hundred MB/s provided that every part of the chain isn't compromised.
> The default file system is probably exFAT which could be a bottleneck.



The file system is APFS. At this point I'm sorry that I made the effort. I don't use the Blackmagic Drive Speed app, but downloaded it specifically to do this and did it quickly. The only Blackmagic test that interests me, and that I occasionally use, is the one below:


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## Technostica (Sep 23, 2020)

I mistakenly thought you were transferring a single 5GB file, hence my comment. 
There are so many different benchmarks that it can be confusing to me. 
So I stick to the basics and hope for the best.


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## yperochiakera (Nov 29, 2020)

Rory said:


> I’ve just transferred my sample libraries from a Samsung T5 to the new, non-fingerprint version of the Samsung T7, and I thought that I’d share my initial impressions. The computer itself is a 2018 Mac mini, i7 (3.2GHz, 6 core), 32GB of RAM.
> 
> What stands out is that instruments are loading noticeably faster. This satisfies my desire for zippiness, but I don't know yet whether the T7 will make a practical difference. In a recent video, Guy Michelmore suggested that faster SSDs result in more efficient use of RAM, a view that I've seen expressed elsewhere. I don't understand how that would be so, but perhaps someone who believes it will explain. My working assumption is that this is voodoo computerology. If that isn't a word, it should be
> 
> ...



May I ask what enclosure you are using? I've seen that an Orico enclosure is one of the most popular recommendations on Amazon but I also see some real-world results showing that R/W rates are greatly reduced with the said enclosure.

Many thanks!


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## Rory (Nov 30, 2020)

yperochiakera said:


> May I ask what enclosure you are using? I've seen that an Orico enclosure is one of the most popular recommendations on Amazon but I also see some real-world results showing that R/W rates are greatly reduced with the said enclosure.
> 
> Many thanks!



The Samsung 970 EVO Plus is in a TEKQ Cube enclosure. Two years ago, when I purchased this drive, the TEKQ enclosure was one of the few available. I think that there are more now.


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## yperochiakera (Nov 30, 2020)

Rory said:


> The Samsung 970 EVO Plus is in a TEKQ Cube enclosure. Two years ago, when I purchased this drive, the TEKQ enclosure was one of the few available. I think that there are more now.


Thanks for your reply! How's your experience with the T7? My Teamgroup GX2 SSD went kaput in the middle of a project and I am in dire need of a replacement ASAP.

We have the same computer. Were you able to see noticeable differences between the T5 and the T7, even if the Mac Mini 2018's ports can only support 'til USB 3.1?


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## Rory (Nov 30, 2020)

I think that the choice between the T5 and the T7 depends on whether you actually need the additional speed for your use case. There are currently attractive discounts on both.


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## Paulogic (Dec 2, 2020)

I have both types and tested the difference in Cubase / VST's. Maybe some instruments of
Komplete and others load somewhat faster but in playing and using there was no big difference.
(MacMini, 6-c I7, 32 GB from 2020).

What I noticed in the beginning, is that when still formatted in ExFat, both had problems with
large "sound samples" like Alicia's Keys. Formatted as HFS journaled they both work great.

Tip : SanDisks SSD, are somewhat less expensive SSD's but still fast enough for quick Timebackups.
For libraries they are a bit slower then the T5's.


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## SuperForce (Mar 13, 2021)

I just purchased a T7 to use as an additional sample drive. I'd like to point out one glaring flaw if you have a Trash Can (late 2013) Mac:

If you plan on using the Thunderbolt 2 ports - the Apple Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter DOES NOT SUPPORT POWER. This forces you to use the USB A ports, so you will max out at 500 MB/sec.

The drive will not power up if you use the 2 to 3 adapter. I'm not sure if an OWC dock would allow for better throughput, but you cannot connect it directly to the Thunderbolt ports. 

Just an FYI.


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## Nimrod7 (Apr 14, 2021)

Sorry for resurrecting the thread.
I would love to gather additional input for the T7.

Got one, it's connected to a Mac. First incident was the Vienna downloader froze when it was installing libraries. Finder also froze, needed hard restart. This happened twice. 

After that I run Blackmagic's speed test. Performance seems great with 900MB/s read/write, but left it run for a few mins, and eventually degraded to around 150MB/s (heated maybe?).

I am worried, since I am reading mixed reports, but I also don't get consistent results, it neither works or don't work... :\

Anyone else wanna share experiences with T7s ?


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## emasters (Apr 14, 2021)

I have T5's without issue. Not sure if you are going through a hub? I had drive issues on my MacBook Pro (some HDD, a few SSD) related to power. Specifically, if a single USB-C port has too many devices drawing power via a hub, it can create issues with the devices (drives). You might try plugging the T7 directly into the computer's port to isolate if it's the drive, or if it's a hub. If it's going through a hub, perhaps powering the hub? Not knowing what you have in terms of hardware/connection, makes it tough go guess. I had drive issues until sorting out the power situation for each USB-C port on the MacBook Pro. After doing this, no issues - working reliably. Good luck - it can be frustrating...


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## SuperForce (Apr 14, 2021)

Since my initial disappointment in throughput, I have been quite happy with it. 

*First* - it's small!! Easy to tuck away and nearly credit card sized. I was not expecting that. 

*Second* - Issues I was having streaming samples off my normal G-Drive disappeared. For example, my 8Dio "1985 Passionate Piano" would always run into buffer errors in Pro Tools. Even at 1024, which rendered it useless for writing. Worked fine in Logic, but I couldn't use it in my Pro Tools sessions. Since moving the library to my T7, it works flawlessly. I don't run into nearly the number of buffering errors with sessions run on libraries I have moved to this drive.


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## Nimrod7 (Apr 14, 2021)

emasters said:


> I have T5's without issue. Not sure if you are going through a hub? I had drive issues on my MacBook Pro (some HDD, a few SSD) related to power. Specifically, if a single USB-C port has too many devices drawing power via a hub, it can create issues with the devices (drives)


Thanks!
Sadly goes directly into the Macs T3 ports which supports either T3 (40Gps) or USB-C (10Gps).
As you said Hubs are bad idea for HDs. 

I have 2 more T5's but those working perfectly fine.


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## emasters (Apr 15, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> Thanks!
> Sadly goes directly into the Macs T3 ports which supports either T3 (40Gps) or USB-C (10Gps).
> As you said Hubs are bad idea for HDs.
> 
> I have 2 more T5's but those working perfectly fine.


Bummer... one would have expected the T7 works as reliably as the T5. Clearly, if you're going directly into the Mac port, then power is not an issue. Will be curious to hear the outcome, as T7's are something I've considered at some point.


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