The Samsung T7 Shield is an external rugged SSD and is the third member of the T7 family, after the T7 and the T7 Touch launched in 2020; a long hiatus. The latter left a lasting impression on us because it brought a feature that was never available at this price point: a fingerprint reader. The T7 Shield does the opposite; it brings a fairly common feature — extra ruggedness over the standard model, that is — at a $20 hike over the T7’s reasonable price tag, and that’s about it really.
The T7 Shield is available in black, blue and beige, and in 1TB and 2TB capacities for $159.99 and $289.99 espectively; there are no 500GB or 4TB models.
The T7 Shield adopts the same form factor as its predecessors, with a full metal aluminum body (great for conductivity) and covered with rubber for toughness. Samsung’s latest external SSD has an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance, and can withstand falls of up to 9.8 feet. At 3.47 oz and measuring 3.5 inches x 2.3 inches x 0.5 inches, it is very portable, just like its forebears, and sticks to the same overall shape. There’s a USB–C (3.2 Gen2) connector on the one side, and you get a USB–C to USB-C and USB–C to USB-A cable included.