NEWS: Samsung targets mobile CAD users with Portable SSD T1

Here’s an interesting new development for CAD on the go – a portable USB 3.0 solid state drive (SSD) from Samsung which is being pitched as a high-speed and durable alternative to external hard disk drives (HDDs). The Samsung Portable SSD T1, which is smaller than an average business card (71 x 9 x 53mm) and weighs about 30 grams, is available in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB capacities.

Samsung says write speeds on the Portable SSD T1 are as responsive and fast as an internal SSD and up to 100 times faster than an external HDD. Samsung claims it takes only eight seconds to transfer a 3GB movie file and 27 seconds for a 10GB movie file compared to an external HDD which takes 26 seconds and 85 seconds, respectively.

This all sounds great, but CAD users will be most interested to learn how fast it handles hundreds of small part and assembly files which can take an age to read or write to an external HDD. We expect the answer is fast so we look forward to testing this out in the coming months.

The Portable SSD T1 is also hot on security. With a single password Samsung says it can be made safe from unwanted access thanks to AES 256-bit hardware encryption. Also, unlike an external HDD, the drive has no moving parts, so it can withstand bumps and drops.

The Portable SSD T1 comes with a three-year limited warranty, with a starting price of £155.