Samsung's new T5 portable SSD continues the company's trend of small, lightweight, portable solid-state storage -- and it's faster than ever -- but adds one very foundational extra included in the box. Oh, and it comes in blue.

Since the first Samsung Portable SSD, the T1 hit the shelves in 2015 every subsequent launch of the T series has seen the latest evolution of Samsung's TLC V-NAND being used inside them, 48-layer in the T3 and now with the 3rd generation drive, the Portable SSD T5, Samsung's latest 64-layer TLC...

64-layer V-NAND; Compact design; Performance; Capacity

It doesn't come cheap

How small can an external storage device be? Pretty darn small, especially in the case of Samsung's newly released T5, which is about the size of a stack of credit cards. Indeed, the T5 is now dangerously close in size to far more expensive solid-state storage devices like Kingston's DataTraveler...

Incredibly fast; Highly compact

Expensive

Welcome to Myce's review of the Samsung T5 Portable SSD (hereafter referred to as the T5). The Samsung T5 is a highly portable, high speed storage device, which could be used for carrying large amounts of data from one location to another; simply transfer the data you want to take to the new...

Tiny and outrageously fast, the Samsung T5 Portable SSD is the ultimate portable hard drive -- albeit with a price tag to match. It's about the same size and weight as a stack of 10 credit cards, so you'll barely feel it in your pocket.

Tiny; Outrageously fast; Rugged aluminum body; Three-year warranty

Very expensive per GB

The third (USB 3.1 Gen 2) generation of Samsung's credit-card-sized external drive is a swift and nifty solution for secure storage.

Couldn't be more portable; Fast performance; Handsome design; Comes with USB-C and USB-A cables

Expensive; No utility software except for password lock

The external Samsung T5 SSDs are very fast, slightly smaller than a credit card and only weigh 51 grams. If you are looking for lightning fast external storage, these are interesting options.

One of my favorite products from last year that I take with me everywhere is the Samsung Portable SSD T3. This portable solid state drive is super small, fast, and is what I've used to edit 4K content when I'm on the go.

– Superfast transfer speeds; – Small and very portable; – TypeC to C and TypeC to A cables included; – Software allows for password protection

– None that I found

Personal data storage has always been a really interesting category because, while everyone needs storage, there's still a lot of potential customers would rather pass on the category wholesale than deal with some of the caveats and hassle it sometimes entails.

Slim and light design; Ultra-fast storage speeds

More expensive per-GB; Limited color options

The T5 is an updated version of their portable line and the first to use Samsung's 64-layer V-NAND technology. By using the most up-to-date advances in storage density and USB protocols, Samsung has produced a high speed, portable SSD that's very compact and versatile.