Samsung’s new external SSD has a built-in fingerprint reader for extra security

When it comes to improving external SSDs, there are usually only two things that matter: making the drives faster and adding more storage. Samsung’s new T7 Touch external SSD, which was announced at CES 2020, is a bit more creative. It adds a built-in fingerprint reader to secure your files, in addition to the usual improvements to transfer feed.
 
It’s a clever idea that gives you the option to protect your files with biometric security even if you’re using a laptop that doesn’t have a fingerprint reader. Samsung says that you can register up to four different fingerprints with the T7 Touch, meaning you’ll be able to easily share the drive with friends or teammates if you’d like.
 
Another addition to the T7 Touch is an indicator light that shows when the drive is plugged in and actively transmitting data, something that was bafflingly missing from the last generation.
 
The drive has a solid aluminum chassis, which Samsung says helps make it drop resistant up to two meters (about six and a half feet) — although you probably shouldn’t intentionally test that out for yourself. There’s also a single USB-C port, which can be connected to either a USB-C to USB-C or USB-C to USB-A cable.
 
It’s not all cosmetic changes and fancy fingerprint sensors, though. Samsung has also improved the actual SSD here, offering write speeds up to 1,000MB/s and read speeds up to 1,050MB/s, which it says is “approximately twice as fast as its predecessor, the T5.”
 
The T7 Touch will go on sale later this month and is set to cost $129.99 for a 500GB model, $229.99 for 1TB of storage, and $399.99 for the 2TB version. A version of the T7 Touch without a fingerprint reader, the T7, is set to be released in Q2 2020.

---