Samsung
Samsung T9 Portable SSD
$140Cheaper
Released 2023-10
Best Portable Ssds · head-to-head
A sourced, side-by-side comparison. Samsung T9 Portable SSD is cheaper at $140. Every spec and price links to its source.
Samsung
$140Cheaper
Released 2023-10
LaCie
$200
Released 2019
The LaCie Rugged SSD Pro wins 3 of the 3 specs we compare head to head; the other wins 0. The Samsung T9 Portable SSD is the cheaper at $140. Get the LaCie Rugged SSD Pro for the stronger spec sheet, the Samsung T9 Portable SSD to spend less.
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The numbers that decide it, drawn to scale — longer bar wins, the accent bar is the stronger figure.
✓ marks the stronger figure where "more" — or "less", for price and weight — is unambiguously better.
| Spec | | |
|---|---|---|
| US price | $140 | $200 |
| Brand | Samsung | LaCie |
| Released | 2023-10 | 2019 |
| Capacity (GB) | 1000 | 1000 |
| Read (Mbps) | 2000 | 2800 |
| Write (Mbps) | 1950 | 2300 |
| Interface | USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) | Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C |
| Encryption | AES 256-bit hardware | — |
| IP rating | — | IP67 |
| Weight (g) | 122 | 100 |
| Release | 2023-10 | 2019 |
Sources — Samsung T9 Portable SSD: storagereview.com (verified 2026-06-15). LaCie Rugged SSD Pro: seagate.com (verified 2026-06-15).
Where the two actually differ on the specs we track (4 of 7). Matching specs are omitted.
Sourced tester consensus for each — the "what people who used it think" layer, not just specs.
Across three whitelisted lab reviews (StorageReview, TechRadar, PCWorld), the Samsung T9 is a fast, rugged USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 portable SSD that nears the ~2,000 MB/s interface ceiling, but is only a middle-of-the-pack 20Gbps performer, is overpriced at launch, and needs a rare USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port to hit those speeds. (3 sourced reviews, 3 lab-tested.)
Praised: Fast Gen 2x2 performance, near the theoretical interface limits (roughly 1,900-2,000 MB/s reads); Rugged, premium build with a grippy textured/sculpted exterior; Strong sustained-write / large-file transfer behavior, especially on higher capacities.
Flagged: Expensive at launch versus the T7 and rival 2x2 drives; Only middle-of-the-pack among 20Gbps drives; SanDisk Extreme Pro V2 / Crucial X10 Pro faster; Requires a rare USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port or speed is roughly halved.
Only one whitelisted outlet (Tom's Hardware) has a hands-on, benchmarked review of this exact Thunderbolt 3 model. It rates the drive fast and cool-running with a rugged IP67 build, but flags a small SLC write cache, a steep price (about twice a typical 10 Gbps SSD), and the lack of AES hardware encryption found on the cheaper non-Pro Rugged SSD. (1 sourced review, 1 lab-tested.)
Praised: Competitive Thunderbolt 3 speed: ATTO ~2,450/2,130 MB/s read/write, peaking near 2.8/2.4 GB/s in iometer; Runs cool and avoids thermal throttling under sustained load, unlike the Samsung X5; Rugged IP67 build (3m drop, car-crush rated) with 5-year warranty plus Rescue data-recovery service.
Flagged: Small SLC write cache: sustained writes fall from ~2.1 GB/s to ~1.1 GB/s after roughly 25GB; Very expensive, about twice the cost of most 10 Gbps portable SSDs; Lacks 256-bit AES hardware encryption that the cheaper non-Pro Rugged SSD includes.