Update: Although this deal was originally reported on the 1 Jan, and it has since risen in price, we still think the current discount is well worth shouting about. On the 1st, it was down to $299. Now it is $317. That's still a saving of $142 over at Amazon!
A new year is upon us, which means another 12 month of projects that take up space on our computers. For many, it means checking how much space we have left on our external hard disks, and investing in new storage if necessary. And the best buy I've seen in the January sales is on Samsung's newest, fastest external SSD. Amazon has 35% off the Samsung T9 4TB SSD – reduced from $459 to $317.99.
I previously used this SSD's predecessor, the Samsung T7 Shield, as my daily back up, and was very happy with it. The T9, released in October, is twice as fast. I was convinced to upgrade by a Black Friday deal, and the extra speed is very welcome when transferring thing like hefty 4K video files.
Sadly, there aren't such attractive savings on the T9 Shield in the UK. On that side of the Atlantic, I think I'd stick to the T7 Touch, which we long rated as the best exernal SSD on the market. Amazon has the 2TB version reduced from £227.49 to £131.95 for a saving of by 42%.
There are some other decent January sale hard drive deals about, particularly on SanDisk SSDs, but I've become a little nervous about its Extreme Pro SSDs after stories of them failing over the last year. Samsung hasn't let me down yet, and I've been using the T7 since its release early in 2022. The T9 (I have no idea they they skipped T8) is widely compatible, I like the rugged build and textured finished, and read and write speeds can reach 2,000MB/s, almost doubling the 1050MB/s of the T7.
See full details of this Samsung external SSD deal below, or see our regular guide to the best external hard drives and SSDs for more options.
Overview: The follow-up to the already excellent T7 Shield looks great, has a rugged build drop proof to 3 metres and provides increased transfer speeds of up to 2,000MB/s. This deal is on the largest capacity, which provides a hefty 4TB, hopefully enough to see most of us through 2024 and beyond.
Features: 4TB SSD | rugged build and textured finish |fast 2,000 read/write speed | includes both USB-C and USB-A cables
Price history: This isn't actually be best price on record for the T9, which was only released in October. During Black Friday, Amazon reduced the price to $299.99, but we haven't seen it fall that low since. Unfortunately, there have not be very sizable discounts in the UK so far. Considering the high price of the T9 in the UK, I would be tempted to stick to go for the T7 Touch, which remains the highest rated SSD in our guide to the best external hard drives. Amazon has the 2TB version reduced by 42% from £227.49 to £131.95.
Reviews: We haven't reviewed the T9 at Creative Bloq yet, but I've been so impressed with the T7 Shield and T7 Touch Portable, both of which we reviewed, that I'm pretty confident this follow up will do the job. Our sister site Techradar has reviewed the T9 and gave it four stars, finding its main weakness to be its price, which this deal largely resolves.
Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
