I've recently noticed that my Samsung T7 Shield external SSD's write speed has unexpectedly dropped to around 2 MB/s. I've already tried swapping out cables and using different USB ports, and I confirmed that another portable SSD works just fine with the same setup, so I suspect the issue lies with the Samsung SSD itself. I've attempted to use Samsung Magician for some diagnostics, but since I'm on a Mac, a lot of features aren't available. I've also updated the firmware, formatted the drive, and performed speed tests. Unfortunately, Samsung support hasn't been able to provide any solutions. Has anyone else faced this problem or have suggestions on what else I can try? I've read that this SSD has had similar complaints in the past. To make matters worse, both Samsung and Amazon have stated that there's no warranty since it was sold by Amazon US and imported.
3 Answers
If the drive is still slow after reformatting, it might be failing. I’d suggest backing up your data if you haven't already and running a diagnostic check to see if there are any underlying issues.
Have you checked the read speeds? Sometimes write issues can be misleading. If the read speeds are fine, it might be something else altogether.
Yeah, the read speeds are normal, about 700 MB/s.
Is your drive running low on space? A common problem is that when SSDs get close to full capacity, it affects performance due to wear leveling. You might want to keep at least 10% of the drive free to prevent slowdowns.
That's actually a good thought, but I just reformatted it. Before that, it was about 3/4 full.
I've backed up everything and reformatted, but it was about 3/4 full before that.