Samsung has introduced the latest member of the T7 family of SSDs, the T7 Shield. As you might be able to guess from the name, the Samsung T7 Shield is a rugged SSD with a focus on durability, so you can take your data with you and not worry about it getting damaged.

In terms of tech specs, the Samsung T7 Shield is very much in line with the rest of the T7 family. It's an NVMe drive and it connects to your PC using a USB 3.2 Gen 2 connection, which yields read speeds up to 1,050MB/s and write speeds up to 1,000MB/s. That's plenty fast for an external SSD, and Samsung says it has optimized the hardware and software on the SSD to ensure there's no performance degradation even when moving up to 2TB of data at once. It connects using a USB Type-C port, and you get Type-C to Type-C, as well as Type-C to Type-A cables so you can easily use it with your PC, a console, or a smartphone.

Of course, what makes it unique is its durability. The T7 Shield SSD comes with an IP65 water and dust resistance rating, meaning it can survive a water jet for three minutes or exposure to large amounts of dust for an extended period of time. It's also rated to survive drops up to three meters, or 9.8 feet. For reference, the standard Samsung T7 SSD promises to survive drops up to six feet, and it lacks the water and dust resistance rating.

The changes to the chassis do make this a heavier and larger drive compared to the standard T7, weighing 98 grams and measuring 13mm in thickness. For reference, the Samsung T7 weighs 56.7 grams and measures 7.62mm in thickness. Still, this is a "credit-card sized" SSD that you should be able to take anywhere.

The Samsung T7 Shield join other popular Samsung memory products, such as the standard T7 SSD and the T7 Touch - an SSD with a built-in fingerprint sensor to keep your data secure. It's available in 1TB and 2TB models, and it comes in three colors to choose from - blue, black, or beige. The 1TB model costs $159.99 officially, while the 2TB version goes for $289.99. However, both models are discounted on Samsung's website at writing time., making the former just $134.99 and the latter $239.99. You can buy it below.