Externals, Internals and Software

Externals:

A quick spread showing all generations of the T series. Note that I've included a shorter USB Type C to Type A cable for the T1. This was a cable I purchased as the one that came with it (similar to the length included with the T5's here) was a bit long for my preference, so that's what has stayed in my bag with it). Either cable type enables 10 Gbps if supported by the host controller.

Stacked up, we can see that the T5's are just a tad narrower than the T3 they replace.

Internals:

Alright, now that the warranty has been voided, let's get a look at what makes this thing tick.

A near identical layout to the T3. This 500GB model has 8-die stacks of 256Gbit 64-layer VNAND, coming to 256GB per package.

Essentially nothing at the rear, as the 500GB capacity only needs two flash packages to operate. There is something interesting on that interface board though:

At the lower right there is the ASMedia ASM235CM. While there is no product page up yet on their US web site, this is a USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller capable of up to 10 Gbps (provided the host can support that speed).

Software:

When you first plug in the T5, you are greeted with the full available capacity of the drive. Encryption is not switched on by default.

Pre-loaded are installers for the Samsung T5 front end.

This software package is simply a refresh of that which came with the T3 and T1. Cleaner looks, but the functionality is identical.

If the SSD is locked and then removed, reinstalling presents you with this small partition.

The partition is just large enough to house another copy of the installer packages. A file claims it is read only, however, I was able to rename this file. I recommend placing a small text file with contact information in case the T5 is lost and found by someone nice enough to return it.

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