Question Inconsistent Speeds on Samsung T7 Shield: Is My SSD Failing?

[FaithOnHuman]

Hello there!

I purchased a Samsung T7 Shield 2TB back in 2022 and have been using it extensively as my main SSD for editing footage and other tasks. Recently, I returned from a work trip during which I didn’t use the SSD for about 6–7 months. Upon plugging it in again, I noticed the following issue:

Sometimes, the disk becomes extremely slow, with write speeds dropping to as low as 2 MB/s. I thought it might be a firmware issue, so I updated it using the Samsung Magician application. After the update, the speed improved, and testing showed a write speed of around 850 MB/s.

However, subsequent tests revealed inconsistent results. Sometimes, I get the expected 850 MB/s, but other times, the speed drops back to 2 MB/s. This issue occurs on both macOS and Windows.

Is this a sign that the SSD is failing? Or is there something else I can do to fix it?

Thank you in advance!

 

[rgd1101]

how full is the ssd?

 

[FaithOnHuman]

how full is the ssd?

1.40 tb used, 400 gb free space

 

[Misgar]

1.40 tb used, 400 gb free space

That means you've "only" got 28% free space. Some people recommend not going below 20% free on an SSD. Other's say 25% or 30%. SSDs are not the same as hard disks when they fill up.

It might be worth emptying the T7 completely (copy all files to another drive) then run a few tests when the SSD is blank. You can copy back essential files but I'd be inclined to leave more free space if you want consistent transfer rates.

I'm currently copying 830GB of RAW + JPG photos to an empty 1TB Samsung T5 because I can't find my 2TB X6. The T5 will be pretty full near the end and I'll keep an eye on the transfer speed. At the moment it's copying from hard disk to T5 at 127MB/s (bottleneck is the 4TB hard disk read speed).

File copy finished. 888GB used, 42.3GB free. Ended up copying at 134MB/s. This drive is "full".

Sometimes, I get the expected 850 MB/s, but other times, the speed drops back to 2 MB/s.

At 850MB/s you might be filling the (temporary) buffer in the T7 and not seeing the true write speed to the underlying MLC, TLC or QLC memory. At 2MB/s you've probably filled the (temporary) buffer and the SSD controller is busy searching for free blocks on a rather full drive, or it's running "wear levelling" operations in the background.

Are you working on a few big files or transferring thousands of small files?

I purchased a Samsung T7 Shield 2TB back in 2022 and have been using it extensively as my main SSD for editing footage and other tasks.

Is there a reason why you're using an external drive for editing? Perhaps you've got a laptop or need to transfer work between machines? I prefer using internal M.2 NVMe drives in a workstation for video editing.

Is this a sign that the SSD is failing?

You could check the drive's health by monitoring S.M.A.R.T. data.

I use Hard Disk Sentinel, but CrystalDiskInfo gives the same info.
https://www.hdsentinel.com/
https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/
https://techcult.com/free-tools-to-check-ssd-health/

is there something else I can do to fix it?

You could run a "read-only" scan of the SSD using HD Sentinel (non destructive) or a write/read test (wipes all files). These tests can take hours. Download a trial copy of HD Sentinel.

First thing to do is clean up the drive and create more room, e.g. 50% free.