I keep a backup of my Steam library on this external SSD and with this hot Black Friday deal I recommend you do the same

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The Samsung T7 has been my external SSD of choice for years now, and with a deal this good you, too, can back up your Steam games as I do.

Samsung T7 Touch in hand.
The Samsung T7 is tiny in size, but mighty in capacity. (Image credit: Richard Devine / Windows Central)

If you have multiple machines you like to game on, keeping a backup of your Steam Library on an external SSD is a smart move. Because you can add a library file from any directory, you can use this SSD to hook up to a desktop, a laptop, and a handheld like the ROG Ally. That's what I do, and I do with the Samsung T7. And for Black Friday, a 2TB Samsung T7 is down to $139.99 at Amazon, making it a smart buy for all PC gamers out there.

Samsung T7 external SSD 2TB
Back up your Steam Games
Samsung T7 external SSD 2TB: was $269.99 now $139.99 at Amazon

"The Samsung T7 portable SSD is every bit as good as the T7 Touch but at a lower price. It makes it a brilliant all-purpose portable SSD that can be used for both computers and the latest Xbox consoles." — Richard Devine

Windows Central review ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

✅Perfect for: Backing up a Steam Library, portable photo storage, external storage on Xbox consoles for non Series X|S optimized games.

❌Avoid if: You want to use it to store the latest generation Xbox games., you don't have at least a USB 3.2 port on your machine.

Features: Up to 1,050 MB/s read speeds, 1,000 MB/s write speeds.

👉See at: Amazon, Best Buy

🔥The hottest Black Friday deals🔥

Large capacity in a tiny drive, perfect for a game library

The Samsung T7 is about the size of a credit card and is super portable. (Image credit: Richard Devine | Windows Central)

I first started keeping a backup of my Steam Library way back when I started reviewing gaming laptops. Adding the folder from an external drive into Steam for testing purposes was so much more efficient than waiting forever to download titles on my then horrendously slow internet.

You can also do this with some other game launchers, the big "no" being anything you download from the Microsoft Store or Xbox Game Pass. But my Steam Library is about 300 strong, and it's where the vast majority of my PC games currently live, so it's the one I care about the most.

Even today, having fast internet, I still keep a Samsung T7 loaded up with Steam games. My gaming laptop currently only has 1TB of storage, my desktop 2TB, but in both cases, a lot of space is used up by non-gaming.

The Samsung T7 with its USB 3.2 capabilities is fast enough to either copy across games as I need them, or just hook it up and use it as if it were any other drive on my system. And copying a Steam Library to a different drive is a simple copy and paste affair.

2TB for $140 on a T7 isn't the cheapest it's ever been, but it's still a great discount and a ton of portable storage. You don't have to use it for games, of course, it's just a blank drive at the end of the day. It's also a great choice to use with your Xbox console, so long as it's not for Series X|S optimized games. Ultimately, if you've got a lot of data you need to store, this is a superb SSD to get.

🍁More great Black Friday deals🦃

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Richard Devine
Richard Devine
Managing Editor - Tech, Reviews

Richard Devine is a Managing Editor at Windows Central with over a decade of experience. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently, you'll find him steering the site's coverage of all manner of PC hardware and reviews. Find him on Mastodon at mstdn.social/@richdevine