Topic Wiki
Topic Wiki
How to use this guide
Each category contains some general advice, a list of brands that are good, and a price. In general, when shopping, you should be able to find that price (or for expensive drives, close to it). If you find a sale that can beat the price, post this below. Feel free to edit the wiki, of course. Note that the useable space on all drives comes out to less than the advertised amount (technical reasons for this). As such, if you think you will fill the entire drive capacity, buy one size higher.
FLASH DRIVES – Last updated 6/06/23
Flash drives come in broad USB speed categories: 2.0 (almost never worth buying), one of the threes (3.0, 3.1, 3.2 Gen 1, 3.2 Gen 2 and 3.2 gen 2x2 – some of these are the same and all of them are almost irrelevant seeing as the port you plug them into and what you are copying from/to will also limit the speed), or the brand-new USB 4.0 which doesn’t seem to exist yet.
They also come in three broad physical categories (and some niche ones I will not discuss): USB A (the familiar one used since forever), USB C (the newish one that also charges your phones unless you live in Israel), or both. I will also price these three categories separately.
Lastly, flash drives are divided by speed. I will categorize the slow ones as having a max speed of 100-150MB per second, faster ones as about 100MB more, and the ones specifically engineered to be really fast (you can often read off of them at 400MB a second if your port and destination support that). There are new ones now that are even rated for higher, and I will note that, but I have no personal experience with these last ones.
Tier 1 brands include PNY, Sandisk, Kingston, Samsung, HP, and some others. Tier 2 brands (which are really all great anyway and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy ‘em) are Team (or Team Group these days), Micro Center (make sure it isn’t 2.0 they are selling), Silicon Power, Amazon Basics, Transcend, Patriot, and Orico (new on the market but I would buy em). If no mention is made of the brand, it is Tier 1.
I made no allowance for drives made of metal versus plastic. If that's your thing, good luck.
USB A ONLY:
16GB: 32GB drives are equal or cheaper.
32GB: $3 for Tier 2 brand, $5 for Tier 1 (64GB)
64GB: $4 for Tier 2 brand, $5 for Tier 1.
128GB: $6.50 for Tier 2 brand, $8 for Tier 1. $15 is twice as fast, and $39 gets you an SSD on a flash drive from Sandisk.
256GB: $10 for Tier 2, $13 for Tier 1. Faster drives start at $25 (a little faster Patriot or Samsung drive but sometimes Kingston's scary-fast SSD drive) to $45 for PNY’s Elite V2, a really speedy one. Sandisk’s SSD is $50.
512GB: $33. $48 for Patriot's 600,b/s drive, $65 for Kingston's SSD (DT Max -see below) and $72 for PNY’s Elite V2. Lastly, Sandisk’s SSD is $90.
TB: $74 for Team's superfast model, 80 for Patriot’s superfast model. $99 for Kingston’s Data Traveler MAX (rated for 1GB read and 900MB write – if anyone tries this let me know if it is true), sometimes seen on sale for as little as $70. PNY and Sandisk also have superfast offerings.
2TB: B&H sells an "Oyen Digital" USB 3.2 (A) external SSD in flash drive form for $150. It is rated for a cool 1050MB/s read speed. I don't know about spending that much on an unknown brand. You would do better buying your own SSD and an enclosure, for less money (drive: ~$70, enclosure: ~$10).
USB C ONLY:
64GB: $5.5, fast for $11.
128GB: $10, fast for $18.
256GB: $16 for Tier 2, 18 for Tier 1, $26 for fast. The Data Traveler MAX is sometimes $25.
512GB: $38. ORICO has a 2K speed drive for $40, and Kingston's DT MAX is $58.15.
TB: $93 for Kingston’s Data Traveler MAX (rated for 1GB read and 900MB write – if anyone tries this let me know if it is true), sometimes seen on sale for as little as $70.
BOTH A AND C:
32GB: $3 for Tier 2, $8.79 for Tier 1.
64GB: $7 for Tier 2, $9.75 for Tier 1.
128GB: $15.
256GB: $22.
512GB: $37.50.
TB: $83.
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES Updated 6/13/23
These days you should only be getting USB 3 (lemineihem) drives. You should expect a minimum of 2 years warranty and ideally 3 (the days of 5-year warranties have not ended, so some drives have those). Even if you have a warranty, it will not save your data, so make sure you keep it in at least two places. When it comes to spinning drives, it is a matter of WHEN it will break, not IF.
Until and including 5TB, the drives inside are portable drives (2.5”), which also means it will be powered by your computer. Anything 6TB or more is a desktop (3.5”) drive and, in addition to your computer, needs to be plugged into an outlet to run.
Tier 1 drive brands are Toshiba, Western Digital (WD), and Seagate. Fantom drives are probably fine, too, as they’ve been around for a while and haven’t gone out of business. Silicon Power is definitely Tier 2, but again, is probably fine.
(Drive capacities with the best value in that approximate price tier are noted with parenthesis listing the cost per TB.)
Note that you may be able to buy internal 3.5" drives for a much better price. I will not be indexing these, though. To these, you add an enclosure from a reliable company (ORICO, Sabrent, OWC are some good ones), and you have an external drive for less. I will post when there is a good sale on these.
2.5” PORTABLE DRIVES
1TB: T2 is $44, T1 is $46.
2TB: $56.
3TB: $74. Check to see that is has a full warranty; they haven’t manufactured this size in a while.
4TB: $85.
5TB: $99. (~$20 per TB)
3.5” DESKTOP DRIVES
6TB: $115.
8TB: $135. (~$17 per TB)
10TB: $170.
12TB: See 14TB.
14TB: $190. (~$13.5 per TB. The best value.)
16TB: $220.
18TB: $280. Fantom brand for $263.
20TB: $300.
22TB: $380.
24TB (2 12TB drives in RAID): $760 (more than 2x12TB without RAID).
36TB (2 18TB drives in RAID): See 44TB below. (Still more than double 18TB).
44TB (2 22TB drives in RAID): $1200. (“)
INTERNAL LAPTOP DRIVES – Last updated 4/23/23
As of this date, 2.5" internal SSDs are cheaper or close to the same price. So don't buy one of these - even if it is a few bucks more, it is worth it.
Brands: Toshiba, Seagate, Western Digital (WD).
SSDs: GENERAL INFORMATION
SSDs come in two primary form factors: 2.5” 7mm drives that replace hard drives with an identical fit, and M2 drives that plug directly into the motherboard. M2 drives can be rated for SATA III or for NVME (also known as PCIe) in 3.0 to 5.0 speeds (which are backwards compatible - you can plug a 5.0 drive into a 3.0 slot or vice versa). Some SLOTS support both SATA III and NVME – most don’t. M2 drives are 22mm wide and come in various lengths – the standard being 80mm (this is called M2 2280), but many computers – especially cheaper ones – will have 42mm drives inside. As 98% of systems support 2280, I am not listing other lengths here. Post if you need advice regarding one of these.
Although it would seem that it makes sense to buy the fastest drive your computer will support, the newer drives run much hotter than the older ones. My advice is to focus on capacity first, and after that to get the fastest you can afford. It shouldn’t be necessary for 80% of buyers to get faster than the non-budget NVME 3.0 drives, and even the budget ones will be pretty fast. If you need help, feel free to post your model number here.
Top brands include Acer, PNY, Samsung, Timetec, Sandisk, HP, Kingston, MSI, Crucial, Mushkin, Intel (now Solidigm), Sabrent, and Western Digital. Tier 2 brands (fine for cheap drives but maybe avoid if you are getting a big one that is expensive) include Team Group, Silicon Power, Inland (this is Micro Center’s brand), Addlink, Patriot, Lexar, Orico. Note that even Tier 1 companies make cheap drives and good drives, with a wide difference in performance and even longevity.
Specs that matter include the warranty – compare drives regarding the TBW rating to determine the life expectancy of the drive. There is a big difference between a cheap drive rated for 300TBW and an expensive one rated for 1500TBW. Users generally don’t come close to this, but if you write large files on to the drive constantly, don’t get one with a low TBW rating.
Speed is the next thing to compare. SATA III drives are as close to identical as not to matter. NVME 3.0 drives can be budget (1500MBps to 2300MBPs) or faster (in the range of 3000MBps). NVME 4.0 drives are sometimes barely faster than 3.0 (3500MBps, which I just list in the 3.0 section), or 4000-5000MBps, which I call budget 4.0. Or the classy, expensive ones can go as high as the 7000MBps range. Don’t get these last ones without a heat sink or some other way to keep them cool.
If a drive is ruined by a lack of a cache, I don’t list it here or I downgrade it a tier. If blazing fast speed is the only reason you are shopping, this list may not be for you. Post with your situation instead and we will try to help.
Note from November 2023 update: I reorganized internal M2 SSDs, combining 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 drives in one entry by size. This is because newer drives are often cheaper than older drives yet are backwards compatible, so in some instances it is unnecessary to list the prices of slower drives. Two exceptions: the 2.5" drives (a different size), and the SATA M2 drives, the slot that takes them often will not support 3.0 or newer drives.
Price differences since the last update in parenthesis.
INTERNAL SSDs: 2.5” SATA III drives Last updated: 02/18/24 (Previous update: 11/23)
128GB - $16 (+1) for Tier 2, $17 (-$3) for Tier 1.
250/256GB: $20 (+2) for Tier 1.
480/500/512GB: $31 (+4) for Tier 2. $33 (+5) for Tier 1.
960GB/1TB: $56 (T1, +16 if you would have gotten Tier 2, +10 if you would have gotten Tier 1).
2TB: $100 (+23) for Tier 2, $106 (+23) for Tier 1.
4TB: $192 (+52, T2), $260 (+80, T1).
8TB: $527 (+184!!).
16TB: Not currently in stock at reputable sellers.
INTERNAL SSDs: M2 2280 with a SATA III rating Last updated: 02/18/24 (Previous update: 11/23)
128GB - $17 (+1) (T1)
250/256GB: $22 (+3) (T1)
500/512GB: $32 (+6) for Tier 1.
TB: $55 (T1, +14 if you would have gotten T2, +4 if you would have gotten T1).
2TB: $106 (+22 if you would have gotten Tier 2, -4 if you would have gotten Tier 1).
INTERNAL SSDs: M2 2280 Last updated: 02/18/24 (Previous update: 11/23)
Each price gets a speed rating.
3- refers to NVME 3.0 at speeds not exceeding 2.2GBps read speed.
3+ are speeds in excess of 3GBps. Consider the former if you will be installing in hot environments, as they run less hot.
4- refers to NVME 4.0 drives that run at 3.0 speeds (ie less than 3.5GBps). They do run hotter than 3.0 drives, though.
4 refers to 4.0 drives that run not faster than 5GBps.
4+ refers to drives that run up to 7.4GBps. Strongly consider getting heat sinks for any drive such as this or better.
5 refers to 5.0 drives that run at around 10GBps.
5+ refers to 5.0 drives running between 11.6GBps and 12.4GBps.
128GB: 3-: $18 (+3) for Tier 2. There are no other options.
256GB: 3- $24 (+5). 4-: $30 (+6) (T2), $32 (T1). 4: $38 (+6) (T1). Better 4: $50 (+12) (T1).
512GB: 4- is cheapest at $33 (+5 for what was 3+ but T2, and $35 for T1). 4: $44 (+12, T1). 4+: $55 (T2, wasn't around at a good price before), $60 (-14, T1).
1TB: 3-: $57 (+19, T1). 4+: $59 (T2, +13), $65 (+19, T1 but 4), $76 (+26, T1 4+). 3+ $48 (T1, get this if 4+ will run too hot for you). Faster 4+: $50 (T1). 5+: $142 (T1, +41 if you would have gotten T2/5, +2 if you would have gotten T1/5 -18 if you would have gotten T1 5+).
2TB: 4-: $105 (T2, +37 if you would have gotten 3+, +21 if you would have gotten 4- T2). 4: $110 (T1, +26 if you would have gotten T2, +21 if you would have gotten T1). 4+: $124 (+28, T2), $127 (+38, T1). 5: $240 (T1, +27). 5+: $300 (T1: +87 if you would have gotten T2, +70 if you would have gotten T1).
4TB: 4: $198 (+46), T2. 4+: $205 (T2, +25), $220 (T1, +35). 5+: $500 (+92, T1).
8TB: 4+: $815 (+105 if you would have gotten T2, -75 if you would have gotten T1). I haven't seen any 5.0 drives yet, and the 3.0s that were seem to have disappeared.
Each category contains some general advice, a list of brands that are good, and a price. In general, when shopping, you should be able to find that price (or for expensive drives, close to it). If you find a sale that can beat the price, post this below. Feel free to edit the wiki, of course. Note that the useable space on all drives comes out to less than the advertised amount (technical reasons for this). As such, if you think you will fill the entire drive capacity, buy one size higher.
FLASH DRIVES – Last updated 6/06/23
Flash drives come in broad USB speed categories: 2.0 (almost never worth buying), one of the threes (3.0, 3.1, 3.2 Gen 1, 3.2 Gen 2 and 3.2 gen 2x2 – some of these are the same and all of them are almost irrelevant seeing as the port you plug them into and what you are copying from/to will also limit the speed), or the brand-new USB 4.0 which doesn’t seem to exist yet.
They also come in three broad physical categories (and some niche ones I will not discuss): USB A (the familiar one used since forever), USB C (the newish one that also charges your phones unless you live in Israel), or both. I will also price these three categories separately.
Lastly, flash drives are divided by speed. I will categorize the slow ones as having a max speed of 100-150MB per second, faster ones as about 100MB more, and the ones specifically engineered to be really fast (you can often read off of them at 400MB a second if your port and destination support that). There are new ones now that are even rated for higher, and I will note that, but I have no personal experience with these last ones.
Tier 1 brands include PNY, Sandisk, Kingston, Samsung, HP, and some others. Tier 2 brands (which are really all great anyway and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy ‘em) are Team (or Team Group these days), Micro Center (make sure it isn’t 2.0 they are selling), Silicon Power, Amazon Basics, Transcend, Patriot, and Orico (new on the market but I would buy em). If no mention is made of the brand, it is Tier 1.
I made no allowance for drives made of metal versus plastic. If that's your thing, good luck.
USB A ONLY:
16GB: 32GB drives are equal or cheaper.
32GB: $3 for Tier 2 brand, $5 for Tier 1 (64GB)
64GB: $4 for Tier 2 brand, $5 for Tier 1.
128GB: $6.50 for Tier 2 brand, $8 for Tier 1. $15 is twice as fast, and $39 gets you an SSD on a flash drive from Sandisk.
256GB: $10 for Tier 2, $13 for Tier 1. Faster drives start at $25 (a little faster Patriot or Samsung drive but sometimes Kingston's scary-fast SSD drive) to $45 for PNY’s Elite V2, a really speedy one. Sandisk’s SSD is $50.
512GB: $33. $48 for Patriot's 600,b/s drive, $65 for Kingston's SSD (DT Max -see below) and $72 for PNY’s Elite V2. Lastly, Sandisk’s SSD is $90.
TB: $74 for Team's superfast model, 80 for Patriot’s superfast model. $99 for Kingston’s Data Traveler MAX (rated for 1GB read and 900MB write – if anyone tries this let me know if it is true), sometimes seen on sale for as little as $70. PNY and Sandisk also have superfast offerings.
2TB: B&H sells an "Oyen Digital" USB 3.2 (A) external SSD in flash drive form for $150. It is rated for a cool 1050MB/s read speed. I don't know about spending that much on an unknown brand. You would do better buying your own SSD and an enclosure, for less money (drive: ~$70, enclosure: ~$10).
USB C ONLY:
64GB: $5.5, fast for $11.
128GB: $10, fast for $18.
256GB: $16 for Tier 2, 18 for Tier 1, $26 for fast. The Data Traveler MAX is sometimes $25.
512GB: $38. ORICO has a 2K speed drive for $40, and Kingston's DT MAX is $58.15.
TB: $93 for Kingston’s Data Traveler MAX (rated for 1GB read and 900MB write – if anyone tries this let me know if it is true), sometimes seen on sale for as little as $70.
BOTH A AND C:
32GB: $3 for Tier 2, $8.79 for Tier 1.
64GB: $7 for Tier 2, $9.75 for Tier 1.
128GB: $15.
256GB: $22.
512GB: $37.50.
TB: $83.
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES Updated 6/13/23
These days you should only be getting USB 3 (lemineihem) drives. You should expect a minimum of 2 years warranty and ideally 3 (the days of 5-year warranties have not ended, so some drives have those). Even if you have a warranty, it will not save your data, so make sure you keep it in at least two places. When it comes to spinning drives, it is a matter of WHEN it will break, not IF.
Until and including 5TB, the drives inside are portable drives (2.5”), which also means it will be powered by your computer. Anything 6TB or more is a desktop (3.5”) drive and, in addition to your computer, needs to be plugged into an outlet to run.
Tier 1 drive brands are Toshiba, Western Digital (WD), and Seagate. Fantom drives are probably fine, too, as they’ve been around for a while and haven’t gone out of business. Silicon Power is definitely Tier 2, but again, is probably fine.
(Drive capacities with the best value in that approximate price tier are noted with parenthesis listing the cost per TB.)
Note that you may be able to buy internal 3.5" drives for a much better price. I will not be indexing these, though. To these, you add an enclosure from a reliable company (ORICO, Sabrent, OWC are some good ones), and you have an external drive for less. I will post when there is a good sale on these.
2.5” PORTABLE DRIVES
1TB: T2 is $44, T1 is $46.
2TB: $56.
3TB: $74. Check to see that is has a full warranty; they haven’t manufactured this size in a while.
4TB: $85.
5TB: $99. (~$20 per TB)
3.5” DESKTOP DRIVES
6TB: $115.
8TB: $135. (~$17 per TB)
10TB: $170.
12TB: See 14TB.
14TB: $190. (~$13.5 per TB. The best value.)
16TB: $220.
18TB: $280. Fantom brand for $263.
20TB: $300.
22TB: $380.
24TB (2 12TB drives in RAID): $760 (more than 2x12TB without RAID).
36TB (2 18TB drives in RAID): See 44TB below. (Still more than double 18TB).
44TB (2 22TB drives in RAID): $1200. (“)
INTERNAL LAPTOP DRIVES – Last updated 4/23/23
As of this date, 2.5" internal SSDs are cheaper or close to the same price. So don't buy one of these - even if it is a few bucks more, it is worth it.
Brands: Toshiba, Seagate, Western Digital (WD).
SSDs: GENERAL INFORMATION
SSDs come in two primary form factors: 2.5” 7mm drives that replace hard drives with an identical fit, and M2 drives that plug directly into the motherboard. M2 drives can be rated for SATA III or for NVME (also known as PCIe) in 3.0 to 5.0 speeds (which are backwards compatible - you can plug a 5.0 drive into a 3.0 slot or vice versa). Some SLOTS support both SATA III and NVME – most don’t. M2 drives are 22mm wide and come in various lengths – the standard being 80mm (this is called M2 2280), but many computers – especially cheaper ones – will have 42mm drives inside. As 98% of systems support 2280, I am not listing other lengths here. Post if you need advice regarding one of these.
Although it would seem that it makes sense to buy the fastest drive your computer will support, the newer drives run much hotter than the older ones. My advice is to focus on capacity first, and after that to get the fastest you can afford. It shouldn’t be necessary for 80% of buyers to get faster than the non-budget NVME 3.0 drives, and even the budget ones will be pretty fast. If you need help, feel free to post your model number here.
Top brands include Acer, PNY, Samsung, Timetec, Sandisk, HP, Kingston, MSI, Crucial, Mushkin, Intel (now Solidigm), Sabrent, and Western Digital. Tier 2 brands (fine for cheap drives but maybe avoid if you are getting a big one that is expensive) include Team Group, Silicon Power, Inland (this is Micro Center’s brand), Addlink, Patriot, Lexar, Orico. Note that even Tier 1 companies make cheap drives and good drives, with a wide difference in performance and even longevity.
Specs that matter include the warranty – compare drives regarding the TBW rating to determine the life expectancy of the drive. There is a big difference between a cheap drive rated for 300TBW and an expensive one rated for 1500TBW. Users generally don’t come close to this, but if you write large files on to the drive constantly, don’t get one with a low TBW rating.
Speed is the next thing to compare. SATA III drives are as close to identical as not to matter. NVME 3.0 drives can be budget (1500MBps to 2300MBPs) or faster (in the range of 3000MBps). NVME 4.0 drives are sometimes barely faster than 3.0 (3500MBps, which I just list in the 3.0 section), or 4000-5000MBps, which I call budget 4.0. Or the classy, expensive ones can go as high as the 7000MBps range. Don’t get these last ones without a heat sink or some other way to keep them cool.
If a drive is ruined by a lack of a cache, I don’t list it here or I downgrade it a tier. If blazing fast speed is the only reason you are shopping, this list may not be for you. Post with your situation instead and we will try to help.
Note from November 2023 update: I reorganized internal M2 SSDs, combining 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 drives in one entry by size. This is because newer drives are often cheaper than older drives yet are backwards compatible, so in some instances it is unnecessary to list the prices of slower drives. Two exceptions: the 2.5" drives (a different size), and the SATA M2 drives, the slot that takes them often will not support 3.0 or newer drives.
Price differences since the last update in parenthesis.
INTERNAL SSDs: 2.5” SATA III drives Last updated: 02/18/24 (Previous update: 11/23)
128GB - $16 (+1) for Tier 2, $17 (-$3) for Tier 1.
250/256GB: $20 (+2) for Tier 1.
480/500/512GB: $31 (+4) for Tier 2. $33 (+5) for Tier 1.
960GB/1TB: $56 (T1, +16 if you would have gotten Tier 2, +10 if you would have gotten Tier 1).
2TB: $100 (+23) for Tier 2, $106 (+23) for Tier 1.
4TB: $192 (+52, T2), $260 (+80, T1).
8TB: $527 (+184!!).
16TB: Not currently in stock at reputable sellers.
INTERNAL SSDs: M2 2280 with a SATA III rating Last updated: 02/18/24 (Previous update: 11/23)
128GB - $17 (+1) (T1)
250/256GB: $22 (+3) (T1)
500/512GB: $32 (+6) for Tier 1.
TB: $55 (T1, +14 if you would have gotten T2, +4 if you would have gotten T1).
2TB: $106 (+22 if you would have gotten Tier 2, -4 if you would have gotten Tier 1).
INTERNAL SSDs: M2 2280 Last updated: 02/18/24 (Previous update: 11/23)
Each price gets a speed rating.
3- refers to NVME 3.0 at speeds not exceeding 2.2GBps read speed.
3+ are speeds in excess of 3GBps. Consider the former if you will be installing in hot environments, as they run less hot.
4- refers to NVME 4.0 drives that run at 3.0 speeds (ie less than 3.5GBps). They do run hotter than 3.0 drives, though.
4 refers to 4.0 drives that run not faster than 5GBps.
4+ refers to drives that run up to 7.4GBps. Strongly consider getting heat sinks for any drive such as this or better.
5 refers to 5.0 drives that run at around 10GBps.
5+ refers to 5.0 drives running between 11.6GBps and 12.4GBps.
128GB: 3-: $18 (+3) for Tier 2. There are no other options.
256GB: 3- $24 (+5). 4-: $30 (+6) (T2), $32 (T1). 4: $38 (+6) (T1). Better 4: $50 (+12) (T1).
512GB: 4- is cheapest at $33 (+5 for what was 3+ but T2, and $35 for T1). 4: $44 (+12, T1). 4+: $55 (T2, wasn't around at a good price before), $60 (-14, T1).
1TB: 3-: $57 (+19, T1). 4+: $59 (T2, +13), $65 (+19, T1 but 4), $76 (+26, T1 4+). 3+ $48 (T1, get this if 4+ will run too hot for you). Faster 4+: $50 (T1). 5+: $142 (T1, +41 if you would have gotten T2/5, +2 if you would have gotten T1/5 -18 if you would have gotten T1 5+).
2TB: 4-: $105 (T2, +37 if you would have gotten 3+, +21 if you would have gotten 4- T2). 4: $110 (T1, +26 if you would have gotten T2, +21 if you would have gotten T1). 4+: $124 (+28, T2), $127 (+38, T1). 5: $240 (T1, +27). 5+: $300 (T1: +87 if you would have gotten T2, +70 if you would have gotten T1).
4TB: 4: $198 (+46), T2. 4+: $205 (T2, +25), $220 (T1, +35). 5+: $500 (+92, T1).
8TB: 4+: $815 (+105 if you would have gotten T2, -75 if you would have gotten T1). I haven't seen any 5.0 drives yet, and the 3.0s that were seem to have disappeared.
« Last edited by mevinyavin on February 18, 2024, 10:35:34 AM »
