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Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon Prime Day SSD deals 2025: Start saving early with these deals on storage
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. There's not long to wait for some top Prime Day SSD deals. With the sales starting on July 8 until July 11, there's loads of time to grab some unmissable discounts on internal and external solid-state drives. But you don't have to wait for Prime Day to start - I've uncovered some excellent early deals on SSDs right here. Having tested all the best SSDs and best portable SSDs for internal and external storage solutions, I've been tracking down the best deals on some of our favorite units. From top-reviewed models to those with astoundingly fast speeds and masses of capacities. I've divided the page into external and internal SSD deals, so just use the jump links to find what you need. I'll also be rounding up the best Prime Day hard drive deals during the sales. And for more savings across tech, head over to our live blog for the best Prime Day deals you can get right now. Out of stock items? Pricing mistake? Incorrect specs? Let me know via email Amazon: Save on external SSDs Walmart: Deals on portable SSDs from under $20 Best Buy: Discounts on selected SSDs with loads of storage capacity Newegg: Get money off exclusive portable SSDs WD: Find top portable SSD deals I was expecting the Samsung T7 Shield 2TB to get a discount, and I wasn't disappointed - this popular external SSD is a perennial in the sales. Available in black, blue, and beige, this drive boasts read/write speeds of 1000MB/s. But I especially like is the rugged design, with its IP65 rating protecting it against shocks, drops, water, and dust. View Deal Another staple of the Prime Day sales, this SSD has an IP65 rating to beat water and dust ingress, and also features 256-bit encryption. A good pick for those working on the go, the drive comes in a range of colors and 500GB, 1TB, 4TB, and 8TB capacities. View Deal A well-sized portable SSD from Kensington, the XS1000 comes with a 2TB storage capacity, 5-year warranty, and a compact design. During our review, we liked the price, and the performance reflects the cheaper nature. View Deal This affordable SSD from Orico doesn't just boast 1TB storage space you can take with you on the go. It also includes a handy two-in-one USB-C cable that will connect you to most devices. This one is a good all-rounder for desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. View Deal The X10 Pro delivers outstanding performance and an attractive price-tag. This 4TB external SSD has read/write speeds of 2.1GBps/2GBps respectively - although you'll need a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port to achieve these speeds. Rounding out this deal is a 5-year warranty and an IP55-rating for dust and water protection. 1TB and 2TB models are also discounted. In the UK? The Crucial X10 Pro 4Tb was £298 now £230 at AmazonView Deal The Adata SE880 one of the cheapest and fastest USB drives you can get, hitting speeds of up to 2000MB/s - better than some of the SSDs from bigger brands we've tested. Rounding out this deal is the fact that the drive is rugged, IP68-rated, and includes a three-year Deal Samsung T5 Evo 8TB external SSD: was $780 now $428 at AmazonSave $352 Even with a big price-drop, this 8TB SSD from Samsung is still pretty expensive. But it's built for transferring large files like games, video and high-resolution media files. Available in 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB versions. View Deal This is another portable external SSD I see a lot during the Prime Day sales. Available in black, blue, and red (which is out of stock right now), this external drive features 2TB storage, speeds up to 1,050MB/s, and a compact, aluminum body to survive on-the-go knocks. View Deal One for gamers, this external SSD slips into a port on the back of your Xbox Series X|S, boosting storage to 2TB, and letting you play games directly off it. I use this model, and I love the extra storage space it gives, with no need to transfer game files between drives (unlike other SSDs). View Deal The SanDisk 8TB Desk Drive offers high-capacity external storage with read speeds up to 1,000MB/s via USB 3.2 Gen 2. Designed for desktop use, it's ideal for backing up large media libraries, important documents, or project files. In our review, we called it a "great solution for individuals to use in homes, small offices, studios, and all other workspaces."View Deal This deal is for the 4TB model of the Crucial X10 portable SSD, which delivers ultra-fast USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 performance with read speeds up to 2,100MB/s. To my mind, that makes it a good pick for creators, students, and gamers needing quick access to large files. Better yet, it's IP65-rated for dust and water resistance and drop-tested up to 9.8 feet. In our review, we loved the style and functionality, and especially love the fact that there's an 8TB version, too. View Deal Worth picking this SSD up if you want high capacity and better cooling - the Samsung 990 Pro is a 2TB SSD with heatsink, suitable for use with a PC and PlayStation 5. It reaches speeds up to 7450/6900 MB/s at max performance. It's not PCle 5.0, but it is super-fast, earning 5 stars and an Editor's Choice award in our Deal The Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD with 1TB capacity offers pretty speedy read/write speeds, hitting up to 7,250/6,300MB/s, making it well-suited to large file transfers. It even supports PCIe 4.0 x4 and 5.0 x2. View Deal In our review, we called the Samsung 980 a "strong drive," well-suited to heavy graphics work or gaming. Read speeds reach up to 3,500MB/s, while write speeds go up to 3,000MB/s. Meanwhile, the Full Power Mode ensures consistent peak performance. View Deal This 4TB internal SSD with heatsink isn't quite as cheap as I saw it during Amazon's Spring Sale, but may be one to watch. The SSD works with the PS5 as well as desktop computers, with fast transfer speeds up to 7,300 MB/s. I'm also seeing 1TB, 2TB, and 8TB models discounted. View Deal I'm seeing a few Western Digital deals in this Spring Sale, and this is a fast, cheap SSD that's better than you'd think judging by price alone. Available in 1TB and 2TB versions, its focus is on speed for gaming, which WD reckons hits 5150MB/s. View Deal Crucial P3 Plus 4TB internal SSD: was $360 now $200 at AmazonSave $160 Looking for a lot of storage space on a budget? The Crucial P3 Plus offers 4TB PCIe Gen4 with speeds of up to 5000MB/s. A good all-rounder, then, that won't break the bank this Prime Day. View Deal WD_BLACK 4TB SN850P internal SSD for PS5: was $550 now $295 at AmazonSave $255 A massive discount on this 4TB SSD with heatsink for the PS5 - and officially licensed for the console. It offers speeds up to 7,300MB/s, and you can go all the way up to 8TB if you need extra space for games. View Deal Not a massive saving here, but considering this is a budget drive, the price isn't bad at all - speeds aren't super-fast (just 3100MB/s) but it does come with heatsink for improved cooling performance. Also available as a 2TB version for extra storage. View Deal The Kingston NV3 1TB is another budget internal SSD with speeds up to 6000 MB/s. With few returns compared to the competition, this drive is cheaper than the average SATA SSD, and much faster. Also available in 500GB, 2TB, and 4TB Deal Plenty of space here with 8TB capacity, this internal SSD from Lexar is ideal for creators and professionals, and delivers fast PCIe Gen4 NVMe speeds, with read/write speeds of up to 7,000 MB/s / 6,200 MB/s. With a 6000TBW endurance rating and a five-year warranty, it's built for demanding Deal The Corsair MP600 PRO NH delivers fast PCIe Gen4 x4 performance with read/write speeds of up to 7,000MB/s / 6,500MB/s. For my money, this is ideal for professionals needing high-capacity, high-speed storage. And since there's no heatsink, there's more flexibility here for those with systems that need custom cooling or tight space Deal Samsung 980 PRO 2TB SSD with Heatsink: was $230 now $140 at AmazonSave $90 A 2TB SSD with heatsink for under $150 isn't to be missed, especially when it comes from Samsung. A top deal for anyone who needs fast transfer speeds, and it's even compatible with gaming Deal Buffalo External SSD 2TB: was $140 Now $126 at AmazonSave $14 2TB inside a tiny USB stick is always impressive, and Buffalo pairs that with 600MB/s file speeds and drop-resistant, rugged design. You'll get faster speeds from larger SSDs that cost more, but Buffalo has you covered if you want an unbeatable combination of space-saving and Deal Silicon Power 4TB external SSD: Now $157.97 at AmazonThere's no cheaper external SSD right now per storage capacity and this one that ticks all the right boxes. I've tested it, It's solidly built from a well known brand and if you don't want something very portable or very fast, it is as good as it gets. A 5/5 from me for value for Deal Kingston XS2000 2TB: was $226 Now $176 at AmazonSave $50 This is a budget 2TB portable SSD with the super fast USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 protocol, ideal for a range of uses. If you're a gamer, creative or worker who wants maximum space and speedy data transfers, this is the drive to buy – and a three-year warranty and aluminum chassis keeps your files safe. Also available in 4TB and 1TB Deal Silicon Power PC60 2TB: Now $83.97The Silicon Power PC60 is bland, unassuming and average in everything except its price. It is an entry-level, affordable and capable device that is built for outdoor action, with a solid three-year warranty and a carabiner hole. Our review is Deal Crucial X8 4TB: was $278 Now $242 at AmazonSave $36 A familiar face over Prime Day, this well-designed SSD is drop-proof, compatible with computers and consoles, and it's fast. And with 4TB capacity, it offers plenty of storage capacity for large files. View Deal Timetec 2TB external SSD: Now $89.99 at AmazonNot as cheap as the two Silicon Power SSDs (but not by much), the Timetec TP1 is more elegant with a smaller form factor - with an aluminum casing - and a slightly faster speed. It comes with a 3-year warranty for peace of Deal Crucial X6 2TB: was $146 Now $109 at AmazonSave $37 It might not be the X8, but the Crucial X6 SSD is a lot cheaper than the higher-end model, making it an low-cost path to 2TB flash storage. Weighing just 42g with a body 11mm-thick body, it's one of the smallest drives around, ideal when you need a compact Deal SanDisk Extreme Pro 2TB: Was $192.02 Now $159.99Save $13 SanDisk's Extreme Pro drive packs every rugged feature of the range into one SSD and adds a five-year warranty, forged aluminum chassis and two meters of drop protection. And it's fast thanks to its USB 3.2 Gen Deal SanDisk Portable SSD 2TB: Nwas $150 Now $120 at AmazonSave $30 The new generation version of a classic here. The SSD boasts two-meter drop testing and a handy belt loop that mean this handy drive can survive life on commutes and vacations. It's a great all-rounder that'll easily cope with the storage needs for the home, work and Deal Buffalo External SSD 2TB: was $130 Now $104 at AmazonSave $26 This Buffalo external SSD includes a shock-resistant design, a three-year warranty and fast USB transfers that are compatible with PCs, laptops and consoles. Other portable SSDs look a bit more stylish, but at this price, are looks everything? View Deal Show more The huge competition and relatively low prices and margins in the portable SSD market – indeed across almost all of the storage space – means that there are some surprisingly big discounts this year. Every SSD has the pace to stream media and transfer files, but look for something with read and write speeds of 1000MB/s or beyond to accelerate game loading times and file movement – handy if you want a drive for work. We recommend buying a drive with rugged features if you frequently take the drive on commutes and trips. And while you will find lots of drives that boast robust aluminum enclosures, it's best to find a drive with proper MIL-STD and IP-rated testing and design to ensure that it'll stand up to the rigors of frequent travel. Make sure your new drive has the connections you need, whether that's USB-C, full-size USB or something else. Consider its measurements and weight if that's important to you, and consider encryption options if you'll be using it to store sensitive files. And remember that it's often worth paying a little more for a longer warranty - cheaper drives tend to have three-year cover, while premium products usually have five years of protection. Yes, you'll need a Prime membership to get any deals labelled as a Prime Day Deal in the sales - you can't miss the big red tag above the price. However, some products may have a standard discount, and these will be available even if you aren't a Prime member. If you've not been a Prime customer for twelve months, you can sign up for a thirty-day free trial of Amazon Prime – perfect for claiming those Prime Day deals without spending any extra. An Amazon Prime membership currently costs $14.99 / £8.99 per month or $139 / £95 for a year. However, new subscribers can take advantage of the 30-day Amazon Prime free trial to buy the deals. You can only use this if you've never been a member before, so it won't be available if you've used it already or if you've signed up for Amazon Prime in the past. While on the free trial, you get all the other membership benefits including free shipping, access to Prime Video and much more. Do read our Amazon Prime review for full coverage of what you get as part of a membership. That can help you decide if you want to cancel Amazon Prime once your free trial has ended to avoid being charged the monthly fee. Portable SSDs and hard drives tend to be at the more affordable end of the scale, which means huge competition between brands to win customers over – so when a sale like Prime Day comes around, that means big savings. Expect discounts on virtually every kind of portable SSD from every big brand, including Samsung, WD, Corsair, Kingston and PNY. Combine that with the ever-decreasing price of flash storage and it's a good picture for buyers, who will likely find good discounts no matter what kind of portable SSD you need. Amazon's big summer sale will run from midnight on July 8 until midnight July 11. The Spring sale ends at midnight on July 11 in your territory. ^ Back to top
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
The best portable SSDs for 2025
Whether you want to back up the data on your PC, transfer videos from your Mac or offload a few games from your PlayStation 5, a portable SSD is a quick and easy way to expand your storage. These little bricks may cost more than traditional hard drives, but they're significantly faster, lighter and more reliable. Figuring out the best portable SSD for you, though, isn't as simple as just picking the one with the lowest price or the most space. (Well, it can be, but that wouldn't be very efficient.) To help, we've weeded through the portable SSD market, tested a bunch of contenders and sorted out which ones offer the most value. You can find our top picks below, plus an overview of what to know before you buy. Best external SSDs for 2025 Other external SSDs we tested What to consider before buying an external SSD How we test external SSDs Recent updates The pre-built OWC Express 1M2 is a premium-feeling USB4 SSD that's roughly as fast as the ADATA SE920, but it's larger and significantly more expensive as of this writing. If you're in the relatively small group with a PC that supports USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 but not Thunderbolt or USB4, the Crucial X10 Pro is essentially a faster version of our top pick. The Lexar SL600 is a larger but slightly quicker option, while the Lexar SL500, Kingston XS2000 or Samsung T9 could also work if you see them on discount. As a reminder, though, drives like these are aimed primarily at content creators and other professionals, and you have to make sure you won't upgrade to a device with a faster USB interface anytime soon. The Samsung T7 Shield has a conveniently rugged design with a rubberized, IP65-rated shell. It also comes with both USB-C and USB-A cables. But it was consistently slower than the X9 Pro and XS1000 in our benchmark tests, plus it has a shorter three-year warranty. The Silicon Power PX10 is an especially affordable USB 3.2 Gen 2 model. Its peak speeds weren't too far off the X9 Pro or XS1000 in synthetic benchmarks, but it can get distractingly hot and its sustained writes are markedly worse. It took 50 seconds longer to move our 70GB custom test folder to this drive compared to the X9 Pro, for example. The Crucial X6 is another low-cost option that's a good bit slower than our top picks. It's limited to a three-year warranty and lacks an IP rating as well. It's not a terrible option for the basics, but there's little reason to get it over the XS1000 when their prices are similar. The OWC Envoy Pro FX is well-built and supports Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2 Gen 2, but it's a smidge slower than the SE920 and Express 1M2, and it's much pricier than the former. The first thing to figure out before buying a portable SSD is just how much storage space you need. Most of the drives we considered for this guide are available in capacities ranging from one to four terabytes, though plenty of smaller and larger options exist. There's no hard-and-fast rule for which size is 'best' — that'll ultimately depend on your budget and what exactly you're looking to stash. But in general, it's better to overcompensate than underdo it. Nobody wants to be forced into buying a second drive because they filled the first one up too quickly. If you're backing up a PC, a good rule of thumb is to buy an external SSD with twice as much space as your computer's internal storage. This way, you can save at least one full backup while also having room for additional data. If you want to store a bunch of PlayStation or Xbox games with huge install sizes, you may need more space. If you just want to back up a small collection of files, you may be better off saving your cash and just getting a smaller USB flash drive instead, which aren't quite the same as the external SSDs we tested for this guide. In general, you get a better price-per-gigabyte ratio the further you go up the capacity ladder. As of this writing, the 1TB Samsung T9 is priced at $130, or $0.13 per gigabyte (GB), while the 4TB version is available for $297 or $0.07 per GB. That technically makes the larger model a better 'value,' but not everyone needs to pay that much more upfront. SSDs in the same speed class tend to not vary too wildly in terms of performance, so part of our decision-making for this guide came down to which ones are often the cheapest. But prices can fluctuate over time; if you see that one of our top picks is priced way higher than a comparable honorable mention, feel free to get the latter. At this point in time, costs are broadly trending upwards. Just about all external SSDs are significantly faster than mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs), so you'll save time waiting for files to transfer and games to load no matter what. Within the market, however, there are distinct performance tiers. These are defined in large part by the USB interface a drive supports. While all of the SSDs we considered for this guide can connect over USB-C, some USB-C connections can supply faster transfer speeds than others. Sorting through this can get real confusing real fast, so we'll try to put it in simple terms. You can essentially divide today's crop of portable SSDs into different segments. At the very top are drives that utilize the (relatively) new Thunderbolt 5 standard, which has a theoretical maximum transfer rate of 80 gigabits per second (Gbps). (You may see it advertise speeds up to 120 Gbps, but that boost doesn't apply to storage devices.) But portable SSDs that support this tech only just started to trickle out toward the end of 2024, and the market for devices with Thunderbolt 5 ports is still fairly limited, with the most notable exceptions being Apple's top-end Macs with a M4 Pro or M4 Max chip. Thunderbolt 5 is built on a spec called USB4, which can technically reach up to 80 Gbps as well but is more typically available in a flavor that tops out at 40 Gbps. Portable SSDs based on that standard started to roll out toward the end of 2023 but are still relatively infrequent. The older Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4, which other high-end external SSDs continue to use, support the same 40 Gbps maximum. A third version of USB4, meanwhile, maxes at 20 Gbps, as does an older yet more frequently used standard called USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. Below that is USB 3.2 Gen 2, which maxes at 10 Gbps. Then there's USB 3.2 Gen 1, which is capped at 5 Gbps. Lastly, we'll bundle together SSDs that use older standards and aren't worth considering here. To make this easy: For everyday folks, a good USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive is the sweet spot between fast-enough performance, wide-enough compatibility and cheap-enough price, so those make up our primary recommendations above. If you work in a creative field or don't mind paying extra to shave seconds off your large file transfers, though, a 'higher-tier' model would make sense. However, note that actual computers that utilize USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 aren't super common — no Mac supports it, for one — and the interface is effectively being replaced by USB4. In general, your chain is only as strong as its weakest link: If your computer only has USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, for example, you could still use a Thunderbolt SSD, but you won't get beyond Gen 2 speeds. Make sure you know what you're working with before you buy. As a refresher, storage devices are broadly measured in terms of read and write speeds. The former refers to how long it takes to access something from the drive; the latter, how long it takes to save something to it. From there, you can break these metrics into sequential and random performance. Sequential speeds tend to matter more with portable SSDs, since most people use them to save or access long, constant streams of data such as a bunch of high-res photos. Random speeds would be important if you want to run video games off the drive, since that'd involve reading and writing smaller, more scattered files. Either way, how well an SSD can sustain its performance with extended use is also critical. A modern portable SSD's speeds aren't just about its USB interface, though. Its performance can also depend on how advanced its controller is, whether it has a native USB flash controller or a separate bridge chip to communicate with a host device, the kind and quality of NAND flash memory it uses, whether it has a DRAM cache or it's DRAM-less, and more. We're simplifying things, but here are some quick tips: Drives with triple-level cell (TLC) memory aren't as cheap as quad-level cell (QLC) SSDs, but they're generally more reliable and they offer better write performance. Having a dedicated DRAM cache helps if you plan to hit your drive with more intense, sustained workloads, but may not be worth the extra cost for most people. Some models with native flash controllers may not perform as well as those with a bridging chip, depending on the SSD inside, but they typically draw less heat and are physically smaller. All of this is to say that an external SSD's speeds aren't quite as straightforward as what the manufacturer chooses to advertise on the box. It's also worth remembering that you can turn an internal SSD into a portable solution with a good enclosure. If you have a spare drive and don't mind going the DIY route, this can be a cheaper and more flexible solution, though we've stuck to pre-built models for this guide for the sake of simplicity. Most portable SSDs are impressively small and light, so they won't be difficult to tuck in a bag (or even a pocket) and take on the go. We note above if any drive is bulkier than usual. Nothing we're talking about matters if your drive can't last in the long term. It's hard to definitively say which external SSDs are the most reliable, but we scoured through user reviews and feedback while researching this guide to ensure none of our picks show a pattern of catastrophic errors. If there was too much smoke around a particular model, we steered clear. We ruled out certain drives from SanDisk and Western Digital, for instance, after reports from Ars Technica and The Verge noted an issue that led to data loss (and lawsuits) in 2023. That said, one of the big reasons you'd buy an SSD in general is its superior durability. Because it has no moving mechanical parts inside, an SSD has far fewer avenues to failure than an external hard drive. You still don't want to be careless with them, but an accidental drop shouldn't be the end of the world. Some portable SSDs build on this inherent ruggedness with plastic or rubberized casings and more robust waterproofing. These aren't necessary for everyone, but if you're a frequent traveler or someone who often works outdoors, there are options for you. Still, all drives can fail. If you have any sort of data you'd be distraught to lose, you should back it up regularly, then make a second backup, ideally with a cloud service. Along those protective lines, we also took note of the warranty policy for each drive we tested. Just about all of them are backed for either three or five years; of course, longer is better. It's not uncommon to store sensitive data on a portable SSD, so some models offer extra security features like hardware-based encryption — i.e., direct scrambling of data stored on the drive itself — built-in keypads and fingerprint readers to protect against unauthorized access if the drive is lost or stolen. While not top requirements, perks like these are certainly good to have. Some SSDs also come with companion software to further manage the drive. The best of those can be handy to have around, but we wouldn't call them essential. Unfortunately, we did not have access to a device that can make full use of USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 and Thunderbolt/USB4 speeds interchangeably, so we had to split our testing across multiple devices, including an M1 Pro MacBook Pro and an Alienware gaming PC running Windows 11. Because of this, we primarily compared the portable SSDs within each 'class' against one another. Before switching OSes, we reformatted each drive to each platform's standard file system format: APFS for macOS and NTFS for Windows. After researching which SSDs had enough positive feedback to be worth testing in the first place, we put 13 drives through a range of synthetic and 'real-world' benchmark tests. On Windows, these included CrystalDiskMark, PCMark 10's Data Drive Benchmark and 3DMark's gaming-focused Storage Benchmark. On macOS, we used AmorphousDiskMark (effectively a Mac version of CrystalDiskMark), BlackMagic Disk Speed Test and ATTO Disk Benchmark. We also timed how long it took for each drive to read and write a custom 70GB folder filled with roughly 11,500 different files, including photos, videos, music files, PDFs and other large and small data types scattered across numerous subfolders. We performed multiple passes for each test to avoid irregularities, and we kept track of each SSD's heat levels over the course of the whole suite. Our process wasn't a perfect science, but it gave us a general sense of how each drive compares to other models in its price and performance range. February 2025: We've checked to ensure the pricing info and links in this guide are still accurate. We've also added details on the (relatively) new Thunderbolt 5 interface, which has been implemented in a couple recent portable SSDs like the OWC Envoy Ultra and LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5. We'll look to include testing notes for those for our next update, as they should be faster than the ADATA SE920, our current premium pick, albeit for a much higher price. For now, though, our top picks remain the same. October 2024: We've taken a sweep through this guide to ensure all pricing and availability info is still correct. Our recommendations are unchanged.
