The perfect SSDs in 2025

On the subject of boosting your system’s efficiency, upgrading to one of many quickest SSDs is a no brainer. Whether or not you’re constructing a gaming PC, rushing up an older laptop computer or just craving lightning-fast load instances, an SSD is the best way to go. In contrast to conventional onerous drives, SSDs depend on NAND flash storage, that means you get sooner information switch speeds, improved reliability and a extra responsive expertise general.

Trendy SSDs are fairly versatile, catering to everybody from players chasing the very best efficiency to these looking for the very best finances choices that also ship strong pace. Pair a high quality SSD with a robust GPU, and also you’re set for seamless gaming and multitasking. Plus, with superior firmware bettering effectivity and sturdiness, SSDs are actually higher than ever at dealing with high-intensity workloads. On this shopping for information, we’ll discover the very best SSDs in the marketplace, whether or not you’re after uncooked pace, affordability or a mixture of the 2.

Finest SSDs in 2025

Essential

Capability: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB | Connection: M.2 | Learn pace: 11,700MB/s | Write pace: 9,500MB/s

I don’t advocate shopping for a Gen5 NVMe, even when you have the {hardware} wanted to run one. The learn speeds would possibly look spectacular on paper, however the actuality is that few video games and apps can make the most of these capabilities proper now.

Nonetheless, for those who’re set on outfitting your laptop with the quickest potential storage, I believe the Crucial T700 gives a compelling mixture of value and efficiency. The T700 is without doubt one of the quickest NVMe drives in the marketplace proper now, and after launching at $180, it’s potential to seek out it on sale for about $143. Notice that in case your motherboard didn’t include a heatsink in your NVMe drives, you will want to purchase the T700 mannequin that features one, which additional will increase the price.

Execs

• Very quick
• Helps DirectStorage
• 5-year guarantee

$135 at Amazon

WD_BLACK

Capability: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB | Connection: M.2 | Learn pace: 7,300MB/s | Write pace: 6,300MB/s

Supplied you personal the required {hardware}, Gen4 NVMe drives provide fairly good worth proper now. After testing a number of completely different fashions, I ended up shopping for the Western Digital WD_Black SN850X for my very own system. It’s very quick, delivering learn speeds of as much as 7,300MB/s, and I used to be capable of pay lower than $100 for the 1TB mannequin throughout a sale.

In case you’re set on shopping for a Gen4 mannequin, however wish to avoid wasting cash, Western Digital gives the extra inexpensive SN770. It’s not as quick because the SN850X, but when your system has one Gen4 NVMe slot, it’s nice for storing Home windows and your most necessary apps.

Execs

• Quick
• DirectStorage assist
• 5-year guarantee

$80 at Amazon

Essential

Capability: 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB | Connection: M.2 | Learn pace: 3,500MB/s | Write speeds: 3,000MB/s

A earlier model of this information really helpful the Essential P2 as an amazing finances Gen 3 NVMe decide, however as Gen4 and now Gen5 NVMe drives have entered the market, producers like Micron have discontinued a few of their entry-level Gen4 fashions. The excellent news is that their outdated high-end Gen3 drives are actually extra inexpensive than ever. Take the Crucial P3, as an illustration. Micron initially priced the 1TB mannequin at $90, however in latest months, it’s been on sale for as little as $40. That’s nice worth for a drive that provides 3,500MB/s learn speeds.

Execs

• Inexpensive and ceaselessly on sale
• 5-year guarantee

Cons

• Might be sooner
• Endurance stats aren’t the very best

$62 at Amazon

SABRENT

Capability: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Connection: M.2 | Learn pace: 5,000MB/s | Write pace: 4,300MB/s

In case you’re assured sufficient to open your Steam Deck to put in a brand new, greater capability NVMe, the Sabrent Rocket 2230 is a good small-sized NVME. It’ll slot into the Steam Deck’s M.2 slot with out concern, and also you don’t want to fret about it overheating. With latest reductions on this mannequin, it’s dropped sufficient in value the place you can get monetary savings by shopping for the 512GB Steam Deck OLED mannequin and putting in extra storage later.

Cons

• Costly relative to full-sized NVMe drives

$100 at Amazon

Corsair

Capability: 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB | Connection: M.2 | Learn pace: 7,100 MB/s | Write pace: 6,800MB/sec

Engadget has a separate information devoted to the best PlayStation 5 SSDs, however for those who got here to this web page on the lookout for a suggestion on what NVMe to purchase in your PS5, look no additional than the Corsair MP600 Pro LPX. It meets all of Sony’s compatibility necessities and comes with a pre-installed heatsink, that means all it’s essential do is set up it into your PS5 and also you’re good to go.

Execs

• Good PS5 compatibility
• Pre-installed heatsink
• Straightforward to put in

Cons

• Cheaper so as to add your individual heatsink

$155 at Amazon

Essential

Capability: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB | Connection: USB-C | Learn pace: 1,050MB/s | Write pace: 975MB/s

For carrying information on the go, the Crucial X9 Pro is a transportable SSD with the correct mix of efficiency, options and value. There are technically sooner choices on the market, however its 10 Gbps speeds ought to be fast sufficient for the backups and file transfers most individuals do with an exterior drive, and it outpaced most different fashions inside its efficiency class in our benchmark assessments. It’s tremendous tiny and sufficiently rugged on prime of that, with an IP55-rated case constructed from aluminum and rubber. A five-year guarantee helps as properly. Simply be aware that the included USB-C cable is pretty brief, and there’s no adapter for USB-A ports within the field. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter, Shopping for Recommendation

Execs

• IP55-certified water and dirt safety
• 5-year guarantee

Cons

• No USB-A cable included
• Not the quickest

$138 at Amazon

SAMSUNG

Capability: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | Connection: USB 3.1 | Learn pace: As much as 400MB/s relying on the mannequin | Write pace: As much as 400MB/s

The Samsung Fit Plus has about all of the options you can need on a USB drive. It connects to your laptop over USB 3.1 and helps file switch speeds of as much as 300MB/s. The Match Plus can also be compact and has a helpful slot for attaching it to your keychain. The one draw back of Samsung’s USB drive is that it’s on the expensive facet.

Execs

• USB 3.1
• Modern design
• 5-year guarantee

Cons

• May be too small
• No indicator gentle

$22 at Adorama

How we take a look at SSDs

I’ve both examined or personally use every day each SSD really helpful on this record. Out of our prime picks, I purchased 4 with my very own cash after doing a few dozen hours of analysis. Individually, Engadget Senior Reporter Jeff Dunn has additionally examined a handful of our suggestions, together with the Essential X9 Professional listed above.

What to search for in a PC SSD

Probably the most inexpensive manner so as to add quick space for storing to a pc is with a 2.5-inch SATA drive. It’s additionally one of many best for those who don’t wish to fear about compatibility since nearly each laptop made within the final 20 years will embody a motherboard with Serial ATA connections. For that purpose, the very best SATA SSDs are a wonderful alternative if you wish to prolong the lifetime of an older PC construct. Set up is simple, too. When you’ve secured the inner SSD in a drive cage, all it’s essential do is to attach it to your motherboard and energy provide.

The one draw back of SATA drives is that, by way of responsiveness, they’re slower than their high-performance NVMe counterparts, with SATA III limiting information transfers to 600MB/s. However even the slowest SSD shall be considerably sooner than the very best mechanical drives. And with high-capacity, 1TB SATA SSDs costing about $100, they’re an excellent bulk-storage possibility.

In case your PC is newer, there’s an excellent likelihood it contains area for a number of M.2 SSDs. The shape issue represents your ticket to the quickest SSDs in the marketplace, however the tough half is navigating all of the completely different requirements and specs concerned.

M.2 drives can characteristic both a SATA or PCIe connection. SSDs with the latter are often called Non-Risky Reminiscence or NVMe drives and are considerably sooner than their SATA counterparts, with Gen3 fashions providing sequential write speeds of as much as 3,000MB/s. These drives depend on NVMe NAND expertise for his or her superior efficiency and sturdiness. You will get twice the efficiency with a Gen4 SSD, however you’ll want a motherboard and processor that helps the usual.

In case you’re working an AMD system, meaning not less than a Ryzen 3000 or 5000 CPU and an X570 or B550 motherboard. With Intel, in the meantime, you’ll want not less than an eleventh or twelfth Gen processor and a Z490, Z590 or Z690 motherboard. Remember that Gen4 SSDs sometimes value greater than their Gen3 counterparts as properly.

Dearer nonetheless are the most recent Gen5 fashions, which supply sequential learn speeds of as much as 16,000MB/s. Nonetheless, even when your laptop helps the usual, you’re higher off shopping for a extra inexpensive Gen4 or Gen3 drive. In the mean time, only a few video games and purposes can make the most of Gen3 NVMe speeds, not to mention Gen4 and Gen5 speeds. What’s extra, Gen5 NVMe drives can run sizzling, which may result in efficiency and longevity points. Your cash is healthier spent on different elements, like upgrading your GPU, for now.

As for why you’ll purchase an M.2 SATA drive over a equally specced 2.5-inch drive, it comes all the way down to ease of set up. You add M.2 storage to your laptop by putting in the SSD straight onto the motherboard. Which will sound intimidating, however in follow the method entails a single screw that you simply first take away to attach the drive to your laptop after which retighten to safe the SSD in place. As an added bonus, there aren’t any wires concerned, making cable administration simpler.

Notice you can set up a SATA M.2 SSD into an M.2 slot with a PCIe connection, however you may’t insert an NVMe M.2 SSD right into a M.2 slot with a SATA connection. Until you wish to proceed utilizing an outdated M.2 drive, there’s little purpose to make the most of that characteristic. Talking of backward compatibility, it’s additionally potential to make use of a Gen4 drive via a PCIe 3 connection, however you received’t get any of the pace advantages of the sooner NVMe.

One very last thing to contemplate is that M.2 drives come in numerous bodily sizes. From shortest to longest, the frequent choices are 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110. (The primary two numbers symbolize width in millimeters and the latter denote the size.) For essentially the most half, you don’t have to fret about that since 2280 is the default for a lot of motherboards and producers. Some boards can accommodate multiple dimension of NVMe SSD due to a number of standoffs. That mentioned, verify your laptop’s documentation earlier than shopping for a drive to make sure you’re choosing up a appropriate dimension.

In case you’re shopping for a substitute SSD for the Steam Deck or Steam Deck OLED, issues are simpler. For Valve’s handheld, you will want a 2230 dimension NVMe. Easy. In case you don’t wish to open your Steam Deck, it’s additionally potential to increase its storage by putting in a microSD card. Engadget has a separate guide dedicated to SD card storage, so verify that out for added shopping for recommendation.

I alluded to this earlier, however the very best shopping for recommendation I can provide is don’t get too caught up about being on the bleeding fringe of storage tech. The sequential learn and write speeds you see producers record on their drives are theoretical and real-world efficiency benchmark assessments fluctuate lower than you suppose.

In case your finances forces you to decide on between a 1TB Gen3 NVMe and a 512GB Gen4 mannequin, go for the higher-capacity one. From a sensible standpoint, the worst factor you are able to do is purchase a sort of SSD that’s too small for wants. Drives can gradual dramatically as they strategy capability, and you’ll in all probability find yourself buying one with a bigger storage capability sooner or later.

What to search for in transportable and USB flash drives

Moveable SSDs are a considerably completely different beast to their inner siblings. Whereas learn and write speeds are necessary, they’re nearly secondary to how an exterior drive connects to your PC. You received’t get essentially the most out of a mannequin just like the SanDisk Excessive Professional V2 with no USB 3.2 Gen 2 x 2 connection. Even amongst newer PCs, that’s one thing of a premium characteristic. For that purpose, most individuals are greatest off shopping for a transportable drive with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 or Thunderbolt connection. The previous gives switch speeds of as much as 10Gbps. The perfect exterior onerous drives additionally mean you can switch information out of your Home windows PC to a Mac, or different system, if appropriate. Remember to think about this beforehand for those who plan to make use of your transportable drive throughout a number of gadgets.

Moreover, for those who plan to take your drive on journeys and commutes, it’s worthwhile to purchase a mannequin with IP-certified water and dirt proofing. Some firms like Samsung provide rugged variations of their hottest drives with a excessive endurance ranking. For extra peace of thoughts, 256-bit AES {hardware} encryption will assist forestall somebody from accessing your information for those who ever lose or misplace your exterior SSD.

A few of the identical options contribute to an amazing thumbstick drive. Our favourite picks for greatest finances exterior SSD fashions characteristic USB 3.0 connections and a few type of {hardware} encryption.

A be aware on console storage

If PC gaming isn’t your factor and also you personal an Xbox Collection X|S or PS5, outfitting your fancy new console with the quickest potential storage is way extra easy than doing the identical on PC. With a Collection X or Collection S, your choices are restricted to choices from Seagate and Western Digital. The previous gives 512GB, 1TB and 2TB fashions, with essentially the most inexpensive beginning at a not-so-trivial $90. Western Digital’s Growth Playing cards are inexpensive, with pricing beginning at $80 for the 512GB mannequin. The excellent news is that each choices are ceaselessly on sale. Your greatest guess is to set an alert for the mannequin you need through the use of a value tracker like CamelCamelCamel.

With Sony’s PlayStation 5, upgrading the console’s inner storage is barely extra concerned. As an alternative of using a proprietary resolution, the PS5 makes use of NVMe storage. Fortunately, there aren’t as many potential configurations as you’ll discover on a PC. Engadget maintains a comprehensive guide to the best SSDs for PS5; briefly, your greatest guess is a high-capacity Gen4 drive with a built-in heatsink. Take a look at that information for a full record of gaming SSD suggestions, however for a fast go-to, think about the Corsair MP600 Professional LPX I like to recommend above. It meets all of the reminiscence specs for Sony’s newest console and also you received’t run into any clearance points with the heatsink. Corsair gives 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB and 8TB variations of the drive. Anticipate to pay about $110 for the 1TB variant and about $200 for 2TB.

For these nonetheless enjoying on a earlier technology console, you will get barely sooner recreation load instances from a PlayStation 4 by swapping the included onerous drive to a 2.5-inch SSD, however going out of your manner to take action in all probability isn’t price it at this level and also you’re higher off saving your cash for one of many new consoles.

SSD FAQs

What dimension SSD is greatest?

There isn’t a one dimension matches all rule for SSDs, however we usually advocate getting not less than a 1TB SSD for those who’re seeking to improve PC or recreation console storage, or wanting so as to add an exterior drive to your toolkit. A 1TB drive shall be loads for most individuals who want further space for storing for images, paperwork and packages. In case you’re a hardcore gamer, chances are you’ll wish to spend money on much more storage contemplating many high-profile titles right now can take up a ton of area.

Is a 256GB SSD higher than a 1TB onerous drive?

The brief reply is that it depends upon what you want your drive for. Usually, SSDs are sooner and extra environment friendly than HDDs, however HDDs are often cheaper. We advocate springing for an SSD for many use circumstances right now — upgrading a PC, saving necessary images and paperwork, storing video games long run, and so on. However for those who’re targeted on getting essentially the most quantity of additional area potential (and sticking to a finances), an HDD may very well be an excellent possibility for you.

Does greater SSD imply sooner?

Getting a much bigger SSD doesn’t at all times translate right into a sooner drive general. A much bigger SSD will present a better storage capability, which suggests more room for storing digital information and packages. To grasp how briskly an SSD shall be, you’ll wish to have a look at its learn/write speeds: learn speeds measure how briskly a drive can entry info, whereas write speeds measure how briskly the drive can save info. Most SSDs record their approximate learn/write speeds of their specs, so make sure you try these numbers earlier than you make a purchase order.