Top 3 Best External SSDs Mac, PS4, Gaming PC (Dec 2020) | GMDrives
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SSDs are the fast, quiet, and reliable storage drives, Agree?
The biggest advantage of these super-fast drives is they reduce boot times, speed up how fast your programs and games load and make your computer fast overall.
The only problem is choosing the best SSD without breaking the bank.
To help you pick the best budget SSD from the plethora of drives available in the market, I have crafted this list of best SSDs to buy in 2020.
These are the 3 top-rated Solid State Drives I have personally tested.
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Featured Solid State Drives Reviews
SSDs can work with desktop computer, Laptops, MacBooks and ultrabooks without any restriction.
Lot of SSDs use 2.5-inch form factor and make use of the same SATA ports which hard drives use to communicate with PC.
But, NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) drives can easily fit on M.2 connection on latest motherboards, these can sit on PCIe adapter and slot into your motherboards like a sound card, graphics card or futuristic 3D Xpoint drive.
Read these reviews for detailed insights with the advantages and disadvantages of each Solid State drive.
The Samsung 860 Evo was released back in 2014 and it instantly became the extremely successful and popular SSD on the market with its fantastic performance.
It isn’t the fastest one but gives improved read/write speeds using PCI-E to transfer data rather than SATA interface.
But, with the blazing fast loading speeds, it’s the fastest triple-layer cell(TLC) SATA drive we have tested so far.
More importantly, it’s solved the slow write performance plaguing many other SSDs that use TLC NAND chips.
It comes with a Magician SSD software to install the drive without any problem and to maintain it.
Furthermore, it can easily fit into most desktops and laptops as it’s a 2.5-inch SATA-based drive, unlike the M.2 and PCIe SSDs.
Available in different storage capacities including 250G, 1TB, 2TB whopping 4TB.
The majority tend to buy 500GB SSD versions as after the 1TB prices get staggering. So, people get a 500GB SSD and pair it with a high-capacity traditional hard drive by any famous brand like Seagate or WD.
SATA 3 might not be the hottest SSD tech but Samsung proved to make something special from this aging form-factor resulting in SSD isn’t dead yet.
Last but not least the manufacturer offers a 5-year long warranty of the drive, but SSDs rarely get damaged internally.
Overall, Samsung 860 Evo is a super-fast SSD and the best choice for budget users offering outstanding performance and efficient data transfer speeds.
If there is USB Type-C Gen 2 interface in your laptop or desktop then you might be looking somewhere else for an external drive.
If you work mostly on the go Samsung T5 is the best option for modest PCIe players.
Offers 540/515MBPs read/write speeds making it one of the best external ssd for external use.
The Crucial BX300 SATA SSD is another affordable SSD which is easy to install, gives the solid performance and doesn’t breaks your bank.
You might see some cheap SSDs using triple-level cell (TLC) NAND chips which diminish gradually and stop working when you have transferred a lot of files more than drives’ cache.
But BX300 comes with multi-level (MLC) NAND which allows the drive to withstand large batches of a file giving consistent transfer speeds.
The best option for you is to pair this SSD with your mechanical hard drive.
Overall, BX300 is an outstanding performer with MLC NAND technology and delivers value speed over capacity which is hardly more than any other drive.
Samsung 970 Evo is another great SSD from the Evo series by Samsung and an extremely successful and popular SSD.
Building on the already-impressive performance of the 960 Evo even out-powering the higher-end 960 Pro, this device will transfer any file in a short time interval.
Comes with a number of capacities including 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, and 2 Terabytes.
Uses PCIe Gen 3 x4 M.2 interface to forward files. Furthermore, comes with a 5-years warranty. Can easily fit into the motherboard. Also, it will use the computer’s PCIe x4 slot to send all that data back and forth.
Overall, the Samsung 970 is a high-end NVMe solid-state drive which gives a wonderful performance while retaining its reasonable prices.
NVMe is the type of flash memory that is specially designed to maximize SSDs strength and Samsung 960 takes full advantage.
Comes in an M.2 form factor and amazing read speeds of up to 3500 MBps, these SSDs are already enticing, but the max capacity is of 2TB is incredible.
With this higher performance and speed don’t expect cheaper prices and if your major concern is fast storage then 960 is worth it.
So far, 906 Pro is the best fastest NVMe drive. It’s not like the cheaper NVMe drives but it’s the fastest and our favorite current NVMe drive.
Overall, Samsung 960 Evo is the super-fast storage which doesn’t come cheap but it’s worthy if you have demand of lightning-fast storage.
If you are worried about SSD installation then this fast-speed inexpensive Toshiba SSD is the most flexible SSD when it comes to installation.
This speedy SSD comes in several capacities like 128GB, 156GB, 512GB, and 1TB and uses PCIe Gen 3×4 M.2 interface for moving data.
Toshiba OCZ is an ideal choice if you are looking for plenty of options. It has three different form factors like M.2, M.2 2280, and an add-in card also called AIC.
Each size of the drive may vary with a form factor so make sure before buying a 1TB you have enough room in your computer case to insert the drive properly.
Overall, the drive comes in 4 sizes and three different form factors the price is also affordable making it another nice recommendation of best SSD.
If you want the most reliable SSD Astonishing speeds at a fantastic price that can last for multiple computers then HP S700 is what you want.
Here’s the kicker:
This SSD has improved read/write speeds which can keep serving you for up to 2 million hours of use and up to 650 terabytes written.
If you are really serious about the drive to long last then this is the best SSD you can buy.
A snag in this drive is SATA interface which is popular to making things slow down, which in other words makes it last longer.
Overall, This SSD has huge capacities not like those bigger SSD capacities but max out at 1TB and it’s the best bang for the buck.
Everyone knows NVMe SSDs are expensive and to break this tradition Intel is trying to change the world.
The fantastic performance 760p gives 3,065 MB/s read and 1,606 MB/s write which is slightly behind Samsung 960 Evo.
Furthermore, it has a fantastic price-to-performance ratio and a perfect blend of speed and performance.
There are faster NVMe drives in the market but they cost premium bucks which is not worthy at all.
Overall, Intel 760 is a great SSD offers amazing performance at a better price making it another great choice.
Gaming enthusiasts and Hardcore gamers know that playing video games on a gaming laptop, desktop or professional gaming platforms is possible when the machines are fast enough to deal with the cut scenes and levels of today’s modern games.
Do you know?
There are several larger game sizes applications like Gears of War 4 and other enhanced 4K Xbox One X games, and to store these games a fast, efficient and huge storage is required. That’s where SSDs come into play.
SSDs are fast and suitable for gaming desktops and gaming consoles to reduce game load times. Either you are a casual gamer or a pro gamer you definitely want an SSD for gaming which is the cheapest and can deal with the heaviest gaming applications.
That said, we have reviewed few best SSDs for gaming which can give rapid loading times for all games having enough capacity for avid gamers.
No one would like to face the action stop or a load screen while playing the best PC games.
But, now you can get rid of long loading screens forever, thanks to the WD Black NVMe SSD which uses PCIe Gen 3 x4 M.2 interface and comes in a number of storage capacities including 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB.
This SSD for gaming can be owned for under $300 dollars and leaves behind many faster SSD drives.
The WD Black incorporates a sliver SLC (Single Level Cell) 3D NAND, which is famed for being the fastest flash memory form but only capable to move a small amount of bits.
The WD Black clocks in 3,400 MB/s sequential read and 2,800 MB/s sequential writes.
Top 5 Best SSDs for Gaming On The Market Reviews
- PNY CS1311 120GB 2.5" SATA III Internal Solid State Drive.
- Crucial MX300 525GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD.
- Toshiba OCZ RD400 Series Solid State Drive 256GB.
- SanDisk 500GB Ultra 3D NAND SATA III SSD.
- Mushkin REACTOR 500GB Internal Solid State Drive.
SSD Buying Guide — Tips and suggestions
When going to expand your PCs storage SSD is the right choice.
Here’s why
SSD is fast, reliable and gives an outstanding performance, and is an essential component of a gaming PC.
With the passage of time, SSDs are getting faster, bigger and cheaper while cutting of long loading times.
The start was very expensive but today external SSDs are replacing the portable hard drive with an almost similar price but five times higher speed.
SSDs are free from platters to spin up, read/write heads which locate your file on the platter from a specific point. The reason why solid-state drives are slimmer, compact, shock-proof, and accidental drop-proof is the absence of these moving parts like in the hard drive.
Unlike the hard drives, SSDs don’t have spinning disks(which causes damage) in them which increases the durability of these drives.
The prime difference between the SSD and Hard drives is that hard drives are mechanical devices that store data on platters which are extracted by moving heads inside the apparatus.
As the hard drive technology is not that advanced so that’s why they are much cheaper and don’t cost much. You can get high amounts of storage capacity for very little money compared to SSD.
What makes them bad?
Hard drives cannot bear the drops and the accidental drops can damage the interior mechanism resulting in data loss(inaccessible).
This is crazy:
These drives are much slower than you have to find data physically searching on the drive. There are the fastest external drives with speeds as high as 7,200 RPM but not really fast these days.
Faster are internal desktop-class hard drives that spin at 15,000 rotations per minute.
In a nutshell, hard drives are slow, not durable but they offer generous storage capacities in cheapest rates.
Let’s have some words on SSDs…
SSDs make use of flash memory to store data which is quickly accessible. You can see more fast results if you are connecting the drive via a higher-speed protocol like USB 3.0 or USB-C.
Either way, SSD will always perform faster than a hard drive.
SSDs have no moving parts, they can withstand the bumps, drops and bruises of everyday use because they are lot hardier.
But:
That doesn’t mean they can’t be damaged or that you can still lose data, but you have a lot more leeway.
Enough on the bright sides, let’s see few downsides,
The very first is that in SSDs the memory can only be written to a limited number of times, there are chances that SSD become unusable before a hard drive would, and it all depends on the usage.
Another regards traditional storage applications: For SSDs Hardware-based encryption is not a good thing due to the reason of data being stored anywhere and everywhere rather than in a one easily accessible chunk.
But here’s the kicker:
Never run a defragmentation program on your SSD as you will be using up valuable writes for no speed benefit you are likely to notice.
What’s more, breath-taking than that is the price of SSDs?
You can easily get a 2TB external hard drive under $100 but at the same time, a 2TB external SSD will cost you 10 times higher for the exact same amount of storage.
The bottom line?
If speed and resilience are critical to you it’s worth buying SSD. If they do not then avoid spending hundreds of dollars. So make sure when you are buying an SSD you must know what you are getting yourself.
Decided to buy one?
Here’s what you should consider while buying an SSD.
There are four major things to look for while shopping for an external SSD.
Cost Per gigabyte: To calculate that just do a simple division of the drive’s price with the gigabytes of drives are you are getting. SSD pricing fluctuates all the time, so that changes the relative value too.
So either it’s an external or internal SSD the cost per gigabyte just figure out the number of gigabytes in the drive’s capacity and the actual price and you are good to go.
Doing that you can get to know either you are getting budget external SSD or a costly model from second or third-tier makers. It will be easy to figure out the price when comparing a host of drives.
Interface: USB 3.0 interface is common in most portable SSDs, while USB Type-C porta are not common yet. This has no speed consequences, but it’s simple to plug in this connector.
Right now:
ADATA’s SE370 External SSD and Samsung’s PortableSSD T5 are equipped with USB-C port as well as USB 3.1 Gen 2 tech in order to deliver the fastest speeds.
Through our tests,
The new ports couldn’t go massively faster as they should but rather they were similar to USB 3.0 port speed. Few SSD models come with Thunderbolt interface specialized models for Macs and they are pricey.
Ruggedization: Every drive has a different degree of ruggedness, with ADATA’s SE730 offering leading the field at the moment among mainstream-price drives.
But:
If you really want a waterproof and dustproof drive don’t forget to look for an IP68 certification on the drive.
Weight: There are a lot of SSDs with negligible weight, we are talking about the lightweight drive in a sense that in case the drive is small and light enough that losing them is too easy and expensive a mistake to make.
Related: Difference between SSD and HDD (Advanced Guide)
That’s all for this post. Hopefully, we have covered every aspect for you. Keep visiting our blog for more informative Tech Articles.
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Originally published at https://gmdrives.com.
