We recommend using third-party applications to help research price history and compare SSD prices between vendors. But don't just take our word for it - there are tools you can use to improve your research game. SSD Deal TipsĮach SSD deal listed below was individually verified to ensure value.
You can save money with a 512GB drive or, for an older PC with limited needs, a 256GB unit can be extremely cheap. All 2.5-inch drives are SATA, but M.2 drives could be either NVMe or SATA interface.Ĭapacity: 1TB seems to be the sweet spot for price and performance, with decent NVMe drives going of around $100 or less and high-performance ones in the sub $150 range. However, you need to know which your PC supports. SATA or NVMe: SSDs either use the SATA or NVMe interface, with the latter being as much as six times faster (or more). M.2 drives look like RAM sticks and plug into dedicated M.2 ports. 2.5-inch drives connect to SATA ports and can replace old-school mechanical hard drives.
If you don't already have a large external hard drive or SSD, you really should get one in order to do full system backups or just keep your important files somewhere besides the cloud.īelow, we've listed the best holiday SSD and hard drive deals that are available from major retailers such as Amazon and Newegg. This is also a good time to look for savings on the best external drives you can use for backup or for transferring data between all your devices. Whether it's picking up a speedy new boot drive (perhaps one of the best SSDs) or adding secondary storage that increases your capacity, the holiday season is a great time to buy a new SSD or HDD. These benchmarks are not flawlessly accurate compared to real-world use though, so that’s expected.Cyber Monday and Black Friday may be in the books for 2021, but you can still score a great deal on storage.
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1): 2.178 MB/s īased on these results, the specs WD put out are well within range of the tests, though a bit below the mark.Using CrystalDiskMark on an Intel CPU, we recorded the following results (there can be variations on these results depending on the CPU model and manufacturer): Average Data Rate to/from drive - Up to 202MB/s.Here’s the specs WD has up right now for this Black HDD:
Seeing how most hard drives that you’d pit against the WD Black will more likely fall in the average range of 80MB/s and 150MB/s, the Black series does indeed live up to its performance claims. This isn’t a negative per se, but it might be a factor that you should consider before buying. Acronis is pretty useful, so it’s nice to have included with the purchase.Īlso to mention quickly, because this is a “performance” drive, the HDD will be both loud and hot compared to something like the Blue series of drives from WD.
WD also includes some handy software called Acronis True Image that can be used to test the drive, monitor its condition, and help with data migration at no additional cost. Below, we’ve listed Western Digital’s claims for the Black series of our version and put them up against our own results running CrystalDiskMark. Performance: Decent performance for an HDDīecause this HDD lists “performance” right there in its name, we’re going to find out if it lives up to the hype. Manage any cables as you see fit, then close it all up.
Install the hard drive into the bay, plug in both the power supply cable and the data connector (SATA), and ensure they are fully connected. If you need to attach brackets/supports to the sides of the drive so it can sit in the bay, do so now. Because this is a “performance” drive, the HDD will be both loud and hot compared to something like the Blue series of drives from WD.īegin by unboxing your hard drive, removing the moisture-blocking bag, and prepping your computer.