For the longest time, there really was only one choice for computer storage: hard drives – you were essentially stuck with their spinning disks and slow speeds. Luckily, in 2018, there is a better choice. The best SSDs, or solid state drives, are speedy enough to free you from the shackles of the slow craw of mechanical disks with nearly instantaneous boot times and data transfers.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need one of the best PCs to take advantage of the awesome speed benefits that the best SSDs offer. The best Ultrabooks are essentially built for SSDs – the lightweight and compact design of these ultra-thin laptops means that old-school drives inherently clash with their design and aesthetic. Even if you’re a console gamer, the best SSDs are a compelling upgrade for the game console of your choice – you can ask any PC gamer what it’s like to all but eliminate load times with a speedy SSD. It’s because of this flexibility that we’ve created this list of the best SSDs you can buy today, each one tested and ranked in house here at TechRadar.
There are tons of great SSDs out there, and the good thing is that even if your budget isn’t as large as you’d like it to be, there are still plenty of great choices out there. And we here at TechRadar have sifted through the masses of SSDs out there in order to find the best SSDs. We’ve tested, reviewed and ranked every SSD on this list, and we can assure you that they really are the best SSDs you can buy today.
This is the top SSD on the market, and with good reason. It's astonishingly fast, with up to 3200 MBps read and 1900 MBps write speeds. That's due to the PCIe interface, which allows light-years faster speeds than the already extremely quick SATA interface. On top of that, it's available with up to 1TB capacity. And it only requires 5.7 watts of power when active and a mere 1.2 watts when idle.
Kingston's HyperX line-up is aimed squarely at gamers. Its headsets are known for being much higher quality than their price might hint at, and HyperX customer support is excellent. Its line of SSDs for gaming computers come in an M.2 form factor, but are also available with a half-height adapter that plugs into your PCIe like any other expansion card.
The NVMe standard is designed to maximize the strengths of solid-state drives, and the Samsung 960 Pro takes full advantage. With an M.2 form factor and ridiculous read speeds of up to 3500 MBps, these SSDs are already enticing, but the fact it's available as large as 2TB is incredible. All that storage doesn't come cheap, but if you need lots (and LOTS) of fast storage, it's definitely worth it.
If you're looking for plenty of options, the Toshiba OCZ RD400 series of drives come in 4 sizes and three different form factors: M.2, M.2 2280, and add-in card (AIC). Not all sizes are in all form factors, so if you're looking for a fast 1TB drive, make sure you have room in your computer case.
- This product is only available in the US and UK at the time of this writing. Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Samsung 960 Evo
This M.2 SSD from WD comes with a 5-year warranty and boasts some pretty excellent read/write times, up to 2050 MBps read and 800 write on the 512GB model. Great for installation or OS purposes, but unfortunately the available sizes don't leave a lot of flexibility as far as storage is concerned.
If you want to save a few bucks, but don't want to sacrifice too much in the way of performance, the WD Blue SATA SSD is a great compromise. It nearly maxes out the bandwidth of the SATA 3 interface with its read/write speeds, and you can find the 1TB model in the wild for a pittance.
The U.2 standard allows for bigger SSD capacities and uses your computer's PCIe x4 slot to send all that data back and forth. The Intel 750 series includes a cable so you can mount the drive in the bay on your case and still plug it into the PCIe slot on your motherboard.
The Crucial BX300 isn’t the fastest SSD you can buy, but it is affordable and chiefly reliable to boot. Sold in three different sizes, this SATA drive is aimed at users still hanging onto older desktops and laptops that might want their PCs to boot up at a rate more analogous to their phones. Plus, it’s a better performer than the pricier MX300, thanks to MLC NAND.
If you need an SSD that will last into your next computer, the HP S700 Pro has just what you need. Its life will far exceed its warranty, offering up 2 million hours of use and up to 650 terabytes written. This is one SSD that's in it for the long haul, but the SATA interface will slow things down somewhat in the read/write department, which technically helps it last even longer.
For the longest time, NVMe solid-state storage has been too expensive. However, with their 760p series of SSDs, Intel aims to change this. The 760p delivers performance that’s only slightly behind the Samsung 960 Evo, reaching speeds of 3,056 MB/s read and 1,606 MB/s write. But what makes the Intel 760p the best SSD you can buy is the spectacular price-to-performance ratio of this drive. Sure you can find faster NVMe drives, but you’ll be paying a premium that just isn’t worth it. This drive makes us excited for the future of flash storage.
Read the full review: Intel 760p Series SSD
Unless you have a laptop or desktop computer that employs the USB Type-C Gen 2 interface, you might want to reconsider your interest in the Samsung Portable SSD T5. Otherwise, with read/write speeds of up to 540/515MBps, respectively, this external storage device does its best to keep up with some of the more modest PCIe players, and the result is superb.
Read the full review: Samsung Portable SSD T5
Gabe Carey has also contributed to this article
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