Best SSDs of 2024: Reviews and buying advice

SSDs, i.e. solid state drives, have completely changed the computing experience over the last decade. If you remember the heyday of the slothful hard drive, you know exactly what I mean.

These wondrous NAND storage devices have sped up previously ponderous boot times to a point bordering instantaneous, vastly improved the responsiveness of programs and games, and generally made the copious long wait times we all used to suffer a thing of a past. If you’re not using one, you should be and if you have an older model, consider upgrading.

Solid-state drives are nearly all NAND-based, but the tech they employ varies considerably. First to market, but now rapidly joining hard drives as yesteryear’s tech, are SATA SSDs — 2.5-inch form factor drives that connect to your PC via the same SATA port used by hard drives. We rarely cover SATA SSDs anymore, and it seems vendors have lost interest as they rarely pitch them to us. When they do, we cover them.

The market is now dominated by far smaller, far faster NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) “gumstick” SSDs that fit in the M.2 slots found on every modern computer. These come in PCIe 3.0, PCIe 4.0, and PCIe 5.0, and soon PCIe 6.0 flavors.

Form factors are one thing, but shoppers also want to consider the chips used by SSDs, the caching methods, warranties, and price. You can learn more about those details in our buyers’ guide below our recommendations.

Our recommendations cover both internal SSDs (NVMe picks listed first, SATA picks second) and external SSDs (listed last), with the latter largely being NVMe types in an enclosure on the end of a USB or Thunderbolt cable. Some older models are SATA internally, but those are increasingly rare.

Why you should trust us: It’s in our name, PCWorld. Our reviewers have been testing PC hardware for decades. Our storage evaluations are thorough and rigorous, testing the limits of every product — from performance benchmarks to the practicalities of regular use. As PC users ourselves, we know what makes a product stand out. Only the best SSDs make this list. For more about our criteria and testing process, scroll to the bottom of this article.

See also PCWorld’s guide to the best external drives if you’re strictly looking for a portable storage solution.






Crucial P3 – Best PCIe 3.0 SSD





















Pros

Excellent everyday PCIe 3 performance

Fantastically low price per GB


Cons

Very low TBW rating

Non-cached QLC writes are extremely slow









Price When Reviewed:

500GB/$50 I 1TB/$90 I 2TB/$200 I 4TB/$250




Best Prices Today:


$39.99 at Amazon$40.99 at Best Buy$56.99 at B&H





Sure, PCIe 4.0 SSDs scream during big file transfers, but if you’re still using an older system with PCIe 3.0, upgrading to an NVMe SSD still provides substantial benefits to your PC’s speed and overall responsiveness. Better yet, you don’t need to break the bank to take advantage. The Crucial P3 is a very good daily performer, but it’s available for a bargain rate of just $45 for a 500GB model or $65 for a 1TB model. Though it doesn’t have top-tier PCIe 4 performance and the TBW rating is pretty low, the P3 does have excellent real-world write times and unless you really stress the drive you shouldn’t notice much of a difference anyhow.

All told, this drive is an outstanding choice for anyone looking to snag a solid everyday SSD at a great price.

Read our full

Crucial P3 review






Solidigm P44 Pro SSD – Best PCIe 4.0 SSD





















Pros

Fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD to date

DRAM facilitates excellent random performance

Synergy low-level Windows driver improves random performance further


Cons

Inconsistent pricing on web









Price When Reviewed:

512GB: $79.99 I 1TB: $129.99 I 2TB: $219..99




Best Prices Today:


$113.40 at AmazonNot Available at Adorama





The Solidigm P44 Pro is the fastest PCIe 4.0 drive we have ever tested bar none. In fact, it finished within the top five fastest drives in our tests, and was only beaten by three next-gen PCIe 5.0 drives. Plus, it becomes even faster when you install the Solidigm Windows driver, which further improves random performance in small read/writes.

Not only does the Solidigm P44 Pro provide top-notch performance, but it also comes at a very reasonable price if you shop at the right place — we found that pricing varies widely online from retailer to retailer. This is one of the best SSDs on the market, and holds its own at the top despite stiff competition from a crowded field of other excellent PCIe 4.0 drives.

Our runner-up for the best PCIe 4.0 drive is the WD Black SN850X. It’s a screaming-fast drive, delivering top-tier performance. If you can find it at a competitive price to the P44 Pro, you’d be golden buying either SSD.

Read our full

Solidigm P44 Pro review






WD Blue SN5000 – Best budget PCIe 4.0 SSD





















Pros

Good everyday performance

Very affordable

Fastest NVMe SSD of any ilk we’ve tested writing 450GB


Cons

Top performance requires HMB support









Price When Reviewed:

500GB: $80 I 1TB: $90 I 2TB: $150 I 4TB: $290




Best Prices Today:


$44.99 at WD





With PCIe 5.0 drives coming to market, we’re finally starting to see companies offering budget PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives at compelling prices. Our previous pick, the WD Blue SN580 NVMe SSD, has just been supplanted by WD’s Blue SN5000. At just $75 for a 1TB model at the time of writing, and with speedy transfers, you won’t likely find a better value PCIe 4.0 drive.

In our testing, this drive proved to be among the fastest Host Memory Buffer (HMB) SSDs we’ve tested. And unlike the SN580 before it, the SN5000 didn’t falter at the 450GB transfer test, but instead tied the record among all SSDs.

You can save a few more dollars by opting for the Kingston NV3. It’s competitive with the SN5000 Blue in many tests, and even faster at 450GB writes, but has a less generous warranty: three years as opposed to the SN5000’s five years.

Read our full

WD SN5000 NVMe SSD review






Teamgroup Z540 – Best PCIe 5.0 SSD





















Pros

PCIe 5.0

Up to 4TB in capacity (soon)

Second-fastest SSD we’ve tested overall


Cons

Not particularly cheap









Price When Reviewed:

1TB: $150 I 2TB: $260 I 4TB: $470




Best Prices Today:


$142.99 at Amazon$142.99 at Newegg$142.99 at Walmart Electronics





As with any PCIe 5.0 SSD, there are important caveats to bear in mind. For starters, you’ll pay a premium over extremely fast, and in some cases even faster NVMe PCIe 4.0 drives that employ a host memory buffer (HMB) design, as you can see in our review of the Solidigm P44 Pro — our pick for best PCIe 4.0 SSD.

But if you use multi-threaded software and your system sports a 13th/14th-gen Intel CPU (which the Phison PS5026-E26-52 controller inside this drive is optimized for), you can be assured of benchmarking-busting performance.

Now, in all fairness the Z540 isn’t the fastest PCIe 5.0 drive we’ve tested. It traded benchmark wins with our previous top pick the Crucial T705. But the Teamgroup Z540 has that competitor beat, decisively, when it comes to price, making it the clear pick for this category.

How can you argue with the Z540’s $143, $247, and $470 asking prices for 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB, respectively, compared with the T705’s $155, $280, and $515 prices, when performance is so close? That’s the kind of savings that pushes a close-second winner into the lead, in our book.

That being said, keep an eye on those prices, because they are always changing, and today’s alternative pick could easily become tomorrow’s best buy. Similarly, Corsair’s MP700 Pro SE offers very competitive performance that could make it a tasty option if its prices are to come down.

Bottom line: PCIe 5.0 shoppers have lots to choose from!

Read our full

Teamgroup Z540 PCIe 5 NVMe SSD review






Crucial P310 (2230) – Best SSD for Steam Deck





















Pros

Fastest 2230 SSD we’ve tested

Available with up to 2TB of capacity


Cons

Low TBW endurance rating









Price When Reviewed:

1TB: $115 I 2TB: $215




Best Prices Today:


$114.99 at Crucial





If you’re looking to upgrade the storage in your Steam Deck, you can’t just go with any of the best SSDs available to PCs — you need a 2230 module, meaning one that measures 22mm wide, by 30mm long.

Luckily there are at least a few nice options to choose from, such as the the WD Black SN770M and Corsair MP600 Core Mini, and our favorite, the Crucial P310.

Why are we partial to the P310? Because it’s the fastest 2230 SSD we’ve tested, and by a rather large margin.

It bested our previous pick — the aforementioned WD Black SN770M — in every benchmark save for the 450GB transfer, where it lost steam at the 85 percent mark after running out of secondary cache. But large transfers are rare for most users.

The P310 is a little more pricey than the SN770M, too, but not by much more than $10 for both the 1TB and 2TB offerings.

If optimum speed is what you’re after, and you don’t foresee regularly moving large amounts of data, the P310 is the ticket.

Read our full

Crucial P310 NVMe SSD (2230) review






Seagate Game Drive SSD – Best SSD for PS5





















Pros

Very good overall performance

Excellent 4K performance

Low-profile heatsink

Twice the TBW rating of the competition


Cons

A bit pricey

No 4TB model









Price When Reviewed:

1TB: $100 I 2TB: $150




Best Prices Today:


$117.95 at Amazon$134 at Walmart Electronics$134.99 at Best Buy





The Seagate Game Drive PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD was made specifically for next-gen consoles—the PS5 in particular. And it doesn’t disappoint. Instead of HMB, it features DRAM for primary caching duties, which is practically essential for Sony’s console system. This is important because the PS5 doesn’t support HMB, so a drive such as this with DRAM cache is a must. The drive comes in 1TB and 2TB models, which means you’ll have plenty of space to store all of your games should you need it.

While the Seagate Game Drive is optimized for a PS5, it’s no slouch as a regular SSD either. In our speed tests it did remarkably well, earning the spot as the second-fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD with random ops that we’ve ever tested. Seagate also provides a generous five-year warranty with the drive and it has an astounding 1,275TBW rating—more than double the industry norm. The drive is a bit pricey, but the special optimizations for PS5 means that console owners can rest easy knowing that their money is going to good use with the Seagate Game Drive.

Read our full

Seagate Game Drive PS5 NVMe SSD review






Samsung 870 EVO – Best SATA SSD





















Pros

Excellent performance, especially with small file operations

Unlike the QVO, long writes don’t slow down


Cons

A little expensive









Price When Reviewed:

250GB/$40, 500GB/$70, 1TB/$130, 2TB/$250, 4TB/$480




Best Prices Today:


$64.99 at Walmart$91.92 at Amazon$99.99 at B&H





If you’re looking to add some storage via a traditional 2.5-inch SATA drive rather than a tiny M.2 “gumstick,” Samsung’s spectacular 870 EVO is your best bet. It’s the fastest SATA SSD we’ve tested, it’s available in up to 4TB of capacity, and it’s exceedingly affordable given its speed. Enough said, really — though Samsung’s killer Magician SSD management software and long warranty period also deserve a shout-out. The EVO series is a legend among SSDs for a reason.

Read our full

Samsung 870 EVO SATA SSD review






Crucial BX500 – Best budget SATA SSD





















Pros

Good everyday performance

Low price per gigabyte


Cons

Slows drastically when secondary cache runs out









Price When Reviewed:

240GB/$40, 480GB/$55, 1TB/$90, 2TB/$200




Best Prices Today:


$23.99 at Amazon$24.99 at B&H$24.99 at Crucial





The Samsung 870 EVO offers an intoxicating blend of performance and affordable pricing, but if you want as much capacity as possible for as cheaply as possible, consider the Crucial BX500. You can get its 1TB model for $70.50, almost $40 less than the equivalent EVO, while a 2TB version costs just $125.

The drive also comes in exceedingly affordable 240GB and 480GB capacities, but as we said in our review: “We recommend this QLC drive in the larger capacities for those who want good everyday performance for a budget price,” adding that “the smaller capacities will likely run into more slowdowns during heavy writes.”

Read our full

Crucial BX500 SATA SSD review






Crucial X9 Pro – Best external SSD