Image: Rob Schulz / PCWorld
Another round of sales are coming for Amazon Prime members—but if you can’t wait until October 8 and 9 for Prime Big Deal Days to begin, you’re in luck. Some SSDs and external storage ranging from 1TB to 4TB are already on decent discount.
Take it from me—I’ve been tracking SSD and storage deals for well over a decade, and have been covering them for PCWorld since 2016. The list you’ll see below considers not just capacity and speed, but also online reviews from tech sites like ours (when available), user feedback, and price history. That last point is especially important, as SSD prices have been rising since last fall.
Read on for the best SSD and storage bargains, and check out our Prime Big Deal Days 2024 deals hub for fantastic sales in other tech categories. You may also be interested in our top picks for the best SSDs of 2024 and the best external drives of 2024.
Best early Prime Big Deal Days 2024 deals on internal SSDs
2.5-inch SATA SSDs
- TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan Z, 1TB 2.5-in SATA – $55 (15% off)
- TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan Z, 2TB 2.5-in SATA – $97 (12% off)
SATA SSD prices haven’t dropped dramatically yet, but if you need to expand your storage without breaking the bank, TeamGroup’s Vulcan Z line is a solid choice. This form factor for SATA drives is great for games, photos, and other files that benefit from a boost from HDD speeds but don’t justify the NVMe SSD premium.
M.2 SSDs
- Western Digital Black SN850X, 1TB NVMe Gen 4 – $80 (30% off)
- TeamGroup MP44S, 2TB Steam Deck Gen 4 M.2 – $140 (10% off)
- Corsair MP600 Core Mini, 2TB Steam Deck Gen 4 – $140 (42% off)
- Crucial T700, 2TB NVMe Gen 5 – $221 (12% off)
- Samsung 990 Pro, 4TB NVMe Gen 4 – $290 (38% off)
Since SSD prices have risen over the last year, the best prices now don’t match historical all-time lows, especially on internal M.2 SSDs. But you can still find decent prices, like on the large-capacity version of the speedy Samsung 990 Pro, as well as Corsair’s Steam Deck–sized drive.
Best early Prime Big Deal Days 2024 on external storage
- WD My Passport, 1TB USB 3.1 portable hard drive – $55 (21% off)
- Toshiba Canvio Advance, 2TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive – $70 (8% off)
- Samsung T7, 2TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 external SSD – $150 (44% off)
Sales are still a little sleepy on external drives ahead of October Prime Day, but they’re not completely dormant—right now you can snag Samsung’s popular T7 external SSD close to its all-time low price.
1.
Why aren’t SSDs as cheap as last year?
The balance between demand and supply has shifted—with fewer drives on the market, prices have been drifting up since last fall. (Black Friday 2023 was the beginning of the golden era’s end.) The deals picked for this roundup may not always match those incredible 2023 prices, but they do hit a low for the period since the cost increases.
2.
Do brands matter for SSDs and storage?
Yes, but only to a point. Major manufacturers are generally reliable—think Samsung, Crucial, Western Digital (aka WD), SK Hynix, Corsair, Kingston, and even newer players like TeamGroup and Solidigm. Outside of that, you may be playing a bit fast and loose with your data’s longevity.
However, everyone has that one horror story about a hard-disk drive that failed, and why they’ll never use, say, WD or Crucial again. That’s less commonly a manufacturing error, and more so a matter of luck. No drive is guaranteed to meet its life expectancy, which is why you should perform regular backups.
3.
Is an SSD better than a HDD?
SSDs are faster and take less room in a PC than a hard-disk drive (HDD), which gives them a strong edge. If you only have one storage drive in your PC, it should ideally be an SSD so you get faster boot times and quicker access to your files. A HDD as your primary drive will feel much slower.
But HDDs still have their advantages. First, they’re much cheaper. The going price of a 2TB HDD is about the same as the sale price for a 1TB SSD. You also can get them in higher capacities than SSDs. If you work with huge files, you can pick up an 18TB or 20TB HDD (and as mentioned, since HDD cost less, you’ll spend as much or even less as a 4TB SSD). If you need secondary storage and you don’t need it to be fast, HDDs are a fantastic option.
4.
How do I know if an SSD deal is good?
Here’s the guideline we use for picking deals: First, it should be for an SSD that performs well (or in select cases, performs well for its MSRP), and is a reasonable price when not on sale. The discount should also be significant for that particular model. Ex: For SSDs that almost never go on sale, a reduction of $5 to $10 is already hefty. For others, that might be closer to $20 to $30.
In other words, expect to pick up high-performing drives at an all-time low (or very close to that) during Prime Day. Ignore the options that don’t meet this criteria.
Author: Alaina Yee, Senior Editor, PCWorld
A 14-year veteran of technology and video games journalism, Alaina Yee covers a variety of topics for PCWorld. Since joining the team in 2016, she’s written about CPUs, Windows, PC building, Chrome, Raspberry Pi, and much more—while also serving as PCWorld’s resident bargain hunter (#slickdeals). Currently her focus is on security, helping people understand how best to protect themselves online. Her work has previously appeared in PC Gamer, IGN, Maximum PC, and Official Xbox Magazine.
