The Best Storage 2019: Solid State, HDD, External & NAS

[Julio Franco]

It's been over a decade but we can finally declare solid state drives are not only mainstream, but they're a commodity. Fast storage will hopefully only get faster but today's best choices are only differentiated by how extreme you want to go and how willing you are to pay for the very best.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/bestof/storage/

 

[merikafyeah]

Those are good prices. Deals might be even better towards the end of the year. Hopefully those dumb tariffs won't start creeping up the prices again any time soon.

 

[Nobina]

Just recently got an SSD and I was surprised at how prices have gone down. M.2s were even cheaper than the SATA ones but my degenerate motherboard doesn't support it. Still a big performance improvement.

 

[VitalyT]

I use Synology DiskStation DS218 at home, to watch movies from it.

Unfortunately, most of 4K content fails to playback properly, the system isn't fast enough for it.

This is something I would advise potential buyers to consider.

 

[fktech]

Anyone do a head to head comparison of Samsung 970 Evo and 860 Pro? In the real world what's the speed benefit?

 

[Badelhas]

Just recently got an SSD and I was surprised at how prices have gone down. M.2s were even cheaper than the SATA ones but my degenerate motherboard doesn't support it. Still a big performance improvement.

Anyone do a head to head comparison of Samsung 970 Evo and 860 Pro? In the real world what's the speed benefit?

Correct me if I am wrong but from what I have read the real world performance benefit from going from a SATA SSD to a M.2 SSD is nowhere near the ones we got when we jumped from a HDD to a SATA SSD so for normal use it´s not really that noticeable. You will probably shave a couple of seconds when booting or loading a game, nothing more.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Just recently got an SSD and I was surprised at how prices have gone down. M.2s were even cheaper than the SATA ones but my degenerate motherboard doesn't support it. Still a big performance improvement.

Anyone do a head to head comparison of Samsung 970 Evo and 860 Pro? In the real world what's the speed benefit?

Correct me if I am wrong but from what I have read the real world performance benefit from going from a SATA SSD to a M.2 SSD is nowhere near the ones we got when we jumped from a HDD to a SATA SSD so for normal use it´s not really that noticeable. You will probably shave a couple of seconds when booting or loading a game, nothing more.

Well it's the SATA v NVMe interface. NVMe has a lot more peak bandwidth, many times more than SATA3 bus which is still limited to 600mb/s.

So an NVMe drive can offer much much higher sequential read and write speeds >2500mb/s is typical, versus most SATA3 drives that top out around 550mb/s.

But constantly writing large files sequentially is not a common regular occurrence for most average PC users. The most common thing occurring in Windows is many random smaller file read and writes, typically small chunks.

A mechanical drive is very bad at this, an average drive might get just 1mb/s! A SATA SSD is a lot better, 350mb/s is typical. This is a HUGE boost over a mechanical drive, but even so 350mb/s isn't enough to hit the limit of the SATA3 bus. Maybe a quality NVMe drive could do 700mb/s. It's better and beyond what the SATA bus can allow, but nothing like as much better as the gap between a mechanical drive and the SATA SSD.

So sure, NVMe is definitely better, and it allows much higher peak speeds, and it sometimes allows a little higher typical random speeds. But it is not a nearly as big an advance as going from a mechanical drive to a SATA drive.

If you have an NVMe slot it's a no brainer to buy an NVMe drive if you are in the market for an SSD with a decent budget. But if you only have SATA or on a tight budget, then any SATA drive is such a huge boost over any mechanical drive you will be very happy and wouldn't be missing out on too much for a typical use scenario.

 

[tipstir]

NAND SSD is good on tablets and smart cells. Most here use SSD drives on their laptops and desktop. I am old fashion I rather use HDD but for the house network here I use SAMBA NAS to manage things. I have backup drives to backup those drives. I also use Cloud tech Box.com gave away 50 GB once that came in handle but I mostly use Windows 10 OneDrive along with Google Drive also got iCloud eek. The only things stored on computer it self is the operating system and programs to run on it. Everything else it kept off that HDD.

 

[vhfan]

Just recently got an SSD and I was surprised at how prices have gone down. M.2s were even cheaper than the SATA ones but my degenerate motherboard doesn't support it. Still a big performance improvement.

Anyone do a head to head comparison of Samsung 970 Evo and 860 Pro? In the real world what's the speed benefit?

Correct me if I am wrong but from what I have read the real world performance benefit from going from a SATA SSD to a M.2 SSD is nowhere near the ones we got when we jumped from a HDD to a SATA SSD so for normal use it´s not really that noticeable. You will probably shave a couple of seconds when booting or loading a game, nothing more.

Thats 100% correct , thats why I have stayed with my Samsung 850 Pro 2.5 because the speed in daily computer use is barely noticeable and basic web surfing is the only thing I do.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Anyone do a head to head comparison of Samsung 970 Evo and 860 Pro? In the real world what's the speed benefit?

About 2 years ago, I replaced a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO m.2 SATA SSD with a 512GB Toshiba RD400 m.2 NVMe SSD (an excellent performing NVMe SSD, second only to the Samsung 960 at the time) and noticed no difference in everyday use, under any circumstances. This is because up to about 500 MB/sec, which is pretty damn fast, the EVO is the equal of the RD400.

Yes, I could run CrystalDiskMark and see 3x the throughput in large file transfers but how often do you take advantage of that? Unless you have Thunderbolt peripherals, there's no time the average person can move data that quickly to any external storage device. It's also a rare occurrence that the CPU is starved for data at 500 MB/sec for a good SATA SSD.

I have 4 other m.2 SSDs in service in various computers and all those are SATA. I just had a look and the 1TB WD Blue SATA m.2, a good drive, is the same cost as the 512 GB 970 EVO. I'd get the WD every time, in fact I have one.

 

[fktech]

About 2 years ago, I replaced a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO m.2 SATA SSD with a 512GB Toshiba RD400 m.2 NVMe SSD (an excellent performing NVMe SSD, second only to the Samsung 960 at the time) and noticed no difference in everyday use, under any circumstances. This is because up to about 500 MB/sec, which is pretty damn fast, the EVO is the equal of the RD400.

Yes, I could run CrystalDiskMark and see 3x the throughput in large file transfers but how often do you take advantage of that? Unless you have Thunderbolt peripherals, there's no time the average person can move data that quickly to any external storage device. It's also a rare occurrence that the CPU is starved for data at 500 MB/sec for a good SATA SSD.

I have 4 other m.2 SSDs in service in various computers and all those are SATA. I just had a look and the 1TB WD Blue SATA m.2, a good drive, is the same cost as the 512 GB 970 EVO. I'd get the WD every time, in fact I have one.

Terrific reply. Thanks for the real world comparison.

 

[fktech]

Thats 100% correct , thats why I have stayed with my Samsung 850 Pro 2.5 because the speed in daily computer use is barely noticeable and basic web surfing is the only thing I do.

Thanks!

 

[fktech]

Correct me if I am wrong but from what I have read the real world performance benefit from going from a SATA SSD to a M.2 SSD is nowhere near the ones we got when we jumped from a HDD to a SATA SSD so for normal use it´s not really that noticeable. You will probably shave a couple of seconds when booting or loading a game, nothing more.

Concur.

 

[Lounds]

Anyone remember OCZ's PCI-E SSD that was read speeds of 1700MB/s back in 2011, that basically laid the groundwork for the M.2 slot to be linked into the PCI-E bus. What I don't understand is why no one has suggested a new SATA interface or upgrade, wheres SATA4?

 

[Mike89]

SSDs are still too expensive for me. I just bought a WD Black 2 TB hard drive for $114. When an SSD can match this, I'll switch to them. Until then my mechanical hard drives are still going strong. I do have one 120 GB SSD for my OS, that's it. Anyone remember the claims that SSDs would soon be in the price range of mechanical drives? Yeah right, quite a few years later and claims are still BS. The makers of the SSD don't want to let go of their profit margins. You know good and damn well an SSD has got to be cheaper to produce than a mechanical hard drive, yet prices are still out a sight. BS I say.

 

[Jules Mark]

For HDD I only trust HGST.

 

[BobNYC]

I'm disappointed to see you recommend the Seagate Backup Plus Hub. When the first one failed, I assumed it was an anomaly. So I bought a second one. That too failed after 5 months - and not even daily use. Your recommendation renders your other choices suspect IMHO.

 

[Giody]

I work at a hardware store at service and seen a lot of these WD red fail so.... as for the rest +1

 

[Norm Al Saline]

Anyone do a head to head comparison of Samsung 970 Evo and 860 Pro? In the real world what's the speed benefit?

I believe that while the drive statistics are finite, the Real World Test is simply, "If it feels fast, it is fast." Many an old clunky laptop can go from a POS to fast and "modern" with just an inexpensive SSD and Windows 10.

 

[Norm Al Saline]

The 1 Gb transfer over Ethernet realizes transfer speeds about equal to SATA 2 speeds and makes not only SATA 3 unnecessary, but SSDs overkill. A 4+ drive NAS using Raid 5 gives good reliability. I prefer Synology for the control, add-on packages and free DDNS support

 

[Norm Al Saline]

SSDs are still too expensive for me. I just bought a WD Black 2 TB hard drive for $114. When an SSD can match this, I'll switch to them. Until then my mechanical hard drives are still going strong. I do have one 120 GB SSD for my OS, that's it. Anyone remember the claims that SSDs would soon be in the price range of mechanical drives? Yeah right, quite a few years later and claims are still BS. The makers of the SSD don't want to let go of their profit margins. You know good and damn well an SSD has got to be cheaper to produce than a mechanical hard drive, yet prices are still out a sight. BS I say.

Thats because the HDD prices fell dramatically too

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Anyone remember OCZ's PCI-E SSD that was read speeds of 1700MB/s back in 2011, that basically laid the groundwork for the M.2 slot to be linked into the PCI-E bus. What I don't understand is why no one has suggested a new SATA interface or upgrade, wheres SATA4?

You have it already, it's called U.2, and it is DOA.

M.2 is becoming widespread, and offers far more speed, up to hypothetically 4GB/s. Even slower M.2 NVMe drives offer virtually no visible increase to performance over a SATA SSD. Even the fastest HDDs dont come close to saturating SATA III.

So better question: what would the point be of SATA 4 when we already have M.2?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The 1 Gb transfer over Ethernet realizes transfer speeds about equal to SATA 2 speeds and makes not only SATA 3 unnecessary, but SSDs overkill. A 4+ drive NAS using Raid 5 gives good reliability. I prefer Synology for the control, add-on packages and free DDNS support

You mean SATA 1. Sata 2 goes up to 300MB/s, SATA 1 does 150MB/s, 1Gb ethernet is 125MB/s.

Until 10Gb/s is more widely available, I agree that SSD NAS is overkill, not to mention hard drives offer better capacity for the price. However, inside a system, the benefits of SSDs are real.

 

[fktech]

For HDD I only trust HGST.

WD all the way!

 

[NuNYaBiZiNeSS]

Anyone who is not worried about cost and wants to justify if an SSD NAS is better than a mechanical drive NAS, look at the bigger picture and see if you would appreciate the benefits. Everybody has their own needs to fulfill so the majority of comments are just subjective or personal choice. For starters, putting aside additional cost, an SSD NAS is not overkill. Not if you have or want a smart home using solar. Not if you insist on silent operation. Not if you like smaller drives giving you more room for better air-flow. Not if you like lower energy consumption saving on over-all energy cost. These things plus you get extreme performance.

The only draw-back is the intial cost. I can overlook the cost premium for a 4TB or 8TB NAS in my home to gain those added benefits. Lower power consumption, silent operation, smaller size and extreme performance do matter. Paying a premium up front has advantages. Well known SSDs come with a 10 year warranty, have no moving parts and have a much lower failure rate than often recommended NAS rated mechanical drives, which usually only carry a 3 year standard warranty but they sure like pushing paid service contracts to extend that. The lower energy consumption while running a NAS 24/7 for 10 years will definitely calculate to worthwhile savings over the long term. The silent operation is critical to alot of home owners. While idle, an SSD is quiet, makes no noise, and energy consumption can be minimized to near nothing. Mechanical drives, although not as efficient, do have an idle state where energy usage can be managed and reduced but the starting and stopping eventually adds to the wear and tear of the drive. If you have the money up front, an SSD NAS is hands down a better option.