The Best PC Storage: SSD, HDD, External Drives & NAS

[neeyik]

No TBW comparison of the SSD drives?

Here you go:

Corsair Force Series MP150
240 GB = 400 TBW
480 GB = 800 TBW
960 GB = 1700 TBW
1920 GB = 3120 TBW

Corsair Force Series MP600
500 GB = 850 TBW
1 TB GB = 1800 TBW
2 TB = 3600 TBW

Crucial MX500
250 GB = 100 TBW
500 GB = 180 TBW
1 TB = 360 TBW
2 TB = 700 TB

Sabrent Rocket 4.0
500 GB = 850 TBW
1 TB = 1800 TBW
2 TB = 3600 TBW

Sabrent Rocket (PCIe 3.0)
256 GB = 380 TBW
512 GB = 800 TBW
1 TB = 1665 TBW
2 TB = 3115 TBW

Samsung 970 Pro
512 GB = 600 TBW
1 TB = 1200 TBW

Samsung 970 Evo Plus
250 GB = 150 TBW
500 GB = 300 TBW
1 TB = 600 TBW
2 TB = 1200 TBW

Western Digital Black SN750
250 GB = 200 TBW
500 GB = 300 TBW
1 TB = 600 TBW
2 TB = 1200 TBW

 

[Axil00]

Actually, Sabrent has had 4TB M.2 drives for a while, but those are still PCI-E 3.0 versions. They should release the updated PCI-E 4.0 version of it soon.

Right there with you, I've been waiting to pull the trigger on a 2tb SSD for while now. It doesn't have to be the fastest just good durability and under $100/TB. Sadly covid has caused the prices of all PC parts to rise.

Had a hell of a time finding parts to help my son build his first gaming machine. Of course it didn't help that everything needed to feature as much RGB as possible, lol.

 

[Jerry in WA]

The best "mainstream" drive seems a bit spendy considering there are many other nvme options that are cheaper and still pretty fast. Do we mean "mainstream" like what I would build for Mom or an office machine, or in terms of the average gaming/productivity rig? I have to say, that WD 750 drive seems like complete overkill for most people. I would say the best mainstream option would be whatever is cheapest per GB at the time from a ~reputable~ brand. Even SATA SSD drives are plenty for most folks anyways, so it seems any nvme would do as all of them exceed sata speeds. Just seems like money wasted that they wouldn't even notice a benefit from.

 

[Julio Franco]

Do we mean "mainstream" like what I would build for Mom or an office machine, or in terms of the average gaming/productivity rig? I have to say, that WD 750 drive seems like complete overkill for most people.

Put in proper context, when we say mainstream it means mainstream for a techie audience like TechSpot's. With that said, the WD 750 is selling almost at the same price to a Crucial MX500, that is insane value. There is no way we would recommend a SATA drive over this to save $10.

 

[ddferrari]

If you're doing a new build and you want it to look as clean as possible, NVMe is the way to go. No sata cables, no power cables, and they tuck right into the mobo. I've got two of the WD SN750 500GB NVMe and one Mushkin Enhanced Pilot 2TB NVMe ($200!) for internal storage.

I knew I was going for all SSDs in my new build, but when I saw that NVMe was about the same price, well... I bought the Aorus Master mobo which has three m.2 slots with aluminum heatsinks. Working great!

 

[EClyde]

Informative and well written. Thanks

 

[p51d007]

I have not been able to destroy my Corsair GTX thumb drives and will be testing Western digital soon, but every Samsung SSD and thumb drive can be destroyed far too easily

Samsung SSD's have major firmware problems and when damaged under normal use, the damage is permanent

8XX Pro series can easily be permanently damaged to prevent a factory wipe from ever again being done

This is clearly a firmware issue!

Their thumb drives can be made unreadable and will not be seen on any computer or O.S. (ever again) after wiping any of them to remove a Win2USB Operating System (same damage to Multiple Samsung thumb drives)

This is a major problem that cannot be fixed under warranty due to the fact that you will simply receive another defective drive

Is this OCZ levels of incompetence and denial ?

Are they the 737 Max of SSD's ?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Until we get to the bottom of this problem, and should you choose to accept that there is a problem, I will never buy another Samsung anything

Good luck Mr Phelps
This disk will self destruct in 5 seconds!

Heck, I still have a 256 meg sandisk titanium thumb drive. I don't use it very much
obviously, but, it still works, although I had to superglue it in the open position because
it wouldn't stay open.

 

[Alfatawi Mendel]

Everything I've ever owned by Toshiba broke/

Most annoying was the stand alone DVD burner, which I managed to get maybe 100 discs out of, before it started to blame the discs, They worked just fine n something else

Now I'm only quoting personal experience...but I'm currently using an internal 2tb, 3.5in Toshiba for storage (not my boot drive). And a 2tb, 2.5in. external Toshiba. They both cost around £60 5 years ago, and still doing fine.
In my long experience using every conceivable HD manufacturer over the years...The biggest HD killer is heat. Ventilate your HD cage properly and they should last for many years.
I've lost count of clients laptops with failed mechanical HD's I've repaired, because of poor cooling, and/or fans choked with dust.

 

[captaincranky]

@Alfatawi Mendel Well, all I can say is, I've never gotten, "the pick of the litter", with any piece of Toshiba I've ever owned.

My latest excursion into the dark world of Toshiba is a 1 TB 3.5" HDD I gor for about $28.00 USD at Micro Center.. I put it in an old XP machine partitioned to 250/750 GB. Every time I boot the box, the Toshiba triggers "disk check", It's never found any errors, but it is annoying nonetheless.

As for "hot HDDs", I tend to build mainstream machines into gaming cases, (Cooler Master "Storm Scout" x 2 (I like the top handles) and an Antec 900), so heat is never an issue.

Anecdotally though, I had an old eMachines (Matx without a front fan), which had the 160 GB WD blue, plus a 250 GB WD Blue, and both drives were still working well, when I threw it away at the age of 14. I honestly don't know if those drives ever got the "heat is bad for you" memo or not.

 

[Adhmuz]

I have two gaming desktops , two gaming laptops (one is pretty old) and a Surface Go. I am retired data center tech and I just can't stop. I recently built the 2nd desktop and now I use NO hard drives anywhere just SSD except in the Synology DS218+ that works with my HDHOMERUN recording cable TV content and PC backups. It currently has a single 3 TB HD. I plan to add a second 3 TB HD for RAID 1 when I can figure out how to move all those files. The HDHOMERUN works nicely with my Fire TV to stream recorded movies, football games, etc. to my cable connected TV. Why use the HDHOMERUN when I can record content with XFINITY One? Xfinity fills up quickly where the NAS has a long way to go to get even 25% full.

Does the Synology not allow you to simply add a drive and convert a single drive into a RAID 1 array? It should allow you to create a mirror without loss of data, although best practice in any RAID change is to back up the data first.

 

[poohbear]

Who owns Sabrent? They just suddenly came out of nowhere?! I checked Micron, Samsung, Western Digital, but none of them own them, which I don't get it, cause the SSD/NAND flash market is controlled by a very small number of producers. I googled Sabrent but there's very little info about them aside from they're American, and use Toshiba NAND chips. But how are they able to undercut the big dogs in price?

Does anyone have any info on them in terms of reliability?

 

[neeyik]

Sabrent is independent and have been around 20 years - they started by selling general PC peripherals and accessories (e.g. SD card readers). As you've noted, they use Toshiba NAND flash in their SSD drives, but like all their products, they source the manufacturing of them from other companies/countries. I should imagine that created some good deals with Toshiba and the likes to be able to undercut the likes of Crucial or they're happy to take smaller margins.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Does the Synology not allow you to simply add a drive and convert a single drive into a RAID 1 array? It should allow you to create a mirror without loss of data, although best practice in any RAID change is to back up the data first.

They do... in fact, depending on the unit, you can auto-convert to RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 etc... plus they have SHR which is basically a better RAID 5 and SHR-2 which is a better RAID 6...

 

[IzzyBAIDJI]

The best mainstream SSD is the ADATA SX8200 Pro hands down no competition for sub 150USD 1TB. 3500 read 3000 write. It just blows the crap out of Techspot's beloved WD black.

 

[hk2000]

I have used dozens of HDDs in the past 20 years or so- especially building PCs for a living, at least for a while, I have never had A Seagate that didn't fail prematurely. I don't care what series, they all end up causing you data loss and headaches.

 

[hel0sn8]

Sabrent NVMe in TLC, MLC or QLC flavours = unbeatable in terms of value / performance / TBW/MTBF. Top company. great warranty. More companies should take note. Cannot fault.

 

[hel0sn8]

I have used dozens of HDDs in the past 20 years or so- especially building PCs for a living, at least for a while, I have never had A Seagate that didn't fail prematurely. I don't care what series, they all end up causing you data loss and headaches.

Unlucky you eh? Backblaze and literally MILLIONS of others dont agree or have the same findings as you with your 20 years experience. Which means diddly squat and is weak to highlight BTW. Backup is key with any computer storage device regardless of type or brand, they all have potential for failure, like nearly any object that exists in the known Universe.

 

[Wereweeb]

Don't forget about the Hynix Gold P31. It either beats or is comparable to the SN750 in benchmarks, while drawing much less power (Makes it perfect for laptops/mini PC's)