Fast Drive (250 Mph)

Product Information

Alas, there are enough different flavors of USB to make your head spin—made worse by the confusing nomenclature surrounding USB these days. For example, today's USB 3.2 standard is for all intents and purposes identical to USB 3.1, simply renamed. (It gets even more confusing with the latest kind of USB: The forthcoming USB4 will absorb Thunderbolt.) That said, you'll still see older USB terminology on your PC or Mac and on many SSDs, so you need to know what term correlates to what. Many SSDs come with cables for both kinds (Type-A and Type-C) at the computer end, or one cable plus an adapter. Two full cables is generally best, as adapters can be awkward and easy to lose. You'll want to match what comes in the box with the ports your PC has (and has free). Also, match specs; spending extra, for example, for a 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 SSD if you only have 5Gbps-capable ports may be pointless. A standout feature: the 990 Pro's sequential writes significantly outpace both its predecessor and competitors. Additionally, it showcases impressive read speeds, nearing PCIe 4.0's maximum of 8,000MB/s.It's 7,449MB/s recorded sequential read speed in our testing is right at Samsung's promised read speed, while it's sequential write speed of 6,826MB/s in our tests is not quite at the promised 6,900MB/s, but it's damned close.

The LaCie Rugged SSD Pro takes a Seagate FireCuda NVMe solid-state drive, connects it to a Thunderbolt 3 interface, and puts it in a silicone-wrapped, crush-resistant aluminum case with a colossal IP67 ruggedness rating—dust-tight and able to survive 30 minutes in shallow water, without even having to close the usual rubber flap over the Thunderbolt 3 port. That adds up to a somewhat specialized device, best appreciated by videographers shooting outdoors with MacBook laptops (the kind most likely to have Thunderbolt ports), but a terrific mix of speed and sturdiness. Who It's For While PCIe 4.0 SSDs have a theoretical maximum speed of 8,000MB/s, the PNY XLR8 CS3140 pushes right up to that line with a rated sequential read speed of 7,500MB/s, along with a 6,850MB/s sequential write rating for its 2TB and 4TB capacities (5,650MB/s for 1TB).Most workaday SSDs don't come close to saturating this interface, so there's no point in paying a premium for a Thunderbolt drive unless you specifically need the port and the speed because of your computer. You can plug a USB-C drive into a Thunderbolt port, so you're not obliged to buy a Thunderbolt drive if you don't need the speed but have the port. For all these reasons, an SSD is the ideal upgrade for an old PC or laptop. Even if you already have a solid-state drive, the latest models are faster than ever – and prices have tumbled over the past few years so, if you’re running short on space, you can upgrade to a larger model without breaking the bank. It’s up to you whether you choose an internal drive, to provide a speed boost to your OS and applications, or whether you opt for an external model that connects by USB and lets you conveniently carry your data around. Solid-state drives (SSDs) have come a long way in recent years: a long way up in speed and capacity, and a long way down in price.

Technology that was previously reserved for enterprise customers and the PC performance elite has gained the common touch, with mainstream desktops and laptops now featuring SSDs rather than hard drives as primary storage choices. And adding an internal SSD to an older PC as a new boot drive remains a great, cost-effective upgrade. If you're still relying on spinning metal, you'll find it one of the easiest ways to an instant, undeniable speed boost. SSDs are small and extremely robust, which makes them great for moving media libraries or big projects between PCs or transferring Steam games from your PC to your laptop. And with read speeds anywhere between 500MB/sec and a staggering 3.2GB/sec (with the right connectivity – see below), you’ll be amazed how fast these things can go. Transfers that used to take ten or 20 minutes suddenly happen in a minute or less. What kind of connectivity should I look for? SATA-based drives tend to be a little cheaper; they're also slower, but just fine for most users' everyday applications. SATA-based SSDs typically top out at around 500MBps for peak read and write speeds, just a bit below the ceiling of the USB 3.0 interface. (Much more about that in a moment.) However, if you're going to be transferring large files such as videos often, you may well want to spring for a PCIe/NVMe-based external SSD. That also ties in with the port you'll plug your SSD into. (Credit: Zlata Ivleva)There are some caveats. QLC is slower than TLC, so the 870 QVO can lag behind the rest of Samsung’s typically blazing-fast SSD catalogue, and the larger models are serious investments. Then again, measured on a cost-per-gigabyte basis, their immense size does result in a certain kind of value: the 8TB model, for instance, works out at a mere 5p per gigabyte.