Best portable SSDs

Why it ranks here. The T7 Shield is the drive people trust: a rubber shell rated for three-metre drops, real speeds around 1,000 megabytes a second, and owner after owner who bought it after a SanDisk failed. It ranks first for that record. Its faults are a firmware scare and one drive that died four months out of warranty.

'Samsung T7s are truly the answer'↗, says an owner who returned three SanDisks. Another cancelled a SanDisk order for a trip to Japan and 'got the T7 Shield for $10 more!'↗. A 4 TB owner's has taken 'a few 4 to 10ft drops'↗ and 'it's still kicking'↗. Two of them run a gaming PC: 'They're exceptional'↗. One buyer chose it for 'reliablitity for storing personal family memories'↗. The warnings: one 1 TB 'died catastrophically 4 months after the 3 year guarantee period'↗, with bit rot before that, so 'Never ever trust a single point of failure'↗. It ships in exFAT, which 'delivers really slow speeds on my Windows laptop'↗ until reformatted. And one owner's read 'busy'↗ after a firmware update and Samsung declared it dead, until a Terminal session got it back.

“Totally agreed. I purchased 3 of these, all 3 needed to be returned to Amazon. I have 1 4TB Sandisk that's (thankfully) still working, purchased last year. Sandisk's customer service didn't even reply. Thank you for posting this! Samsung T7s are truly the answer 😄” — YouTube comment · DokoGaTV · 2023-04-02

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• The T7 Shield has a 4TB version that might interest you. It’s only been a couple of months since I’ve had it, but the includes a few 4 to 10ft drops😢, and it’s still kicking 😂.

  YouTube comment · toneloc90 · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• I think it could be a Ventura OS or M1 issue, I can’t see any PCs users with this problem. I’ve now also gone for the slower but reliable Samsung T7.

  YouTube comment · leeb0y · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• I have a 500 gb & 1 tb Sandisk Extreme Pro and haven't had any problems - luckily. I watched this as I had just placed an order for a 2tb version for my trip this week to Japan. I cancelled it and ordered the T7, but went one step more and got the T7 Shield for $10 more! Thanks for the tip.

  YouTube comment · stkuj · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• Totally agreed. I purchased 3 of these, all 3 needed to be returned to Amazon. I have 1 4TB Sandisk that's (thankfully) still working, purchased last year. Sandisk's customer service didn't even reply. Thank you for posting this! Samsung T7s are truly the answer 😄

  YouTube comment · DokoGaTV · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• My Samsung T7 1 TB died catastrophically 4 months after the 3 year guarantee period - with some substantial bit rot in my backup data shortly before that. There was heavy use - but bottom line is: Never ever trust a single point of failure for your important data.

  YouTube comment · maxmaurer6921 · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• I have 2 T7 shields hooked up to my PC for gaming. They're exceptional.

  YouTube comment · Mysticbladegod · 2022-06-17 · watch the original ↗

• That is what im looking for. You guys tech mainly talk the speeds which don't matter to me reliablitity for storing personal family memories.. i have ordered one read alot about it been one of the best out there

  YouTube comment · RossiB88 · 2022-06-17 · watch the original ↗

• I picked the 2tb version for £130 during Black Friday and it is amazing!

  YouTube comment · kashyapnemani683 · 2022-06-17 · watch the original ↗

• So, I recently bought a T7 shield and sometimes while copying files it will give a read/write speed of ~200Mbps but 90% of the time it's stuck at constant 40mbps. I tried running benchmarks from Samsung Magician software and the results were inconsistent from the same USB port.

  Reddit post · u/_krood · r/buildapc · 2023-12-16 · read the original ↗

• It came formatted in exFAT, which delivers really slow speeds on my Windows laptop (around 150mbps, far from advertised). I formatted it in NTFS, with speeds around 500mbps (the inbuilt port is 3.2 Gen 1 so that's okay I'd say). The problem is that NTFS is read-only on my Samsung smartphone and iPad, whereas exFAT is really slow.

  Reddit post · u/JohnasDoe · r/buildapc · 2023-09-02 · read the original ↗

• My SSD was bricked temporarily and I thought total loss bc the drive was reading busy and wouldn't load. Samsung said there was no chance to fix and needed replacement. After much ChatGPT tinkering in Terminal I was able to get the SSD busy processes to stop and can access everything.

  Reddit post · u/Grand-Professor-8420 · r/buildapc · 2025-03-09 · read the original ↗

• We need a 4tb version of this.

  YouTube comment · ForeverHumble101 · 2022-06-17 · watch the original ↗

Why it ranks here. The SanDisk Extreme is the best-selling portable SSD, rugged, small, with a carry loop and built-in encryption, and owners at five years with no trouble. It ranks second, below the Samsung, because of the most-watched warning video in the category: 4 TB drives corrupting footage on Macs, and support that does not answer.

'I bought 2x4tb and both failed on my M1 Mac'↗, says a video editor abroad who 'lost a 2tb project folder'↗: 'I could literally see files corrupting in Adobe Premiere, then the whole drive disappeared and wouldn't mount'↗. Another 'Just returned 2x 4TB sandisks after they failed with over 6tb of raw footage on them'↗, a recovery that 'took 65 HOURS'↗. A SanDisk rep told one owner the Mac's controller sends more requests than the SanDisk's can handle, and a fix was 'silently rolled out'↗. Others have no complaints: 'I have 4 TB extreme and a few 2 TB SSDs. Never had any issues'↗. Owners like the loop, since 'cant tell you how many times i have dropped or almost lost my original sandisk ssd'↗, and the password app. On older Windows ports 'it gets limited to 500MB/s'↗. Buy from SanDisk or Amazon itself; one commenter suspects counterfeits from third-party sellers.

“Thank you for this video, the same happened to me. I bought 2x4tb and both failed on my M1 Mac, I was abroad and it lost a 2tb project folder, as you can imagine I wasn’t a happy bunny. I could literally see files corrupting in Adobe Premiere, then the whole drive disappeared and wouldn’t mount, I got an “unreadable disk” message.” — YouTube comment · leeb0y · 2023-04-02

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• Just returned 2x 4TB sandisks after they failed with over 6tb of raw footage on them. Was able to retrieve it all with diskdr but took 65 HOURS to retrieve and transfer to my HDDs! Returned and have 2 of the Samsungs arriving today! Thanks for using your platform to make people aware!

  YouTube comment · 8AM_AU · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• Thank you for this video, the same happened to me. I bought 2x4tb and both failed on my M1 Mac, I was abroad and it lost a 2tb project folder, as you can imagine I wasn’t a happy bunny. I could literally see files corrupting in Adobe Premiere, then the whole drive disappeared and wouldn’t mount, I got an “unreadable disk” message.

  YouTube comment · leeb0y · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• according to the rep this issue is caused by more requests by the Mac(!) SSD controller than the SanDisk Controller can handle - which results in a higher probability in „accidentally flipped bits“ on high capacity drives (4TB), which lead to the failure of the SSD. SanDisk supposedly silently rolled out a firmware update, which should fix the issue - if the consumer installs it.

  YouTube comment · justusfire2873 · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• I have 4 TB extreme and a few 2 TB SSDs. Never had any issues. I have a big job coming up and was thinking about either getting another 4 TB Sandisk or a 4 TB T7.

  YouTube comment · AlfredAntonioTC · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• I purchased a 2T SanDisk as an external drive for my M4 MacBook Pro. Before using, I reformatted the SD with Disk Utility to replace the factory default to an APFS volume. Mine works perfectly.

  YouTube comment · williambarnett6163 · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• You may have a counterfeit drive. Amazon has 3rd party sellers and this could be a knockoff.

  YouTube comment · alphajam1 · 2023-04-02 · watch the original ↗

• I really think you guys should’ve mentioned that this SSD comes preinstalled with an app that allows you to update your files, photos, videos, etc. to that app, that can then be locked so if someone were to steal this SSD from you, they’d be prompted to put in a password before they could see anything on it first. A very nice feature and option that not many drives offer.

  YouTube comment · greylawson6352 · 2018-08-06 · watch the original ↗

• Just bought one and I love the form factor and how well it works so far.

  YouTube comment · pksteffen · 2018-08-06 · watch the original ↗

• I recently bought a Sandisk Extreme Portable 2TB SSD with read/write speeds in excess of 500MB/s. According to crystalmark and blackmagic I am getting 40MB/s and have tried numerous formatting options.

  Reddit post · u/funomoly · r/buildapc · 2019-05-29 · read the original ↗

• I actually ended up buying neither of those two lol. I was going to get the SanDisk Extreme at first , but the bad reviews I found online made me rethink it. Some of the stories about reliability really pushed me away from it.

  Reddit comment · u/Candid-Pause-1755 · r/buildapc · 2025-11-26 · read the original ↗

• I like the carry loop on the sandisk i use coiled fishing lanyards that have wire inside and cant tell you how many times i have dropped or almost lost my original sandisk ssd.

  Reddit comment · u/Adventurous_Hunt_627 · r/buildapc · 2025-11-26 · read the original ↗

• On my Windows PC (USB 3.2 Gen 1), it gets limited to 500MB/s

  Reddit post · u/Candid-Pause-1755 · r/buildapc · 2025-03-30 · read the original ↗

Why it ranks here. The X9 Pro was r/buildapc's value pick, the cheapest of the big brands per terabyte in a tiny body. It ranks third because a run of owners had it turn unreadable inside a month, transfers crawl on some units, its price has doubled, and Crucial is closing its consumer storage business.

'My research so far, including many posts on Reddit, keeps pointing towards the Crucial X9 Pro'↗, says one shopper, for 'a good price-to-performance ratio'↗. A Crucial laptop SSD owner ordered the 4 TB because 'They seem to be a good reliable brand'↗. Then: 'sadly my X9 pro just died after 1 month, it just suddenly appears as a non readable drive'↗. Another 4 TB, bought for photo backup, 'stopped working'↗ after a power outage a month in, at 'over US$400'↗. One owner's backups run at 'max speed is 2mb/s, 10mb/s, even if crystal disk mark reports 1050mb/s'↗. The registration site was down all day for another, who returned it. And the price is 'Literally more than double that price now!'↗, with Crucial 'shutting down in February 2026'↗.

“sadly my X9 pro just died after 1 month, it just suddenly appears as a non readable drive. I never reformat it out of the box & used it on win11 as it is as a gaming installable drive” — YouTube comment · junowong · 2023-11-17

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• Thanks mate. Great video. You've convinced me to go with the x9. I spent the last two hours watching youtube videos on external ssds 😅

  YouTube comment · AdAstraStakePool · 2023-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• After watching a few vids on here I have ordered the X9 4TB. I have a Crucial 1TB on my laptop and never had any issues with it. They seem to be a good reliable brand.

  YouTube comment · groovydonkey · 2023-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• sadly my X9 pro just died after 1 month, it just suddenly appears as a non readable drive. I never reformat it out of the box & used it on win11 as it is as a gaming installable drive

  YouTube comment · junowong · 2023-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• I bought one (4tb) for photo backup based on a very favorable review on youtube. After 1 month of use, due to a power outage it stopped working. I could only read what was inside and only in some older computers. I paid over US$400 for it and I'm really dissapointed.

  YouTube comment · elrafaga · 2023-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• I read quite a few reviews on the Crucial x9 pro; I read that many people who used it on a Mac computer lost their data, they called for support from Crucial and no one seemed to get any support.

  YouTube comment · judys3054 · 2023-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• Literally more than double that price now! 😮

  YouTube comment · mikeybajan · 2023-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• My research so far, including many posts on Reddit, keeps pointing towards the Crucial X9 Pro. It seems to have a great reputation for being a solid all-rounder with a good price-to-performance ratio.

  Reddit post · u/Neural_Nerd_ · r/buildapc · 2025-08-10 · read the original ↗

• I’ve heard that once it’s filled to about half of its capacity, the speed drops drastically—even becoming slower than an HDD. Is that true?

  Reddit post · u/Fun-Violinist9019 · r/buildapc · 2025-08-21 · read the original ↗

• I bought a Crucial X9 for gaming, but I’m having a lot of trouble registering it. The website has been down all day, and I'm frustrated enough that I've decided to just return it and get something else.

  Reddit post · u/Due-Resident4667 · r/buildapc · 2025-12-28 · read the original ↗

• But when if I use the X9 to copy a folder to backup my pc it takes ages, max speed is 2mb/s, 10mb/s, even if crystal disk mark reports 1050mb/s.

  Reddit post · u/Miklaus86 · r/buildapc · 2025-02-12 · read the original ↗

• I was also considering the Crucial X10 Pro 4TB, but Crucial is shutting down in February 2026, so that option is no longer viable for me.

  Reddit post · u/ContributionFair6646 · r/buildapc · 2025-12-15 · read the original ↗

Why it ranks here. The My Passport SSD is the drive next to the T7 in every comparison: near-rated speeds, easy encryption, and years of Xbox and PlayStation duty. It ranks fourth because it runs hot, halves its speed on the USB-A adapter, and corrupts Mac Time Machine backups for several owners.

'I have two of the 4tb versions of these, one for my Xbox and PS4 and each run great! I've had them for over a year!'↗, says one owner. A reviewer measured about 795 megabytes a second reading and 917 writing against the 1,050 rating. Then the heat: 'is it normal that the hard drive gets super hot almost feels like burning?'↗. And the Macs: 'if your thinking using this for time machine back up on macs. don't waste your money as it just corrupts files. mine last than 3 months old and its fails'↗. One critic says 'the WD My Passport SSD case looks cheap'↗ and its 600 terabytes-written rating is 'not really top'↗. The port is soldered to the board, so a mangled connector means a dead drive.

“i got a 2tb version, if your thinking using this for time machine back up on macs. don't waste your money as it just corrupts files. mine last than 3 months old and its fails” — YouTube comment · chrisw7612 · 2020-11-17

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• i got a 2tb version, if your thinking using this for time machine back up on macs. don't waste your money as it just corrupts files. mine last than 3 months old and its fails

  YouTube comment · chrisw7612 · 2020-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• I think the WD My Passport SSD case looks cheap, I'm sorry. But the price is also down to that. The reliability of WD NVMe SSDs is also not really top, only 600 TBW (Terabytes Written) with a 1TB storage.

  YouTube comment · keesswier212 · 2020-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• I have two of the 4tb versions of these, one for my Xbox and PS4 and each run great! I’ve had them for over a year!

  YouTube comment · andrepacheco6067 · 2017-06-30 · watch the original ↗

• Thanks for the good review. I've heard that this runs very hot. Is it true?

  YouTube comment · windylim · 2020-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• is it normal that the hard drive gets super hot almost feels like burning?

  YouTube comment · dannyveras · 2020-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• Good SSD so far had it for 1 year we’ll see how much it lasts

  YouTube comment · crazygamingyt7245 · 2020-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• Bro I liked your video so much. Today I bought the 1TB but I cant install the software. Can you give me tips or I just give it back to the store and instead buy a Sandisk.

  YouTube comment · MustafaYaqoobi-t2u · 2020-11-17 · watch the original ↗

• I was disappointed to know I cannot take out the drive from my wd passport and put it into an external enclosure (usb port got mangled). Thing is, the port is soldered on the hdd pcb.

  Reddit comment · u/apoetofnowords · r/buildapc · 2025-04-08 · read the original ↗

• installed WD Black 2TB SSD and it failed after a month... it could not be detected by any of the other PCs that I tried... or even using a USB enclosure.

  Reddit post · u/Carla_DFW · r/buildapc · 2023-12-08 · read the original ↗

Why it ranks here. The T9 is Samsung's fast one: 2,000 megabytes a second on the right port, tougher than the T7, and 160 gigabytes moved in under three minutes. It ranks last because most Macs cannot reach that speed and the 4 TB has sold for close to $1,000, which Reddit calls a terrible deal against a bare NVMe drive in an enclosure.

A T5 owner upgrading was floored: 'seeing you transfer 160GB in under 3 minutes is crazy!'↗. One gamer says 'I game from my external Samsung SSD, just fine! Works great'↗. Then the price. 'Considering you can get a 4TB NVMe drive and an enclosure for less than half of that, not a chance'↗, says one commenter. Another's 4 TB internal drive 'cost less than half of that 2+ years ago thats a terrible deal'↗. One buyer confesses: 'I just paid €440 for a 4TB Samsung T9'↗ with ten terabytes already at home, 'purely because I'm scared SSD prices will keep rising'↗. And one reviewer mocks the rubber shell as designed by someone who 'must live in a hermetically sealed cleanroom'↗, because it collects lint.

“I just paid €440 for a 4TB Samsung T9. I already have 10TB of external storage (2x T7 Shields, 1x SanDisk Extreme) and don't actually need more right now... I bought it purely because I'm scared SSD prices will keep rising and I’ll regret it if one of my current drives fails.” — Reddit post · u/Kristian19994 · r/buildapc · 2026-04-22

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• Dude, SUPER HELPFUL! upgrading from my T5. Which I use as a working drive to edit photos and video. seeing you transfer 160GB in under 3 minutes is crazy!

  YouTube comment · Run-n-Gun · 2023-10-18 · watch the original ↗

• And as always thanks for the nice review . I am using samsung T7 now 😊, T9 looks good.

  YouTube comment · RameshKumar-ng3nf · 2023-10-18 · watch the original ↗

• LOL - the designer that spec'd a textured black rubber overmold must live in a hermetically sealed cleanroom.

  YouTube comment · CuriousGuyHobbies · 2023-10-18 · watch the original ↗

• Considering you can get a 4TB NVMe drive and an enclosure for less than half of that, not a chance

  Reddit comment · u/Slottr · r/buildapc · 2026-05-22 · read the original ↗

• My 4tb gen 4 nvme cost less than half of that 2+ years ago thats a terrible deal.

  Reddit comment · u/forevertired1982 · r/buildapc · 2026-05-22 · read the original ↗

• Not even a gen 5 drive would be worth that cost, much less gen 2

  Reddit comment · u/Obzenium · r/buildapc · 2026-05-23 · read the original ↗

• I just paid €440 for a 4TB Samsung T9. I already have 10TB of external storage (2x T7 Shields, 1x SanDisk Extreme) and don't actually need more right now... I bought it purely because I'm scared SSD prices will keep rising and I’ll regret it if one of my current drives fails.

  Reddit post · u/Kristian19994 · r/buildapc · 2026-04-22 · read the original ↗

• I game from my external Samsung SSD, just fine! Works great.

  Reddit comment · u/BidNo4423 · r/buildapc · 2025-05-22 · read the original ↗

• It’s my first time having an external SSD and i recently lost the type c to type c cable of my 2000 mb/s Samsung T9 portable SSD.

  Reddit post · u/BlackberryWorldly786 · r/buildapc · 2025-12-10 · read the original ↗