Four years ago I wrote a story proclaiming I’d never buy a hard drive again, and every year since, that promise has gotten easier to maintain as flash-based storage just keeps getting cheaper. If I didn’t already have several 2TB SSDs (yes, I have a storage problem), I’d be sorely tempted to pick up one of the 4TB options below, most at their lowest prices ever.
Crucial leads the SATA affordability pack, with the 4TB MX 500 for just $269 (opens in new tab). Don’t expect extreme speed from this drive. But if you need lots of space to store your games or media, it’s hard to complain about paying less than seven cents per gigabyte. And the endurance on the Crucial drive is rated at 1,000TBW.
If you prefer WD and/or the color blue, B&H has the mid-range 4TB WD Blue SATA SSD on sale for $289 (opens in new tab), also an all-time low. Looking for something at the top of the SATA drive stack? Samsung’s 4TB 870 Evo is also down to its lowest price ever, at just $299 (opens in new tab). This drive tops our Best SSD list for a consumer SATA drive for its class-leading performance, 256-bit AES encryption and long 5-year warranty.
Stepping up in speed and down in physical dimensions is TeamGroup’s 4TB MP34 M.2 PCIe 3.0 SSD for $329 (opens in new tab), or about $30 less than it’s ever been. With 3,500/2,900 MB/s rated sequential reads and writes, it would do quite well as a cavernous boot drive or fast secondary storage. It’s also rated to an astounding 2,400TBW of endurance and comes with a 5-year warranty.
Stepping up to the highest tier of performance that you can grab on sale, the 4TB WD Black SN850X is on sale for $374.99, or about $125 below its normal asking price. This SSD is one of the best SSDs for the PS5 and desktop PCs, delivering up to 7,300/6,600 MBps of read/write throughput. It also comes with a five-year warranty and a 2,400 TBW endurance rating.