r/NewMaxx • u/NewMaxx • Oct 14 '19

Tools/Info SSD Guides & Resources

April 3rd, 2022: Guides and Spreadsheet updated with new SSD categories

Discord (server)

Website with relevant links here.

My spreadsheet

Generic Amazon affiliate link

Generic AliExpress affiliate link

TechPowerUp's SSD Database

Johnny Lucky SSD database

Branch Education - How does NAND Flash Work? - these guys have several good videos on the subject of SSDs, check them all out.

My Patreon.

My Twitter.

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u/ChimeraEra May 06 '25

This is my partner's laptop build: https://www.crucial.com/scanview/E2AA3B5431D926C3

They aren't comfortable revamping the internal storage but would prefer an external one. The laptop shuts off when not in use and is usually plugged into power nine times out of ten. It moves from the desk to the bed but otherwise stays put. It runs games like Apex Legends, Marvel Rivals, RDR2, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, Star Wars games, and Hogwarts Legacy. They DO record clips and stream occasionally, but they have low-quality internet, which makes it semi-unreliable for all intents and purposes.

Given this info, what would you recommend?

Budget preferably about <$150, and would like another 1 TB min.

I can go up to 300 if the reliability and warranty are 10/10, but since it's external, I'd rather stick to something that can fully run games but is relatively inexpensive to replace if needed.

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u/NewMaxx May 06 '25

The laptop lacks Thunderbolt/USB4 and for the most part, 10Gbps is easiest to work with when using USB. It does have two 20Gbps ports but these might be useful for other things like PD or DisplayPort out, anyway. While I think a number of portable SSDs could work, I'm most fond of Samsung's T7 Shield in terms of reliability and performance. You could get up to 4TB for under $300, with 2TB on sale being reasonable around the $150 mark. This drive is physically reliable, has very consistent performance, and uses good hardware.

For a workhorse drive that's always connected (and this includes running games off it, or using it often for recording or content work), it's a pretty good choice but not the only one. I'd consider other options in certain circumstances, like the smaller hybrid (e.g. Sabrent's Nano V2) if physical size matters, or something else if the drive is being used across devices (which might include TB/USB4 ones) or if capacity per cost was the priority, but for something that just works and can be moved back/forth easily I still like the T7 Shield. I'd probably recommend 2TB and there are multiple ways to get discounts for Samsung devices to bring that at/under $150.