Best Black Friday on general PC storage
External storage
Need speedy external storage? You can once again grab the Samsung T7 Shield, our pick for the best external USB drive with high performance, at its lowest price ever. You can also pick up the Crucial X6, our pick for the best budget external SSD, at deep discount as well—or its faster sibling, the X8, for just a little more. Meanwhile, if you need just a big fat external HDD, there’s a WD 18TB model that’s on steep discount.
Note: We’ve avoided listing deals for the SanDisk Extreme Pro, SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD V2, and Western Digital MyPassport SSD external drives for now, due to earlier difficulties this year with spontaneous, unexpected data loss.
4TB NVMe M.2 SSDs
The best deals are on brands that have less long-standing recognition, but have already earned positive feedback for strong performance. Prices are best (and deals most plentiful) on 2TB capacity PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, but you can snag a deal on Crucial’s T700—a fantastic deal on our top pick for a Gen 5 drive with insanely fast transfer speeds.
Best Black Friday M.2 NVMe SSD deals
1TB SATA SSDs
No matter what time of year you buy a SATA SSD, it’s a great upgrade—particularly when moving up from from a hard drive, but also when expanding your PC’s storage. An old favorite—the Crucial MX500—was first out the gate with decent discounts, but Team Group’s affordable CX2 wants its share of attention, too.
500GB SATA SSDs and under
However, other discounts aren’t so hot—some are downright laughable. That’s where we come in. Below is a list of the best SSD and storage deals you can grab right now. These drives are not only well-rated and popular, but they’re at or very near all-time low prices, too.
2TB SATA SSDs
Best Black Friday 2.5-inch SATA SSD deals
FAQ
Are Black Friday SSD and storage deals worth it?
In a word, yes. You can save a significant amount of money (sometimes hundreds of dollars on a high capacity drive) during the big Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale period. The trick is to know what’s a good deal, and what’s not. That’s where we come in: We’ve scoured reputable online retailers, looking for demonstrably good hardware at legitimately good discounts.
How much are SSDs and storage on Black Friday?
Prices depend on the usual street or retail price of the SSD model—so type of drive, its capacity, and its speed are all factors. Generally, expect to pay about $45 to $50 for a good 1TB SATA or NVMe Gen 3 drive, and $75 to $80 for a 1TB NVMe Gen 4 drive. But the easier guideline to just look for discounts of at least 20 percent or more, especially if you’re looking for high-capacity hard disk drives.
Are Black Friday SSDs and storage lower quality?
Nope! Unlike other products, storage vendors don’t produce special models for sale periods like Black Friday/Cyber Monday. These are the same models you’d find on a retail shelf or available on a website throughout the rest of the year.
What should I look for in a Black Friday SSD or storage deal?
The best Black Friday deals drop prices on SSDs and HDDs from reliable brands. A good discount starts around 15 to 20 percent—and a great deal will be 30 percent or more. Typically, the bigger bargains are higher-capacity SSDs (4TB or higher).
For the specific brands to watch, stick with known names like Samsung, Crucial, Corsair, SK Hynix, Western Digital, Kingston, and Sabrent. Solidigm, TeamGroup, and PNY are also options. The further afield you go, the more likely you’ll end up with underperforming (aka slow) drives.
Pay attention to the model, as well. You can often find multiple drives from a single vendor on sale. The usual sweet spots are discounts on high-performing drives rarely on sale and steep price cuts on budget models. This year we’re finally seeing sizable reductions on high-capacity drives (4TB and up), too.
What kind of SSD or storage should I buy?
This is the big question. If you’re on a budget, and have a laptop or a PC that has space for a 2.5-inch drive, a humble SATA SSD will already feel like a lightning-fast upgrade from a spinning-platter (HDD) boot drive. (SATA SSDs also exist in the gumstick M.2 size, but this year’s best sales for that form factor are the faster NVMe SSDs.)
For those trying to decide between NVMe Gen 3 and NVMe Gen 4 drives, most people can buy a Gen 3 drive with a light heart. Unless you’re doing frequent large file transfers (think many GB at a time), you’ll get a notable boost in performance over a SATA drive without spending a ton of extra cash. If you’re building a system or buying for the very long haul, though, a Gen 4 drive is a good investment. File sizes will only climb over time for game installs, videos, and photos. If you’re in need of absolute blistering speeds for heavy workloads and transfers, then an NVMe Gen 5 drive may be best for you. But that won’t be most people.
Still having trouble deciding? You can check out our guide on choosing an SSD for more details about each type of solid-state drive.
Which SSDs does PCWorld rate the highest?
PCWorld tests and reviews new SSDs every month, so if you’re looking to see what we recommend without regard to deal prices, check our rankings of the best SSDs of 2023. But it’s not an either/or situation: Some of our top picks are on sale right now!
