Once the domain of external, bus-powered hard drives, these days the market for external storage has been almost completely consumed by portable SSDs. Rapid technological advancements in NAND flash technology (including the advent of 3D NAND) has allowed their capacity to eclipse 2.5-inch HDDs, all the while multiple improvements in host interface speeds (such as the move from USB 2.0 to 3.0, and onwards to 3.2 Gen 2 / Gen 2×2 / USB4) has made portable SSDs faster and more reliable than the hard drives they replace. All of which has helped to make portable SSDs the go-to solution for external storage, both big and small.
For our latest storage buyer’s guide, we’ve rounded up some of the best portable SSDs we’ve looked at in the past couple of years. What’s hot, what’s not, and what’s a good deal while still offering reasonable performance? We break that down and make our picks for the best portable SSDs on the market today.
