Club Benefits
You're here to find the best external SSDs to greatly expand your storage on your laptop or phone, and that means you've made the smart choice of not deleting files, photos, games or video edits to save space on your device.
File sizes are only getting larger, and in 2026, there's only so much space a PC, Mac, iPhone or other device has before it's filled up — stopping you from saving important documents and throttling performance. From content creators needing to edit through 4K video to gamers struggling to find room to download another update, it's a pain.
Should I buy an external SSD?
If you own one of the best laptops on the market, you’re likely limited by its built-in storage capacity. For example, the MacBook Neo has 256GB of base storage, which really isn't enough to save all the files, photos, videos, apps and more that many people have.
That’s where an external drive can be a game-changer, offering a convenient solution to store large files without relying on cloud storage. With sizes ranging from 512GB all the way up to 8TB and more, it's an easy way to keep all your important files in one place, and ready to use when switching between devices!
Speaking of, external drives aren’t just for expanding storage. They’re invaluable for regular computer backups and serving as a central hub for all your files across devices. However, when choosing between traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs), it’s worth noting that while HDDs are cheaper, they can lack reliability. We strongly recommend opting for an SSD for speed and durability.
The best external hard drives you can buy today
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The best external SSD overall
Ready for USB4 speeds? As in, 40 Gbps? That's what the SanDisk Extreme Pro offers, as making the jump to USB4 unlocks some super zippy read and write speeds that come very close to matching your computer’s internal speeds. We've done the testing, and it's proved that.
During a 4K video export, a MacBook Pro with M3 Pro (and a 512GB SSD) could do this in 1 minute and 5 seconds. The SanDisk Extreme Pro? 1 minute and 12 seconds. That's extremely fast, and considering it comes with up to 4TB for storage, it means you're getting far more value in this rugged storage device than buying more internal storage in devices.
We saw it reach read speeds of 3,724 MB/s and write of 3,112 MB/s, which is more than enough for most, whether you're a gamer or content creator. It's pricey at $279 for 2TB (or less during sales), but it's well worth the investment if you're after plenty of space and quick data transfers.
Read our thoughts on the SanDisk Extreme Pro with USB4.
The best external SSD for value
The WD My Passport SSD with USB 3.2 doesn’t look like its travel-enabling namesake, the My Passport Go, but it’s all ready to go places. It’s small (3.9x 2.2x 0.4 inches) and attractive, with its shiny ridged surface and choice of five snazzy colors (blue, gold, gray, red, and silver).
The My Passport SSD's software application gives you access to My Cloud Home Storage and lets you download other WD utilities. Best of all, it’s fast: The My Passport zoomed through all of our performance tests, invariably showing up somewhere in the winner’s circle for each.
With a price per gigabyte of $0.19, the 1TB model is one of the most expensive drives we tested. And its included USB Type-C cable is exceedingly short: 6.5 inches, which makes using this drive a bit of a hassle on either laptop or desktop computers. (A Type-A adapter comes in the package to ensure the drive will work with a wide variety of systems.) But these are small nitpicks that don’t detract from one of the best external hard drives around.
The best external SSD for phones
Whether you're a content creator who constantly shoots 4K video on your iPhone or just want the extra bit of storage from a device that's designed for a phone, the $149 SanDisk Creator Phone SSD should be your go-to portable SSD.
This storage expansion is MagSafe compatible, meaning it can effortlessly attach to your iPhone and work as an easy way to expand your space. That makes it easy to carry around, especially as you're shooting video. Plus, it's specifically optimized to handle the massive data throughput required for recording ProRes 4K video at 60fps directly from an iPhone. Think getting reliable 1,000MB/s read/write speeds, and we tested this to see it transfer data at just 1 minute and 49 seconds. Via AirDrop? That would take 12 minutes, so that'll save you plenty of time!
Really, it's the best external SSD for phones because it prioritizes the mobile workflow. For any content creator who relies on their smartphone for professional-grade video, the SanDisk Creator Phone SSD is an essential upgrade that turns your phone into a production rig.
Read our thoughts on the SanDisk Creator Phone SSD.
The best external SSD for storage size
This mini hockey puck packs a ton of space and frankly embarrasses any monolithic external hard disk drive that takes up space on your desk. The SanDisk Desk Drive is, simply put, a lot of storage in a small package that can be integrated into your desk setup with the greatest of ease.
It's an SSD, so you're getting far better reliability — alongside SanDisk's comprehensive software suite to get the drive to do whatever you want it to do, from daily backups to just being a secure place for large files. And with that solid state standard comes some lightning-quick read/write speeds.
The only real downside is the price, which is certainly a steep one, with prices starting at $379 for 4TB (though it's regularly discounted to $299). Compared to your standard HDD desk drives, this is a big investment. But trust me when I say it's absolutely worth it.
Read our thoughts on the SanDisk Desk Drive.
The best compact external SSD
The Samsung Portable SSD T7 looks like the T5, with its rectangular figure adorned by rounded corners, though it’s a little bigger and heavier and its software is identical. It comes in somewhat more exciting color choices, with Indigo Blue, Titan Gray, and Metallic Red variations available for its 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities.
The biggest difference is that Samsung rates the drive at 1,050 MBps, and we saw much higher results in our tests. It completed our file copy test 20 seconds faster, for example.
But with a cost of $0.23 per gigabyte, this is one of the most expensive drives we’ve seen (though you may be able to find it online for cheaper). If you care more about the Samsung name, the drive’s design, and the speed than you do about value, the T7 delivers more than enough to appreciate and justify itself.
How to choose the best external SSD for you
Do you care more about speed, capacity, or price? If it’s the first, SSDs store data in flash memory rather than on spinning platters, the way traditional hard drives do, and thus operate a whole lot faster. The interface can also make a difference; Thunderbolt will be a lot faster than USB, for example.
For capacity, traditional hard drives (HDDs) offer a lot more options, but SSDs are generally able to house the same amount of storage in a smaller amount of space and are a lot more reliable.
For that drop in reliability, though, the price reflects that, as it’s possible to find huge hard drives (think 4TB) for $100 or less. SSDs are nowhere near that inexpensive, but smaller drives (1-2TB) can be found for just over $100 to $200 or more.
If a drive’s looks matter to you, you’ll definitely have choices. Manufacturers these days frequently market portable drives as fashion accessories, selling them in various sizes, shapes, and colors.
How we test external SSDs
The testing is pretty simple, but effective — we hook up these drives to a laptop and put them through their paces.
We do this by running the same series of synthetic and real-world tests on the drives in the same order, so every drive would function as much as the others as possible. Our test suite comprised:
- BlackMagic Disk Speed Test 3.2.1 (5GB stress loads)
- CrystalDiskMark 7.0.0 (8GB workloads, single-thread sequential read and write, queue depths of 1 and 8)
- PCMark 10 Data Drive Benchmark
- Future File Transfer Test (25GB)
Finally, we delve into the drives’ technology, features, aesthetics, cables and adapters, and other characteristics to get a broader picture of what the drives offer. Where necessary, we run other tests on the drives’ unique features to see how well they worked under real-life conditions and whether they’re likely to benefit you.
