Black Friday has finally arrived, and as Hardware Editor and prolific deal-hunter, I'm hand-picking the best Black Friday SSD and hard drive deals for cheap internal and external storage.
Right off the back, I'm seeing loads of epic storage deals, including the Samsung 990 Pro 2TB SSD with heatsink, which is now $180 (was $191) at Newegg and the WD easystore 20TB external HDD, now $250 (was $450) at Best Buy. Meanwhile, my top external solid-state drive deal sees the Kingston XS1000 2TB discounted in the US (here) and the UK (here).
My team and I have benchmarked all the best SSDs, best HDDs, best portable SSDs, and best external hard drives, testing read/write speeds, capacity, and price. You'll find my top recommendations for internal and external storage right here, and I'll continue to round-up the best deals as I find them. For more storage savings, we're rounding up the best Black Friday USB flash drive deals, and for more discounts on the latest technology, visit our best Black Friday deals hub.
Recent updates
29/11: As Black Friday continues, I'm seeing a few more deals out there, especially in the UK. The prices are stabilizing now and are staying low, but unsurprisingly stock is running out, so take a look now if you think you'll want to take advantage of Black Friday deals.
Top Black Friday SSD and hard drive deals in the US
- Amazon: SSD and hard drives up to 45% off
- Best Buy: Up to $150 off
- Walmart: Deals on data storage from $11
- Kingston XS1000 2TB: was $140 now $120 at Amazon
- WD_BLACK SN850X 4TB SSD: was $700 now $250 at Amazon
- Seagate Expansion 14TB desktop: was $240 now $180 at Amazon
Internal HDD deals in the US
That’s the most affordable brand new internal hard disk drive from a branded manufacturer you can buy right now. This is not your entry level HDD, instead, this is an IronWolf Pro drive with 16TB capacity and geared towards high performance environments with 24x7 usage expected. Seagate says that it is optimized for NAS usage and that’s a good thing. The IronWolf Pro also has a 5-year warranty and comes with a complimentary 3-year rescue data recovery service.
If you are looking for a big hard disk drive, you can’t really go wrong with this 24TB drive from Seagate. Like the IronWolf, it comes with a 5-year warranty and 3-year in house rescue data recovery services. Unlike its sibling though it has a much higher workload rate (meaning it is fine-tuned to work harder. Seagate rates it at 550TB/year with 24/7 operation.
Marginally more expensive than the IWP 16TB is the 24TB version at just $16.66 per TB. It has all the features of the smaller model but shines through because it is the most affordable large capacity hard disk drive readily available at the time of writing. It has 512MB cache, a transfer rate of 285MBps, a 7200RPM rotational speed and can handle usage of up to 550TB/year.
This is the biggest hard disk drive you can buy right now (albeit with a waiting time of up to 10 weeks). Its 26TB capacity dwarves everything else and its performance - up to 291MBps - makes it as fast as some early SSDs. Like other large capacity drives, it has a 512MB cache, a 7200RPM disk speed and a 5-year warranty; this WD says, makes it a perfect companion to “handle heavy, continuous read-write workloads in the toughest of enterprise and commercial system environments”.
Internal SSD deals in the US
A best-in-class SSD (see our review here), the Samsung 990 Pro is an incredibly fast SSD with fantastic performance. Compatible with computers and PlayStation 5 consoles, this is a great option for creatives and gamers alike, this deal comes with 2TB w/ heatsink, but the drive is also available in 1TB and 4TB variants with and without heatsinks, depending on your need.
A decent alternative to the Samsung 990 Pro, the 2TB SN850X SSD is at cheapest in 2024 at less than $124, a not-so-insignificant 35% discount. This is a PCIe 4.0 SSD model and oddly enough, it is cheaper per TB than its bigger 4TB or 8TB siblings. It can reach up to 7.2GBps in read/write speeds and uses Western Digital’s own TLC 3D NAND. Like its Samsung rival, it has a dedicated software package called Dashboard that allows you to tweak its features.
Still one of the best Samsung SSDs on the market, the 980 Pro delivers performance in spades, especially at this price point. No wonder that it is Amazon's best-selling SSD at the time of writing. Extra cookie points for the long warranty and the optional 3-year data recovery service. A 1TB version is also available on Amazon.
The Team Group MP44L has good power efficiency and performance for the price. This SSD is durable and reliable, and comes with S.M.A.R.T monitoring software, so is a great choice for storing up to 1TB of data. Also available in 1TB variant for $57 here.
MSI is one of the most recognizable names in tech hardware and the Spatium M482 its most popular storage device. This particular model is a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and is one of the most affordable in its category. It has a 7300/6400MBps read/write performance - making it great for gaming or creative) with a 5-year warranty and a dedicated software package (similar to Samsung and WD_Black).
Silicon Power clinches yet another spot as the cheapest fast PCIe 4.0 SSD at less than $98 for the 2TB model. It is slightly slower than the MSI Spatium (7000/6500MBps in read/write) but gas twice the endurance (2400 vs 1200 Terabyte written) making it a solid candidate for jobs that will hammer your SSD (think NAS or CCTV). It doesn’t come with any fancy software though and as always, I do recommend getting the optional 3-year data recovery plan from Amazon.
The WD_BLACK SN850X internal SSD is a good choice for expanding storage on PC or PlayStation 5. There are discounts on other storage capacities, with and without heatsinks, but for the most amount of storage, this is our top pick.
Samsung is clearing out this 4TB SSD at a near record low price ($269.99 instead of $464.99, a 42% discount) ahead of the impending launch of a new PCIe 5.0 version. The 990 Pro is still a very capable SSD for high end computing, fast action gaming and creative workloads. It is mind-bogglingly fast for a PCIe 4.0 model plus it comes with a five-year warranty. Do purchase a 3-year data recovery plan from Amazon for $14.99 to save you from any potential headaches.
This is the cheapest branded 4TB PCIe 4.0 I could find on Amazon. The Silicon Power UD90 is slightly slower than top models such as the 990 Pro but should be plenty fast for most usage, especially if you can pair two of those. It can reach speeds of up to 5000/4500MBps and features a 5-year warranty. I rate Silicon Power highly - they deliver excellent value for money - and so do my peers on Tomshardware.
There’s no cheaper 4TB PCIe 5.0 SSD out there and this one packs a punch. The T700 from Crucial is compatible with Microsoft’s excellent DirectStorage technology which improves performance with less CPU utilization. Using Micron’s 232-layer TLC NAND, it reaches speeds up to 12.4GBps (in write), not the fastest around but outrageously fast for most uses. Note that the T700 is cheaper when purchased with its oversized heatsink.
At the time of writing, the 8TB version of the SN850X is cheapest at Sandisk(here) and at Newegg (here) at just $549.99, a saving of $250. Such a high capacity drive has a high endurance, 4.8PB written, meaning that you can use it for high intensity tasks (e.g. CCTV or NAS). As for other WD_Black drives, it is backed by a five-year warranty and has a powerful suite of features, including Predictive Loading, Overhead Balancing, and Adaptive Thermal Management.
External HDD deals in the US
WD shaved a staggering $45 off the price of this 4TB portable hard drive. The Elements SE is an entry level data storage product and this is reflected in the paucity of features and the warranty (2-years). Yet, I have absolutely no qualms in recommending it over other comparable WD products because its performance is similar to its peers. At less than $20 per TB for pocketable storage space, this is the one to be beaten. Not that the 5TB version of the Elements SE has the same price per TB, costing just under $100. I also recommend getting a 2-year data recovery plan for $10. Better be safe than sorry.
This is the largest portable drive in its category; the 6TB WD Elements offers outstanding value for money at less than $24 per Terabyte in an ultra compact form factor. Shame thought that it still uses the old flat USB port (like a lot of its peers) and doesn’t come with any bundled software. Still if you want the highest capacity around, this is the one to go for.
Yet another Seagate drive, this one holds the record for the lowest price per Terabyte at the time of writing thanks to a stonking 25% discount. Designed with a practical ethos, this is a big (14TB) desktop hard drive drive (in terms of capacity) and comes with a 2-year warranty and 2-year rescue service for extra peace of mind.
This Seagate drive is designed with a practical ethos, this is a huge desktop hard drive drive, with an 18TB capacity. It comes with a 2-year warranty and 2-year rescue service for extra peace of mind. You can enjoy fast file transfers and drag-and-drop file saving right out of the box.
Save $200 on this 20TB external USB hard drive. This Easystore desktop HDD is a Best Buy exclusive on sale for $249.99, a staggering 44% and is the most affordable path to massive data storage, At just under $12.50 per TB, there’s simply nothing cheaper right now. This desktop storage comes equipped with software for device management and backup and has a 2-year warranty as well. It uses USB 3.0 technology so transferring terabytes of data will take time.
Want to store a gargantuan amount of data? Then look no further than the WD My Book Studio desktop RAID external hard drive with its massive 44TB capacity. It’s essentially two drives stuck together in a nice casing that can be accessed either as two separate drives or one virtual big one. It comes with a Type-C connector which makes it smartphone friendly. With built-in 256-bit AES hardware encryption and WD security, you can set your own password to protect your content as well.
External SSD deals in the US
'Extreme' here means that the drive can survive extreme conditions, like water and dust ingress, and it’s got a carabiner loop for easy attachment to outdoor gear – and 256-bit encryption. The external drive is also available in 500GB, 1TB, and 4TB capacities, and a range of colors.
The Adata SE880 one of the cheapest and fastest USB drives you can get, hitting speeds of up to 2000MB/s - better than some of the SSDs from bigger brands we've tested. Rounding out this deal is the fact that the drive is rugged, IP68-rated, and includes a three-year warranty.
This affordable SSD from Orico doesn’t just boast 1TB storage space you can take with you on the go. It also includes a handy two-in-one USB-C cable that will connect you to most devices in a snap. Good for desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.
This external SSD is designed to plug straight into your Xbox Series X|S, boosting storage to 2TB (and it’s available up to 8TB if you never want to worry about space until GTA 6 launches).
This version of the T7 has the Shield suffix, which means that it’s got IP65 rating to guarantee protection from water and dust alongside protection for 9.8-foot drops – and for 4TB, it’s priced very competitively. If you regularly work outdoors and need fast, reliable storage, a drive like the Shield is the perfect upgrade.
Not quite as cheap as it was over Prime Day, this is an epic SSD deal, boasting 2TB storage space, 5-year warranty, and a compact, portable design. We enjoyed testing out this unit (see our review here), which offered fair performance but an outstanding price.
Easily one of our favorite external SSDs, the WD My Passport is a speedy unit with some good security features behind it. And the portability here is ideal for anyone who needs storage on the go.
A fair saving on this portable SSD from Crucial that works on computers, mobile devices, and games consoles. The plug-and-play device features a simple, compact design, with up to 1050MB/s read speeds
Even with a big price-drop, this 8TB SSD from Samsung is still pretty expensive. But it’s built for transferring large files like games, video and high-resolution media files. Available in 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB versions.
A step up from the X9, Crucial X10 external SSD features 4TB storage space and speeds of up to 2100MBps, making it a good pick for content creators and anyone transferring or storing large files.
Top Black Friday SSD and hard drive deals in the UK
- Amazon: Save up to 45%
- Argos: Data storage deals from £20
- John Lewis: HDD and SSDs under £50
- UnionSine HD2510 500GB: was £39 now £26 at Amazon
- Kingston XS1000 2TB: was £127 now £97 at Amazon
- Seagate 8TB Desktop: was £156 now £121 at Amazon
Internal HDD deals in the UK
This business-grade NAS-optimised hard disk drive features 6TB storage space and cache of up to 256 MB. Designed for NAS enclosures, Seagate even includes a three-year warranty and three years' data recovery services as part of the deal. Available in a range of capacities, too.
Internal SSD deals in the UK
The cheapest PCIe SSD per capacity in the UK is the NV3 from Kingston. It saw its price drop by 22% for Black Friday, down to a mere £41.99 and a new low for a PCIe Gen4 drive. Now don’t expect super fast blazing speeds with Kingston acknowledging that it will top 6GBps and 4GBps in sequential read/write speeds. Given that the competition at this price (Gen 3, SATA and unknown brands), the NV3 is the indisputable budget champion
Samsung has cut the price of the 990 Evo NVMe SSD by 29% but I believe it will fall even further for Black Friday so just keep an eye on it (It dropped to less than £60 for Amazon Big Deals Day in October). The 990 Evo can reach up to 5000MBps/4200MBps in read/write speeds, significantly faster than the previous generation. It comes with Samsung’s Magician Software and is backed by a five year warranty.
This drive may have been superseded by the 980 Pro, but the Samsung 970 Evo Plus still delivers fantastic speeds, and it's cheaper because it's technically an older product. This is a great way to get some extremely fast SSD storage without spending huge cash.
A step up from the Evo is the Pro, Samsung’s fastest retail SSD. It’s not the quickest model on the market right now but it is still a pretty capable part with speeds of up to 7.5GBps and 6.9GBps respectively, great for demanding 4K video and 3D graphics editing and high-end gaming. Its 2TB model - backed by a five-year warranty - represents better value for money and should perform admirably with Samsung’s Magician software.
This is, at the time of writing, Amazon's best-selling internal SSD, and one of the top Samsung SSDs you can get. And at this price, it's no wonder. The 980 Pro delivers excellent performance, especially like the the long warranty and the optional 3-year data recovery service for added peace of mind.
There’s no faster SSD on sale right now with a staggering 65% price drop. Its white design may not be to everyone’s taste but its value for money (less than £100 per TB) is outstanding. Crucial says that it will reach speeds of up to 14.5GBps/12.7GBps in sustained read/write, an improvement of almost 100% on Gen4 models. My only concern is the size of the heatsinks which precludes their use in any laptops.
A massive discount on this 4TB SSD with heatsink for the PS5 - and officially licensed for the console. It offers speeds up to 7,300MB/s, and you can go all the way up to 8TB if you need extra space for games.
Looking for a lot of storage space on a budget? The Crucial P3 Plus offers 4TB PCIe Gen4 with speeds of up to 5000MB/s. A good all-rounder, then, that won’t break the bank this Black Friday.
This is the most affordable big internal PCIe Gen4 SSD you can buy right now in the UK. WD has cut the price of this SN850X SSD by 36% down to just under £520. This 8TB SSD uses TLC 3D NAND which guarantees higher endurance and WD threw in an added bonus, the ability to enable a new mode (Game Mode 2.0) which, WD claims, will improve performance. As it stands, the drive can reach up to 7.2GBps and 6.6GBps in sequential read/write respectively.
External HDD deals in the UK
This is the best selling hard drive at Amazon; UnionSine is an Amazon-only brand that has sold tens of thousands of HDDs. The HD2510 is a no-frills 500GB portable hard drive with a USB 3.0 port and an unassuming design, complete with a flat USB port (which I don’t particularly rate but don’t mind at the price). With nearly a third off the price, this is a bargain not to be missed if you’re looking for some spare capacity. I like the fact that it has a 3-year warranty, more than better known competitors.
Save on this portable 2.5-inch hard drive from Seagate (which can of course be used as a normal HDD). The FireCuda is great value for money especially as it has a three-year warranty and a free 3-year rescue data recovery services which is great should your drive give up the ghost. Like for other drives in this category, it has a flat USB port and a futuristic design, completed with RGB lights.
You won’t get a cheaper per Terabyte external hard drive in the UK right now. At just over £15 per TB, this Seagate Desktop drive is a fabulous choice for anyone looking for space to store movies, files or games. It comes with a two-year warranty and a 2-year subscription to Seagate's own data recovery services. It uses the ubiquitous flat USB connector - not my favourite - and its finish, piano black, is a fingerprint magnet.
External SSD deals in the UK
For a very competitively priced SSD that can outperform an HDD as a boot drive, check out the CT1000BX500. Although not the best application performance or endurance, the strong sequential burst performance and low cost make this a great choice for a lower end SSD.
A Black Friday deal from Amazon that’s worth looking into. Get 27% off this Sandisk portable SSD with 2TB capacity; it is available in black and in green. It sports a decent 1.05GBps read/write speed (assuming a compatible USB port) and offers up to 3-meter drop protection with IP65 water and dust resistance. Sandisk also added a 5-year warranty, a hardy silicone shell, a carabiner loop and password protection secured via 256-bit AES encryption.
One of our favorite external SSDs, the Kingston XS1000 offers 2TB storage in a seriously compact form. Better still, there's even a 5-year warranty. When we tested this drive (see our review here), we found it gave good performance for a great price.
Still one of the best storage devices you can get, this 2TB model sees a small discount ahead of Black Friday. It works across desktop computers, mobile devices, and games consoles, with up to 1050MB/s read speeds.
Tips for buying an SSD or HDD
It's easy to assume that SSDs and hard drives are simple products when compared to laptops, TVs, or PCs, but there's still plenty to consider if you want to buy new storage.
SSDs are more popular for a couple of crucial reasons: even affordable SSDs are far faster than the average hard disk, and they're physically smaller, so they can easily fit into laptops, compact PCs and motherboards. The lack of moving parts also means they're less susceptible to breakages.
While an SSD will always be quicker than a hard drive, different kinds of SSDs do exhibit different speed levels. The best cheap SSDs use the slower SATA or PCI-E 3 connections, while the best M.2 drives are quicker but pricier thanks to their PCI-E 4 protocols.
If you're buying the best internal hard drive you can find, you'll have to accept a slower pace when compared to SSDs. Nevertheless, remember that 3.5in drives are almost always faster than 2.5in products and that 7,200rpm drives are quicker than 5,400rpm disks.
Make sure you're buying an SSD or hard drive that's got enough capacity, and then think about the particular attributes of internal and external hardware. If you buy an internal SSD or hard drive, ensure you've got the requisite motherboard connections and space free inside your PC or laptop.
If you've got external storage in your sights, check that your other hardware supports its type of connector, and consider its dimensions and weight. It could also be worth buying a rugged hard drive to ensure that it survives life on the road. Make sure your new drive has a top-notch warranty, too, and consider what software comes with the device – a free subscription to an expensive service could sweeten the deal.
If you want to buy a hard drive for a specialist business PC or the best gaming SSD for your PC or console, there are some additional considerations.
Business buyers should buy an SSD or a hard drive that has a higher endurance rating. That's because productivity PCs and laptops tend to read and write files to storage at a greater frequency than the storage in consumer systems. That's true for internal and external hardware in equal measure.
It's also worth investing in storage with built-in backup options like cloud storage to ensure that you don't lose vital files, and if you're going to store sensitive data then many SSDs and hard drives also have encryption.
Gamers need to address different concerns. Speed and capacity are vital: if the former is good, your loading times and boot speeds will be better, and if the latter is large enough, you'll never run out of room. If you want an SSD to upgrade your PS5, make sure the console supports it before clicking the buy button.
Frequently asked questions
When do Black Friday SSD and Hard drive sales start?
The Black Friday SSD and HDD deals are live right now - although I spotted many storage deals starting well before the official November 29 start date. These deals should run until the end of Cyber Monday on December 2.
Where will the best Black Friday SSD and hard drive deals be?
I've spent years covering the top deals all year round, and in my experience, Black Friday is the best time to buy discounted storage solutions from retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Currys - all of these shops have all already launched best deals on HDD and SSD units.
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Steve is TechRadar Pro’s B2B Editor for Creative & Hardware. He began in tech journalism reviewing photo editors and video editing software at the magazine Web User, where he also covered technology news, features, and how-to guides. Today, he and his team of reviewers test out a range of creative software, hardware, and office furniture. Once upon a time, he wrote TV commercials and movie trailers. Relentless champion of the Oxford comma.
- Desire AthowManaging Editor, TechRadar Pro