Solid state drives, or SSDs, are singularly responsible for vast improvements to PC performance over the last decade or so. Taking the place of mechanical hard drives, SSDs transformed once-ponderous boot times into being virtually instantaneous, programs and games are far more responsive, and the frustratingly long large-file loads are largely a thing of a past.
If you’re not yet using an SSD, you are missing out. If you already have an older SSD, you might consider upgrading it for the even speedier performance offered by cutting-edge PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 designs — if your PC sports those technologies, of course.
That said, a premium drive may not deliver any more real-world performance than a bargain drive. Mainstream software, including Windows Explorer has yet to implement the numerous performance tricks, such as multiple queues, that NVMe SSDs offer.
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One very large exception: FastCopy — a file copy and sync utility that allows your SSD to realize its full potential. We highly recommend it for transferring large amounts of data. It will save you tons of time, as will, oddly enough, the command-line utility Xcopy, if you want to exercise your inner geek.
Our recommendations cover both internal SSDs (NVMe picks are listed first, SATA picks second) and external SSDs (listed last). See also PCWorld’s guide to the best external drives if you’re looking strictly for a portable storage solution.
Note that due to the current global NAND storage (one of the many “benefits” of AI), SSD prices have skyrocketed, which renders some of the prices mentioned below and in the referenced review articles out of date.
June 13, 2026: Phison E26-based SSDs have proven problematic in 80Gbps enclosures on Thunderbolt 5 Macs. Avoid them for that use.
Why you should trust PCWorld for SSD reviews and buying advice: It’s in our name, PCWorld. Our reviewers have been testing PC hardware for decades. Our storage evaluations are thorough and rigorous, testing the limits of every product — from performance benchmarks to the practicalities of daily use. As PC users ourselves, we know what makes a product stand out. Only the best SSDs make this list.
Users who want the fastest 1TB to 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD that won’t break the bank, will want the WD Black SN7100, which is still available under that name but will be sold as the SanDisk Optimux GX 7100 going forward. (SanDisk was acquired, then recently divested by WD.) We were wowed by the 2TB version’s first-place finish among host memory buffer (HMB/DRAM-less) SSDs in our benchmarks. It also beat out a number of DRAM designs.
The fact that it’s an HMB design, i.e. it uses your system’s memory for primary caching duties as opposed to featuring DRAM onboard, means the SN7100 is very competitively priced. We’re talking close to $50 less than our previous pick, the Solidigm P44 Pro, for both the 1TB and 2TB capacities.
Combine that with an industry-standard five-year warranty / 600TBW rating (terabytes that can be written) per TB, and you’re looking at the best PCIe 4.0 SSD for average users and gamers.
Read our full
WD Black SN7100 review
Granted, given recent AI-induced price inflation, calling any SSD “budget” is relative, but you will currently spend quite a bit less with this DRAM-less (HMB/Host Memory Buffer) design. Once available at 2TB for $150, the drive is now $280. Thanks, OpenAI. Still, the SN5100, now renamed as the SanDisk Optimus 5100, is at least available to purchase, which can’t be said for a lot of the competition.
