Solid State Drive (SDD) Suggestions

[mrsterryn]

Looking to try and work out a decent SDD but not fabulously expensive lol (kinda blinked at some of them , Officeworks had some rather expensive ones lol )
Want these to ensure reasonable security of data integrity.
Husband wants one for all his movies over the years
I want for all these damm photos I am scanning and trying to sort out.
Easily transportable and portable
Any suggestions?

 

[elanshin]

I guess the questions to be asked are:

How big do you need it to be? (Storage size).
Is it a commonly accessed storage or just an archival storage ? - if its archive purposes I wouldn't recommend an SSD.
How often and where do you need to bring it around to if at all?

 

[mrsterryn]

I guess the questions to be asked are:

How big do you need it to be? (Storage size).
Is it a commonly accessed storage or just an archival storage ? - if its archive purposes I wouldn't recommend an SSD.
How often and where do you need to bring it around to if at all?

Thanks

1 TB for photos, probably accessed once a month to possibly update
2 TB regularly accessed and updated

 

[TheRealTMA]

Unfortunately you have picked a bad time to buy an SSD. 1TB SSD prices have risen significantly, some 2-3 times, from early 2025 to 2026. Some forecasts suggest combined NAND and DRAM price increases could exceed 130% by the end of 2026.

I use a number of Samsung T3s SSD (500G-2T) which are quite old now but they are and have worked very well. Perhaps consider one of the newer versions from Samsung or perhaps Toshiba, or maybe a Western Digital WE Elements 1T portable drive. About $100ish from Officeworks or Amazon.

 

[elanshin]

Thanks

1 TB for photos, probably accessed once a month to possibly update
2 TB regularly accessed and updated

If its just pushing photos in as a backup storage - perhaps it might be more worthwhile to look at a 6-8TB HDD instead of an SSD. It would be significantly cheaper.

Unless you really need the performance speeds of an SSD. An SSD is slightly more reliable on the long run than HDD, but probably not enough to justify the cost difference (and if you really want to be protective of data you can buy multiple HDDs still for less than a 4TB external SSD).

 

[Quickstatus]

Basically I setup a RAID drive.
I mirror all the data to 2 HDD and every year swop out 1 of the 2 HDD. This means that every year I have 1 HDD on the shelf which stores the data from all the preceding years. I wipe and discard HDD older than 10 years

 

[AuSammy]

If the data being stored is of high value (sentimental or otherwise) then raid or NAS are safer options than a single portable drive.

 

[mrsterryn]

Basically I setup a RAID drive.
I mirror all the data to 2 HDD and every year swop out 1 of the 2 HDD. This means that every year I have 1 HDD on the shelf which stores the data from all the preceding years. I wipe and discard HDD longer than 10 years

Mirroring sounds handy

If the data being stored is of high value (sentimental or otherwise) then raid or NAS are safer options than a single portable drive.

Yes there is definitely some sentimental items which would be quite upsetting to lose

 

[mrsterryn]

I think part of the issue is in the past we were evacuated from our place ,due to contamination with asbestos, with a possibility of of explosion in a factory at the end of our very tiny street did happen in the past. At that event we had to grab and run .

Perhaps also looking at a grab and run type device. Not cloud (for the moment )

 

[SYD]

Perhaps a cloud storage solution might also be something to consider?

Nothing to carry (or forget to carry) and ought to be accessible anywhere there’s internet.

If you must have access to specific things when there’s a ris of non internet eg 12 hours on a QF A380(!) , then download to an iPad or equivalent.

 

[TheRealTMA]

As some have said above, the best and safest solution, if you do not want to trust the cloud server in the neighbour’s son’s bedroom, is a dual drive NAS, probably with older 3.5in drives (so cheaper than SSDs) running a RAID fault recovery array. There are many available at reasonably prices so maybe time to bite the bullet and invest in the future. Brands such as Synology, QNAP and reliable. I use a couple of Synology devices and are easy to use, reliable and work well.

Google best NAS drives (Australia) for options.

 

[markis10]

Unfortunately you have picked a bad time to buy an SSD. 1TB SSD prices have risen significantly, some 2-3 times, from early 2025 to 2026. Some forecasts suggest combined NAND and DRAM price increases could exceed 130% by the end of 2026.

Which fab caught fire this time, they have been having ups and downs since the 80’s with these fires affecting supply and demand!