Storage keeps getting faster and more efficient. NVMe SSDs dominate for speed, HDDs remain best for bulk storage, and portable drives offer convenience. Here are the top picks for every need in 2025.
The Best SSDs and Storage - Early 2025
- Thread starter Amir Shoam
- Start date
Tech Power Up and other websites have proven that not even the enthusiast benefits from the most expensive drives as consumer workloads are at Q1. The difference in boot times is imperceptible and that even the MX500 is still a very good drive. The main difference is copying or caching large amounts of data, otherwise even an older or 'lower end' drive such as the SN570 is perfect for most users.
As someone who has tested drives from the original Samsung 840, Sandisk Ultra, MX100 up to the KC3000 I can say that users should just get a mid range drive, as anything above an SN570, 580, EVO class or level is pointless. My media server, running Linux Mint has a BX500 and a no name OEM 256GB NVME and there's barely any difference in boot times compared with my SN770, 2TB 580 (laptop running Mint) or 2TB KC3000 (Windows 10).
Thus, the OS that is ran on these drives is far more important than the drives themselves.
As someone who has tested drives from the original Samsung 840, Sandisk Ultra, MX100 up to the KC3000 I can say that users should just get a mid range drive, as anything above an SN570, 580, EVO class or level is pointless. My media server, running Linux Mint has a BX500 and a no name OEM 256GB NVME and there's barely any difference in boot times compared with my SN770, 2TB 580 (laptop running Mint) or 2TB KC3000 (Windows 10).
Thus, the OS that is ran on these drives is far more important than the drives themselves.
If you’re getting a NAS, you really should be getting 6 drives or more… otherwise, it’s easier to simply get a cheap desktop and make it a NAS with free software (FreeNAS is great).
Running a desktop with 6+ drives gets a bit tougher (as towers need to be pretty big to have that many or more 3.5” drives) so then it starts making sense to have a standalone NAS from Synology… expansion units also mean you can easily add 5-10 more drives when necessary.
Running a desktop with 6+ drives gets a bit tougher (as towers need to be pretty big to have that many or more 3.5” drives) so then it starts making sense to have a standalone NAS from Synology… expansion units also mean you can easily add 5-10 more drives when necessary.
DanteSmith
Posts: 143 +248
Aren't Crucial and Corsair SSDs among those with the highest premature failure rates?
Author seems to be stuck in time. 2tb spinner recommended? Small “NAS” recommended. (Guess they didn’t hear about the synology issues with modern HDDs and pushing their own HDDs)
Just picked up some 24tb drives, that is where spinners are, data centre quality, not “cheap” small low quality drives that should be replaced by nve type drives.
8 bay+ NAS with expandability is where NAS is at the moment. Doesn't matter how much data you have, majority of users use more and more.
And did I see a reference to transcoding live streams for the NAS?
Just picked up some 24tb drives, that is where spinners are, data centre quality, not “cheap” small low quality drives that should be replaced by nve type drives.
8 bay+ NAS with expandability is where NAS is at the moment. Doesn't matter how much data you have, majority of users use more and more.
And did I see a reference to transcoding live streams for the NAS?
I used an old 4U server chassis with a J5040 embedded board and PCIe expansion cards to provide more SATA. Total cost without drives was $230. To buy the same capacity from Synology costs about $3k without the drives.
I would also note that I shifted from FreeNAS to a semi-custom NAS built around Stablebit's portfolio. The folder-level duplication combined with Cloud integration did exactly what I needed. I have drive sizes varying from 1-10TB in it. Using the J5040 has allowed seriously low power draw, which is nice for a 24/365 device.
Yeah - but that’s not really doable for the majority of users… as it is, even converting an old desktop into a NAS is way too complicated for many… but yeah, building your own is always the best - provided you have the skills.
By the way, Synology has no issues with newer HDDs - I use 22tb drives on mine with no issues.
flipp3r
Posts: 42 +14
I'm with some of the users above. DON'T go Synology unless you purchase their drives. Look at the HDD compatibility list - pretty much NO support for other Enterprise/Nas drives. Haven't used Qnap but they aren't pushing their own hdd's so I'd say they are the better option. Currently I have a desktop with 20x drives (Fractal Define 7 XL case) running TrueNAS Core for my media...
They aren't pushing their own hdd's so I'd say they are the better option. Currently I have a desktop with 20x drives (Fractal Define 7 XL case) running TrueNAS Core for my media...
My media server is an R3 3100 (need to underclock and undervolt it as it's idle mostly), X370M board and 8GB RAM, running Mint and a Mint Plex VM. I use SnapRAID as backup. It's a simple home server so I don't want Synology or such forms of NAS as I don't trust them. I also don't need FreeNAS as SnapRAID does what I need it to.
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RAID is not a backup solution. It is an up-time solution. It also puts the whole array at risk because the files are distributed. I would also add that it is not power efficient. If you are working with a single file multiple drives will be in operation while folder or file level duplication only 'spins-up' a single drive while in use.
Athlonite69
Posts: 38 +31
All you say depends on the raid type and what you've said is right for a raid 0 array but if you choose one of the other raid array types that use mirroring like Raid 0+1 or other types of array that use parity allowing you to lose 1 or more disks like raid 5 or 6 you wont lose any data unless all your disks die at the same time or you could just use JBod for a really large single partition say 4 x 25TB HDD's for a single 100TB disk partition
There is no reason why a RAID can’t be a backup solution - as long as it isn’t RAID 0… ideally, you have multiple backups to guard against any failure…
RAID 0 has no benefits besides access speed. It isn't even a type of RAID. The R in RAID is Redundant and there is no redundancy in 0. RAID 1 is just duplication. There are numerous methods in both hardware and software to create duplicate copies.
When people are talking about RAID they are usually talking about parity calculations and parity drives. RAID 5 or 6 are the most commonly known, but there are a variety of flavors made useful by specific storage requirements and hardware utilized. If a disk (or two or three....) dies parity drives allow continued access of the whole throughout the replacement process. It maintains solid uptime and in the commercial world that is critical because drives fail all the time.
On the consumer side there is risk in RAID5/6... types because they are dependent on either a hardware controller (for hardware RAID) or software (for a software-based RAID - which is a terrible idea). If something gets sideways with whatever is making the parity calculations it can kill the entire array. That's why I went the Stablebit route. It provides folder-level duplication so you can have your pictures duplicated twice (or more) on your 'server' and also saved on the Cloud, just duplicate your movies, and not duplicate files that you also store on your workstation. It also regularly scans the drives and reports on issues as they arise.
deemon
Posts: 322 +104
Apparently you can also use WD Black SN850P (marketed as PS5 model) in a PC (according to this: https://en.as.com/meristation/news/wd-black-sn850p-a-ps5-focused-ssd-that-also-works-well-in-a-pc-n/ ) , if it's cheaper in your region. And it is in mine... and it also gives you the PS5 compatibility (heatsink shape, that fits into PS5), if you later decide to put it into PS5 instead of PC.
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