While the cloud is a useful place to store personal files and data, it’s not always everyone’s first choice. Physical storage is essential for PCs and laptops, especially when you need to store your operating system, games, media files, and music.
Not to mention, office spaces and business enterprises require an exponential amount of storage for multiple users.
Here are the biggest storage media devices available today.
Q: What’s the Largest Storage Drive Available Right Now?
Currently, Nimbus Data offers the ExaDrive DC at 100TB. This is the largest single storage capacity available, but it’s not widely available. Furthermore, this drive comes at $40,000, making it far more expensive than adding together 12 8TB SSDs.
It offers a direct connection to your computer’s motherboard, via PCIe 3.1, which allows you to have gigabit read and write speeds. You can also use this if you want to maximize the storage of your laptop, as most modern laptops now only let you have M.2 SSDs as an expansion option.
Whether you’re a gaming enthusiast with spare cash or a business professional that requires a large amount of storage with high speeds, the Sabrent Rocket Q 8TB NVMe M.2 SSD is one of the best of its kind and a great choice for reliability.
It’s also plug-and-play for both Windows and Mac, allowing you to transfer files without hassle. And despite it being an external device with 18TB storage, it is extremely lightweight at just 950 grams. It also includes an 18-inch USB cable, giving you some leeway in terms of device placement.
While the Seagate Expansion 18TB External HDD isn’t the fastest storage media you can buy, it’s definitely useful for storing large files that may want to retrieve at a later date. It’s also compatible with PS5 consoles, allowing you to expand your console’s storage tenfold.
The WD Discovery app also automatically imports files from cloud services, ensuring you can access your data even if you’re not connected to the internet—like when you’re on a plane. You can even connect it to other devices like tablets or smartphones, as long as they have a USB-C port.
And since you’re always moving, you can protect your drive’s contents via the WD Security function, which covers it with 256-bit AES hardware encryption. So wherever you go, you’re assured that your data is secure.
This high-capacity NAS HDD is designed to run continuously, assuring you and your team can access it anytime, from anywhere in the world. Since Seagate knows that it will process a lot of data, they designed it to have a data turnover of up to 300TB per year—that’s the equivalent of filling up the drive more than 16 times over in less than 12 months!
Beyond that, you can further expand this single 18TB drive by adding up to 23 more drives in one NAS. This allows you to have various RAID configurations, letting you have a more reliable setup and protecting the integrity of your files.
You no longer have to uninstall games you don’t play just to accommodate newer titles. Instead, you can keep them all on your PC. And despite it being an HDD, its 256MB DRAM cache and 7,200rpm disk speed ensure you won’t have to wait long to load your games.
It’s still relatively fast and decent enough for you to have an uninterrupted gaming session. With 10TB storage space, you’ll have plenty of room to keep your games, multimedia files, and college/work data in a secure location.
This microSD card offers an astounding 1TB of extra space, letting you keep all your files, music, movies, and games with you all the time. This Class 10 A2-Rated card will let you quickly launch your apps and games, so you don’t have to wait long to play.
What’s more, the Lexar PLAY 1TB microSDXC UHS-I Card is compatible with a host of devices, including Nintendo Switch consoles, GoPro, and more. This makes it extremely versatile and well worth the investment, especially considering you’re getting a whopping 1TB storage on this tiny microSD card.
This little storage medium can carry up to 1TB of data while hanging with your keys or on your bag’s zipper. That means it’s always available to you, wherever you go.
Once you want to transfer its content to your old desktop or laptop, you can use its USB-A connector to attach it to legacy ports and devices. You get the best of both worlds with the SanDisk Dual Drive Luxe.
Q: How Long Do Solid-State Drives Last?
While SSDs generally last as long as other forms of storage media, they still have an estimated life span. Current technologies place them at around ten years, but some companies now produce SSDs with longer lifespans.
In fact, the Sabrent Rocket Q is advertised to have 1,800,000 hours MTBF or mean time between failure. That’s equal to more than 200 years!
Q: What is the Difference Between an SD Card and a MicroSD Card?
MicroSD cards are a variant of the SD card. Basically, it’s just a smaller version of the bigger SD cards. MicroSD cards can be used in SD card slots through an adapter, but SD cards can never fit in microSD card slots.
