The stated speeds of 'up to 2000MB/s' were on the money in our testing, but what this translates to in real-life scenarios is that games are loaded incredibly quickly, and files and media are retrieved and stored in an instant (you know what I mean), and all this is done incredibly consistently. Yes, this SSD does err on the side of a gaming drive, and it features in many of our console external hard drive guides, but its performance cannot be denied. That makes it a real contender in the console arenas too, scoring highly in our best PS4 SSD list.

Now that the P40 is out and about, the P50 will likely get cheaper, while sharing a lot of the same benefits and specs.Īs a proper external, portable, SSD package, it offers everything: a robust and cool design, and exquisite file transfer speeds that are often only seen in the best gaming PCs. And Western Digital's Black P50 drive is probably the best external hard drive we've tested in a while in terms of value for money. In your search for the best external hard drive, you'll need to consider a top SSD.

The best external hard drives for gaming 2023 This is very much a general overview of the best external hard drives in all shapes and sizes, so if you're after something a little more specific to your chosen gaming platform, our guides on the best Xbox Series X external hard drives and best PS5 external hard drives are sure to point you in the right direction. Some external hard drives are even running NVMe format for even faster sequential performance via the likes of USB-C and USB 3.2, so transfer speeds aren't all doom and gloom like they have been. If all you need to do is keep files and media secure, then a larger-capacity HDD will do you just fine. You won't get the performance of the best SSDs for gaming since those are internal options, but external SSD will be better than the console's HDD nonetheless. For example, if you intend to store games for a PS4, an external SSD could give your aging console a new lease of life with potentially faster load times. The best external hard drive for you will come down to your usage and intentions for it.

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