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If you work with storage-heavy apps or simply want quick access to your entire Steam library, there is no substitute for a high-capacity SSD. 4TB SSDs are now quite common and there are even a few 8TB models in the consumer market.
The largest capacities are still quite expensive, but far more affordable than just a few years ago as the cost of NAND Flash memory has dropped. Thanks to cheaper chips in the form of high-density TLC (triple-level cell) and QLC (quad-level cell) NAND, it’s not hard to justify investing in a high-capacity solid state drive.
Here, we’ve rounded up the best 4TB SSDs from major manufacturers as of early late 2025 based on our own testing. The short version is that most high-end M.2 SSDs now come in a 4TB variety, as do many of the cheaper 2.5″ SATA models.
Fastest Vs. Best Value 4TB & 8TB M.2 SSDs
Cost per GB is always a key factor when buying a storage device, and increasingly important at higher capacities. NAND quality and use of onboard DRAM are key factors that affect prices (and performance). You will also pay a premium for PCI-Express 5.0 (Gen5) capability, which of course isn’t necessary if your system is still on Gen4.
![WD_BLACK 4TB SN7100 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD Solid State Drive - Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280, Up to 7,000 MB/s - WDS400T4X0E [New Version]](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAxIDEiIHdpZHRoPSIxIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEiIGRhdGEtdT0iaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZtLm1lZGlhLWFtYXpvbi5jb20lMkZpbWFnZXMlMkZJJTJGMzE5UGNwJTJCMmYzTC5fU0wxNjBfLmpwZyIgZGF0YS13PSIxIiBkYXRhLWg9IjEiIGRhdGEtYmlwPSIiPjwvc3ZnPg==)
Last update on 2025-10-31 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Released in May 2025, the SanDisk/Western Digital WD Black SN8100 is a market-leading 4TB Gen5 SSD. It uses a custom Silicon Motion SM2508 controller and high-end BiCS8 TLC NAND to reach exceptional performance in real-world benchmarks. SanDisk is currently our top pick in the value department as well with the SN7100, which is one of the best DRAM-less Gen4 4TB SSDs at this time.
In the Gen4 space, the Samsung 990 PRO is still the fastest drive we’ve tested. Samsung’s latest 9100 PRO is also one of few flagship SSDs that ship in an 8TB capacity.
For Gen5 compatibility, you need a PCI-Express 5.0-capable system (based on e.g. AMD B650/X670 or later, or select Intel Z790 boards or later) with a free M.2 PCIe Gen5 x4 slot.
High-End 4TB M.2 NVMe SSDs
A high-end 4TB M.2 SSD is never the most cost-effective storage, but always an excellent system drive – especially in single-drive configurations. Most flagship SSDs come in 4TB capacities, so there is no shortage of options. Read our comprehensive writeup about the best M.2 drives for more detailed information. The short version is that these drives are market leaders in late 2025:
Flagship Gen5 SSDs
| Name | Max. seq. read/write (MB/s) | 4K random read/write (IOPS) | Endurance rating (TBW) | Shopping Links | Latest Price* |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | WD_Black SN8100 (4TB) | 14900/14000 | 2.3M/2.4M | 2,400 TBW | Amazon | $419.99 |
 | Kingston Fury Renegade G5 (4TB) | 14800/14000 | 2.2M/2.2M | 2,400 TBW | Amazon | $484.00 |
 | Samsung 9100 PRO (4TB) | 14800/13400 | 2.2M/2.6M | 2,400 TBW | Amazon | $398.35 |
 | Crucial T710 (4TB) | 14500/13800 | 2.2M/2.3M | 2,400 TBW | Amazon Newegg Amazon UK | $369.99 |
 | Corsair MP700 PRO SE (4TB) | 14000/12000 | 1.7M/1.6M | 3000 TBW | Amazon | $549.99 |
*Prices are updated automatically at regular intervals but are subject to change between updates.
There are many more Gen5 alternatives, but most of them use the same Phison E26 controller (like the Corsair MP700 Pro SE listed here). E26-based SSDs tend to run quite hot and require capable cooling solutions, which is less of an issue with newer models like the SN8100, 9100 Pro, Furt Renegade G5, and Crucial T710.
High-End Gen4 SSDs
| Name | Max. seq. read/write (MB/s) | 4K random read/write (IOPS) | Endurance rating (TBW) | Shopping Links | Latest Price* |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Samsung 990 PRO 4TB | 7450/6900 | 1.55M/1.4M | 2,400 TBW | Amazon Newegg | $319.99 |
 | WD Black SN850X (4TB) | 7300/6600 | 1.2M/1.1M | 2,400 TBW | Amazon Newegg Amazon UK | $274.00 |
 | Kingston Fury Renegade (4TB) | 7300/7000 | 1M/1M | 4,000 TBW | Amazon Newegg Amazon UK | $292.49 |
*Prices are updated automatically at regular intervals but are subject to change between updates.
Using a high-end Gen4 NVMe SSD as a system drive is still a viable option in the Gen5 era. You will barely notice the difference in normal use, but you will almost certainly notice the difference in pricing compared to flagship PCIe 5.0 drives.
Best Value 4TB M.2 NVMe SSDs
If you are looking to minimize the cost per GB, without sacrificing too much performance, there are many affordable M.2 SSDs to choose from in the Gen4 space. Most will be based on 4-channel controllers and in some cases cheaper, QLC NAND.
| Name | Sequential read/write (MB/s) | NAND Type | Endurance | Latest Price* | Check Availability |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Crucial T500 (4TB) | 7000/6900 | TLC | 2,400 TBW/ 5-Year | $269.00 | Amazon |
 | WD Black SN7100 (4TB) | 7000/6700 | TLC | 2,400 TBW/ 5-Year | $249.99 | Amazon |
 | Samsung 990 EVO Plus (4TB) | 7250/6300 | TLC | 2,400 TBW/ 5-Year | $249.00 | Amazon |
 | Kingston NV3 (4TB) | 6000/5000 | QLC | 1,280 TBW/ 5-Year | $283.95 | Amazon |
 | Corsair MP600 Core XT (4TB) | 5000/4400 | QLC | 900 TBW/ 5-Year | $304.99 | Amazon |
 | Crucial P3 Plus (4TB) | 4800/4100 | QLC | 800 TBW/ 5-Year | $279.95 | Amazon |
The main downside with QLC NAND is that it’s much less durable than TLC, but not much more affordable. When you can get a solid TLC-based SSD for around the same price, the choice is an easy one. Drives like the Samsung 990 EVO Plus is also faster than any of its QLC-based competitors.
High-Capacity 2.5″ SATA SSDs
If you are looking for lots of fast internal storage space at an even more reasonable cost per GB, SATA drives should (and usually do) offer better prices compared to their M.2 PCIe counterparts. For quite some time Samsung was the only manufacturer with 4TB or larger consumer SSDs in the market, but there are now more options.
| Name | Max. seq read/write (MB/s) | 4K random read/write (IOPS) | NAND | Endurance rating | Check Price |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Samsung 870 EVO (4TB) | 560/530 | 98K/88K | TLC | 2,400 TBW | Amazon |
 | Samsung 870 QVO (4TB) | 560/530 | 98K/88K | QLC | 1,440 TBW | Amazon |
 | WD Red SA500 (4TB) | 560/530 | 95K/82K | TLC | 2,500 TBW | Amazon |
 | WD Blue (4TB) | 560/530 | 95K/82K | TLC | 600 TBW | Amazon |
 | SanDisk Ultra 3D (4TB) | 560/530 | 95K/82K | TLC | 600 TBW | Amazon |
Sequential performance is fairly similar across the board, which is not surprising considering that the SATA interface has been fully utilized by leading SSDs for many years. However, the 2.5″ form factor is still interesting as it offers higher capacities at potentially more attractive prices per GB. It is, of course, also the only alternative if you have no spare M.2 slots, e.g. in a NAS.
8TB SSDs: Largest SSDs in the Market
While significantly larger capacities are available in the enterprise market, eight terabyte consumer SSDs are still rare. Most use QLC NAND memory to keep prices at a reasonable level.
Last update on 2025-10-31 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The most affordable 8TB SSD by a wide margin is the Samsung 870 QVO. Unsurprisingly, there is also a rather wide performance margin between this SATA drive and any PCIe NVMe SSD. One of the more recent additions to the M.2 SSD market is the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 8TB, which is also the best-performing 8TB drive at present.
As mentioned, the list of 8TB consumer SSDs is not particularly long at this point in time, and availability is often limited.
One SATA Alternative: Teamgroup QX
At the time of writing, there is only one non-enterprise competitor to the 8TB Samsung 870 QVO and the Teamgroup QX is it. In fact, this drive is also available in an even more capacious (and expensive) 15.3TB variety.
Like the 870 QVO, the QX is based on QLC NAND and should offer about the same performance. They are also priced about the same, though the Teamgroup QX comes with an inferior endurance rating at 2,000 TBW versus the QVO’s 2,880 TBW.
Other 8TB M.2 NVMe/PCIe Models
1. Corsair MP600 Pro XT
One of the very few high-end M.2 drives that come in an 8TB version is the Corsair MP600 Pro XT. This flagship SSD from Corsair uses premium 176-layer NAND memory chips and the Phison E18 controller, resulting in sequential read/write performance of 7,100 MB/s and 6,800 MB/s, respectively. Random performance in the 4TB and 8TB capacities is also very impressive at 1M/1.2M read/write IOPS. The endurance rating is 6,000 TBW. Additionally, it comes bundled with a large aluminum heat spreader that is not optional but can be removed if it doesn’t fit in your build.
2. Corsair MP600 Pro NH
Corsair is more active than other manufacturers in the high-capacity space, with several drives on the market with confusingly similar designations. The MP600 Pro NH has a lot in common with the MP600 Pro XT, however, as they both use the Phison E18 controller and TLC NAND. There are also a few differences, most notably that the NH comes with no heat spreader and a more modest price tag. Sequential performance is also slightly behind at 7,000 MB/s (read) and 6,800 MB/s, but you get the same massive 6,000 TBW endurance rating with the 8TB model.
3. Mushkin Gamma
The 8TB Mushkin Gamma is yet another high-end Gen4 M.2 SSD powered by the Phison E18 controller but is specified as being slightly slower than the Corsair models (likely due to previous-gen NAND). It still gets quite close to the bandwidth limits of the PCIe 4.0 interface with a sequential performance of 7,000 MB/s (read) and 5,900 MB/s (write). Random performance is 700K/1M IOPS (read/write).
4. Sabrent Rocket Q 8TB
We have previously reviewed the 1TB model of the Rocket Q and found it to be an attractive M.2 drive from a price/performance perspective. As its name implies, the Sabrent Rocket Q uses QLC memory chips to keep costs down, but it still offers more than decent sequential performance at 3,300 MB/s (read) and 2,900 MB/s (write). The endurance rating for the 8TB capacity is 1,800 TBW.
Shopping links: N/A
External/Portable 4TB SSDs
If you just want lots of really fast storage to go, you actually have quite a few options. Unlike hard drives, solid state drives are not limited by the size of spinning platters, only by how the manufacturers decide to arrange the memory chips and layout of the PCB. Therefore they may vary greatly in size and shape.
What to keep in mind when shopping for an external SSD include the drive’s rated performance and its interface. The best-performing drives use either the USB 3.2 Gen 2 or Thunderbolt interfaces. Here are some of the most popular models right now:
Samsung T7 Shield (USB 3.2 Gen 2) – Samsung’s T7 Shield comes in a rugged aluminum enclosure and offers transfer rates of up to 1050 MB/s via a 10 Gbps USB interface. It’s also highly portable with a thickness of just 0.5 inches.
Corsair EX100U (USB 3.2 Gen 2×2) – Using the 20 Gbps USB 3.2 2×2 interface, the Corsair EX100U can reach sequential transfer rates of up to 1600 MB/s (read) and 1500 MB/s (write), respectively. At 0.43 inches, it’s nevertheless even thinner than the Samsung T7.
WD My Passport SSD (USB 3.2 Gen 2) – Western Digital’s portable SSDs come in more conventional, HDD-inspired enclosures. The difference is that they are significantly smaller and, of course, much faster. In the latest incarnation, the My Passport SSDs use the 3.2 Gen 2 USB interface and offer read speeds of up to 1050 MB/s.
Build Your Own External SSD
When shopping for external storage, it’s also worth comparing the cost of a DIY alternative. Buying an affordable 4TB M.2 SSD and installing it in an M.2 PCIe/NVMe enclosure will often result in decent savings compared to branded external SSDs.
You also get to choose your own interface. Most external SSDs are limited to 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2, which is below spec for nearly all NVMe SSDs. Enclosures are also mostly 10 Gbps, but you are also free to opt for 20 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 all the way up to 40 Gbps USB4/Thunderbolt.
NAND Memory Types and Endurance Ratings
As you may have noticed from the specs, the main differentiator in the different 2.5″ SATA price brackets is not so much performance as it is endurance measured in terabytes written (TBW). For the vast majority of users, this is not a major concern, since none of the drives listed above are likely to wear out before all other parts of the computer have turned to scrap.
What mainly affects the endurance rating is the type of NAND memory chips use. These are exemplified in Samsung’s 2.5″ lineup by:
- the 860 QVO, which uses quad-level cell (QLC) NAND chips
- the 860 EVO uses triple-level cell (TLC) NAND, and finally
- the 860 PRO, which is one of the increasingly rare SSDs that still use multi-level cell (MLC) NAND.
MLC memory is the oldest NAND generation, but still the superior technology in terms of performance and endurance. MLC has been mostly replaced by the newer and denser TLC type, which is somewhat slower and less durable. The most modern and least durable type today is QLC.
Additional bits in every cell increase the number of charge states in each transistor. This makes them more prone to voltage drift and other issues that need to be corrected, which is a reason why high-density NAND doesn’t perform as well.
Of course, the newer memory types are not without advantages. The main one is that the higher densities allow for lower production costs. And as for performance, the difference is quite small as long as you are on the bandwidth-limited SATA bus. Compared to other technologies, modern QLC SATA drives offer an attractive price/performance calculation, unless you plan on putting the drive through extremely heavy use.
Summary
If money is no object, or you happen to run a data center, it’s possible to buy SSDs in much greater capacities than 8TB, such as Samsung’s 30.72 TB PM1643. Enterprise drives are only limited by what businesses are willing to pay – which is typically a lot more than the average consumer. Prohibitive prices are what hold back ultra-high-capacity SSDs in the consumer space today.
The good news is that SSD prices have dropped at a steady pace, partly thanks to smaller production processes (in nanometers), but mostly thanks to additional bits per cell. However, the cost per GB is obviously still high compared to mechanical hard drives. For most PC builders today, the most cost-effective solution is still to combine a lower-capacity SSD with a slow conventional hard drive for backups and other files that are not frequently accessed.
On the other hand, some categories of users can definitely take advantage of large amounts of fast storage space, which is an advantage for everyone working with large files. Photo-, video, and audio editing come to mind.
The options are still somewhat limited, but it is 100% certain that we’ll see more high-capacity SSDs in the future. And hopefully at reasonable prices, thanks to the proliferation of QLC NAND and more efficient production processes.
You forgot the OWC Express 4M2 NVMe, which offers true Thunderbolt 3 performance. You can bolt in four Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 SSDs and get a 4TB external drive with 2,883 MB/s read speeds for about $900. ?
Thanks for the tip Michael! Will add it in next update.
have a look at this 8TB Micron 5210 Enterprise drive
https://www.amazon.com/Micron-MTFDDAK7T6QDE-7-68TB-2-5-Inch-Enterprise/dp/B07JQ2F2WG/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=8TB+SSD&qid=1590085643&s=electronics&sr=1-3
Thanks. Please, note that the article text still states:
“The VectoTech Rapid is bound by the limits of the USB 3.0 (or USB 3.1 Gen1) interface and it’s, therefore, slower than its competitors”.
On the other hand:
Brand new higher-capacity internal SSD (4 TB & 8 TB) from Micron will allow higher-capacity external portable SSD
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/brand-new-higher-capacity-internal-ssd-4-tb-8-tb-from-micron-will-allow-higher-capacity-external-portable-ssd.2208536
More with updated speed information:
VectoTech Rapid 4TB External SSD USB-C Portable Solid State Drive (USB 3.1 Gen 2)
Super fast Read/Write speeds up to 540Mb/s
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NC1RI61
VectoTech Rapid take apart disassemble would be great to see internal SSD. Is it Micron?
On the other hand, your information is outdated:
VectoTech Rapid 2TB External SSD USB-C Portable Solid State Drive (USB 3.1 Gen 2)
https://www.amazon.com/VectoTech-Rapid-External-Portable-Solid/dp/B01JKMZ6L6
Check out the pictures with USB C connector and cables. Albeit the speed is outdated. Amazing!
Thanks for the info, will uppdate asap. I have yet to see a full review of the vectotech. But Micron or Toshiba NAND would be the most likely.