If you have been planning to buy an SSD, HDD, or a memory card, this may not be the best time to wait for a huge price drop. Storage prices have been under pressure as NAND Flash costs continue to rise, with the latest forecasts pointing to another increase in the coming months. With the festive sales around the corner, finding an actual good deal is becoming harder. So, if you need extra storage, here are some options worth considering before prices move even higher.
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If you simply need a lot of storage without spending too much, a traditional hard drive still makes a lot of sense. The Seagate Expansion gives you 2TB of storage and connects over USB 3.0, making it a straightforward option for backing up photos, videos, documents, and other large files.
It works with both Windows and Mac, and Seagate also includes three years of Data Recovery Services. It is not going to match an SSD for transfer speeds, but if your priority is capacity rather than speed, this is the kind of storage device worth looking at while prices are rising.
For phones, tablets, and other compatible devices, a microSD card is still one of the easiest ways to add storage. The SanDisk Ultra Go 128GB is rated for transfer speeds of up to 190MB/s and supports Full HD video recording.
It also comes with a 10-year warranty, which is useful if you are buying a card that you expect to keep around for several years. At 128GB, it is not the biggest card you can buy, but it gives you a decent amount of additional space without going all the way up to the more expensive capacities.
If you need something faster than an HDD, the SanDisk E30 is worth considering. This 1TB portable SSD claims speeds of up to 800MB/s and uses USB 3.2 connectivity. It also works with Windows, Mac, and Android devices and has a USB Type-C connection. That makes it a more versatile option for people who regularly move large files between devices. If you are a photographer, video editor, or simply someone who carries a lot of data around, an external SSD is a lot easier to live with than a traditional hard drive.
If you shoot a lot of video on your phone, the SanDisk Creator Phone SSD is a more specialised option. It offers 1TB of storage and speeds of up to 1,000MB/s, while also being designed to work with MagSafe-compatible setups. It is particularly aimed at creators who record large video files directly to external storage. SanDisk says it is compatible with ProRes recording on compatible iPhone models. There is also a five-year warranty.
Storage has become one of the more expensive upgrades to make this year. SSDs, memory cards and even high-capacity hard drives are no longer the easy impulse buys they once were, especially if you are looking for 1TB or more.
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That is why the upcoming festive sales might be a good time to buy. Of course, you may not find the kind of massive discounts we have become used to, but a reasonable price on the storage you actually need is still worth considering. If you have been putting off that SSD upgrade or need more space for your photos, videos, and games, waiting for prices to drop may not pay off.
I would rather pick up a good deal now than wait for storage to become even more expensive.