Best external SSD for gaming: my top external storage picks for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X (2024)

It might not be immediately obvious but external SSDs are more than just handy backup devices. They're a great way to keep your most important data with you at school or work, on your commute, and of course at home. You can use them to store your massive games library, freeing up precious storage space on your desktop and laptop.

For us, the WD Black P50 Game Drive is the best overall external SSD, as it's super fast with a great form factor from a trusted brand. The best budget external SSD is the Crucial X6, as it's available in large capacities for a very reasonable price.

External SSDs are a great way of adding more storage to a PC, the Sony PlayStation 5 or Microsoft Xbox Series X gaming consoles. You can even run games directly off the SSD itself in some cases, though it won't be as fast as using the internal drive. However, whatever you plan to use it for, chances are there's one that's just right for you listed below.

Curated by

Curated by

Jeremy Laird

Jeremy likes CPUs. And GPUs. And SSDs. A lot. Which is just as well, since he's been writing about them since the early Mesozoic period. Or at least since Intel released those early stuttering SSDs. Remember them? Good times.

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Best overall external SSD

If you’re looking for fast USB-powered external storage for games, this is currently as good as it gets, and that in combination with its svelte form factor means it's our top pick for best external SSD drive overall. The WD Black P50 Game Drive we tested here in 1TB format, and available in 500GB and 2TB flavors, is a rare breed of USB Type-C external SSD. That’s because it supports the very fastest USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20 Gbps interface, which is why it’s capable of read and write speeds up to 2,000 MB/s.

As for real-world performance, in terms of peak sequential, the WD Black P50 easily maxed out the 10Gbps connection of our test PC, registering just over 1GB/s in both directions. It’s likely capable of the advertised 2GB/s with the right interface, however.

Sustained performance is a little less impressive, with performance dropping to around 375MB/s after around 30GB of data transfer. Random access performance is reasonable rather than spectacular, with 22MB/s reads, and 40MB/s writes for the 4K QD1 metric.

While its performance isn't perfect, it's still very impressive, and it comes clad in WD's rather attractive all-black shroud. It's a portable and good-looking little unit, and while we doubt anyone's been bowled head over heels by the looks of their external drive, this one has a well-judged form factor that makes it easy to take anywhere.

Speedy, portable, solidly built and available in large capacities. Yep, that's all the major checkboxes ticked, although it is worth mentioning that it's not cheap. If all you need is large amounts of storage on a budget without the speed, then the Crucial X6 is probably more to your tastes.

However, if you want the best all-round external SSD and don't mind paying for the privilege, this is the one to go for.

Best budget external SSD

There’s a fine line between compelling and compromised when it comes to external USB Type-C SSDs. That being said, while speed is not this drive's strong point, it does offer a lot of storage for a reasonable price, and that makes the Crucial X6 the best budget external SSD we've tested to date.

While the X6 doesn't feature any DRAM cache, it does support features like TRIM passthrough, which isn’t always the case on cheaper USB drives and ensures that performance should be sustained in the longer term. It’s also very compact for a 2TB drive, measuring 69 x 64 x 11 mm.

Not only that, but it's light, and the Micron flash memory inside comes from one of the biggest names in the industry, which means it's a reliable little drive that should last for a long time. It's not as durable and tough as the Samsung T7 Shield, however, so if long-lasting is your aim, you might be better off looking there instead.

As for raw performance, peak write speeds are a little disappointing at 378 MB/s, as is the 12 MB/s 4K QD1 write throughput. It’s also worth noting that write performance eventually drops to 180 MB/s with sustained throughput. However, in our testing, it never dropped lower than that, even with over 50GB of sustained traffic.

If speed's your goal, you'd be better served by the WD Black P50 Game Drive. Still, when it comes to external storage, speed isn't everything, and you're likely looking for plenty of room for your files without spending a ton. Here, the Crucial X6 makes a whole lot of sense.

The Crucial X6 might not be the fastest or the toughest, but if you're in the market for a high-capacity drive in a small form factor that can tuck onto your desk or in your backpack with very little fuss, it's a good pick for not a lot of cash.

Most durable external SSD

The T7 Shield is Samsung’s portable NVMe SSD that’s about as big as a playing card. Being rated to IP65 durability, it's classified as dustproof and water resistant, meaning it's aimed at content creators who travel and, for whatever reason, might end up a little wet or with a bit of dirt on their person.

To test it, we left the SSD on my patio in the rain for a couple of hours since absent-mindedly leaving things outside feels more like a real-world situation we’d end up in. Opening, copying, and transferring files took no performance hit when testing the drive afterwards. We also dropped the T7 Shield from standing desk height a few times until satisfied with the sound of the thud, and used the drive again with no issues.

It doesn't feel flimsy when you hold it in your hand or store it in a pocket despite still being pretty light. In fact, the aluminum body covered in a rubber casing has an almost all-weather resistant feel to it.

It has a sequential read speed of 1021 MB/s and a write-speed of 896 MB/s, according to our benchmarking. More practical testing includes transferring nearly 8GBs worth of This Week In PC Gaming clips on and off the drive, which took about 6 seconds each round.

The T7 Shield is compatible with game consoles, too. Great if you're looking for a nondescript way to expand your storage. We mostly used it to keep the games I use for benchmarking laptops and PCs. But loading games like Horizon Zero Dawn from the SSD didn't present any issues, nor did were there any dips in performance after playing for about an hour.

Plenty speedy then, although it must be said nowhere near as fast as the WD Black P50 Game Drive, which is also pretty well-protected in its durable shroud. But if durability and overall reliability are your top priorities, with decent performance as a close second, the sheer toughness of the T7 Shield wins out.

Read our full Samsung T7 Shield review.

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