Seagate

Available in 1.9TB, 2TB, 4TB and 5TB capacities these SATA III 6Gb/s SSDs may no longer be the fastest around thanks to emerging PCIe SSDs, but they're the most cost-effective and are still easily fast enough for most users. You'll need a spare SATA 6Gb/s port to get the most from them, and a 2.5" capable drive bay - an adaptor may need to be bought, but most cases have at least one. These drives are the highest capacity ones available, suitable for holding an operating system, as well as numerous programs and a healthy collection of media and games.

Available in 120, 128, 240, 250, 256, 275 and 480GB capacities these SATA III 6Gb/s SSDs may no longer be the fastest around thanks to emerging PCIe SSDs, but they're the most cost-effective and are still easily fast enough for most users. You'll need a spare SATA 6Gb/s port to get the most from them, and a 2.5" capable drive bay - an adaptor may need to be bought, but most cases have at least one. These drives are suitable for holding an operating system, as well as numerous programs and a healthy collection of media and games.

M.2 replaced the older mSATA standard. Available in 120, 128, 240, 256, 480, 500 and 512GB sizes the M.2 SSD connects to your device via an M.2 socket using the newer PCI Express NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) controller variant designed to fully utilise the capability of high-speed PCI Express storage devices to perform many I/O (in/out) operations in parallel. These SSD's can achieve read speeds in excess of 3000MB/s and write speeds over 2000MB/s making them the fastest available.

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is a data transfer protocol that is more enterprise focussed than SATA, which is the standard bus for regular consumer drives. Available in 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB, 10TB and 12TB capacities SAS drives are more expensive per gigabyte, but they offer increased speed, longevity and improved error checking, which is vital for their intended use in enterprise, server and high-end workstation solutions. These 3.5" models are less limited in speed and capacity than 2.5" ones, but require more space. Designed to be used with mission critical systems such as servers, high-end work stations or any other users that require the best performance going to improve their systems performance.

These hard drives are specially engineered for maximum reliability and durability for use in mission-critical systems such as servers and workstations. They also typically have a superior warranty to standard consumer-grade hard drives. Choose from a wide variety of capacity points and performance levels.

These hard drives are specially engineered for maximum reliability and durability for use in NAS boxes. They also typically have a superior warranty to standard consumer-grade hard drives and often have special firmware that makes them more resistant to the problems caused by vibrations created by lots of drives mounted close together in NAS box. Choose from a wide variety of capacity points and performance levels.

These HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) provide high capacity storage for servers and are specially engineered for long term reliability and data integrity. Choose from a variety of models, some of which are optimised for performance and some for maximum capacity.

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is a data transfer protocol that is more enterprise focussed than SATA, which is the standard bus for regular consumer drives. Available in 1TB, 1.2TB, 1.8TB and 2TB capacities SAS drives are more expensive per gigabyte, but they offer increased speed, longevity and improved error checking, which is vital for their intended use in enterprise, server and high-end workstation solutions. These 2.5" models are ideal for space-limited situations. Designed to be used with mission critical systems such as servers, high-end work stations or any other users that require the best performance going to improve their systems performance.

These 3.5" hard drives are available in 2TB, 3TB, and 4TB sizes. They utilise the newer SATA III 6Gb/s interface, ensuring as high speeds as possible with their mechanical technology, especially when using them in RAID. They're the most popular drives for today's desktop PCs, thanks to high spindle speeds, lots of cache and huge capacities.

2.5" drives are significantly smaller than standard 3.5" ones, making them great candidates for upgrading the storage of your laptop or games console, especially as they're available in capacities of 2TB, 3TB, 4TB and 5TB. Remember to check the height of the drives, as most portable or console systems only have bays which support 9.5mm drives or less. Also pay attention to the spin speed in rpm; while all drives here use the latest SATA III 6Gbps interface, faster spinning drives will read and write data faster.

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is a data transfer protocol that is more enterprise focussed than SATA, which is the standard bus for regular consumer drives. Available in 300GB, 600GB and 900GB capacities SAS drives are more expensive per gigabyte, but they offer increased speed, longevity and improved error checking, which is vital for their intended use in enterprise, server and high-end workstation solutions. These 2.5" models are ideal for space-limited situations. Designed to be used with mission critical systems such as servers, high-end work stations or any other users that require the best performance going to improve their systems performance.

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is a data transfer protocol that is more enterprise focussed than SATA, which is the standard bus for regular consumer drives. Available in 300GB, 600GB and 900GB capacities SAS drives are more expensive per gigabyte, but they offer increased speed, longevity and improved error checking, which is vital for their intended use in enterprise, server and high-end workstation solutions. These 3.5" models are less limited in speed and capacity than 2.5" ones, but require more space. Designed to be used with mission critical systems such as servers, high-end work stations or any other users that require the best performance going to improve their systems performance.

These 3.5” hard drives utilise the SATA III 6Gb/s interface and have been specially designed for write intensive applications such as CCTV recording systems that are active 24 hours a day.

2.5" drives are significantly smaller than standard 3.5" ones, making them great candidates for upgrading the storage of your laptop or games console, especially as they're available in capacities of 500GB, 750GB and 1TB. Remember to check the height of the drives, as most portable or console systems only have bays which support 9.5mm drives or less. Also pay attention to the spin speed in rpm; while most drives here use the latest SATA III 6Gbps interface, faster spinning drives will read and write data faster.

Available in 500, 512, 525, 960GB and 1TB capacities these SATA III 6Gb/s SSDs may no longer be the fastest around thanks to emerging PCIe SSDs, but they're the most cost-effective and are still easily fast enough for most users. You'll need a spare SATA 6Gb/s port to get the most from them, and a 2.5" capable drive bay - an adaptor may need to be bought, but most cases have at least one. These drives are suitable for holding an operating system, as well as numerous programs and a healthy collection of media and games.

These 3.5" hard drives are available in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB sizes and mostly utilise the newer SATA III 6Gb/s interface, ensuring as high speeds as possible with their mechanical technology, especially when using them in RAID. They're the most popular drives for today's desktop PCs, thanks to high spindle speeds, lots of cache and huge capacities.

These 3.5" hard drives are available in 5TB, 6TB, 8TB, 10TB, 12TB, & now even 14TB sizes. They utilise the newer SATA III 6Gb/s interface, ensuring as high speeds as possible with their mechanical technology, especially when using them in RAID. They're the most popular drives for today's desktop PCs, thanks to high spindle speeds, lots of cache and huge capacities.

M.2 replaced the older mSATA standard. Available in 960GB, 1TB and 2TB sizes the M.2 SSD Connects to your device via an M.2 Socket using the newer PCI Express NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) controller variant designed to fully utilize the capability of high-speed PCI Express storage devices to perform many I/O (in/out) operations in parallel. These SSD's can achieve Read speeds in Excess of 3000MB/s and Write speeds over 2000MB/s making them the fastest available.

These SSDs are ideal for businesses looking for reliable, long-lasting and efficient flash storage that will outpace any hard disk. Possible features include end-to-end data protection and full power-loss protection. Speeds are not as fast as PCIe-based drives, but prices are considerably lower and the SATA interface and 2.5” form factor means they're easy to implement in any desktop environment.

These external drives use mobile 2.5in hard disks, which mean they're a lot more portable than desktop drives. Most use super-fast USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt connections, and many include backup applications and cloud storage deals for added security.

These larger drives use desktop-style 3.5in hard disks, which means they're better suited to sitting on a desk than being carried around in a bag, but their larger profile does mean big capacities. Their 7,200rpm spindle speeds mean file transfer are quicker than 2.5in drives, too.

Hybrid hard drives combine a traditional, high capacity mechanical HDD section with a smaller, flash-based SSD section that acts as a cache, giving your system a boost in responsiveness. They won't be as fast as a pure SSD, but they're a great compromise between speed and capacity.

External SSDs are ideal for users looking for lightweight, portable and speedy storage. Their pocket-friendly enclosures are significantly smaller and lighter than external hard drives, and with no moving parts they're also silent, more robust and less prone to physical shock damage. They use the USB 3 interface, which is 10 times faster than and backwards compatible with USB 2.