Best portable SSD of 2021

The best portable SSDs allow you to quickly backup your files and carry them around with you. Because they are Solid State Drives, and have no moving parts, reading and writing data to them is much faster.

Also, the lack of moving parts means they are more robust than standard portable hard drives, so the odd knock or drop shouldn’t damage them – or mean that your important files are lost.

In fact, many of the best portable SSDs come with rugged bodies that have been specifically designed for resisting accidental damage. If you carry your work around with you, then these are definitely worth considering, even if there’s a bit of a price premium.

The best portable SSDs have always been pricier than an external hard drive, which means that the really capacious models were out of reach of many. Luckily, despite the blip in pricing a few months ago, the best external solid state drives are more affordable than ever. You can get terabytes of storage without breaking the bank, and that’s never a bad thing. 

If you’re looking for a portable SSD with lots of features, then you might want to take a look at the Samsung T7 SSD. This external storage is not only fast – with sequential read and write speeds of up to 1,050 and 1,000 MB/s, respectively – but it also boasts quite a few nifty features in its palm-sized package. 

The most important of those features is, of course, its built-in security options that use AES 256-bit encryption and give you the option to use fingerprint sign-in, which you can set-up through its own management software.

Overall, the Samsung T7 SSD is one of the best portable SSD’s currently available and well worth considering for a purchase.

Samsung is a company that has made some brilliant portable SSDs, and you’ll see a number of its devices on this list, however the Samsung Portable SSD T5 is our pick of the best portable SSD of 2018. 

It builds on the brilliant design and performance of its predecessor, the Samsung T3 SSD (also on this best portable SSD list), but brings it up to date with an incredibly fast USB Type-C connection that ekes out every last drop of performance from the solid state drive inside. 

Of course, it’s also backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 if your PC doesn’t have USB Type-C. It’s expensive, but it’s well worth the cash.

Seagate is a well-known brand when it comes to storage, and it’s brought its impressive experience to the portable SSD market with the brilliant Seagate Fast SSD. 

This is an impressively slim external SSD, at only 9mm thick with a footprint of 94 x 79mm. Best of all, it’s affordable – with prices likely to drop – and it’s an excellent performer, relatively small, plus it has a nice design and a three-year warranty. 

The Seagate Fast SSD is well worth considering if you’re looking for a the best portable SSD for a low price.

If you want speed above all else, and money is (almost) no object, than the Samsung X5 Portable SSD is the best portable SSD for you. It comes with a Thunderbolt 3 connection that takes full advantage of the super-fast speeds of the brilliant Samsung 970 Evo NVMe SSD that comes inside. 

However, that pure dedication to speed comes at some expense. First, there’s the financial expense, as this is a pricey external SSD. It’s also larger and bulkier than the Samsung T3 or Samsung T5, which are also on this list. The device is fairly heavy at 150g, triple the weight of the Samsung T5, and at 116 x 60 x 18mm, it can best be described as portable rather than miniature. 

However, when it comes to performance, the Samsung X5 Portable SSD is definitely the portable SSD to go for.

This small and compact external hard drive offers very decent speeds, as well as a rugged body that keeps it safe from water – as well as drops and knocks. It’s not the fastest drive out there – as it’s still reliant on the aging SATA technology, rather than the newer – and faster – NVMe tech, but for the money you’re still getting a brilliant performer. 

Adata claims this is the most compact external SSD, and with dimensions of 72.7 x 44 x 12.2mm and weighing only 37g excluding the cable, it is smaller and lighter than Samsung’s T3 and T5 drives – which are also on this list of the best portable SSDs. While it is pricey compared to some of the other external SSDs we have on this list, remember that it comes with military-certified protection. 

The stringent MIL-STD-810G 516.6 impact resistance test so it should survive accidental drops and shocks without much damage. If you shop around, you can also get it for less than its RRP.

Storage giant Western Digital is no stranger when it comes to storage gear aimed specifically at pro photographers, and with the WD My Passport Wireless SSD it has created another brilliant device that photographers (or even regular users) will love. 

The WD My Passport Wireless SSD joins WD’s growing stable of wireless hard drives, which allow you to view and move files via a Wi-Fi connection, rather than with a cable, which is handy. 

However, over Wi-Fi, you’re not utilizing the full speed of the SSD. It also connects via USB 3.0, which offers very good speeds, but not quite as fast as USB Type-C or Thunderbolt. But the flexibility and durability of the WD My Passport Wireless SSD is certainly tempting, plus it comes with a built-in SD card reader, making it one of the best portable SSDs for photographers.

The Adata SD700 will suit those looking for a rugged storage device that can provide ample capacity without costing too much. It offers good speeds, and it’s IP68 rated, which means you can carry it around with you without worrying about it getting damaged. 

The Adata SD700 External SSD comes in capacities up to 1TB, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on storage space just because it uses an SSD. However, it doesn’t come with the new USB Type-C connection, which means speeds aren’t quite as fast as they could be.

There’s a reason why LaCie is among the few brands trusted by creators and digital nomads alike. The manufacturer has designed its hard and solid state drives to be travel-friendly, making them rugged enough to survive most accidental drops, as well as being lightweight and shock-resistant. 

That is, while it may not have that rugged build that Lacie’s storage drives are known for, it is still built for travel. It’s versatile too when it comes to connectivity – while it does have that USB-C connection that’s best for MacBooks and the Dell XPS line, it also allows USB 3.0 connectivity for the other laptops out there.

When it comes to keeping your files safe and secure – whether from prying eyes or accidents – G-Technology is still king. The manufacturer’s G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mobile SSD, for example, is IP67 water and dust resistant, can survive falls of up to 3 meters, and has a 1,000-lb crush resistance. 

Impressed yet? Its transfer rate of up to 560MB/s and USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3 compatibility should sweeten the pot. That is, as long as you’re willing to pay for it. Much like the LaCie Portable High Performance External SSD, this isn’t exactly among the cheapest options out there.

Gnarbox’s rugged backup SSDs have a very specific purpose. They’re designed for photographers and videographers to have a convenient and reliable backup drive for their precious high-resolutions files while in the field. 

The GNARBOX 2.0 SSD might not be for regular users, but it’s kind of an ingenious piece of peripheral for content creators – not just for backing up files but also for making space. 

Who hasn’t run out space in their SD card while they’re on a shoot? And, because it is designed to survive the great outdoors, it’s water, dust and shock resistant as well. This is, hands down, the best external SSD for the adventurous creative set.