Black Friday is the best time to pick up external storage drives. Whether you're looking for a portable hard drive to store movies, games, and videos, need an external SSD to back up photos from your phone, or are looking for MicroSD cards, there are plenty of great options on sale right now.
If you're looking to buy a new portable drive, there are a few options to consider. An external SSD is smaller and lighter than a regular hard drive, and you get significantly faster transfers, making it a great choice for gaming — particularly if you're using an older console like the PlayStation 4. But SSDs tend to be costlier, so if you want a lot of storage for movies and videos, a regular portable drive could be a better choice. Let's take a look at the best Black Friday deals on external storage drives.
Best Black Friday external SSD deals
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Samsung's T5 external SSD is one of the best in its category, offering 540MB/s sequential writes — seven times more than a regular hard drive. The drive has a rugged design, comes with USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A cables, and is easily portable.
The T7 is the latest external SSD from Samsung, and it delivers double the performance, with sequential writes of 1,000MB/s. The 500GB version of the T7 is down to $80, but the 1TB model hits the sweet spot for value, getting a full $50 off its price. Like the T5, you get USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A cables.
The T7 Touch is identical to the T7, but with one key difference: there's a fingerprint sensor embedded on the outer surface, providing an added layer of security to your data. The rugged design along with the fact that there's just a $10 between the T7 and T7 Touch make the latter the go-to recommendation.
WD's My Passport Go series is a stalwart in this segment, and this particular model has a rugged design that's meant to withstand tumbles of up to two meters. It has 400MB/s sequential writes and a three-year warranty, and has a built-in USB-A cable that can be hidden away when the SSD is not in use.
Seagate's One Touch external SSD is also a great option, and it comes with a unique feature: a two-month subscription to Adobe CC photography plan. You also get a one-year subscription to Mylio Create, so if you're looking to use either utility, Seagate's SSD may just be the ideal product for you.
Best Black Friday external hard drive deals
The WD Black is an external drive that's optimized for gaming. With 5TB of storage, you can easily install over 100 games, and the drive connects over USB 3.0. The rugged design combined with the vast amount of storage make this a particularly great option if you're looking for an external game drive.
The My Passport is the best-selling portable drive around, and in this iteration, you get 5TB of storage, USB 3.0 connectivity, and three-year warranty. The drive connects over USB 2.0, has a sleek design that makes it easily portable, and it offers proven reliability.
LaCie made a name for itself for its rugged portable drives, and the 4TB Rugged Mini offers unmatched durability with drop, crush, and water resistance. It works over USB 3.0 and goes up to 130MB/s for file transfers, and even includes a one-month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud all apps plan.
Like the LaCie Rugged Mini, G-Technology's external drive is designed for durability. It has an IP54 rating and offers a crush resistance of up to a 1000lb, and you get 5TB of storage along with USB-C connectivity. The sleeker design and additional storage give it an edge over LaCie.
Best Black Friday SD card deals
Samsung's Evo Select is one of the best MicroSD cards in the market today. The UHS-I card offers transfers of up to 100MB/s, making it a great choice for phones or cameras. The MicroSD card is also designed to withstand the elements, and has a 10-year warranty.
The SanDisk Extreme is another MicroSD card that has proven to be reliable over the years. The UHS-I card is available from 32GB to 1TB storage variants, with the 512GB model hitting the sweet spot. With transfers of up to 160MB/s and a lifetime warranty, the SanDisk Extreme is the default choice right now.
This particular MicroSD card is officially licensed for the Nintendo Switch, and it offers transfers of up to 100MB/s. With 512GB of storage, you have enough room to install all of your favorite games, and the card comes with a lifetime warranty.
