Do I go for $120 off a 6TB SSD I don't need or a trusted 4TB drive for half price?
(Image credit: Crucial / Samsung / Future)
Prime Day is here, and that means Portable SSD deals galore. I basically only ever buy an external SSD on Prime Day or Black Friday because the deals are always so good, and this year's no exception. They're so good, I'm struggling to choose.
There aren't many portable 6TB SSDs around. For that much capacity, you would often have to start looking at older mechanical hard drive tech for a decent deal But 6TB isn't that much space these days if you're working with big video files, so the fact that the Crucial X10 6TB SSD is reduced by $120 from $558.99 to $436.70. is tempting.
There are also great Prime Day SSD deals on smaller capacities though, including the Samsung T9, which has been my go-to drive for the past year or so. The 4TB version has a massive 52% off, which means I could even get two – so 8TB – for not that much more than the price of Crucial's X10 6TB.
It's decision time! Here are the two deals. Let me know in the comments section below which one you would go for.
Although this doesn't have Crucial's 'Pro' tag, it's just as fast as the X10 Pro line, providing up to 2,100MB/s on a good laptop. That's the kind of speed I'm looking for in a great external SSD for video editing.
Beren, our ecom editor, has the Pro version and loves it. And our sister site Techradar gave this newer non-Pro version a 4-star review, highlighting the solid, palm-sized dust and splash-proof build.
There are discounts on the 1TB, 2TB and 4TB versions too. The 6TB option is obviously still pricey, but it has the biggest discount at over 20%. I'm thinking that this makes it a good chance to grab peace of mind with an SSD that I know I'm not going to fill... at least for a while. Immediate stock has sold out in the US, but you can still place an order.
Samsung's T9 doesn't come in 6TB, but the Prime Day SSD deal on the 4TB model is so good that it's tempting to even buy two – there's a massive 52% off.
It's only very slightly slower than the Crucial above at 2,000MB/s, and, best of all, I know from personal experience that this is a fantastic drive that does its job reliably because the 2TB version has been my trusty companion on many trips over the past 18 months.
The catch? This one is a Prime exclusive deal, so you need to be an Amazon Prime member to grab it. That's not a huge impediment though, because you can always sign up for a free Amazon Prime trial and then cancel it later.
Again, there are also discounts on the 1TB and 2TB verions.
So which is it to be? I'm leaning towards the Crucial 6TB SDD. The Samsung option is the bigger saving in percentage terms, and it's sometimes safer to go with what you know, but I like the idea of a single unit with more capacity to avoid having to switch drives.
Do I need 6TB? Not today, or at least not normally. If I'm working remotely for a few days and need to store 4K video from my camera, 2TB drive will normally do it, and 4TB would be plenty. But there have been times when a colleague has wanted to hand content to me and I've not had space for it, or I've forgotten to the clean the drive. Then I panic. 4K log footage is so heavy that it's not unfeasible to go over 4TB.
What do you think? Let me know which deal you would go for in the comments section below, or check out this list of Prime Day SSD deals to see if there's any you think are a better buy.
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
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