Best Portable SSDs for Backups and Editing

A portable SSD is what an external hard drive should always have been: fast enough to edit video directly off it, small enough to drop in a pocket, and with no moving parts to fail when it's bumped.

Why SSD over a spinning drive

Portable SSDs transfer files at 1,000 MB/s and up, ten to twenty times faster than a portable hard drive. That speed matters most if you edit photos or video from the drive, or back up large folders regularly.

They're also far more durable. A hard drive dropped while running can lose everything; an SSD has no spinning platter, so it shrugs off the drops that happen to a drive tossed in a bag.

Interface: what the speed rating means

USB 3.2 Gen 2 drives hit about 1,000 MB/s, which is the current sweet spot. USB 3.2 Gen 1 tops out around 500 MB/s — still fast, but half as quick. Thunderbolt drives reach 2,800 MB/s but cost a premium most people don't need.

Check your computer's port before paying for speed. A 2,000 MB/s drive on a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port runs at 500 MB/s anyway, so the extra money is wasted.

What to buy

• 1TB is the value sweet spot for backups and media
• 2TB if you work with video or photo libraries
• A drive with USB-C and an included cable

Buy a 1TB portable SSD with USB 3.2 Gen 2 and a durable shell. It's the single best storage upgrade for anyone who moves files between computers or keeps a backup off their machine.