Everything you need to know about choosing storage in 2026. Compare speeds, prices, and reliability for gaming, NAS, and backups.
Storage has transformed dramatically over the past few years. SSDs have dropped below £50 per terabyte, making mechanical hard drives obsolete for most users. NVMe Gen 4 drives are now the default, with speeds exceeding 7,000 MB/s becoming commonplace. Even PS5-compatible SSDs have dropped to under £100 for 1TB.
But more choice means more confusion. Do you need NVMe Gen 5 for £200, or is a £60 Gen 3 drive enough? Should you invest in a 4TB monster, or save money with a smaller capacity? This guide cuts through the marketing nonsense and answers these questions with real-world data.
Manufacturers love quoting sequential read speeds, but those numbers rarely reflect real-world performance. Here's what actually matters:
| Drive Type | Sequential Read | Random 4K | Game Load Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDD (7200 RPM) | ~150 MB/s | ~1 MB/s | 60-90s |
| SATA SSD | ~550 MB/s | ~30 MB/s | 15-25s |
| NVMe Gen 3 | ~3,500 MB/s | ~50 MB/s | 8-12s |
| NVMe Gen 4 ⭐ | ~7,000 MB/s | ~80 MB/s | 5-8s |
| NVMe Gen 5 | ~14,000 MB/s | ~90 MB/s | 5-7s |
Key Takeaway: NVMe Gen 4 offers the best price-to-performance ratio in 2026. Gen 5 is 2x faster on paper but only 10-15% faster in real-world gaming. Save your money unless you're doing professional 8K video editing.
Storage prices have cratered. Here's the current landscape in the UK market:
Recommended: 2TB NVMe Gen 4 SSD (WD Black SN850X, Samsung 990 Pro, or Crucial P5 Plus)
Modern titles like GTA VI, Starfield, and Call of Duty can hit 150GB+ each. DirectStorage on Windows 11 leverages NVMe's low latency to reduce stutter and improve texture streaming. A 2TB drive gives you room for 15-20 AAA games plus Windows. Pair it with a cheap 4TB HDD for older games and recordings.
Recommended: 2TB NVMe Gen 4 with heatsink (5,500 MB/s minimum)
Sony requires PCIe Gen 4 drives with at least 5,500 MB/s read speed. The WD Black SN850X and Samsung 990 Pro are tested and certified. A heatsink is mandatory – the PS5's expansion slot has limited airflow. See our PS5 SSD installation guide for step-by-step instructions.
Recommended: M.2 2230 NVMe (512GB-1TB) or microSD (256GB A2 card)
Handheld PCs use smaller M.2 2230 form factor drives. Upgrading to 1TB costs £80-100 but is worth it. For expansion, get a SanDisk Extreme or Samsung Evo Select A2-rated microSD card. Check our handheld storage guide for compatible models.
Recommended: CMR NAS-rated HDDs (WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf)
For home NAS units, avoid SMR drives in RAID arrays – they cause catastrophic slowdowns during rebuilds. CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording) drives like WD Red Plus feature vibration resistance and TLER (Time-Limited Error Recovery) to prevent drives from dropping out of arrays. Pair with an SSD cache for snappy file access. See our CMR vs SMR explainer.
Recommended: 2TB NVMe Gen 4 (active projects) + 8TB HDD (archive)
4K/8K video editing demands sustained write speeds. Use a fast Gen 4 NVMe for your timeline and proxies, then archive finished projects to a large HDD or NAS. If you work with RAW footage, consider a Thunderbolt 4 external SSD (3,000 MB/s) for portable storage.
Stick with established manufacturers who honour warranties:
Most consumer SSDs come with 3-5 year warranties. Look for TBW (Terabytes Written) ratings – a 1TB TLC drive should offer at least 600 TBW. For HDDs, check for MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) ratings of 1 million+ hours for NAS drives.
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Absolutely. SSDs are now affordable enough that even budget builds benefit from one. A 1TB NVMe SSD costs around £60-80, while a 1TB HDD costs £40-50. For the extra £20-30, you get 10x faster boot times, silent operation, and instant game loading. Use an SSD for your OS and games, then add an HDD for bulk storage if needed.
The WD Black SN850X (1TB) and Samsung 990 Pro (1TB) are excellent choices under £100. Both meet the PS5's 5,500MB/s requirement and include heatsinks. Check our PS5 SSD comparison for real-time prices.
Modern SSDs last 5-10+ years for typical consumer use. A 1TB TLC SSD is rated for 600-1,200 TBW (terabytes written). For perspective, if you write 20GB per day, it would take 82 years to reach 600TB. Endurance is no longer a concern for most users.
2TB is the sweet spot for PC gaming. Modern AAA titles like GTA VI, Call of Duty, and Starfield can exceed 150GB each. A 2TB SSD (£130-160) gives you room for 15-20 large games plus your OS, while 1TB (£60-80) works if you manage your library actively.
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