A fast 2 TB drive costs about $253 today. The same class of drive sold for about half that a year ago, because the shortage that took DDR5 memory to four times its 2025 price took NAND flash with it.
The pause didn't last. TrendForce forecast NAND contract prices up 55% to 60% in the first quarter of 2026, 70% to 75% in the second and 10% to 15% in the third. For the fourth quarter it forecasts 15% to 20%, per Evertiq's October 2 report, and it says PC brands are cutting SSD capacity in mainstream models to hold down costs. Shelf prices lag contract prices, so the drives below cost about what they did in September.
Buy the capacity you need, at Gen4 speed, and put nothing extra into sequential numbers you will not notice. A game loads off a 7,100 MB/s drive and a 14,700 MB/s drive within a second of each other, and the faster one costs $146 more.
Crucial P310 2 TB (PCIe Gen4 NVMe, M.2 2280)
PCIe Gen4 · up to 7,100 MB/s read · 6,000 MB/s write · M.2 2280 · Micron G8 NAND
Two terabytes at $253 is the best price per terabyte we found from a major brand, with 11,354 ratings behind it. It reads at up to 7,100 MB/s, which is as much sequential speed as a game or a project folder can use, and it is the drive to put in a desktop, a laptop or a handheld.
- The cheapest 2 TB from a major brand in this sweep, at $126 per terabyte
- Crucial is Micron's consumer brand, so the NAND comes from the company that makes it
- Crucial lists the ROG Ally X, Legion Go and AYANEO Kun as compatible, so it fits a handheld
- Backward compatible with Gen3 boards, which keeps it useful in an older machine
- The cheapest offer ships from Amazon's German store, so check the delivery date before ordering
- Write speed of 6,000 MB/s trails the 990 Pro, which matters for sustained large copies
- No heatsink in this version, so a PS5 needs the heatsink model in Pick III
Crucial sells the P310 as a mainstream Gen4 drive, and in a market where a 2 TB Samsung 990 Pro costs $398, mainstream is the right place to shop. The gap between the two is 350 MB/s of rated read speed and $145.
The flagship earns its price on sustained writes. Copying a 200 GB video project lands the flagship ahead; loading a level, booting Windows or opening Photoshop does not. Buy the P310 for a gaming or general build and spend the difference on memory, which is the part of the 2026 build that hurts.
Check one thing on the listing. The $253 offer comes from Amazon's German storefront. The seller is Amazon, so the thing to check is the delivery estimate.
SanDisk Optimus GX 7100 1 TB (PCIe Gen4 NVMe, M.2 2280)
PCIe Gen4 · up to 7,250 MB/s read · 6,900 MB/s write · SanDisk BiCS TLC NAND · M.2 2280
The Optimus GX 7100 replaces the WD_Black SN7100 and carries the same 7,250 MB/s read rating. Amazon sells and ships it at $199, and SanDisk built it around a power-efficient design, which is what a laptop or a handheld needs from storage.
- Sold and shipped by Amazon
- Same 7,250 MB/s read and 6,900 MB/s write ratings as the SN7100 it replaces
- SanDisk rates random speeds at up to 1M read and 1.4M write IOPS
- Built on SanDisk's eighth-generation BiCS TLC NAND
- $199 per terabyte is a worse rate than the 2 TB P310's $126
- 108 ratings, a thin record next to the SN7100's 6,628
- No heatsink, which a PS5 requires
SanDisk now makes the WD_Black, WD Blue and WD Green flash lines under license from Western Digital, and it is moving them to its own Optimus name. The SN7100 listing says the drive has been replaced by the Optimus GX 7100, and Amazon no longer sells the SN7100 itself. Its remaining offers come from third-party sellers at $189.99 to $199.
The Optimus has the same speed ratings and comes from Amazon at the same $199. If you'd rather have the longer track record, the SN7100 is in the list below the picks.
One terabyte is tight in 2026 if you install a lot of games, so take this pick for a laptop, a second drive or a handheld, and take the 2 TB P310 for a desktop.
Crucial P310 1 TB with Heatsink (PCIe Gen4 NVMe, PS5)
PCIe Gen4 · up to 7,100 MB/s read · 6,000 MB/s write · heatsink installed · M.2 2280
A PS5 needs a Gen4 M.2 drive with a heatsink that clears the console's bay, and Crucial names the PlayStation 5 on the listing. At $174 with the heatsink attached, this is the cheapest way to double a PS5's storage from a brand you have heard of.
- Crucial lists PlayStation 5 compatibility on the product page
- The heatsink is fitted, which saves buying and attaching one
- 7,100 MB/s read clears the 5,500 MB/s Sony asks for
- Listed in Crucial's own Amazon store
- Amazon doesn't sell it right now; the $174 offer comes from a third-party seller, electrolert
- $174 per terabyte, so a 2 TB drive plus a separate heatsink can work out cheaper
- A PS5 install means removing the console's side panel and a screwdriver
- Games still have to be moved by hand in the console's storage menu
Sony asks for a PCIe Gen4 M.2 drive reading at 5,500 MB/s or better, with a heatsink, in the 2230 to 22110 range. This drive meets all of it and arrives with the heatsink already on, which is the part people get wrong when they buy a bare drive and a cooler separately.
If you want 2 TB in a PS5 instead, the bare P310 in Pick I plus an aftermarket heatsink costs less per terabyte than a 2 TB heatsink SKU. That route costs you ten minutes and the risk of mounting it badly. For most people, one terabyte fitted and finished is the better trade.
WD Blue SN5100 4 TB (PCIe Gen4 NVMe, M.2 2280)
PCIe Gen4 · up to 6,900 MB/s read · M.2 2280 · SanDisk 3D CBA NAND · 5-year warranty
Four terabytes in one drive is what a machine needs for video projects, a game library that never gets uninstalled, or local AI models. Amazon has stopped selling it directly, and the lowest offer is $538 from a third-party seller, or $134 per terabyte. It rates 4.8 stars.
- Costs less than the WD_Black SN7100 4 TB ($579.99) and the Optimus 5100 4 TB ($599.99)
- One drive holds about 40 large games
- Five-year limited warranty from SanDisk
- One 4 TB drive keeps a second M.2 slot free, which matters on boards that share lanes
- Amazon doesn't sell it right now; the $538 offer comes from a third-party seller
- $134 per terabyte, above the 2 TB P310's $126
- 6,900 MB/s is below the 1 TB and 2 TB versions of the same family
- Being replaced by the SanDisk Optimus 5100
Capacity is the part of a build the NAND shortage punished hardest, because a 4 TB drive holds four times the flash at a moment when flash is what costs money. A single large drive still beats two smaller ones on most boards, where the second M.2 slot borrows lanes from the graphics card or the chipset.
No 4 TB drive we checked is sold by Amazon itself right now. The Optimus 5100 4 TB that replaces this line is listed at $599.99 and out of stock, and the WD_Black SN7100 4 TB costs $579.99 from Newegg Business. At $538, the SN5100 is the cheapest of the three.
Samsung 9100 Pro 2 TB (PCIe Gen5 NVMe, M.2 2280)
PCIe 5.0 x4 · up to 14,700 MB/s read · 13,400 MB/s write · 1,850K/2,600K IOPS · M.2 2280
The 9100 Pro reads at up to 14,700 MB/s, double any Gen4 drive here, and costs $399 for 2 TB against the P310's $253. Buy it when you move very large files for a living. For gaming, the extra $146 buys a bigger number on the box and the same wait.
- The fastest sequential speeds available in a consumer M.2 drive
- Samsung rates random performance at 1,850K read and 2,600K write IOPS, which is what heavy multitasking uses
- A 5 nm controller that Samsung says is up to 49% more power efficient than the 990 Pro
- Sold and shipped by Amazon
- $200 per terabyte, the most expensive rate here
- Needs a Gen5 M.2 slot, which many boards give only to the top socket
- Gen5 drives run hot enough that some boards want their heatsink fitted
- Game load times are within about a second of a good Gen4 drive
Gen5 earns its price in one place: moving very large files, repeatedly. Video editors pulling 8K footage off a drive, people shuffling 50 GB AI model files, and anyone whose day includes a progress bar longer than a minute will feel the difference.
Games will not. DirectStorage reads assets in small chunks, and the bottleneck sits in decompression and the CPU. Reviewers keep measuring Gen5 drives within about a second of Gen4 drives on level loads.
If your board has a spare Gen5 slot and your work is file-heavy, this is the drive. Otherwise take the P310 and the $146.
The numbers.
| P310 2 TB | GX 7100 1 TB | P310 1 TB PS5 | SN5100 4 TB | 9100 Pro 2 TB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe Gen4 | PCIe Gen4 | PCIe Gen4 | PCIe Gen4 | PCIe 5.0 |
| Capacity | 2 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB | 4 TB | 2 TB |
| Read speed | 7,100 MB/s | 7,250 MB/s | 7,100 MB/s | 6,900 MB/s | 14,700 MB/s |
| Heatsink | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Price | $253 | $199 | $174 | $538 | $399 |
| Per terabyte | $126 | $199 | $174 | $134 | $200 |
| Rating | 4.7 stars | 4.6 stars | 4.8 stars | 4.8 stars | 4.7 stars |
| Best for | Most builds | Laptops | PlayStation 5 | Big libraries | Large files |
Four more worth knowing.
Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB
The Gen4 flagship, at $398 against the P310's $253 for the same 2 TB. It reads at up to 7,450 MB/s and holds its write speed better on long copies, and it carries 13,462 ratings. Worth the premium if you write large files all day and your board has no Gen5 slot.
View on Amazon →SanDisk Optimus 5100 2 TB
The drive replacing the WD Blue SN5100, at $299 for 2 TB, sold by Amazon with 4.7 stars across 183 ratings. Same Gen4 class, new name, thinner track record. Buy it when the older SKU runs out of stock.
View on Amazon →WD_Black SN7100 1 TB
The drive the Optimus GX 7100 in Pick II replaces, with 4.8 stars across 6,628 ratings. Amazon no longer sells it directly, and third-party sellers list it at $189.99 to $199. Take it if you want the longer track record and the seller is one you trust.
View on Amazon →Kingston NV3 1 TB
The budget floor at $157, with 14,174 ratings and up to 6,000 MB/s. It comes from a reseller, not from Amazon, and it is slower than the Optimus GX 7100 for $42 less. Take it when the price gap is what decides the build.
View on Amazon →The buying guide.
Buy capacity first
Storage prices now scale with capacity, so the question is how many terabytes you need. A 2026 AAA install runs 100 to 150 GB, so 1 TB holds around ten games plus Windows, and 2 TB is the comfortable floor for a gaming desktop. Read speed above 7,000 MB/s changes nothing you can feel in a game.
Gen4 or Gen5
Gen5 doubles the sequential numbers and costs about 60% more per terabyte. It pays off when you move very large files repeatedly: 8K video, large AI model files, disk images. It does not pay off for gaming, where loads land within about a second of a Gen4 drive because decompression and the CPU set the pace. Check your motherboard too, since most boards wire only the top M.2 slot for Gen5.
What a PS5 needs
Sony asks for a PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe drive reading at 5,500 MB/s or faster, sized 2230 to 22110, with a heatsink that clears the bay. Drives sold with a heatsink fitted, like Pick III, remove the guesswork. A bare drive plus an aftermarket heatsink is cheaper per terabyte at 2 TB, if you are comfortable fitting it.
Where the price went
NAND flash rose with DRAM through 2026 as makers moved capacity toward server and AI products. TrendForce forecast NAND contract prices up 55% to 60% in the first quarter and 70% to 75% in the second, and client SSD contract prices up at least 40% in the first quarter alone. By the third quarter that had slowed to 10% to 15%, with suppliers turning flexible on client SSD pricing because PC makers had already stocked up. The slowdown was short. TrendForce's fourth-quarter forecast, reported by Evertiq on October 2, puts NAND contract prices up 15% to 20%, with enterprise SSDs the only memory category speeding up. DDR5 is climbing too.
Skip these upgrades for now
An 8 TB consumer M.2 drive costs more per terabyte than two 4 TB drives. A Gen5 drive in a Gen4 slot runs at Gen4 speed. A second drive bought to split games from Windows costs performance on boards that share lanes between the second M.2 slot and the graphics card. And a DRAM-less drive with a good host memory buffer, which is what most drives here use, is fine for everything short of sustained professional writes.
FAQ.
Two terabytes for a gaming desktop, one for a laptop or a second drive, four if you keep video projects or local AI models. A current AAA game installs at 100 to 150 GB, so a 1 TB drive holds about ten of them alongside Windows.
No. Game loads land within about a second of a good Gen4 drive, because decompression and the CPU set the pace. Gen5 is worth its premium for repeated large file transfers: 8K video, AI model files, disk images.
Memory makers moved production capacity toward server and AI products, which took NAND flash with it. TrendForce forecast NAND contract prices up 55% to 60% in the first quarter of 2026 and 70% to 75% in the second. The third quarter slowed to 10% to 15%, and TrendForce expects 15% to 20% in the fourth, so prices are rising again.
Not soon. TrendForce expects NAND contract prices to rise 15% to 20% in the fourth quarter of 2026, after a slower third quarter. Shelf prices lag contract prices, so drives in stock still cost about what they did in September. If you need storage this year, buy it now.
A PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe drive rated at 5,500 MB/s or faster, in an M.2 2230 to 22110 size, with a heatsink. Pick III ships with the heatsink fitted and Crucial names the PS5 on the listing.
No, for ordinary use. Most mainstream drives now borrow a slice of system memory through the host memory buffer, and the difference shows only in sustained heavy writes. A professional moving hundreds of gigabytes a day should buy a drive with its own DRAM, like the 990 Pro.
Most builds: Crucial P310 2 TB at $253.
Laptops: SanDisk Optimus GX 7100 1 TB at $199.
PS5: P310 1 TB with heatsink at $174.
Big libraries: WD Blue SN5100 4 TB at $538.
Storage doubled in price in the first half of 2026, paused over the summer, and TrendForce expects it to climb again this quarter, so buy the capacity you need now. Take the 2 TB P310 at $253 for a desktop, the Optimus GX 7100 for a laptop, the heatsink P310 for a PS5, and the 4 TB SN5100 when the library is the point. Leave Gen5 to people who move very large files for a living, and put the money you saved toward memory.