1. Quick List
2. Best HDD Deals
3. Best External HDD Deals
4. HDD Shopping Tips
Mechanical hard drives may seem like ancient technology, but they still provide 'good enough' performance in many applications, and easily offer the most storage capacity for the price. Amazon Prime Day is the best time of the year to find the deepest discounts on the Best Hard Drives on the market, and we've collected the best deals here in this article.
Be alert when looking at HDDs, as not every drive is born equal and worthy of your money or a place of honor in your PC. Differences in recording technologies, like whether the drive uses conventional magnetic recording (CMR) or shingled magnetic recording (SMR), comes with or without DRAM, and the spindle speeds they offer can all have a tremendous impact on the performance and pricing of your drive. That's why we've listed the best HDDs deals below based on our in-depth knowledge, gained from years of thorough reviews, expansive benchmarks, and extensive experience with hard drives.
We list internal drives for PCs, the best HDDs for NAS systems, and external hard drives, with the latter possibly including shuckable drives, meaning you can pry the HDD out of the external casing and use it in your desktop PC. Proceed at your own risk with Shucking, though: Shucking the drive voids the warranty, but you do get a capable drive for far cheaper than you normally would (be sure to do your homework first to determine if the drive can be shucked; not all models can).
Amazon Prime Day HDD Deals: Quick Links
- Amazon: Save up to 52% on WD HDDs
- Newegg: up to 43% off HDDs
- Best Buy: Up to $100 off HDDs
Amazon Prime Day Best HDD Deals
$50 off w/ promo code JSET3Z236
This speedy 7,200 RPM drive utilizes fast CMR recording technology, features a 512MB cache, achieves a maximum transfer rate of 270MB/s, and comes with an elite five-year warranty.
This 3.5" high-performance drive with desirable CMR tech is good for desktop PCs or NAS. It spins at a speedy 7,200 RPM, has 512MB of cache, tops out at 267 MB/s, and has an excellent five-year warranty.
This drive is designed specifically for high-performance PCs, with a top speed of 267 MB/s from its 7,200-RPM spindle speed, fast CMR recording tech, and 256MB of cache. It comes with an excellent five-year warranty.
This drive is designed specifically for high-performance PCs, with a top speed of 267 MB/s from its 7,200-RPM spindle speed, fast CMR recording tech, and 256MB of cache. It comes with an excellent five-year warranty.
This drive is specifically for PC use with a 7,200-RPM spindle speed, 512MB of cache, 190MB/s top speed from its desirable CMR tech, and a two-year warranty.
$50 off w/ promo code JSET3Z238
This speedy 7,200 RPM drive utilizes fast CMR recording technology, features a 512MB cache, achieves a maximum transfer rate of 285MB/s, and comes with an elite five-year warranty.
This 3.5" high-performance drive with desirable CMR tech is good for desktop PCs or NAS. It spins at a speedy 7,200 RPM, has 512MB of cache, tops out at 259 MB/s, and has an excellent five-year warranty.
This 3.5" high-performance drive with desirable CMR tech is good for desktop PCs or NAS. It spins at a speedy 7,200 RPM, has 512MB of cache, tops out at 285 MB/s, and has an excellent five-year warranty.
This drive is designed for NAS specifically but will come in a desktop PC, featuring a three-year warranty, speedy CMR tech paired with a 5,640-RPM spindle speed, and 512MB of cache.
This 3.5" high-performance drive is designed for intense enterprise environments, so it's a tough drive. It comes with desirable CMR tech and is good for desktop PCs or NAS. It spins at a speedy 7,200 RPM, has 256MB of cache, tops out at 267 MB/s, and has an excellent five-year warranty.
Amazon Prime Day Best External HDD Deals
This drive uses speedy CMR magnetic recording tech and spins at 5,400 RPM. The drive has a two-year warranty and communicates via the USB 3.0 interface with the host. It also has an included power connector.
This external storage communicates over the USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface and has a three-year warranty. It also comes with an additional power connector. However, WD doesn't disclose whether it uses SMR or CMR technology, or its performance specifications.
This drive uses speedy CMR magnetic recording tech and spins at 5,400 RPM. The drive has a two-year warranty and communicates via the USB 3.0 interface with the host. It also has an included power connector.
This drive uses speedy CMR magnetic recording tech and spins at 5,400 RPM. The drive has a two-year warranty and communicates via the USB 3.0 interface with the host. It also has an included power connector.
This external storage communicates over the USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface and has a three-year warranty. It also comes with an additional power connector. However, WD doesn't disclose whether it uses SMR or CMR technology, or its performance specifications.
This drive uses speedy CMR magnetic recording tech and spins at 5,400 RPM. The drive has a two-year warranty and communicates via the USB 3.0 interface with the host. It also has an included power connector.
This drive has a two-year warranty and communicates via a USB-A connection at 5Gbps.
HDD Deals: What to Look For
- It is important to be aware of the drive’s form factor , with 3.5” being the most common for the best HDDs (this is the only type we cover). If you need 2.5”, your options are more limited, especially for capacity. Otherwise, your computer case’s ability to house a certain number of 3.5” drives might be your primary limitation.
- The ubiquitous SATA interface is used for desktop PCs, and most motherboards have ample available ports, which makes expansion easy. Most consumer NAS systems also use SATA, with the SAS interface typically reserved for servers and enterprise-class NAS.
- If you're shopping for an HDD, you’re probably looking for the lowest possible cost per terabyte, but you should also consider performance and support for specific applications. There are several potential performance pitfalls to consider when purchasing a new HDD, and the type of recording technology is one of the most crucial factors. Unless you are solely interested in cost and willing to sacrifice performance, we only recommend conventional magnetic recording (CMR) drives and not shingled (SMR), as the latter comes with performance and operational caveats.
- For performance, HDDs are also often gauged by rotations per minute (RPM), which is usually a direct indicator of performance. The RPM value affects both sequential transfers and random access latency . Lower RPM drives tend to be quieter and more efficient, while higher RPM drives have better performance. There are also variable RPM drives that try to achieve the best of both worlds. Power draw, heat, and noise are factors related to performance.
- HDDs also have a certain amount of DRAM to help temporarily cache data. This amount of cache typically scales with the drive's capacity . More cache is, of course, better, but if it comes at the expense of something else — for example, a support service — then you should carefully consider your priorities when making a purchase.
- You will want specialized drives for NAS, surveillance/DVR/NVR, raw storage for media and backups, or for heavier workloads. Certain drives will offer a better value for the money if you just want the extra capacity, or you may require a lower RPM drive to avoid the noise associated with faster drives.
