If you’re on the hunt for a low-price USB4 or Thunderbolt SSD this Black Friday, I’ve selected some top deals available right now. Having tested, benchmarked, reviewed, and rated plenty of these fast storage solutions, I’ve found the best deals around.
My favorite USB4 drive is the Corsair EX400U 1TB now $129 at Amazon (was $140), which is an excellent choice for photographers and anyone who needs speedy, high-capacity storage.
My top Black Friday USB4 SSD deal
Top Black Friday external USB4 and Thunderbolt storage deals
Top USB4/ThunderBolt Enclosure Deals
Black Friday storage deals: FAQs
What external drive deal should I choose during Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
If you just want USB4 or even Thunderbolt 5 external drives that you plug in and use, they’re available, even if the discounts aren’t the biggest.
But I’d recommend a more DIY approach using one of the external enclosures I’ve listed here. They’re inexpensive, and depending on the one you choose, many NVMe modules can be put inside and used externally.
The only caveats are that some enclosures only support single-sided NVMe, and there isn’t room for those that already have a heatsink glued to them. Most of them take the 2230, 2242, 2260 and 2280 sizes, as long as they are NVMe and not SATA modules.
The only other thing to consider is that to get the most out of USB4, a Gen 4 drive is probably necessary, and for an enclosure like the ORICO 80Gbps Thunderbolt 5 option, that would be a Gen 5 drive. These will work with slower Gen 3 drives, but you won’t hit maximum speeds.
What features should I check when selecting the right USB4 deal?
The problem I’ve seen so often is that people get confused between USB-C and USB4, and between USB-C and Thunderbolt. This is understandable, since the connector is physically the same.
To be clear, USB-C isn’t USB4 or Thunderbolt, even if the connectors fit. USB-C is USB 3.2 (Gen 2, Gen 2 or Gen 2×2), and USB-4 isn’t Thunderbolt 3. Therefore, it’s essential to read the documentation that comes with your system to learn the specifications of the various ports.
What you want is either Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 to use the products above to their full potential, and for those that need Thunderbolt 5, only that port will do. All these options will work on legacy USB ports, but the speed you paid for won’t be apparent.
One final warning, a few system makers have included USB4 on mini systems and laptops, but due to PCIe lane restrictions, mostly on Intel processors, they downgraded the USB4 ports to only offer 20Gbps, and not the full 40Gbps. If you have one of those ports, the maximum speeds will be half of what you might expect on a full 40Gbps USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 port.
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