The Market Basically Didn’t Move
Of the 251 drives tracked this week, over 86% showed zero price movement in the past seven days. No 7-day movers of note, just a flat line across most of the 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB tiers. The only real price action happened intraday — the SanDisk Optimus GX PRO 8100 dropped 16.7% in a single day, bringing it to $349.99. That’s a meaningful move on a Gen 5 1TB, but with only 27 reviews and no “bought past month” data, it’s hard to know if anyone’s actually biting. Also notable on the downside: the WD Blue SN580 2TB slipped 3.7% to check current price, and the Samsung 980 PRO 2TB dropped 2.5% to $449.98.
On the flip side, some prices ticked up. The MSI SPATIUM M480 PRO 1TB jumped 20.4% in a day — that’s a significant climb for a drive that was already above the median. The Crucial P510 Gen5 2TB rose 9.5% to $349.00. These one-day spikes are worth watching but could easily reverse.
The Capacity Value Inversion Is Real
Here’s the most interesting structural story in this week’s data: buying more storage actually costs you less per GB right now, and the gap is substantial.
The best per-GB price at 1TB is the Patriot P400 Lite at $144.99. The cheapest 1TB median sits at $193.32.
Meanwhile at 4TB, the Crucial P310 4TB with heatsink — which has 1,300 reviews and 200 purchases last month — is currently check current price. That’s a legitimate drive from a known brand, hitting a better cost-per-GB than the best 1TB option. The 4TB median is $582.00, but the cheapest legitimate options land well below that.
If you’re on the fence about 2TB vs 4TB, the math increasingly favors just going big. The 2TB tracker shows a median of $328.59, but competitive 4TB options aren’t dramatically more expensive — and you’re getting double the capacity.
| Model | Price | $/GB | Capacity | Gen | Read | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crucial P310 2TB SSD, | $242.86 | $0.1214 | 2TB | Gen 4 | 7,100 MB/s | 4.8 ★ | Buy → |
| Patriot Memory P400 Lite | $144.99 | $0.1450 | 1TB | Gen 4 | — | 4.6 ★ | Buy → |
Samsung Still Owns the Checkout
Five of the top ten most-purchased drives this week are Samsung. The Samsung 990 PRO 1TB leads all drives at 6,000 purchases past month at $319.99, followed closely by the 990 EVO Plus 1TB at 5,000 buys and $249.99. The Kingston NV3 1TB at 4,000 purchases is the only non-Samsung in the top three, and it’s the Amazon’s Choice pick at just $164.99.
The Kingston NV3 is worth calling out specifically — it’s a known-brand drive with 11,700 reviews at a price that’s well below Samsung’s entry point. For buyers who just want a reliable, fast Gen 4 1TB without overpaying for a logo, it’s the obvious answer right now.
The Crucial P310 2TB rounds out the top five most-bought at 2,000 purchases with a current price of $242.86 — that’s one of the better value propositions in the 2TB space with 8,900 reviews behind it.
Gen 5 Premium: Still 17.74%
Gen 5 carries a 17.74% per-GB premium over Gen 4 across the 53 Gen 5 drives tracked. Whether that’s worth it depends heavily on what you’re doing. For gaming and general desktop use, Gen 4 is the rational pick — real-world game load times don’t separate meaningfully between the two. For content creation, AI workloads, or just wanting the fastest possible sequential reads, Gen 5 makes sense if your platform supports it.
The Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB continues to be a surprisingly popular Gen 5 option at $322.44 with 2,000 purchases last month — buyers clearly aren’t all going budget. The Crucial T710 4TB Gen 5 also logged 1,000 purchases at $638.56, which is notable for a 4TB Gen 5 drive. The Best Gen 5 NVMe guide has more on when the premium actually pays off.
The Low-Review “Bargains”: Proceed With Caution
There are five drives with under 10 reviews priced noticeably below the Gen 4 average. The most extreme is the JS990 PRO 2TB — it shows as the overall best per-GB drive in the entire tracker at $179.99, rated 5 stars… from 3 reviews. No purchase data, no brand recognition, no history. That’s a red flag, not a deal.
Same story with the FN950 4TB at $449.99 (4 reviews, 5 stars) and the MMOMENT MG44 4TB at $489.99 with a single review. These may be fine — or they may be drives you’ll never get warranty support on if something goes wrong. For primary storage, I’d stick to drives with at least a few hundred reviews.
The Patriot P410 4TB at $449.99 is slightly more credible — Patriot is a real brand, even if this specific SKU only has 9 reviews. Worth watching as reviews accumulate.
Watch the Multipack Listings
Three listings appear to be multipacks distorting the price range. Most obviously, the Gigastone 2TB 2-Pack is listed at $539.99 — that’s two drives, so it’s not actually the most expensive 2TB single drive. The Samsung 990 PRO 4TB 2-Pack at check current price is similarly two units bundled. If you’re comparison shopping and see these at the top of price ranges, don’t be misled.
Bottom line this week: prices aren’t moving, 4TB is the best value per GB it’s ever been relative to 1TB, Samsung continues to dominate actual sales volume, and any “bargain” with fewer than 10 reviews deserves serious skepticism before you put your OS on it.