Retailer "deals" pages are marketing. A drive at 20% off an inflated list price is not a deal; a drive near its lowest tracked price per terabyte is. This page ranks storage by what you actually pay per terabyte, using prices we collect directly from retailers — refreshed throughout the day, every day.
Today's best value at a glance
The single best price per terabyte we're currently tracking in each of the big three storage classes:
If a number here looks unusually low, click through — it's usually a high-capacity drive, where cost per terabyte is naturally best. For how these numbers move over time, see the hard drive price tracker; for the math behind price per terabyte, our terabyte cost guide.
Internal hard drive deals (3.5")
The cheapest bulk storage you can buy. Best for desktops, NAS boxes, and backup targets where noise and speed matter less than capacity. If lowest real price matters more to you than $/TB, the cheap hard drives page ranks the same market that way.
External & portable hard drive deals
Desktop external drives give you 3.5" pricing in a plug-in box; portables trade some $/TB for bus power and pocketability.
| Product | Best price | Stores |
|---|---|---|
| Iomega 500GB eGo Portable External Hard Drive w/ Protective Sleeve - Black | $12.50 | 1 |
| Seagate FreeAgent Go Portable USB External 320GB Hard Drive 9ZA2AG-502 | $12.85 | 1 |
| Western Digital WD 500GB 2.5in USB-Powered Mini USB HDD 5400RPM Black | $14.50 | 1 |
| Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1TB External Portable Hard Drive PN:9ZF2A5-500 1 TB | $15.00 | 1 |
| Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 500GB Portable External HDD USB 3.0 Black | $15.00 | 1 |
| Hitachi 465 GB Hard Drive USB Portable External Drive | $15.00 | 1 |
SSD deals: SATA and NVMe
SSDs cost more per terabyte than hard drives but are the only sensible choice for a boot drive or working files. SATA is the budget pick for older machines and capacity upgrades; NVMe is the default for any modern build. Prefer shopping on Amazon? Our verified Amazon storage picks cover microSD cards through NVMe drives.
How to tell a real storage deal from a fake one
- Ignore the discount percentage. List prices on storage are routinely inflated. Compare against the going rate per terabyte for the drive class, not the strikethrough price.
- Check the price history. Every product page here has a price chart. A "sale" that matches last month's everyday price is not a sale.
- Compare within the class. A cheap portable HDD can still cost more per terabyte than a mid-priced desktop external. The tables above keep classes separate for exactly this reason.
- Mind the capacity sweet spot. The best $/TB usually sits in the middle-to-high capacities. The smallest drives in a line are almost never good value.
Waiting on a specific drive instead? The Walmart price tracker explains how our tracking and price alerts work.