The Best SSD Manufacturers in 2022

Solid State Disk or solid state drive is a relatively new type of storage device based on the principles of conventional flash memory. This type of memory is non-volatile, works fast enough and is not cleared when the power is turned off. Unlike conventional hard drives, these devices are compact and lightweight, easy to operate, and operate without extraneous noise and overheating. SSD drives have found application in home computers and professional equipment. Features of choosing the best solid state drives, their technical characteristics, as well as advantages and disadvantages are described in this article.

What are SSD drives?

SSD drives have already become a familiar attribute of personal computers and laptops. There are several types of such devices. First of all, it is worth separating all the devices according to their purpose:

• for personal computers and laptops;
• server.

In addition, there are different options for solid state drives, depending on:

• connection interface;
• form factor;
• type of flash memory;
• data transfer protocol.

The most common connection types are SATA (older and slower) and PCIe (modern and faster). Devices with a SATA interface are typically 2.5" form factor or mSATA. Drives with a PCI connection are usually made in the form of a miniature board with soldered elements (M2 connector).

There are three types of solid state drive memory:

• SLC (single-level cell);
• MLC (multi-level cell);
• TLC (triple-level cell).

They differ in the number of bits per cell: SLC have one bit, MLC have two bits, TLC have three bits. This feature determines the maximum number of rewriting cycles, as well as the speed of the device. Increasing the number of bits negatively affects the performance and durability of the drive.

How to choose an SSD drive?

What to look for when choosing a solid state drive? The question is very complicated, so before buying, you need to decide on a set of certain characteristics of the new device. The selection criteria are quite diverse: from basic technical parameters to ergonomics and design. Let's try to analyze each of them:

1. Memory size

Manufacturers offer various options - from 60 GB to 2 TB.The optimal size is determined by the purpose of the device: devices with a capacity of up to 256 GB are used to install the operating system and various programs, drives up to 512 GB are suitable for storing a large amount of media files, gamers, developers, etc. use more capacious drives. Low capacity SSDs are applicable when there is a base HDD in the assembly. Otherwise, you need to lay the volume of the solid state drive at least 1-2 TB.

2. Memory type

Directly affects the performance of the device. The most common is the variant with TLC memory. They are not the most durable, but they are many times faster than standard hard drives in terms of performance. Multilevel MLC cells are characterized by high service life and high speed. This type of memory is most often used by fans of games and multimedia viewing. Devices with SLC-memory are characterized by unique durability and performance. Such discs are used for solving professional problems.

3. Shape Factor

The dimensions of the device depend on the system in which it will be integrated. For ordinary personal computers and laptops, inexpensive options with a form factor of 2.5 are suitable. In the case of ultra-thin technology, it is necessary to use miniature solutions with dimensions similar to PCI cards.

4. Read and write speed

SSD performance parameters are determined by the type of memory used. In this case, when choosing a device, you must be guided by the following: if you plan to use it only as a storage, then first of all you need to pay attention to the recording speed.If the disk is planned to be used to run software and games, the main thing is the read speed.

5. Supported Features

First of all, it is necessary to highlight the TRIM function - the so-called cleaning the disk of garbage. It will help improve performance and extend the life of your device. It will be very useful to have the SMART function - a system for analyzing and monitoring the state of the device. This technology will detect problems in a timely manner and prevent the loss of important data.

6. Interface view

There are several ways to connect solid state drives to a computer. It is the type of interface that determines the optimal throughput of the device. For example, SATA provides a processing speed of 600 Mb / s, and the PCI 3.0 connection type provides 4-6 times more. The latter option is the most expensive, so it is suitable primarily for game lovers and professional developers.

7. Operational reliability

Most SSD drives can easily handle writing up to 1 petabyte of information, and newer models are twice as large. In addition, there are a number of ways that can extend the life of the device: do not defragment the disk, leave at least 20-25% of the device's memory free, keep old files for a long time, etc.

8. Manufacturer's brand

One of the most important parameters. Durability and stability of work depends primarily on the manufacturer. You should not chase cheapness, giving preference to cheap Chinese goods from aliexpress. It is necessary to make a choice in favor of companies that have already proven themselves from the best side, developers of the most advanced technologies in the field of SSD.The ranking of the best manufacturers of quality SSDs, based on reviews from real customers, presented below, will help you decide on the purchase of the necessary device.

Top SSD Manufacturers

Kingston

One of the top manufacturers, famous for its truly cool products. The company creates drives using the most modern technologies and is known for the highest level of quality.

The company offers SSD devices in several modifications of the three main series: A400, UV500 and A1000 with capacities from 120 gigabytes to 1.92 terabytes and read speeds up to 1500 Mb/s and write speeds up to 1000 Mb/s.

• high performance in reading and writing due to the use of TLC NAND memory;
• five-year warranty period from the company;
• ease;
• reliability and durability
• no noise during operation;
• better balance between cost and performance;
• high level of technical solutions.

• lack of expressive design;
• high power consumption.

Specifications overview of the most popular Kingston SSD models

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
SA400S37/120G	120	2,5'	TLC	320/500	SATA 6Gb/s	1400-5200
SA400S37/240G	240	2,5'	TLC	350/500	SATA 6Gb/s	2400-4500
SUV500/120G	120	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	320/520	SATA 6Gb/s	1800-3700
SUV500/240G	240	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	500/520	SATA 6Gb/s	3200-5200
SA1000M8/240G	240	2280	TLC 3D NAND	800/1500	PCI-E 3.0x2	3800-5900
SA1000M8480G	480	2280	TLC 3D NAND	800/1500	PCI-E 3.0x2	6300-10100

Samsung

A true leader in the global solid state drive market. Focused not only on products for personal PCs and laptops, but also for professional servers. The company makes sure that everyone can choose a product according to their needs and price.The sensational models of the 960 and 970 series with the EVO and PRO indices have become real bestsellers in their class.

• quality and reliability;
• modern MLC 3D-NAND and TLC 3D-NAND memory base using multi-level cells;
• ultra-high read and write speed;
• 64-layer flash memory;
• Phoenix controller with increased core frequency and high performance;
• low noise level;
• excellent durability.

• rather poor equipment;
• a slight underestimation of the speed relative to the declared.

Description of the characteristics of the most popular and sought-after Samsung SSDs

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
850 120Gb	120	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	520/540	SATA 6Gb/s	2800-5040
860 EVO MZ-76E250BW	250	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	520/550	SATA 6Gb/s	3950-6050
970 EVO MZ-V7E250BW	250	2280	TLC 3D NAND	1500/3400	PCI-E 3.0x4	5500-7800
860 PRO MZ-76P512BW	512	2,5'	MLC 3D NAND	530/560	SATA 6Gb/s	11900-17800

western digital

One of the world's most popular manufacturers of computer electronics, specializing in the production of internal and external hard drives, as well as solid state and network drives. The American company offers three series of SSD drives up to 2 TB: Black, Blue and Green. Marvell's proprietary controller provides great performance, and the cache buffer using DDR-3 up to 2 GB provides speed. Western Digital devices are slightly cheaper than Samsung, while losing in read and write speeds.

• high performance and speed;
• relatively inexpensive price;
• a large selection of devices in terms of memory capacity - up to 2 TB;
• high energy efficiency (especially Green series);
• three-year warranty period;
• proprietary software for support.

• quality of body materials.

Specifications of the Best Western Digital SSDs

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
WD GreenPC SSD 120Gb	120	2280	TLC 3D NAND	520/545	SATA 6Gb/s	1600-2500
WD GreenPC SSD 240Gb	240	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	520/545	SATA 6Gb/s	2300-4150
WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD 500Gb	500	2280	TLC 3D NAND	530/560	SATA 6Gb/s	5900-9900
WD Black NVMe SSD 500 Gb	500	2280	TLC 3D NAND	2500/3400	PCI-E 3.0x4	8900-12900
WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD 1Tb	1000	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	530/560	SATA 6Gb/s	10100-13700

Transcend

The Taiwan Memory and Storage Device Corporation is still competitive. Attractive cost and sufficiently powerful performance allow the company to remain among the leaders among manufacturers of SSD devices. Transcend actively implements NVMe technology, which provides an effective increase in operating speed. A variety of drive form factors allows you to use them even for ultra-thin laptops. A nice bonus is a 5-year factory warranty for all Transcend devices.

• using 64-layer TLC 3D NAND memory chip;
• information reading speed up to 1600 Mb/s;
• long time between failures;
• five year warranty;
• budget prices;
• wide range of form factors.

• heats up quickly;
• low write speed;
• no fixing screws included.

Feature Overview of Popular Transcend SSD Models

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
TS120GSSD220S	120	2,5'	TLC	420/550	SATA 6Gb/s	1700-4200
TS120GMTS420S	120	2242	TLC 3D NAND	500/560	SATA 6Gb/s	1800-2600
TS256GMTE110S	256	2280	TLC 3D NAND	800/1800	PCI-E 3.0x4	3400-4600
TS480GSSD220S	480	2,5'	TLC	450/550	SATA 6Gb/s	4600-8900

Silicon power

Another company from Taiwan. Particularly popular are models with a PCI 3.0 interface with increased performance. Part of the Silicon Power devices are equipped with a cooling radiator to extend the service life. The latest Silicon Power SSDs support Host Memory Buffer technology, which allows you to significantly increase performance.

• silent operation;
• lightness and compactness;
• the presence of radiators-coolers on some models;
• reliability and durability;
• auto-update firmware;
• relatively inexpensive cost.

• poor equipment;
• low write speed.

Characteristics of the most popular Silicon Power SSDs

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
SP120GBSS3S55S25	120	2,5'	TLC	500/550	SATA 6Gb/s	1400-3800
SP240GBSS3S55S25	240	2,5'	TLC	500/550	SATA 6Gb/s	2300-5400
ACE A55 512 Gb	512	2,5'	TLC	530/560	SATA 6Gb/s	5000-7200
P32A80	512	2280	TLC 3D NAND	1000/1600	PCI-E 3.0x2	4600-8900

Sandisk

The California company, recently taken over by Western Digital Corporation, has earned a reputation as a quality and reliable manufacturer. SSD - devices of this company are characterized by high speed, low power consumption and noise level. SanDisk offers a wide range of solid state drives that will appeal to both casual users and gamers, graphics editors and software developers. The main feature of the company is ultra-fast models with M.2 PCI 3.0×4 NVMe interface with playback speed up to 3400 Mb/s, which is several times higher than that of devices with SATA interface.

• a wide range of solid state drives for different users;
• a special type of 3D NAND memory;
• perfect speed and performance;
• affordable installation and support using specialized software;
• high energy efficiency;
• quiet work;
• compact dimensions.

• high price;
• a noticeable decrease in performance when filling the free volume.

Specifications for SanDisk's Most Popular Solid State Drives

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
SDSSDA-240G-G26	240	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	440/530	SATA 6Gb/s	2700-4050
SDSSDH3-500G-G25	500	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	530/560	SATA 6Gb/s	7000-11000
SDDSDHII-480G-G25	480	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	500/550	SATA 6Gb/s	7300-9300
SDSSDXPM2-500G-G25	512	2280	3D V-NAND	2500/3400	PCI-E 3.0x4	11900-14600

Intel

The products of one of the most famous "computer" brands are rightfully among the best SSD devices. The company presents a huge selection of solid state drives for both home use and professional tasks. Buyers prefer Intel for versatility, ergonomics and variety of devices in terms of volume. In addition, the SSD drives of this company are distinguished by an increased resource of use, workmanship and reliability in use. True, the prices for such devices are not the smallest.

• a large selection of storage volumes;
• high read and write speed;
• compact dimensions;
• reliability and durability;
• 5 year manufacturer's warranty;
• practically does not heat up.

• unsuccessful design of most models;
• modest equipment;
• high cost.

An overview of the technical specifications of the most popular Intel SSD models.

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
SSDPEKKW128G8XT	128	2280	TLC 3D NAND	650/1640	PCI-E 3.0x4	4000-5300
SSDSC2KW256G8	256	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	500/550	SATA 6Gb/s	3900-5100
SSDSC2KW512G8X1	512	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	500/550	SATA 6Gb/s	7200-11000
SSDPEKKW512G801	512	2280	TLC 3D NAND	1625/3230	PCI-E 3.0x4	10300-12300

Adata

The Taiwanese company offers a unique range of devices of various performance and volume, based on various hardware platforms. The most popular of the SSD-drives of this company are the SX8200 models - the fastest ones presented by this company of all time. The performance and other technical characteristics of these devices are on par with the top options from other companies, while ADATA products compare favorably in price.

• durability (TBW reaches 160 TB, operation to failure for up to 2 million hours);
• five-year warranty from the manufacturer;
• attractive price;
• read speed up to 3350 MB / s, write speed - up to 2350 MB / s;
• stability and performance due to the SMI controller and TLC 3D NAND memory;
• data storage optimization thanks to TRIM command support;
• some models are equipped with additional cooling.

• low-quality materials;
• complex procedure for registering a key.

Description of the characteristics of the most popular and sought-after ADATA SSDs

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
Ultimate SU650 120 Gb	120	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	320/520	SATA 6Gb/s	1750-2300
Ultimate SU650 240 Gb	240	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	450/520	SATA 6Gb/s	2700-5400
XPG SX8200 480 Gb	480	2280	TLC 3D NAND	1700/3200	PCI-E 3.0x4	7300-9300
XPG SX8200 Pro 512 Gb	512	2280	TLC 3D NAND	2350/3350	PCI-E 3.0x4	8400-9300

Toshiba

A high-quality and reliable Japanese brand has proven itself as a manufacturer of SSD drives. Toshiba is first of all quality and reliability. The company produces models for personal computers and laptops, as well as for servers. Toshiba devices, among other things, have good performance in terms of speed and performance, support TRIM optimization, have an increased TBW resource and energy efficiency. The manufacturer provides a three-year and five-year warranty for its models.

• long service life to failure - more than a million hours;
• combining TLC cells and SLC cache to increase performance;
• high read and write speed;
• excellent energy efficiency (in use mode, consumption is no more than 5 W);
• excellent build quality;
• good throughput;
• compactness and weight.

• high price;
• firmware update via DOS.

Description of the technical parameters of the best Toshiba SSD drives

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
THN-S101Z1200E8	120	2,5'	TLC	480/550	SATA 6Gb/s	2100-3000
THN-RC10Z2400G8	240	2242	TLC 3D NAND	1100/1600	PCI-E	5400-6600
KSG60ZSE1T02	1024	2,5'	TLC 3D NAND	535/550	SATA 6Gb/s	16100-17200
HDTSA1AEZSTA	1024	2,5'	MLC	520/550	SATA 6Gb/s	20700-30000

AMD

AMD introduces its popular line of budget Radeon R3 models to the SSD market. A wide choice of storage capacities (from 60 to 960 GB), a relatively high file reading speed (up to 520 MB / s), a very affordable price - a list of these advantages makes AMD devices an excellent option for upgrading a personal computer or laptop. The company uses reliable Silicon Motion processors and TLC memory from SK Hunix.

• low cost;
• resistance to mechanical stress;
• good performance in accordance with the declared characteristics;
• Sturdy metal housing and built-in LED.

• heats up quickly;
• fail quite often
• no firmware update;
• no mount 3.5 included.

Overview of technical characteristics of popular AMD SSD drives

Model	Volume, GB	Form Factor	Memory type	Write/read speed, MB/s	Interface	average price
R3SL120G	120	2,5'	TLC	360/520	SATA 6Gb/s	2100-3700
R3SL240G	240	2,5'	TLC	470/520	SATA 6Gb/s	2900-5300
R3SL480G	480	2,5'	TLC	470/520	SATA 6Gb/s	7300-9600
R3SL960G	960	2,5'	TLC	470/520	SATA 6Gb/s	11300-13200

Brief conclusion

The presented rating includes only top companies specializing in the production of solid state drives and producing high-quality devices that can be used to upgrade both a home computer and large-scale servers. These devices are suitable for beginners, amateurs, and professionals: gamers, designers, developers and software optimizers, etc.

All devices are characterized by high operational reliability and durability, as well as the use of the most modern technologies in design and manufacture. When choosing a suitable device, you need to follow certain criteria described in this article. A mistake in choosing can lead to disappointment with the model, refusal to use it and the need to re-purchase.