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Cost Of An External Solid State Drive

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An external SSD offers a reduced footprint over magnetic disks, bringing greater portability, along with an elevated efficiency and resistance to shock that are combined with fast speeds inherent to the solid state types of drives. Typically, the smaller capacity external disks are currently found mostly in USB connectivity due to it being self-powered whereas larger capacity solid state drives are endowed with speedier options.

Following among tradition, external SSD prices tends to fall above that of internals.

Speed & Pricing Characteristics

For whatever reason, the SSD's in external form (offered in many detachable, lightweight and portable varieties) are not so dominated by the big name brands - perhaps with the possible exception of Toshiba, Seagate and Verbatim along with a generous note for Buffalo. While prices mainly seem to rely on storage capacity and brand-interface dependencies.

Low Capacity External SSD's - given that read & write speeds are hindered by interface type -- this fact alone for the lower gig SSD's (more so than for larger capacity SSD's) places them in closer cost comparison with their magnetic counterparts - access times & drop resistance specs aside. This due to the fact that smaller solid states are most common in USB 3.0 or 2.0 backward compatible. An external SSD put out by TeamGroup 64 GB costs $60 to $80. As alternatives are not so common.

Mid-Size Externals - with added offerings in terms of connectivity, comes enhanced speed that can set one SSD to the next apart. For example, the Monster 128 GB external is near $105 while a near-in-storage capacity Silicon Power Thunderbolt 122 GB approaches the $200 to $220 gap - yet which claims a capability that tops 300 Mps read and write speeds. A similar endeavor represented by the LaCie GB Thunderbolt with shock resistant casing rests close to the same price point.

The wireless Toshiba 128 G with USB and WiFi runs about $145. Moving up the stairs of storage capacities, a Seagate 256 GB in USB 3.0 is $250. While a LaCie 256 GB Thunderbolt goes for around $300.

Higher Capacity External Disks - overall, a solid state detachable drive from 512 GB to 1 TG will cost $500 to $1300 in round numbers. With the larger SSD's intended as dual drives such as for setup with Raid.

PC Considerations for Enabling

For the PC limited to USB 2.0, in order to fully utilize the solid state option, might call for a PCI card ($20 to $35) along with a USB front panel ($12 on up, depending on any other connectors chosen).

For the PC going Thunderbolt, hardware upgrades may be necessary as well, like for a PCI Express adapter card with a possible front panel.

Cables, like USB ($3 to $5), eSATA ($8) and Thunderbolt (notably; $35 to $60) may also be needed if not provided.

If placing an SSD from a raw drive into an external, expect amounts of at least $18 to $25 for an enclosure case.