Home storage, read from the spec sheet
Guides to the choices behind a drive purchase: SSD or HDD, SATA or NVMe, NAS or external, how much space, how long it lasts. Each sentence comes from a named source and is checked before it is published.
Guides
| Spec | Guide | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| HDD / SSD | SSD vs HDD for home storage | How the two drive types differ, from the source's own comparison. |
| SATA / NVMe | NVMe vs SATA SSD | Interface limits, M.2 and what to check before you buy, with a transfer-time calculator. |
| NAS / USB | NAS or external hard drive | What each one is and what neither protects against. |
| TB | How much storage do I need | A calculator from the source's sizing formulas, with RAID overhead. |
| AFR | How long do hard drives last | Failure-rate data from a large drive fleet, and an expected-failures calculator. |
| RAID | RAID levels explained | Striping, mirroring and parity, and what each level tolerates. |
| TBW | SSD lifespan: TBW and P/E cycles | How to read endurance numbers on a spec sheet, with a write-budget calculator. |
Reading a drive listing
Five things to find on any listing or spec sheet before the drive goes in the basket.
- Interface and slot: SATA, NVMe or USB, and what your computer or NAS has. See NVMe vs SATA SSD.
- Capacity you need, with room to grow. Run the sum in the storage calculator.
- Endurance for SSDs (TBW and warranty years) and the failure data for hard drives. See SSD lifespan and hard drive failure data.
- Protection if you use several drives: the level and how many drives it takes. See RAID levels explained.
- Where the backup copy lives. See NAS or external hard drive.
What this site does and does not do
It reports what a source says, names the source and shows the date it was checked. It does not rank products, show prices or claim any testing of its own. Read the method for how each sentence is checked and which source the guides rely on.