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If we had to choose any one SSD to fill our system, it would be the WD Black SN7100. This PCIe 4.0 SSD comes in up to 4TB of capacity. The 2TB version that we tested was the fastest overall in our benchmarks. Because the drive uses a host memory buffer design for cache, as opposed to onboard DRAM, it's competitively priced, making it an excellent price-to-performance value.

The best cheap SSD in our view is the WD Blue SN5000, followed closely by Kingston's NV3. Both of these PCIe 4.0 SSDs are fast, and very affordable. However, when it comes to PCIe 5.0, the PNY CS2150 is your bargain choice.

The D1 SSD is dirt cheap for a weatherized IP67-rated aluminum enclosure that runs super cool: $40. Of course, you’re on your own for the NVMe SSD. Anything PCIe 3.0 or later will work as any NVMe SSD will easily outstrip 10Gbps USB’s bandwidth. That said, I used PCI 4.0 and 5.0 types to test, and that allowed the following to occur.

The D1 SSD looks cool, runs cool, is weatherproof, and is super-affordable for such quality construction. I’m guessing you won’t be able to futz the NVMe thing after Terramaster updates the firmware, nor should you run the risk of trashing other drives on your system. That said, it was hella’ cool seeing a 10Gbps USB SSD read at 40Gbps. If you do try to mimic my results, which may stem partly from my talent for borking otherwise stable products (it’s a blessing, it’s a curse), I suggest that you never pull the drive off the system. Especially when powered on. I bear zero responsibility for any