SSD Buying Guide 2026

Endurance-Rated Storage for Security Cameras

Surveillance cameras write continuously 24/7, which destroys standard memory cards within months. WD Purple microSD cards are engineered for this exact workload — with enhanced endurance and wide temperature tolerance.

• 128GB microSD: WDD128G1P0C — WD Purple SC QD101 surveillance-grade microSD. Designed for continuous 24/7 recording in IP cameras and dashcams. Supports up to Full HD video with endurance far beyond standard consumer cards.

SATA vs NVMe — Which Interface Do You Need?

SATA III tops out at 550 MB/s and connects via the same interface as traditional hard drives. It’s the right choice for older systems without M.2 NVMe support. NVMe connects directly to the CPU via PCIe lanes, delivering speeds from 3,500 MB/s (Gen3) to 7,300+ MB/s (Gen4). If your motherboard has an M.2 NVMe slot, always choose NVMe for your primary drive.

Gen3 vs Gen4 — Is Gen4 Worth It?

PCIe Gen3 NVMe tops out around 3,500 MB/s. Gen4 doubles the bandwidth to 7,000+ MB/s. For everyday tasks like booting and loading applications, you won’t notice much difference. But for large file transfers, video editing, game asset streaming and professional workloads, Gen4 delivers a meaningful improvement — and prices have dropped to near Gen3 levels in 2026.

TLC vs QLC — NAND Flash Types

TLC (Triple-Level Cell) stores 3 bits per cell and offers the best balance of performance, endurance and price. Most mainstream SSDs in 2026 use TLC. QLC (Quad-Level Cell) stores 4 bits per cell, enabling higher capacities at lower prices but with reduced write endurance. QLC is fine for read-heavy workloads and secondary storage, but TLC is preferred for primary boot drives and write-intensive tasks.

DRAM Cache — Does It Matter?

SSDs with a DRAM cache (like the WD Black SN850X) store the drive’s mapping table in fast RAM, delivering more consistent performance under sustained workloads. DRAMless drives (like the WD Black SN770) use HMB (Host Memory Buffer) to borrow a small amount of your system RAM instead. For most users, modern DRAMless NVMe drives perform excellently — DRAM only matters for heavy sustained writes.

Endurance (TBW) — How Long Will Your SSD Last?

TBW (Terabytes Written) measures how much data you can write before the NAND wears out. A typical 1TB consumer SSD is rated for 300–600 TBW, which equates to writing 150–300 GB per day for 5 years. For most users, modern SSDs will far outlast the rest of your system. NAS and enterprise drives like the WD Red SN700 (5,100 TBW for 4TB) are rated for much higher endurance to handle constant caching workloads.