Let's say you bought a 512GB laptop or mini PC and it's full after installing just three games. You want to upgrade, but the 'warranty void if removed' sticker or just the fear of breaking a plastic clip is stopping you entirely.
Luckily, the new reality is that in 2025, an external drive isn't just for backups anymore. With 40 Gbps overhead, you can now run triple-A titles like Cyberpunk 2077 or Starfield directly from a dongle with zero noticeable difference in load times. With the arrival of USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4, the performance gap between internal and external storage has effectively vanished for gaming and daily tasks, meaning that you can pick up an external SSD for likely a lot cheaper and still experience the performance of an internal drive.
Advancing technology
USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 have paved the way
USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 changed everything. Five years ago, it wouldn't have been possible to run the most demanding games off an external SSD, but thanks to this new technology, not only is it possible, but pretty much equivalent to running a game off of your internal drive. Standard USB 3.0 was capped at 5 Gbps, but the bandwidth has now exploded with USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 offering up to 40 Gbps of bandwidth (facilitating transfer rates up to around 4,000 MB/s).
Modern PCIe ports also allow the SSD to use PCIe tunneling, which allows you to connect a USB device to an internal PCIe slot. This carries the added benefit of additional bandwidth and lower latency, and external NVMe drives can get close to PCIe Gen 3 speeds. It's not quite the equivalent level of performance as plugging your SSD directly into your motherboard, but it's more than good enough for most people.
Another benefit to using an external drive is the 3,000 MB/s threshold. Internal PCIe Gen 5 SSD drives can hit 14,000 MB/s or even higher, but many games typically plateau around 2,500-3,000 MB/s. This means that modern external drives can actually reach this sweet spot while giving you prime gaming performance. Games typically don't experience much benefit from drives faster than 3,000 MB/s, though other considerations, like random read performance, queue depth behavior, and latency consistency matter as well. For most modern games, the performance gap is small enough to be practically irrelevant.
However, one downside to picking up an external SSD is that they can be very expensive, with pre-built external gaming SSDs from brands like WD Black coming in at around $200 for 1TB. Instead, you can design one yourself for less cash. Pick up a USB4 NVMe enclosure for $80 and pair it with a standard high-quality 1TB M.2 SSD, like a Samsung 990 Pro or WD SN850X for $80.
Another benefit to having your own build is that you can very easily upgrade the storage capacity. If you find that 1TB just isn't enough for you, then you can swap this out for a 4TB. As you only have to buy the M.2 drive, it will come in a lot cheaper than buying a 4TB external SSD itself.
3 reasons an external SSD has become an integral part of daily life
As external SSD's have seen skyrocketing capacity and increased portability, keeping one on me for offline file management has become a must.
The benefits of external storage
External has benefits that internal just can't match
For users who don't have a full gaming rig that they can easily open up and upgrade, investing in an external SSD is a great option to upgrade their memory without running any risks. It's very common for laptop manufacturers, especially in certain regions, to penalize users for opening up the chassis. This can result in a voided warranty, meaning if something else goes wrong, you are on your own.
Opting for an external SSD means all you have to do is plug your USB cable in and have access to a whole ton more storage space. It's also great for those who want to keep their laptop portable, as external SSD drives tend to be small enough to pop in your bag and take with you. You also get the benefit of being able to move your entire 2TB Steam library between your laptop and your desktop (or even a friend's PC) by unplugging one cable.
Many mini PCs only have one M.2 slot, meaning an external USB 4.0 drive is a savior as it's the only way to expand your storage without having to reinstall Windows entirely.
One thing to bear in mind when setting up your external SSD is to ensure you format your drive as NTFS for Windows or APFS for Mac. It's worth avoiding exFAT if you're planning on gaming, as it can lead to library errors in Steam or the Xbox app. The only major downside, when it comes to gaming, is that USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 don't support DirectStorage for almost-instant texture decompression and rendering.
Get the advantage of internal drives without the hassle
The days of external drives being slow secondary storage, only used for backups, are over. Thanks to USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4, using an external drive can provide you with equivalent performance to an internal SSD, which is a great option for laptop users and mini PC owners to upgrade their storage.
If your laptop has a bolt icon (for Thunderbolt) or 40 next to the USB-C port, save yourself the headache of a teardown and buy an enclosure, a drive, and enjoy a 10-second upgrade.