You need to back up your files. One spilled glass of water onto your laptop or one lost backpack and you might have to say goodbye to every document and picture you ever stored on there. Yeah, you can keep your files in a cloud service such as iCloud or Microsoft OneDrive, but it isn’t the same as having a physical drive where your files live and don’t depend upon access to the internet cloud. A smart user would use both, not one or the other.The only problem is that AI’s insatiable appetite for computer components has driven the cost of external storage drives through the roof. Just ask Apple, which raised prices on a slew of products earlier this week. Imagine how good it felt to be cruising Amazon for Prime Day deals and seeing that the Western Digital 1TB My Passport SSD is 40% off.protect your files(opens in a new window)Western Digital1TB My Passport SSD(opens in a new window)$184.99 (reg. $312.99) at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)$194.99 (reg. $312.99) at WalmartBuy Now(opens in a new window)Solid state drives (SSDs) haven’t entirely replaced HDD (hard drive disks), although they win on a few points. Compared to those spinning magnetized HDDs, SSDs are more bump resistant, although you should really consider a “rugged” SSD if you plan on exposing it to rough treatment. SSDs also tend to be lighter, smaller, and faster both when reading data from and writing data to it.One terabyte (1TB) of storage is plenty for the average person. It’s enough to store backups for damn near everything the typical user stores on their computer, even if they’re doing whole-system backups, such as for Apple Time Machine. Unless you’re a big-time photographer or videographer with tons of enormous files, this will be plenty big enough. Just make sure you wipe that old hard drive before you get rid of it.other external SSDs worth looking at(opens in a new window)Samsung1TB T9 SSD(opens in a new window)$179.99 (reg. $287.99) at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)$179.99 (reg. $287.99) at WalmartBuy Now(opens in a new window)The Samsung T9 is the latest in a line of Samsung SSDs. Samsung only names them in odd numbers, so before the T9 was the T7, and before that was the T5. I’ve had several examples of both, and they’ve all run flawlessly, with none that have reached a premature end, even after six years of constant use.(opens in a new window)SanDisk1TB Extreme Portable SSD(opens in a new window)Available at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)Available at WalmartBuy Now(opens in a new window)Here’s another big name among SSDs: the SanDisk Extreme Pro. Although it’s not on sale, like the Western Digital and Samsung are, it’s a great SSD. Among major brand names such as all these featured in this story, there isn’t much of a difference in quality, so save some cash and choose the Western Digital or Samsung if either is still on sale while you’re browsing this. If they go off sale or sell out, or if the SanDisk goes on sale after we publish this article, then buy it and don’t think twice.(opens in a new window)Seagate1TB One Touch SSD(opens in a new window)Available at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)Available at WalmartBuy Now(opens in a new window)Seagate has been one of the heavyweights of the HDD world for as long as I can remember. My first external HDD, which I bought in my freshman year of college, was some embarrassingly low-capacity thing the size of an oompa loompa, but Seagates have been solid for me over the years. The Seagate OneTouch is rather affordable for an SSD, but it’s coming from another major name brand, so it’s a solid choice.The post External Storage Prices Are Climbing, So This 40% Off Western Digital 1TB SSD Deal Feels Like a Miracle appeared first on VICE.