Best SSD for cryptocurrency mining: the best solid state drives for mining Bitcoin and more

PRICE
VERDICT
REASONS TO BUY
REASONS TO AVOID
VERDICT
REASONS TO BUY
REASONS TO AVOID
cryptocurrency
(Image credit: Yevhen Vitte / Shutterstock)

When thinking about mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether, picking up the best mining SSD might not be high on your list of priorities.

However, it's possible you should reconsider. After all, once you've made your choices for the best mining GPU, best mining motherboard and best mining CPU, you'll need a fast and reliable SSD to round out your rig.

The good news is that, for a mining rig, you don't need to buy an SSD with huge amounts of storage, which means it's not too difficult to keep the prices low. We recommend an SSD for mining with a minimum capacity of 120GB for Windows installs, or even as low as 60GB if you're going to run Linux. This provides plenty of room to install the operating system, along with the best mining software.

As well as speed and capacity, the best SSDs for cryptocurrency mining are also nice and efficient. This gives the advantage of keeping your electricity bills down, and preventing your mining rig from overheating.

1. WD Blue SSD

Globs of flash storage for less

Specifications

Capacity: 250GB/500GB/1TB
Interface: SATA
Warranty: 3-years

Reasons to buy

+
Excellent price
+
Good size selection

Reasons to avoid

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Limited by interface

If you want to save a few bucks, but don't want to sacrifice too much in the way of performance, the WD Blue SATA SSD is a great compromise. It nearly maxes out the bandwidth of the SATA 3 interface with its read speeds of 560 MB/s and write speeds of 530 MB/s using 3D NAND. The price of the 250GB version is a brilliant value. Best of all, it's reliable and cost effective to run, making it the best SSD for mining in 2021.

ADATA SU800

(Image credit: Amazon)

2. ADATA SU800 SSD

Great performance at a bargain price

Specifications

Capacity: 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB
Interface: SATA
Warranty: 3-years

Reasons to buy

+
Low price
+
Variety of capacities

Reasons to avoid

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Relatively slow

Mining needs to be profitable, so for those on a budget, the ADATA SU800 is a good choice. Its life will far exceed its warranty. It's price is lower than some others, but its build quality is on par with more expensive offerings. Speeds are plenty fast with the SATA 3 interface enhanced with “Built-in intelligent SLC caching.”

3. Samsung 860 EVO SSD

A brilliant performer for a great price

Specifications

Capacity: 120GB/250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB/4TB
Interface: SATA
Warranty: 5 years

Reasons to buy

+
Speedy performance
+
Good-value

Reasons to avoid

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Definitely consumer-class SSD

The Samsung 860 Evo is a great offering from a leader in SSD’s. The 860 Evo is an excellent choice for a mining SSD, as it features Samsung's build quality and speeds that are found in more expensive drives. Along with a pretty compelling price for the smaller capacity drives, performance is enhanced with Samsung V-NAND Technology to optimize performance.

Crucial BX500

(Image credit: Amazon)

4. Crucial BX500 SSD

The value king

Specifications

Capacity: 240GB/480GB/1TB/2TB
Interface: SATA
Warranty: 3-years

Reasons to buy

+
Beats the MX300
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Price

Reasons to avoid

-
Not as fast as some other drives

The Crucial BX500 isn’t the fastest SSD you can buy, but it is seriously affordable and chiefly reliable to boot. If you want to maximise your cryptocurrency mining profits by keeping the cost of your hardware as low as possible, then this is an excellent choice. You don't completely lose out on performance either - it’s a better performer than some pricier drives with read speeds of 540 MB/s. Finally, it is backed by the Crucial limited 3 year warranty.

SanDisk Ultra 3D

(Image credit: Amazon)

5. SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD

Compact and fast

Specifications

Capacity: 250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB/4TB
Interface: SATA
Warranty: 3-years

Reasons to buy

+
Choice of capacity
+
Fast
+
Long warranty

Reasons to avoid

-
No capacity below 250GB

This is a fantastic 2.5-inch SSD from SanDisk that is an excellent choice for including in a mining PC. It comes with plenty of storage options, though the price goes up due to the smallest capacity available at 250GB. However, with Advanced 3D NAND technology, and nCACHE 2.0 Technology for faster speeds, it performs really well. While it's not the cheapest SSD on this list, it can be found on sale where you can grab it for an excellent price.

Jonas P. DeMuro

Jonas P. DeMuro is a freelance reviewer covering wireless networking hardware.