Best SSDs for a Home Server

Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Use an SSD for your OS, containers and databases, and keep spinning disks for bulk media. NVMe is ideal where you have an M.2 slot; SATA SSDs are a great, cheap upgrade for older hardware. The difference in day-to-day responsiveness — OS updates, Docker image pulls, database queries — is dramatic compared with running everything from spinning rust. For a home server the two specs that matter most are endurance (measured in TBW, terabytes written) and, for certain workloads, power-loss protection. A standard consumer SSD is fine for a boot drive and most app data. If you plan to run write-heavy databases, or a ZFS SLOG device, look at higher-endurance or enterprise SSDs with power-loss protection, which prevent data loss if the power cuts mid-write. Match the form factor to your machine: mini PCs typically take one or two M.2 NVMe drives, while older desktops use 2.5-inch SATA.

Frequently asked questions