5 ways to add laptop storage — without installing a new drive

SD and microSD cards are cheap

If your laptop has an SD card slot, this is the easiest storage upgrade you can make. SD cards are relatively inexpensive compared to other storage options, and all you have to do is pop one into the slot. But there’s a trade-off: they’re slower than other storage options.

Most laptops support UHS-I SD cards, which offer speeds up to 104 MB/s. Faster UHS-II cards can go up to 312 MB/s, but many laptops don’t support those. Maybe yours does. Ultimately, it’s your laptop’s SD card reader that determines the maximum data speed.

For speed, look for a card that’s rated A2 or V30. For example, I’ve been using this 512GB Samsung Pro Plus microSD card, which offers A2/V30 performance for under $50. If you don’t need the fastest card and just want as much storage capacity as possible, an A1-rated card should do — like this 1.5TB SanDisk Ultra microSD card for under $110.

These days, microSD cards have become more popular than SD cards. They’re smaller, they sit flush in the slot, and they can be permanent if you want them to be. Meanwhile, SD cards are somewhat bulkier and stick out when plugged in, which could get in the way at times.

Note: If all of these specs and terms are causing your head to spin, don’t worry. You aren’t alone. Get up to speed with our quick guide to demystifying SD and microSD card specs.

USB flash drives are widely compatible

USB flash drives might be the first thing that came to mind when you thought about expanding your laptop’s storage. They quick and easy to use, and they’re usually faster than SD cards, but they aren’t quite as seamless if you plan on leaving them plugged in full-time.

Most laptops support USB 3.2 Gen 1 (up to 625 MB/s theoretical speed) or Gen 2 (up to 1,250 MB/s theoretical speed). However, in the real world, a typical USB flash drive might run somewhere between 300 to 500 MB/s. If your laptop has a Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 port, you could see speeds up to around 2,800 MB/s, but that’s generally with external SSDs and not traditional USB flash drives.

For an almost-permanent storage upgrade option, you can get a low-profile drive like this 512GB SanDisk Ultra Fit USB drive. It’s like a tiny nub that barely sticks out of your laptop, and it can be left in all the time. (Unfortunately, it’s harder to find low-profile USB-C drives due to design constraints around the connector. There just isn’t enough room.)

External drives offer the best performance

External drives are the greatest way to add tons of storage to your laptop, especially if you don’t need all that storage connected 24/7 or if you mainly use your laptop at your desk and rarely on the go. As a bonus, portable SSDs have so many other practical uses, too.

Portable SSD speeds vary depending on the connection technology, ranging from 500 MB/s with USB 3.0/3.2 Gen 1 (typical on older laptops) to 1,000 MB/s with USB 3.2 Gen 2 (common on newer laptops). If your laptop has Thunderbolt 4, you can transfer even faster — up to 2,800 MB/s (real-world speeds) with a high-end drive.

Check out PCWorld’s recommended external drives to find the best one for your needs. Summed up, look to the Adata SE920 for fast USB4 performance, the Teamgroup T-Force M200 for budget-friendly 20Gbps performance, and the Crucial X9 Pro for 10Gbps performance.

For a streamlined setup, consider using a USB dock. With it, you can keep your external drive and other peripherals like mouse, keyboard, and monitors plugged in, then connect them all to your laptop in one fell swoop by simply plugging the dock into your laptop.

NAS devices grant extra storage via Wi-Fi

A network-attached storage (NAS) device is a server with multiple hard drives that connects to your network and can be accessed by any other device on the same network, including your laptops, PCs, phones, etc. (It’s a tiny bit more complicated than that, but not much more.)

What this means is, you can set up a NAS device like the 2TB Buffalo LinkStation 210 and it’ll act like an external drive, except you access it over the network instead of a USB cable. It’s super convenient. The catch? Your transfer speeds will be bottlenecked by your connection, whether that’s Wi-Fi (wireless) or Ethernet (wired).

If you want a high-performance NAS that’s capable of streaming media and more, you’ll have to pay up. For example, the Ugreen NASync DXP2800 has two bays that support up to 64TB of storage plus an ultra-fast 2.5Gbps Ethernet port. The Ugreen NASync DXP4800 Plus goes further with four bays for a total 112TB of storage.

Cloud storage is a last resort

If none of the above appeal to you, cloud storage is always an option. OneDrive, which is integrated into Windows, can download files on demand. You’ll see those files in your OneDrive folder in File Explorer and they’ll be downloaded on the fly when you open them.

The free plan for OneDrive only offers 5GB of storage, which probably isn’t enough except for mere documents. Fortunately, the paid plans offer more storage, including Microsoft 365 Basic (100GB for $19.99/year) and Microsoft 365 Personal (1TB for $99.99/year). It’s just one of the reasons why Microsoft 365 is a pretty good deal.

Or you can opt for one of the many other cloud storage options out there, including Mega, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Sync.

But for best results, upgrade your drive

If you need more storage on your laptop, an internal storage upgrade gives you the fastest possible storage speed. Modern laptops generally use NVMe M.2 SSDs, capable of hitting 3,500 MB/s with a PCIe 3.0 drive and 7,000 MB/s with a PCIe 4.0 drive.

By comparison, the fastest USB 3.0 external drives top out around 500 MB/s and the latest USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 external SSDs can almost reach 2,800 MB/s. Meanwhile, typical SD cards and USB flash drives usually deliver speeds below 200 MB/s.

If you’re gaming, editing 4K video, or otherwise dealing with large files, you’re going to want to switch out your existing drive for a large-capacity high-end SSD. It’s not for everyone, though. Even if you’re comfortable opening up your laptop, it may not be designed for easy SSD upgrades, especially if it’s a thin-and-light “ultrabook” laptops. (Gaming laptops and business-oriented machines are often easier to upgrade.)

To see if your laptop’s internal storage can be upgraded, check the manufacturer’s website for a specification sheet or service manual. It’ll often say if the drive is replaceable or if it’s soldered on — even if the laptop is easily openable, the drive itself may be soldered to the motherboard and not removable.

Alternatively, you can run a quick web search for “[laptop model] SSD upgrade.” That’s a good way to find resources like forum posts and teardown videos on YouTube that show you everything you need to know about taking it out and replacing it with something better.

Ready to buy a laptop SSD? Check out our top SSD recommendations. But be sure you’re ready for the upgrade process, which could mean cloning your existing drive or reinstalling Windows. Not sure how big of an SSD you should get? We break it down for you in our explainer on how much SSD space you need on a laptop.