If you need a flash drive, Black Friday is the time to get one — we’re seeing prices drop like crazy. Whether you want to quickly transfer files between devices or just back up data in a cheap and portable format, you won’t want to miss these discounts.
Before you do, you’ll want to figure out how much storage space you need and what your budget is. While it’s true that you’ll have to pay more for greater capacity, the price-per-GB usually goes down, making it a better value to buy a bigger drive than you might need.
I’ve gone ahead and done the deal hunting for you. Here are the best Black Friday flash drive sales I’ve found, along with which one I’d buy and why each recommended deal stands out. There’s also a useful FAQ at the end in case you need more guidance before buying.
If you don’t need an absolute ton of space, then you can do just fine with a flash drive up to 256GB. I’ve omitted 32GB drives because 64GB models are already quite affordable. It isn’t worth going smaller.
My top pick: While it isn’t the cheapest 256GB flash drive, I’d choose the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Go. Mostly because it has a 2-in-1 design with both USB-C and USB-A connectors, meaning universal compatibility across all your devices, new and old. And at this price, it’s still pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.
If you want lots of storage, these are the best deals on flash drives up to 2TB in capacity. While that might seem a bit extreme for everyday folks, it’s nice to have ample space that’ll never run out.
My top pick: If 512GB is enough for you, I’d go for the SanDisk Ultra Luxe, which is down to a super reasonable price right now. The drive supports transfer speeds up to 400MB/s and you can even encrypt your data as an extra safety layer. But if transfer speed is your top priority, you can’t go wrong with the Kingston DataTraveler Max and its impressive ability to read data at up to 1,000MB/s.
Officially, this year’s Black Friday is on Friday, November 29. Unofficially, major retailers are already putting out deals left and right, including for some of the best flash drives on the market. While prices may drop a bit more on Black Friday proper, you’ll have to be super quick to grab the items you’ve been eyeing, so buying ahead of time isn’t a bad move.
This year, Cyber Monday falls on Monday, December 2. For the best deals, we recommend you check your favorite retailers right after midnight strikes — or check back with us here at PCWorld because we’ll be covering all of the best Cyber Monday flash drive discounts, too.
Absolutely! While all major retailers run sales events year-round, still nothing compares to the nose-dive prices on Black Friday, even for USB flash drives. At PCWorld, we’re always looking for the best discounts, for those deals that’ll get you the best bang for your buck. When I highlight deals, I try to stick to flash drives that have dropped to their very best prices of the year.
That’s always a good question to ask yourself. Are you actually saving money? Is this a good product? Was the price jacked up ahead of time and then reduced back down to a fake “sale” price?
First things first, always stick with reputable brands on Black Friday. Their products are likely to perform well and they’re unlikely to fiddle with pricing trickery because they catch so many eyeballs year-round. Plus, you can always use price history tools like CamelCamelCamel to see if they’re fooling around.
Furthermore, always check a product’s reviews — ideally from reputable reviewers — to see what people are saying after hands-on use. Try to focus on middle-of-the-road reviews, not ones that are unreasonably happy with what they got and ones that seem to complain that even the sky is blue.
Check out our roundups for the best PC-related deals in a wide variety of categories!
