The 4 Cheapest Ways to Add More Storage to Your Laptop

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Of all the habits that slow down your computer, filling up storage is one of the biggest. Since many computers these days come with drives smaller than 512 GB, and files, applications, and operating systems keep growing, filling that space is easier than most people think.

There are several ways to free up storage space on your computer without spending anything. The most common methods are to uninstall apps you don’t use, empty the Downloads folder, empty the Trash, or run your operating system’s Disk Cleanup utilities (for example, Storage Sense in Windows 11). However, if your laptop’s storage continues to fill up quickly, you may need an external storage solution.

Adding additional storage doesn’t need to be that expensive. If you don’t like heavy gaming (game sizes have become large over the years) and creative work, such as 4K video editing, HD photography, and 3D modeling, you may not need external storage of up to 1TB or more. Because this is where things start to get expensive and inaccessible for someone on a budget. From SD cards to cloud storage, you have plenty of options to choose from without spending hundreds of dollars.

Some PCs and laptops have SD card slots that you can use to expand storage inexpensively. Although they don’t offer the largest storage capacities, SD and microSD cards can be useful. They’re also relatively inexpensive, with a 256GB card costing less than $50.

For example, the PNY 256GB Elite-X Class costs $49.99. This is a microSDXC card, a microSD card with a capacity of over 32GB (up to 2TB), with a speed of up to 100MB/s. It is mainly marketed to people who need to store 4K UHD videos and HD photos, up to over 4GB, on their digital cameras and phones. But even if you don’t need it for these specific reasons, there’s no point letting your laptop’s microSD card slot go to waste.

Since it’s a microSD card, if your computer has an SD card slot, it can easily be inserted into something like the SanDisk MicroSD to SD Memory Card Adapter, which costs $4.98. If your computer doesn’t have any type of SD slot, you can get an SD card adapter like the Ugreen SD Card Reader for $9.99. It has a slot for an SD and microSD card, as well as a USB-C connector on one end and a USB connection on the other, providing broad compatibility with new and old laptops.

Before you could easily send files to someone via email, over a network (Nearby Share on Windows or AirDrop on Mac), or via the cloud, USB drives were the dominant means of transport from one computer to another. IBM began selling 8MB USB drives in the 2000s, with capacity increasing to 1GB in 2004, then to 128GB in 2010.

We now have flash drives up to 1TB, making them ultra-portable external drives in their own right. However, if you are looking for affordable options, it is best to stick to those under 256 GB for affordability and daily use.

A good option is the Lexar D40E 256GB Dual USB Flash Drive, which you can get for $49.99. The dual-port design ensures that you can use it on devices with both USB-C and USB-A ports, meaning you can connect it to ultrabooks, which typically only have USB-C ports, as well as USB hubs that only have USB-A ports. It also offers transfer speeds of up to 100 MB/s.

When you’re looking to add more storage to your computer, an external drive is probably the first option that comes to mind. However, if your budget is limited, you can forgo high-capacity drives. If your additional storage needs are modest, such as backing up photos, videos, files and documents, a 500 GB hard drive may be sufficient. You can easily get a small capacity hard drive for less than $50 on Amazon.

For example, the Maxone 500GB Ultra Slim Portable External Hard Drive costs $39.99. This is an ultra-thin external hard drive with a durable, scratch-resistant casing. It has a USB 3.0 port that supports transfer speeds of up to 5 Gbps, but it is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports. Although SSDs can be more reliable than HDDs in the short term, they are more expensive and some users report higher failure rates than HDDs in the long term.

You can also buy a used hard drive if you want more capacity at a lower price, but just make sure you buy it from a reputable seller (preferably the manufacturer), make sure it has passed the necessary health checks, and don’t use it as your primary backup method.

Although the data required to download files can be an issue if you’re frugal, using cloud storage can allow you to free up at least 5GB to 20GB or more on your laptop without paying a single cent. For example, you get 5 GB on Microsoft OneDrive, 5 GB on iCloud, 15 GB on Google Drive and 20 GB on MEGA completely free.

It’s worth noting that even an extra 20 GB won’t make a huge difference if your laptop’s drive is constantly full. So use this method only as a last resort and avoid storing anything sensitive in cloud storage that you don’t want to access without permission in the event of a data breach. Also be aware of what can happen to your data if the cloud storage service stops or crashes.

If you want more cloud storage space, you will have to pay. This isn’t a one-time fee, however, but an ongoing subscription: all you’re doing is renting that storage space. As with all subscription services, costs can add up over time. But the problem with cloud storage solutions is that expanding storage can be cheap if your needs are modest. For example, to get 100 GB of storage on Google Drive, you need to subscribe to the Google One Basic plan, which costs $1.99 per month. The same goes for OneDrive when you pay for Microsoft 365 Basic.

One thing that needs to be said is that you can definitely find all these options at a very low price if you go for off-brand variants. However, they will likely be of poor quality, so it’s not really recommended.

We looked for external storage solutions that cost less than $50, while still offering enough storage capacity to make a noticeable difference when your laptop is full (which is why we mentioned paid plans for cloud storage services).

We also stuck with Amazon because that’s where many tech brands sell their products and where users have left lots of ratings and reviews about their verified purchases. We have only chosen products that have at least four out of five stars.