Guide To Article Search

Find it fast

Type a few words, press Search, and diySSD scans article titles and subtitles (and, for Buyer Guides, each drive’s brand, model, interface and uses) to show only the items that contain the words you typed. Search works a little differently on each page:

• Blog — Part of a word is enough: sea finds Seagate.
• Buyer Guides — Whole words, except model numbers: pro finds PRO models, not “compromise”, and sn850 finds SN850X.

Thirty-second start

1. Start broad: a brand (samsung), a model (990 pro) for Buyer Guides, or a word from a Blog title or subtitle (external, heatsink, shortage, console).
2. Look at the count, then add one word to narrow it (external diy).
3. Too few results? Take the last word back out, or use Clear Search Results and start again.

How search works on both pages

Every word must be found, in any order. Each extra word narrows the list.

• samsung — items that mention Samsung.
• samsung gen5 — items with Samsung and Gen5.
• gen5 samsung — the same results. Word order doesn’t matter.

These don’t change your results:

• Capital letters. SAMSUNG GEN5 is the same as samsung gen5.
• Quote marks. "samsung gen5" is the same too, so there are no exact-phrase searches.
• Repeated words. samsung samsung gen5 counts Samsung once.

There is no “or”. samsung or crucial looks for Samsung and “or” and Crucial, and usually finds nothing. Search one brand at a time.

Good to know

• Search runs when you press Search (or Enter), not as you type.
• Apostrophes are dropped. hynix's is read as hynixs, which may not match. Type hynix.
• Keep it short. Only the first 100 characters and the first 8 different words are used. Two or three well-chosen words beat a sentence.
• There is no “exclude”. A minus sign in front of a word doesn’t remove it. On the Blog, the category chips can narrow the list instead.
• Your search stays in the address bar. Bookmark or share the page and the same results come back.

Searching the Blog

On the Blog, part of a word is enough: heat finds “heatsink”, and cons finds “console” and “consumer”. That makes the Blog forgiving when you only half-remember a title.

Examples

• heatsink — The Benefit of Using a Heatsink. A word from the title.
• heat — the heatsink article, plus any post that mentions heat. Part of a word is enough.
• shortage — Buying an SSD in the 2026 Shortage.
• seagate — Seagate’s Vanishing Act.
• qlc — The Magic Behind SK Hynix’s 321-Layer QLC Flash.
• console — The Next-Gen Console Race.
• directstorage — The DirectStorage Revolution. One word, written the way the post writes it.
• external — DIY External SSDs in 2026 and Cable-Free External SSDs. Both posts share the word.
• external diy — DIY External SSDs in 2026 only. The second word narrows it.

Category chips

The chips above the posts are Bleeding Edge, The Lowdown, The Workshop and Under the Hood. Pick one to see only that category. A new search always starts over in All, and the number on each chip shows how many matching posts it holds, so you can see where your results are. Pick a chip after searching to narrow the results to that category. Pick All to go back to every category.

Example: search external and you get two posts, with The Lowdown (1) and Under the Hood (1) on the chips. Pick The Lowdown and only Cable-Free External SSDs remains; DIY External SSDs in 2026 is filed under Under the Hood, so it drops out.

Watch out for short words

Because part of a word counts, a short search can turn up surprises. pro also matches “process”, “problem” and “promise”. Add a second word, or use a longer one, to tighten it.

Searching Buyer Guides

Buyer Guides match whole words, so short words find exactly what you mean. pro finds the guides for PRO models and skips guides that merely say “compromise” or “professional”. Model numbers are the exception: the start of one is enough, so sn850 finds the SN850X guide.

Brands and models

• samsung — every Samsung guide.
• crucial — every Crucial guide.
• pro — guides for PRO models, such as the Samsung 990 PRO and Corsair MP700 PRO.
• samsung pro — Samsung PRO models only.
• 990 pro — the Samsung 990 PRO guide.
• 990 — the 990 PRO and 990 EVO guides. A partial model number needs at least 3 characters, so 9 finds neither.
• sn850 — the WD_BLACK SN850X guide. The start of a model number is enough.

Names with hyphens and underscores

Underscores split a name into separate words. A hyphenated name matches as a whole or by either part.

• black — WD_BLACK guides. WD_BLACK reads as “wd” + “black”.
• wd_black — the same as searching wd black.
• blade — PRO-BLADE guides. pro, blade or both will find them.
• t-create or create — TEAMGROUP T-CREATE guides.

Part of a name finds nothing

• sams, crucia or firecud — no results. Brand and product names must be whole words; finish the word and press Search again. Only model numbers work in part (sn850, p31).
• cruc finds nothing, yet p31 finds the Crucial P310 guides. That looks inconsistent, but it follows the rule: cruc is part of a brand name, which must be typed whole, while p31 is the start of a model number, which needs only its first 3 characters (p3 is too short).

Uses and platforms

Guides are also tagged with what a drive is for and where it fits, so a use or a device works as a search word.

• gaming — guides for drives positioned for gaming.
• gaming external — external drives for gaming. The second word narrows it.
• ps5 — drives that meet Sony’s PS5 storage requirements.
• rugged — drives built for field work.

Capacity and warranty are not search words here: almost every drive comes in 1TB and 2TB, so they would match nearly every guide. Search those in the Product Catalog.

Write it your way

Common ways of writing a spec are read the way diySSD tags it, so you don’t need the exact spelling.

• m.2, m 2 — searched as m2.
• pcie 4.0, pcie4, gen 4 — searched as gen4 (Gen3 and Gen5 alike).
• usb 3.2, usb 3.1, usb 4 — searched as usb32, usb31, usb4.
• gen 2x2 — searched as gen2x2.

Filler words are skipped: ssd, drive, best, guide, review, for, the, with, and, usb-c. best ssd for steam deck searches steam deck. A search of filler words alone lists every guide.

Clearing and starting over

Each clear link undoes one thing and keeps the rest. A link only appears when there is something for it to clear.

• Clear Search Results removes your search words and keeps the category chip. On both pages.
• Clear filters removes the category chip and keeps your search words. Blog only, since Buyer Guides have no chips.
• Start over removes everything and returns the page to how it first loads. On both pages.

Show More. Both pages show 12 items at a time. Show More adds the next batch and keeps your place.

No results? Common fixes

Most empty searches have one word too many, or a word written differently from how the article writes it. Take the last word out first.

• samsung or crucial finds nothing. Every word must match, including “or”. Search samsung, then crucial.
• sams finds nothing in Buyer Guides. Buyer Guides need whole words. Type samsung.
• 2tb or 5 year finds nothing in Buyer Guides. Guides are found by brand, model, interface and use. Search capacities and warranty in the Product Catalog.
• pro finds odd Blog posts. Part of a word counts on the Blog, so pro also matches “process”. Add a second word: 990 pro.
• hynix's finds nothing. The apostrophe is dropped, leaving “hynixs”. Type hynix.
• A category chip emptied the results. That category has no posts with your words. Pick All.
• 990 pro under 150 finds nothing. Price phrases only work on the Pricing Catalog; here “under” and “150” are just words. Search prices on the Pricing Catalog instead.

Still stuck? Start over returns the page to its first view, and a single brand name or topic word is the safest place to begin again.

Quick reference

On both pages

• Every word must match, in any order.
• 12 items at a time, with Show More.
• No price search — use the Pricing Catalog.

Blog

• Part of a word matches (sams finds Samsung).
• Category chips narrow the list.
• Newest posts first.
• Clear links: Clear Search Results, Clear filters, Start over.

Buyer Guides

• Whole words (sams finds nothing), but the start of a model number works (sn850).
• m.2, gen 4 and usb 3.2 are understood; filler such as ssd is skipped.
• No chips.
• Fixed order.
• Clear links: Clear Search Results, Start over.