diySSD Editorial Policy
Most tech sites make money when you click their links. That shapes what they tell you — sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. diySSD doesn't work that way, and this page exists so you know exactly how we do work.
If you're a gamer trying to pick a drive for your new build, a content creator needing fast reliable storage, or a PC enthusiast hunting the best price per gigabyte — you should be able to read anything on this site knowing that nobody paid to put it there.
Our Editorial Promise
Every article, buyer guide, and price on diySSD is produced to help you make a better storage decision. Not to earn us a commission. Not to please a manufacturer. Not because a retailer asked nicely. That promise is the point of this whole site, and the sections below are how we keep it.
Independence
No affiliate links. We don't participate in Amazon Associates, retailer affiliate programs, or any referral network. When we link to a retailer, you click, you buy, we earn nothing.
No sponsored content. No paid placements, no advertorials, no "sponsored reviews." Articles aren't approved, pre-reviewed, or influenced by the brands discussed in them.
No paid placement in pricing data. Every SSD in our catalog earned its spot on merit. No brand pays to appear, rank higher, or get featured.
We do run standard display advertising (Google AdSense) to cover hosting and operating costs. Those ads are served by third parties, visually separated from editorial content, and have zero influence over what we write.
Who writes this
diySSD is run by John Baer, who has spent 30+ years in the computer industry. Every article is created under his guidance.
When we reference other experts — industry analysts, manufacturer engineers, benchmarking labs, technical publications — we attribute clearly and link to the source whenever we can.
What we cover
diySSD covers consumer SSDs: NVMe, SATA, portable, gaming, PS5 expansion. We write about storage industry news, pricing trends, benchmarking methodology, and buying guides for specific use cases.
We don't cover enterprise or data center storage (except where it's relevant to consumer context), mechanical hard drives (except in SSD-vs-HDD comparisons), general PC building beyond storage, or anything off-topic like crypto.
Accuracy
Every article is fact-checked before publication. Specs (capacities, speeds, interfaces, endurance) are verified against manufacturer documentation or firsthand testing. Historical claims are cross-referenced against at least two independent sources. Predictions and opinions are labeled as such — not presented as fact.
When we cite benchmarks, we disclose the testing conditions: hardware, drivers, test duration, thermals, and whether the result is a single run or an average.
Corrections
We're going to get something wrong eventually. When we do:
- Factual errors get corrected inline, with a dated note explaining what changed.
- Substantive errors — flawed methodology, wrong conclusions — get a prominent update notice, and if the error changes our recommendation, we revise the recommendation explicitly.
- Typos and formatting get fixed quietly.
If you spot something wrong, please tell us. We'd rather fix an error than defend one.
How we track prices
diySSD maintains an independent pricing database of 750+ SSDs across major retailers. Prices come from publicly visible retailer pages, each price is timestamped, and historical prices are kept so we can show trends and lowest-tracked-price over time. When a drive disappears from a retailer, we mark it unavailable rather than delete it — the historical record stays intact.
We don't accept price data, discount feeds, or stock updates from manufacturers or retailers. Every price point is independently observed.
Pricing changes fast. Always confirm the current price on the retailer's page before you buy.
AI and the human behind the words
Every article you read on diySSD is created as a team effort and AI is part of the team. The team is lead by a human — specifically, by someone with three decades in the industry.
That's non-negotiable.
Conflicts of interest
If John or any future contributor has a financial, family, or prior-employment relationship with a company whose products we're discussing, we disclose it in the article. We don't hold investment positions in SSD manufacturer public equities or take paid consulting work from SSD manufacturers we actively cover.
Privacy
We don't sell, rent, or share reader data. We use standard analytics and ad networks to keep the site running. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.
Reach out
Corrections, questions about how we test, feedback on anything you've read:
john.baer@diyssd.com
Found an error? (Yes, even after all the fact-checking, we're still human.) Please tell us.
This policy applies to everything published on diyssd.com — articles, buyer guides, pricing pages, and anything posted under the diySSD brand on social media.