Earlier in the year we were treated to a very special limited edition of the Seagate FireCuda 530 - one of the most popular Gen 4 SSDs on the market. Complete with their own heatsink and RGB lighting strip, these drives had clever faceplates that made them look like the lightsabers of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke/Anakin Skywalker, and Darth Vader.
Of course, these flew off the shelves immediately when they launched back in April, and haven't been seen frequently restocked throughout the year. At the moment, however, these special Star Wars drives have reappeared, and are even discounted in an early Black Friday deal to just $199.99 at Best Buy for the 2TB model.
This is actually the drive I have in the gaming PC I built for myself earlier in the year, and besides its beautiful aesthetics, it performs brilliantly as an SSD.
In truth, Black Friday SSD deals are a little underwhelming at the moment. Despite a continued price slump for most SSDs over the last year and a half, a lot of prices are actually going back up again, presumably in preparation for a serious fall next week.
Normally, the thought of recommending a 2TB SSD priced at $200 would sicken me - even if it is one of the fastest Gen 4 options going. You simply don't ever need to pay that much for one of the best SSDs for gaming these days, and there are even Gen 5 drives with sickeningly fast speeds that are going for cheaper at the moment.
This Star Wars FireCuda however? Well, it's a different story, because it's more of a collector's item that technically falls into the wheelhouse of the best Star Wars merch.
Going forward, it's not clear if these will be in stock again, or how often they'll be resupplied, so maybe paying that type of price is more acceptable. Fortunately, the 1TB model is available for $134.99 at Amazon, and if you're in the UK, the 2TB model can be grabbed at Amazon for £129.99, with the 1TB drive only costing £92.99.
Annoyingly, if you're looking for a Black Friday PS5 SSD deal, this won't do. Although the Seagate FireCuda 530 is one of the best PS5 SSDs, the bulky heatsink of this Star Wars version wouldn't fit in the console's M.2 tray. What's more, the PS5 doesn't have a motherboard header to power the lighting, and even if it did, covering it with a faceplate would render it pretty useless.
Nonetheless, the Seagate FireCuda 530 is still one of the best SSDs out there pound-for-pound, and it keeps loading times to an absolute minimum when I play games on PC.
What I love about this drive is that it gives you the option to choose the lightsaber you like best. In the box, you'll find the faceplates for all three characters, and they slide on and off with ease so that you can trade out the one you like best.
I chose Obi-Wan's lightsaber because he's the best character in the franchise and, if you ask me, could actually be called the true "chosen one" of the story. But that's just me. If you have a wrong different opinion, you could choose Darth Vader or Luke's saber instead.
Installation is nice and easy, as long as your PC's motherboard is equipped with a 5V addressable header to plug in the RGB array. Out of the box, it's unlikely you'll get the correct color, of course. You'll need to play around with some software to match the appropriate faceplate to the saber shade, or you can just leave it as is and have a funky rainbow fluxing lightsaber - this doesn't look too bad either.
If this is a bit pricey for your blood, that's totally understandable. We've used our price comparison software down below to bring you the cheapest SSDs in your area that are currently available. If this deal isn't for you, search your feelings, young padewan; the right offer will come.
In the market for something more console-shaped? Check out the best PS5 external hard drive, the best Xbox Series X hard drive, and the best external hard drive for gaming.
