The German market for storage media is undergoing change: While traditional HDDs are increasingly losing importance among end consumers, SSDs, external hard drives, multimedia storage solutions and NAS systems continue to record strong growth.[1] The trend is clear: Consumers are opting for compact, powerful and versatile solutions.
According to the HEMIX figures (Q1 2025), sales in the hard drive segment (which includes external hard drives, multimedia hard drives, NAS systems and SSD hard drives) in Germany rose by just under 11 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the same period of the previous year. But external hard drives with high storage capacity also remain in demand, presumably as backup and archiving solutions for private households, freelancers and small businesses. Particularly in the context of increasing data sovereignty and growing awareness of data protection, users are once again placing greater value on physical data carriers that can be used independently of cloud providers.[2]
The continuing rise in demand for high-resolution content in 4K and 8K, coupled with larger file sizes for games and media content, is leading to a steadily increasing need for storage in the private sector. This is why multimedia hard drives and storage solutions for home entertainment are likely to enjoy growing popularity in the future. Modern multimedia storage devices impress with ease of use, network connectivity and direct playback functions – a growing market that particularly addresses tech-savvy households.
The market for NAS systems (Network Attached Storage) is developing particularly dynamically. [3] Especially for private users, small offices and creative professionals, NAS solutions could become increasingly interesting as a central storage instance for managing photos, videos, documents or project files securely and efficiently. NAS systems impress not only with flexibility, but also with data protection and independence from cloud services.
SSDs remain the technological pace-setter in the market. Thanks to advances in PCIe‑4.0/5.0, falling prices per gigabyte and sharply increased storage densities, SSDs are increasingly gaining ground in storage systems beyond the traditional PC market. [4] SSDs are now being used more frequently both in external devices and in NAS systems – they not only offer significantly higher transfer rates, but also better energy efficiency and a lower susceptibility to errors. According to Statista forecasts, the market volume for SSDs in Germany will grow to more than 1.3 billion euros by 2027 – annual growth of around 16 percent.[5]
“The current developments clearly show that anyone who wants to remain independent, data-sovereign and future-proof in the long term is investing in powerful and modular storage solutions. The market is moving toward larger capacities, intelligent operating concepts and seamless integration into existing IT infrastructures – this will become increasingly crucial in both private and professional environments,” comments Dr. Sara Warneke, Managing Director of GFU Home & Consumer Tech.
