The best external hard drives in 2022
The best external hard drives in 2022
Included in this guide:
Having one of the best external hard drives around will make your digital life a lot easier. This is specially true if you're someone with several computers but take a tiresome local network to connect them. An external difficult drive or ii will get in quick and easy to transfer large files betwixt your machines.
If y'all need to work on big files both at work and at abode, then tossing one of the all-time external hard drives into your pocket or backpack will give yous continuous access. This also applies if you lot need to back upward your computer regularly. Ane of the larger, HDD-based external difficult drives will do the play tricks. If you want to create a second backup for peace of listen and continue that in a separate location, an SSD-based drive volition be perfect.
Good news: These aren't the slow, heavy external drives from a few years ago. Every model here uses at least the USB 3.0 standard, which offers read and write speeds many times faster than the former USB 2.0 drives.
Many use the fifty-fifty faster USB 3.one and 3.2 standards, and 1 even sports the super-speedy Thunderbolt 3 standard. Some of these drives, particularly the smaller SSD ones, take eye-catching designs and colors that could almost be considered stylish.
What are the best external hard drives?
Our ain tests revealed that the all-time non-portable external hard drive is the WD My Volume (model number WDBBGB), which offers the all-time balance of cost, capacity and other features. The drive needs to be plugged into a power outlet, only information technology's fast and there are tons of capacity options all the way upwards to 18TB.
If you desire something yous can conduct out of the business firm, the best portable external hard drive is the G-Technology ArmorATD. It boasts heavy-duty protection confronting shocks, falls, h2o, dust and crushing. It's also very speedy for a portable difficult bulldoze.
If you're willing to pay a premium, the best portable SSD hard bulldoze is the SanDisk Farthermost Pro Portable SSD (model number SDSSDE80). You tin easily utilise it anywhere, and there'due south a newer model that offers twice as much speed.
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The all-time external hard drives you tin purchase today
Information technology may be shaped like a monolith from 2001: A Infinite Odyssey, but our tests found that the WD My Book is the best external hard bulldoze for the money. Information technology offers hardware-based 256-bit AES encryption and WD Fill-in software, and it gives you 4TB of HDD space for well-nigh $100. Plus, capacities up to 18TB are available.
The My Book might not be the latest and greatest in terms of drive engineering, merely information technology makes the absolute near of tried-and-true methods — and volition merely cost you lot pennies per gigabyte. Sure, it'due south on the bulky side, and information technology has to be plugged into a power outlet. But if speed and portability aren't of utmost importance, this is storage peace of mind you can't afford not to have.
Designed to exist rugged, the G-Technology ArmorATD portable hard drive (HDD, non SSD) boasts 3-tier shock resistance, with internal shock mounts, an aluminum enclosure, and a removable rubber bumper for additional drib protection; it's also resistant to rain, dust, and crushing (up to one,000 pounds).
The 2TB and 4TB models are both sized to be easily portable and include a USB Type-A adapter for use with their USB Type-C interface, so they should work with virtually every estimator.
We tested the 2TB and 4TB capacities; neither was notably fast (though the 2TB is rated for marginally higher speeds), and the drive comes with no file management software. Just factor in the price and one of these drives could be a reasonable choice if yous and your data into unpredictable territory.
No matter what yous want from the all-time external hard bulldoze, the SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD delivers it.
User-friendly design? It's small and light enough to fit in your paw merely non get lost in your pocket or handbag. Suave looks? Its rounded corners, black-and-red coloration, delicately pockmarked front and soft-touch dorsum give it an appearance and feel that are both thoroughly modern and refreshingly archetype.
Ok, how near speed? The USB 3.one version of the Extreme Pro Portable SSD is rated for sequential reads of ane,050MBps, and in our ain performance tests, information technology routinely came out at or near the tiptop of the rankings. The SanDisk Secure Admission application applies general encryption, too.
The drive is a shade expensive, and the integrated conveying loop is also large to easily fit on a standard keychain. Otherwise, this is an excellent storage device that's ideal for heavy everyday use.
Since we tested the Extreme Pro Portable SSD, SanDisk has released a second version that integrates USB 3.two to become speeds of up to two,000Mbps just looks exactly the aforementioned as its predecessor. The newer version costs twice as much, but if super-fast reads are your game, and then go for it.
The Adata SE800 External SSD Ultra Fast measures just 2.eight x ane.vii x 0.iv inches and weighs 1.4 ounces and is rated for IP68 protection confronting dust and 30 minutes of submersion in 4.9 feet (1.five meters) of water.
It meets the MIL-STD-810G 516.6 standard for bear on resistance when dropped from 4 anxiety (one.22 meters). You can use either a USB Type-A or a Type-C cablevision to connect this Type-C drive to your computer.
We didn't quite see the drive'southward 1,000MBps-rated speeds in our tests, simply the drive proved fast anyway. It'southward too pretty affordable, with the 1TB version we tested available online for nether $130, and the 512GB version findable for most $80.
Those 2 capacities are your only options, and in that location's no pre-installed software, only the SE800 is otherwise an outstanding value that lives upwardly to the promise of its name, whether compared with the noticeably slower Adata SC685 or many other smaller drives on the market.
If your computer has a Thunderbolt 3 port and if money is (more or less) no object, the Samsung X5 Thunderbolt 3 Portable SSD is the best external hard drive for you.
It'due south rated for stratospheric speeds (ii,800 MBps read, two,300 MBps write), and information technology delivered on them in our tests. It's larger and heavier than a typical external SSD, but sportscar stylish, with a glossy exterior, sloping lines, and a peppery-ruby undercarriage.
The catches? The Samsung X5's operation was inconsistent, veering between mind-blowing and only above average (and it did not height every test). If you don't have Thunderbolt three (which uses the aforementioned ports as USB-C), you won't see all it tin can exercise.
And, yikes, is this drive expensive, starting at $200 for 500GB and going up to $600 for the 2TB configuration. You tin can save money on other drives that will withal be darn fast, so the X5 won't be worth it for most people. But there'due south no better choice if you lot want the haemorrhage edge and are willing to pay for information technology.
The WD My Passport SSD with USB three.2 doesn't look like its travel-enabling namesake, the My Passport Become, but it's all fix to become places. It'southward small (3.9x two.2x 0.4 inches) and attractive, with its shiny ridged surface and choice of 5 snazzy colors (bluish, gilt, gray, red, and silvery).
The My Passport SSD's software application gives you lot access to My Cloud Abode Storage and lets you download other WD utilities. Best of all, it'southward fast: The My Passport zoomed through all of our performance tests, invariably showing up somewhere in the winner's circle for each.
With a price per gigabyte of $0.19, the 1TB model is 1 of the almost expensive drives we tested. And its included USB Blazon-C cable is exceedingly short: 6.5 inches, which makes using this drive a bit of a hassle on either laptop or desktop computers. (A Type-A adapter comes in the package to ensure the bulldoze will work with a broad variety of systems.) But these are small-scale nitpicks that don't detract from one of the best external hard drives around.
The Samsung Portable SSD T7 looks like the T5, with its rectangular figure adorned past rounded corners, though it's a lilliputian bigger and heavier and its software is identical. Information technology comes in somewhat more than exciting color choices, with Indigo Blue, Titan Grey, and Metallic Blood-red variations available for its 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities.
The biggest difference is that Samsung rates the bulldoze at 1,050 MBps, and we saw much higher results in our tests. It completed our file copy exam 20 seconds faster, for example.
But with a cost of $0.23 per gigabyte, this is 1 of the most expensive drives we've seen (though you may be able to observe it online for cheaper). If you lot intendance more about the Samsung name, the drive's pattern, and the speed than you exercise about value, the T7 delivers more than plenty to appreciate and justify itself.
Rated for 540 MBps (read) and 500 MBps (write), the Seagate BarraCuda Fast SSD is a midprice portable SSD that doesn't dishonor its name. In most of our performance tests, its results were at the peak edge of the midrange.
Information technology looks cool, too: a graceful, rectangular slab of black metallic with a raised square in the centre, beneath which a flash of green may be glimpsed. (This lights up in a satisfying sci-fi way when the drive is continued.)
Like other Seagate drives, it'southward pretty bare-basic in terms of software, merely includes that 2-calendar month membership to the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Programme. And the BarraCuda Fast isn't the cheapest USB 3.0 drive out there: If raw space is all you're concerned with, you can do better.
But factoring together the storage space, speed, and visual spark, the BarraCuda Fast SSD gives you quite a fleck for your coin.
The Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch is a portable HDD-based external difficult bulldoze for people who care at least as much about how their drive looks as how information technology functions (and maybe more).
It blends the traditional indigestible look of a hard drive with a more gimmicky, yet still restrained, aesthetic comprising solid-color sides and back with a carpeted-feeling front panel. (A color-coordinated nineteen.3-inch USB Type-A cable is included for connecting to your computer, as is a Type-C adapter.)
The software is all the aforementioned as with the Backup Plus Portable, though in many cases this bulldoze'due south performance was a little improve in our tests. The Fill-in Plus Ultra Touch's 2 chapters options are highly affordable, and so y'all tin adopt the drive's style without spending like information technology'southward going out of way.
Despite measuring only 4.five x3.2 x 0.eight inches — only slightly larger than a deck of cards — the HDD-based Seagate Backup Plus Portable packs either 4TB or 5TB of storage. (Our review unit was the erstwhile.)
Subsequently your drive is registered, you tin can download Toolkit to enable automatic file backups or Mylio, for organizing your photos. (A two-month membership to the Adobe CC Photography Plan, which includes Lightroom and Photoshop for organizing and editing your photos, is provided as well.)
But with square corners and an antiquated, 2-tone design, the drive isn't a looker. And it finished near the bottom of all of our performance tests.
That's been the thing well-nigh spinning difficult drives (HDDs) for a decade: Y'all pay for the inexpensive space with all the time you won't salve. Only if you need a spacious bulldoze, but don't mind if it'due south simple and deadening, as well, the Backup Plus Portable is not a terrible choice.
How to cull the best external difficult drive for you
Do you care more virtually speed, chapters, or toll? If it'due south the get-go, SSDs store data in flash retentivity rather than on spinning platters the manner traditional difficult drives do and thus operate a whole lot faster. The interface tin can likewise make a difference; Thunderbolt 3 will be a lot faster than USB, for case.
For capacity, traditional hard drives (HDDs) offering a lot more than options, just SSDs are generally able to business firm the same amount of storage in a smaller amount of infinite.
As for price, it's possible to find huge difficult drives (think 4TB) for $100 or less. SSDs are nowhere near that inexpensive, but smaller drives (1-2TB) tin can be plant from just over $100 to $200 or more.
If a bulldoze's looks affair to yous, yous'll definitely have choices. Manufacturers these days oft marketplace portable drives as fashion accessories, selling them in various sizes, shapes, and colors.
How we test external hard drives
Nosotros hooked upwardly each external hard drive drive to a current-generation Dell XPS 17 laptop, using the best connection interface bachelor to that bulldoze, always in the same port, to minimize operation differentials.
Then we ran the same series of constructed and real-world tests on the drives in the same order, and so every drive would role as much like the others every bit possible. Our test suite comprised:
- BlackMagic Disk Speed Test iii.2.one (5GB stress loads)
- CrystalDiskMark 7.0.0 (8GB workloads, single-thread sequential read and write, queue depths of 1 and 8)
- PCMark ten Data Drive Criterion
- Future File Transfer Test (25GB)
Finally, we delve into the drives' technology, features, aesthetics, cables and adapters, and other characteristics to go a broader motion-picture show of what the drives offering. Where necessary, we run other tests on the drives' unique features to see how well they worked under real-life atmospheric condition and whether they're probable to benefit you lot.
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Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-external-hard-drives
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