If you employ a PC, chances are high you’ve gotten knowledge saved on it that you simply don’t wish to lose. One of the perfect methods to verify your knowledge isn’t misplaced is to avoid wasting a duplicate onto an exterior drive. It’s an affordable and useful method to again up your essential recordsdata or retailer any overflow. It can be a handy method to transport or switch recordsdata between your gadgets.

You will nearly at all times have the necessity for extra storage as knowledge recordsdata proceed to get bigger and also you accumulate extra of them. An exterior drive is among the finest methods to cowl your self in case of an emergency. We’ve examined quite a few exterior drives and curated the perfect picks under. We’ve included exterior drives with blazing-fast efficiency in addition to a decide for finest price range possibility, finest transportable SSD, and every thing in between. Below our suggestions you’ll discover further useful info on what you have to know to decide on the perfect exterior drive in your wants.

Updated 01/10/2023: Check out our newest evaluate of the Seagate Skywalker 2TB external HDD. This old-school Star Wars-themed exterior 2.5-inch, USB arduous drive has good efficiency and a enjoyable, collector version aesthetic that may enchantment to followers.

1. Samsung T7 Shield – Best efficiency USB drive

Pros

• Fast 10Gbps storage
• Rugged outer pores and skin for IP65 ranking
• Up to 2TB in capability
• Svelte styling

Cons

• No 20Gbps
• Not full immersion rated

MSRP:

$160 for 1TB | $290 for 2TB

We’re followers of Samsung’s (still excellent) T7 Touch, and now we’re ever larger followers of the follow-up T7 Shield. The USB 10Gbps drive is available in each 1TB and 2TB capacities, for $160 and $290, respectively. Whereas the Touch distinguished itself with a fingerprint reader for knowledge safety, the Shield leans in to bodily safety, with an IP65 ranking in opposition to particulate matter and water spray, making it a great efficiency drive for out within the area. (Mind you, the Shield can nonetheless be secured with password safety.)

We additionally respect that the Shield bests its predecessor in write speeds, giving it the efficiency enhance it wanted to supplant SanDisk’s Extreme Pro Portable SSD (under) as our high efficiency decide.

Read our full
Review Samsung T7 Shield

2. SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD – Best efficiency drive runner-up

Pros

• Overall quickest USB SSD presently obtainable
• Relatively inexpensive
• IP55 rated in opposition to mud and gentle streams of water

Cons

• Slightly slower studying recordsdata than Samsung’s T7

While we’ve moved SanDisk’s Extreme Pro Portable SSD (1TB) to runner-up standing in gentle of the Samsung T7’s improved write speeds, make no mistake, it’s nonetheless one the quickest USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) exterior SSD we’ve examined to this point. It’s barely dearer than the T7 Shield, at $190 for 1GB and $300 for 2GB, and it’s rated at IP55 for barely much less safety from the weather. But each are wonderful performers.

Note: There are quicker USB 3.2 2×2 (also called SuperSpeed 20Gbps) SSDs obtainable, such because the WD Black P50 and Seagate Barracuda Fast SSD. However, SuperSpeed 20Gbps and USB4 ports are nonetheless so uncommon, we’re undecided it issues. Those drives are additionally simply not as svelte because the Extreme Pro.

Read our full
Review SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD

3. WD Black P50 Game Drive SSD (1TB) – Best for gaming

Pros

• Up to 2GBps with SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps
• Distinctively militaristic styling

Cons

• Pricey in comparison with SuperSpeed 10Gbps drives
• Requires the extraordinarily uncommon SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps port for full efficiency

Today’s video games can absorb 50GB or 100GB of storage and extra. If you’re on the lookout for a drive to rapidly load that sport from in your gaming laptop computer, we advocate WD’s Black P50 Game Drive. And no, not simply as a result of it’s actually referred to as “Game Drive,” however as a result of we desire sport’s to be launched from an SSD the place it will possibly actually be a aggressive benefit in some titles. Running an exterior SSD in your video games additionally means far, far quicker stage hundreds, too, in comparison with a plodding arduous drive. While many PCs don’t have the USB SuperSpeed 20Gbps ports wanted to make the Black P50 sing, it’s really turning into pretty customary in newer desktops. The excellent news is, even operating a sport at USB 10Gbps speeds means reads and writes as much as 1,000MBps, which remains to be an enormous enchancment over a tough drive. (Learn extra about how we consider the best external SSD for gaming.)

4. SanDisk Professional G-Drive SSD – Best for photographers

Pros

• Fastest USB 10Gbps drive to this point
• IP67 rated in opposition to mud and water
• Stylish
• The identical or lower-priced than the competitors

MSRP:

$139 – 500GB; $189 – 1TB; $349 – 2TB; $679.99 – 4TB

We’re just a little torn between recommending a Thunderbolt-based drive for exterior storage versus a USB exterior drive. While a Thunderbolt 3 exterior SSD sometimes supplies greater efficiency, that doesn’t provide help to in case your laptop computer doesn’t have a Thunderbolt port, and plenty of of these drives don’t have any USB assist. That makes SanDisk’s G-Drive SSD the popular drive. It doesn’t assist the extra superior, and in addition uncommon, USB SuperSpeed 20Gbps speeds, but it surely’s within the high tier with USB 10Gbps speeds, which is what you’ll principally discover. Perhaps extra importantly for a photographer transferring recordsdata within the area, is its robust shell. The drive is constructed with IP67 water-resistance and dust-resistance scores and might stand up to 2,000 kilos of weight, so that you received’t lose that valuable picture of a ghost cat within the mountains of Afganistan.

5. Crucial X6 Portable SSD (2TB) – Best price range possibility

Pros

• Ergonomic design
• Good on a regular basis efficiency
• Very inexpensive for an exterior SSD

Cons

• Performance tanks when cache runs out

The Crucial X6 Portable SSD is sq. to be hip. Or positioned in your hip pocket, at any price. In a sea of transportable SSDs whose form makes them a literal ache when pocketed, the skinny, rounded-edge X6 is a sigh of reduction. It’s not state-of-the-art quick, but it surely’s quick sufficient for many customers and very inexpensive.

Read our full
Review Crucial X6 Portable SSD (2TB)

6. Adata Elite SE880 SSD – Most transportable exterior drive

Pros

• Very quick, over-20Gbps USB connection
• Extremely small type issue
• 5-year guarantee

Cons

• Slows significantly throughout lengthy contiguous writes
• Somewhat low TBW ranking

MSRP:

$79.99 for 500GB I $129.99 for 1TB

No exterior SSD we’ve seen can match Adata’s Elite SE880 for portability. Indeed, measuring in at solely 2.55 inches lengthy, 1.38 inches extensive, and 0.48 inches thick, it reminds you extra of a USB thumb drive than a typical exterior SSD. It weighs a mere 1.1 ounces in addition, just about disappearing in your pocket.

The Elite SE880 can be very quick at on a regular basis duties however slows down throughout lengthy writes. In real-world 48GB switch assessments, the drive displayed excellent marks, even beating out another rivals on this record. But it misplaced important floor within the longer contiguous write assessments, exhibiting that picture and video execs with massive recordsdata to switch may wish to think about different choices.

Read our full
Review Adata Elite SE880 SSD

7. Kingston XS200 USB SSD – Most transportable high-capacity drive

Pros

• Super svelte
• Good 20Gbps efficiency
• Available in as much as 4TB in capability

Cons

• Slower than a lot of the competitors
• Not a lot of a looker

MSRP:

$75 for 500GB I $160 for 1TB I $285 for 2TB I $500 for 4TB

The Kingston XS2000 is an admirable mix of measurement, capability, and pace—all for an affordable value. With as much as 4TB in capability, it’s corresponding to among the largest drives on this record but it surely suits in your pocket.

The Kingston XS2000 additionally has knowledge switch charges of as much as 20Gbps, which isn’t lightning quick, but it surely beats the 10Gbps of some rivals. Overall, this small, surprisingly inexpensive, and decently quick SSD is a stable product, particularly in case you plan to hold a variety of knowledge round with you.

Read our full
Review Kingston XS200 USB SSD

8. Portable SSD X5 – Best Thunderbolt 3 drive

Cons

• Lack of AC jack makes it Thunderbolt 3 solely
• Expensive, although not out of whack for NVMe SSDs

If you’ve gotten Thunderbolt 3 or 4 in your system, you owe it to your self to take a look at a transportable Thunderbolt 3 drive similar to Samsung’s SSD X5. As an NVMe SSD utilizing PCIe over a cable (that’s mainly what Thunderbolt 3 is), it’s stupidly quick—over 2.5GBps studying and writing. 

The solely motive we don’t universally advocate the Portable SSD X5 is the relative rarity of Thunderbolt 3/4 ports on PCs. The creation of USB4 ought to alleviate this, however provided that distributors determine to mix it with the superset expertise that’s Thunderbolt 4. Or chances are you’ll merely quickly see USB4 drives with the identical 40Gbps switch charges. It will get complicated. 

9. WD My Passport 5TB – Best for backups

Pros

• Excellent price per gigabyte
• Nice styling
• Comprehensive software program suite

Cons

• Slower than common with massive recordsdata

You wish to know why we selected WD’s My Passport 5TB for backups? It’s proper there within the identify—that further 1TB could be invaluable within the age of 4K.

Read our full
Review WD My Passport 5TB

10. Seagate Backup Plus Portable – Best for backups runner-up

Pros

• Up to 5TB in a 2.5-inch package deal
• Affordable

Cons

• Slow writing small recordsdata and folders

Like the WD above, Seagate’s Backup Plus Portable is a USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps) drive—lots sufficient bandwidth for the arduous drive inside. Capacity tops out at 5TB, however the drive can be obtainable in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB sizes. 

In our assessments of the 4TB model, we discovered the Seagate to be barely quicker than the WD with massive file transfers (assume motion pictures), however slower with small file transfers (assume Office paperwork). All in all, a worthy runner-up.

Read our full
Review Seagate Backup Plus Portable

What you have to know before you purchase

Capacity and value

For most customers, the principle buying issues for exterior storage are capability and value. However, whilst you may assume that the lowest-cost drive supplies probably the most worth, it typically doesn’t. In reality, greenback for greenback, cheaper low-capacity drives are most frequently the worst deal traditionally. We’ve been doing this comparability for years and it’s at all times been the worst worth.

You can see that under the place we evaluate the favored WD Elements desktop hard drive’s obtainable capacities and costs. You’re paying greater than twice as a lot for the lowest-capacity drive versus the following step up. It’s nearly equally as dangerous on the WD Elements Portable drive.

How a lot capability do you want?

The finest “value” are sometimes for the most important arduous drives as you possibly can see, but it surely brings significantly greater costs and never everybody wants that a lot capability. So how a lot do you want? We advocate a backup drive no less than twice as massive as the whole capability of your PC. If you’ve gotten 1TB of storage in your PC, 2TB will permit you to make a full backup whereas maintaining historic backups on the identical drive. Having extra storage means that you can preserve extra historic recordsdata do you have to want them or use the identical drive to backup further PCs.

While the desktop drive supplies a far greater capability, in addition they require extra cables, weigh extra, and usually is probably not fairly as shock resistant as a transportable arduous drive that’s designed to take a couple of extra bumps, even when on.

IDG

Interface

The overwhelming majority of exterior drives as we speak are USB drives. Beyond that easy assertion, the story will get complicated—largely due to the plethora of variations: USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps, which is mainly USB 3.0), USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps), and USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps), and now the up-and-coming USB4. In an try and simplify issues, the USB Forum has just lately modified the nomenclature to point throughput pace—SuperSpeed USB 5Gbps, SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps, and SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps—as a result of efficiency is a precedence for many makes use of. For the sake of brevity (and sanity), we typically shorten these names to USB 10Gbps, or 10Gbps USB, as an illustration.

No arduous drive, except mixed in RAID with others, can outstrip the 5Gbps (roughly 500MBps real-world after overhead) throughput of USB 3.1 Gen 1. Don’t fear about Gen 2, 10Gbps, or Thunderbolt with single arduous drive enclosures as a result of it doesn’t actually matter.

Where SuperSpeed 10Gbps/20Gbps, USB4, or Thunderbolt will certainly assistance is with the aforementioned RAID arduous drive setups, or extra probably—an SSD. The excellent news is that whereas USB 3.1 Gen 2, which is greater than quick sufficient for many customers at 10Gbps, was costly, it’s mainly the usual as we speak. A SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD, our runner-up for transportable storage, could be had for $90 in a 500GB capability.

The quicker USB 3.2 SuperSpeed 20Gbps (Gen 2×2) strikes you right into a higher-price bracket, with the Seagate Firecuda Gaming SSD costing $200 for a similar 500GB of storage. Although quicker than the standard USB 3.2 SuperSpeed 10Gbps, there aren’t a variety of USB 20Gbps gen 2×2 ports on the market, however these drives ought to work with the upcoming USB4 on the identical 20Gbps tempo.

Thunderbolt 3 and the newer Thunderbolt 4 sometimes are the highest-performing interfaces for exterior storage, with the important thing limitation being a premium value and a common lack of compatibility with the way more common USB 3.2 ports on the earth. Still, if you need probably the most efficiency, you may get it in drives similar to our really helpful transportable, the Samsung Portable SSD X5, which is $200 for 500GB of capability. For comparability, a slower 1TB Samsung T5 on USB is only $125.

Ports

External drives include quite a lot of ports, although they’re step by step consolidating on the Type-C connector. Here’s what you have to care about:

USB 3 Micro-B Superspeed. This remains to be a quite common port on many lower-cost transportable and desktop exterior arduous drives as we speak. It’s really the identical Micro USB port used in your telephone, however beefed up with extra knowledge traces to hit USB 3.0 speeds. It’ll do 5Gbps and is okay for arduous drives and SATA (internally) SSDs. 

USB 3 Type-B is the bigger, blocky model of USB 3.0 Micro B. Type B ports have gotten uncommon, although you may discover one on enclosures supporting 5.25-inch arduous drives or optical drives. It helps speeds as much as 5Gbps. 

USB-C is the newest of the USB connectors the world is coalescing round. You see it in every thing from telephones to laptops. Keep in thoughts, USB-C refers solely to the connector itself. What is carried over the wires varies tremendously. For instance, for knowledge transfers from an exterior drive, a USB-C port may imply every thing from USB 2.0 High Speed (480Mbps) to USB 3.2 SuperSpeed 20Gbps in addition to USB4 and Thunderbolt 3. Any greater efficiency port as we speak ought to be USB-C—simply do not forget that simply because it’s USB-C doesn’t imply the precise electronics contained in the PC or drive can hit the best speeds of what a USB-C port can do.

USB Type-A You received’t discover this port on any drive, however you’ll discover this acquainted rectangular port on PCs and laptops. The motive we point out it’s that any drive with a Type-C port ought to include a Type-C to Type-A cable or adapter, hopefully, since most PCs have these.

Thunderbolt 2 is at this level, a useless port. Using the mini-DisplayPort connector, it solely actually gained recognition on Macs, and even Apple put it out to pasture in 2017. There’s no must put money into a Thunderbolt 2 drive except it’s for legacy assist points.

Note that Apple makes a bi-directional Thunderbolt 1/2 to 3 adapter if you have to join the one to the opposite. It doesn’t switch energy, nonetheless, so you possibly can’t apply it to its personal with bus-powered exterior drives. You’ll want a powered dock for that.

eSATA is one other legacy port that’s mainly disappeared. Created for attaching exterior storage to your pc’s SATA bus, eSATA was an affordable approach in its day to get past the 60MBps efficiency of USB 2.0. USB 3.0 put the final nail in its coffin. As with Thunderbolt 2, the one motive to put money into an eSATA drive is to be used with older computer systems.

A second drive as backup?

In backup, there’s a basic maxim appropriately named the Rule of Three. It states that it is best to at all times keep three copies of your irreplaceable knowledge: the unique knowledge, a backup, and a backup of the backup. Preferably, the 2 backups are stored in separate places, one being offsite. Keeping a duplicate on-line is nice for smaller quantities of knowledge and positively meets the offsite standards. However, for huge picture, audio, and/or video collections, exterior drives in pairs (or extra), are a quicker, extra sensible resolution.  

Create full backups alternately to the 2 drives each few months. True patrons of knowledge may even take the second drive to work, so there’s no probability of dropping each drives to the identical native catastrophe.

For extra steerage on constructing out the perfect backup plan potential, see our roundups of the best cloud backup services and finest Windows backup software.

How we examined

We use our customary storage check mattress to judge the efficiency of each exterior drive we evaluate. It’s a six-core (twelve-thread) Intel Core i7-5820K on an Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard with 64GB of Kingston DDR4 reminiscence operating Windows 10. 

A discrete Gigabyte Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt 3 card and Ableconn USB 3.2 2×2 20Gbps card (Asmedia 2142 controller) are used for connecting the exterior drives. An Asus USB 3.1/10Gbps (Asmedia 1142 controller) card was employed for among the older drives on the chart. 

We run numerous artificial benchmarks together with Crystal Disk Mark 6/7/8, AS SSD 2, and Iometer. We additionally carry out real-world switch assessments utilizing a 48GB batch of small recordsdata and folders, in addition to a single 48GB and 450GB recordsdata. The testbed boots from a NVMe drive, however the real-world (Windows) file transfers are carried out to and from a 58GB RAM disk.