The best external hard drives you can buy

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The Insider Pick:

• A portable hard drive can make it much easier to transfer your data from place to place. Not only is the Western Digital Elements 2TB Hard Drive fast, it also offers a hefty 2TB of storage, which should be plenty for most people's needs.

While much of the world is moving toward cloud storage, a great external hard drive can still be an extremely helpful tool, especially if your internet connection is spotty or you simply want to move files around without having to rely on cloud storage.

Of course, there are a ton of external hard drives to choose from, and they’re not all equal. A lot of work and development has gone into building on storage technology over the last few years, and as such, they’ve gotten a lot better.

There are a few things to keep in mind when you’re in the market for a new portable hard drive. For starters, you’ll want to consider the type of hard drive you want.

• HHD vs. SSD: There are two main types: HHDs, or hard disk drives, and SSDs, or solid-state drives. The difference is pretty important. HHDs store information on a spinning disk and that disk can be a source of hard drive failure. SSDs, on the other hand, have no moving parts and are thus more reliable as portable hard drives. The tradeoff is that SSDs are a lot more expensive.
• Storage amount: You’ll also want to consider how much storage you need. If you’re a videographer or photographer, chances are you could easily fill up a hard drive quickly, so you’ll want a higher-capacity drive. If on the other hand, you’re simply transferring Microsoft Word documents to and from work, then you won’t need as much storage and could save a few bucks by getting a lower storage drive.
• Connection: Next up, you’ll want to think about the kind of connection you want your hard drive to connect through. The vast majority of external hard drives connect to a computer through USB, and nowadays it’s through USB 3.0, but there are still some USB 2.0-capable hard drives. There are also plenty of hard drives that connect through Firewire, and some that even connect through Thunderbolt.
• Operating system: Last but not least is operating system-compatibility. Now, most hard drives can be formatted to work with both macOS and Windows, and you’ll be able to set that up when you first get the hard drive. Some, however, are pre-formatted, so you don’t have to worry about formatting.
• Make two copies in different locations: A quick note about hard drives: none of these are 100% reliable. You should always have two copies of your data in different locations. Hard drive failures happen to even the most reliable of drives, and you don’t want to be stuck losing valuable data.

We've scoured external hard drive reviews on the web from experts and users to find the best hard drives for every use case. We've included hard drives with a ton of space, smaller ones, affordable options, and more. Read on to learn more about our top picks and find which one is best for you.

Updated on 10/13/2017 by Malarie Gokey: Added the Samsung T5 SSD after testing the product.

Although the Western Digital Elements 2TB Hard Drive is our top pick, for various reasons laid out in the slides below, you should also consider the Seagate Expansion 4TB Hard Drive, the G-Technology 1TB G-Drive, the Samsung T5 SSD, and the Seagate Backup Plus 4TB Hard Drive.

The best portable external hard drive overall

Western Digital

Why you'll love it: The Western Digital Elements 2TB Hard Drive offers a relatively high storage capacity and USB 3.0 connectivity, but it only costs $75.

Western Digital has long been a leading name in the hard drive world, both for internal and external hard drives. The company’s hard drives are affordable and generally reliable, provided you take care of them. The Western Digital Elements 2TB hard drive offers the best bang for your buck.

For starters, this hard drive boasts a hefty 2TB of storage, which should be plenty for almost everyone. Even those with larger storage needs should be able to get a good amount of use out of this hard drive.

When it comes to connection speeds, the drive can connect through USB 3.0, and as such, it’ll offer speeds of up to 5Gb/s, which really fast. While it comes formatted for Windows, it can easily be reformatted for Mac users or for those who use both systems.

The pricing of the hard drive isn’t all that bad either. It’ll come in at $75, though if you want, you can pay $55 for a 1TB version. The drive has an average of 4.6 stars on Amazon, which is a pretty excellent score. Those who didn’t like it cited things like its write speed, which is 5,400 rotations per minute, as opposed to 7,200. For that reason, if you’re planning on using the drive for video or audio editing, you might have some issues. However, for most people's needs, it's a great option.

Pros: Excellent value for money, USB 3.0, relatively high storage capacity

Cons: Somewhat low write speed

Buy the Western Digital Elements 2TB hard drive on Amazon for $74.99 (originally $129.99)

The best high-capacity external hard drive

Seagate/Business Insider

Why you'll love it: The Seagate Expansion 4TB hard drive is built by a well-known and generally reliable company, and it offers a massive 4TB of data.

Another major hard drive company is Seagate, which has been making great hard drives for some time. If you’re looking for something with a slightly higher capacity than the 2TB Western Digital Drive, then doubling that with a Seagate drive may be worth it.

Apart from the massive 4TB capacity, the Seagate Expansion offers a USB 3.0 connection, which also powers the drive, so you won’t need any external power source. While it does connect through USB 3.0, it is backward compatible with USB 2.0, so you won’t need to worry if you have a slightly older machine.

The drive, by default, is formatted for Windows computers, though you can reformat it to work better on Macs if you need it to. Perhaps the best thing about the drive, however, is its price. The $119.99 price tag for a 4TB drive is far better than what you would find from many other brands. Its 4.3 star average on Amazon is pretty nice, too.

There are a few negatives to consider here. As mentioned, it’s formatted by default for Windows machines, so if you’re a Mac owner who's not comfortable with reformatting a hard drive, you may want to look elsewhere. Not only that, but some users have noted reliability issues, so if you do go for this drive you should definitely follow the rule of always having two copies of your data in different locations.

For the most part, this is a great option for people who need a ton of storage for high-capacity files.

Pros: Lots of storage, USB 3.0, nice value for money

Cons: Not the best for Mac owners, some users have noted reliability issues

Buy the Seagate Expansion 4TB hard drive on Amazon for $104.99 

The best 7,200RPM speed external hard drive

G-Drive

Why you'll love it: The G-Technology G-Drive has 1TB of storage and a USB 3.0 connection, but its best feature is its fast 7,200RPM speed.

While 5,400RPM hard drives seem to be the standard for external drives, some people need faster read and write speeds. That’s where 7,200RPM drives come in. If you’re planning on editing audio or video on a hard drive, then you might want to buy one of these faster ones.

In our experience, the best 7,200RPM portable hard drive is the G-Technology G-Drive, which costs $80 and offers 1TB of storage. The drive connects through USB 3.0, so you’ll be able to take advantage of those faster speeds.

Unlike many other hard drives, this hard drive comes pre-formatted for Mac and not Windows, though Windows users can easily reformat the drive for use on a Windows machine. That’s likely because it’s targeted at media professionals, who tend to choose macOS over Windows. The drive also offers a three-year limited warranty, so you're covered if you run into problems.

There are a few downsides to consider. Because of the fact that the drive has a faster speed, it is a little more expensive than some others, especially for the amount of storage it has to offer. Still, with its 4.3-star rating on Amazon, most customers seem to be more than happy with the value for money.

Pros: Higher read and write speeds, three-year warranty

Cons: Not great for Windows, a little pricey

Buy the G-Technology G-Drive on Amazon for $79.95 (originally $99.99) 

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