When you’re working out of cupboard space in your laptop computer, or if that you must again up your information and retailer that backlog of movies you are going to edit in the future (I’m, I swear), an exterior laborious drive can resolve your downside. The difficulty is, there are a whole bunch of drive choices starting from filth low-cost to loopy costly—which one is true to your wants? I’ve examined dozens with completely different use circumstances in thoughts to seek out the most effective transportable storage drives to your workflow.
Be sure you take a look at our different guides, together with How to Back Up and Move Your Photos Between Services, How to Back Up Your Digital Life, and How to Back Up Your iPhone.
Up to date November 2023: We have added the Kingston XS1000, famous the excessive failure fee of some SanDisk drives, and up to date costs and hyperlinks all through.
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I do know this information is for transportable laborious drives, and that is decidedly not transportable, however bear with me. For incremental backups, which we recommend, portability is not your prime precedence. And usually, your backup software program will run in a single day, so velocity is not an enormous issue both. That is why the primary drive I like to recommend is that this Western Digital Parts.
I’ve been utilizing some variation of the WD Parts desktop laborious drive to make incremental backups of my information for greater than a decade now. They’re massive and require exterior energy, however these are a few of the most cost-effective, most dependable drives I’ve used. Storage choices go all the way in which as much as 20 terabytes. Simply ensure you examine the costs; generally you will get a 10- and even 12-terabyte drive for not rather more.
Different Nice Backup Drives
- Seagate Portable 8-TB HDD for $170: Seagate is one other dependable drive maker. It by no means hurts to have extra backups, and in the event you do need a number of backups, use drives from completely different manufacturers, since it’s going to cut back the prospect that each fail on the identical time. This 8-terabyte mannequin is commonly on sale for round $150.
- Western Digital Elements 5-TB Portable HDD for $130: You may as well get a way more transportable model of the Western Digital drive for a lot much less, and it does not require exterior energy not like our prime decide.
These Essential drives are my favourite transportable drives. They’re fairly priced (for a transportable SSD) and speedy. The one drive I examined with sooner learn speeds was the SanDisk Excessive Moveable SSD (see beneath). These are light-weight, which suggests they’re supreme for whenever you’re working away from dwelling. I exploit one to retailer video clips, and it is a lot quick sufficient to edit them proper off the disk. The one draw back is the plastic building. Do not count on it to outlive many drops. When you’re apprehensive about it breaking in your bag, seize a padded case. I have not tried it, however there are a lot on the market like this one for $15.
Additionally Nice
- Kingston XS1000 2-TB for $109: This tiny little drive is the smallest on this information. Just like the Essential X6, it has a largely plastic enclosure, however it has withstood life in my bag fairly nicely. Whereas it isn’t as sturdy because the padded choices beneath, it is a lot robust sufficient for many issues. It is also a lot speedy. Kingston claims as much as 1050 MB per second. I by no means managed that, however I used to be ready routinely hit round 800 MB/s, with some older laptops nearer to the 600 MB/s, which remains to be fairly good. The drive bogs down a bit with very massive recordsdata (MP4s, for instance), so it isn’t the most effective for professional videographers, however for everybody else this can be a strong, barely cheaper choice.
- Crucial X8 2-TB SSD for $100: Essential’s X8 makes use of an NVMe flash drive, which makes it considerably sooner than the X6. It additionally has an all-metal enclosure that is going to supply extra safety than the plastic of the X6. This drive is best than the X6 in each method besides weight (it is about double the burden), and generally worth. It is normally on sale for round $130, however when it is round $100, it could be price selecting up over the X6.
This transportable drive from SanDisk trounces all the things else I’ve examined. It is light-weight, with IP22-rated enclosures so it’s going to stand as much as life on the go. It isn’t the most cost effective drive, however in the event you’re backing up within the discipline and wish to get it accomplished as quick as doable, it is your finest wager. It is much less compact than a few of these drives however I like that because it makes it simpler to maintain monitor of in my bag.
I’ve been utilizing this drive to make weekly backups for over a yr now and have had no points. That stated, our mates at Ars Technica, and different customers across the net, have famous extremely high failure rates with this drive, primarily with the 2- and 4-TB variations. SanDisk has issued a firmware update, which appears to repair the issue, however let this be a reminder that you must all the time have three backups, one two completely different media, with one off-site. See our information How to Back Up Your Digital Life for extra backup ideas.
Different Speedy Drives
When you want a drive that may stand as much as life in a backpack or camera bag, get moist, or deal with a drop onto laborious surfaces, OWC drives are your best option. It is robust to select a winner right here as a result of there are lots of strong choices, however OWC’s Elektron drive narrowly beat others in benchmark exams. I additionally like that you could swap out the drive contained in the aluminum casing (it is easy to unscrew), which suggests two years from now, you may decide up a sooner naked SSD and drop it within the Elektron.
If you would like a bigger drive, each bodily and by way of storage capability, OWC’s Envoy Pro FX ($250 for 1 TB) makes a fantastic alternative as nicely. It’s even sooner and is available in sizes as much as 4 TB, although the latter will set you again $480. For many, the 2-TB mannequin is a lot, although nonetheless dear at $300. It’s IP67-rated and fairly drop-proof. (Take all claims of “navy normal” with a grain of salt—there’s no one actually doing independent tests, which isn’t to select on OWC, as each “rugged” drive maker claims issues like this.) What impressed me essentially the most about this drive, although, is how extremely cool it stays even underneath a heavy load (like modifying 4K video footage straight from the drive).
Different Rugged Choices
- Sabrent Rocket Nano 1-TB SSD for $120: I actually like this one. It is smaller and barely sooner than the OWC, however it has two drawbacks. The primary is that it could possibly get actually sizzling. When you’re attempting to work with it in your lap, it may be downright uncomfortable. The opposite subject is that generally it is sluggish to be acknowledged by my PC. I might discover no sample to this; generally it appeared instantly, and different instances it took a few minutes. If these issues do not trouble you, this drive is tiny, cheaper, and comes with a padded rubber case.
The go-anywhere drives above are a strong answer for individuals who have to make backups within the discipline, like photographers and videographers. However if you would like an additional degree of consolation, this padded drive from LaCie has lengthy been a favourite of vacationers. LaCie makes each an SSD model and a conventional spinning drive model. If velocity is not a difficulty, as with making nightly backups, then the cheaper spinning drive makes extra sense. When you’re truly backing up in the course of a photograph shoot or related state of affairs the place it must occur quick, the SSD model is what you need.
Different Padded Choices
- Samsung T7 Shield 2-TB SSD for $130: It is not as padded as LaCie’s rugged drives, however it’s cheaper and delivers almost the identical velocity. It has an IP65 rating, which suggests it is effective within the rain and protected against mud and sand. The T7 line is notable for its built-in security measures like hardware-based encryption, however not like the Touch model, the Protect doesn’t have a fingerprint reader. Nonetheless, in the event you do not want the total padded safety of the LaCie and wish to save a bit cash, the T7 Protect is an efficient choice.
Take this class with a grain of salt. A lot of the drives right here will work simply effective for gaming (simply stick to the quickest you may afford). That stated, Western Digital’s new P40 does have some cool RGB lights on the underside if that is your jam. In my testing, that did not appear to have any influence on energy consumption.
As for velocity, my exams had been inconsistent. This drive is able to speeds that handily beat each the Envoy Professional and Samsung T7, however at different instances appeared to bathroom down (a minimum of in benchmarks). In real-world use, the one bottleneck I persistently hit was some lag in transferring enormous quantities of knowledge. That could be a deal-breaker for some, however for the value, this stays a really strong alternative.
If you wish to put an even bigger SSD in your laptop computer, all you want is a naked drive, which is usually cheaper than the drives with enclosures listed above. The very first thing to determine is which drive your PC makes use of. Seek the advice of your producer’s documentation to seek out out. In my expertise, the commonest type issue is M.2 2280, which is the lengthy skinny drive within the picture above. Extra compact laptops could use the same, however shorter, M.2 2242 design. Once more, examine your PC to verify the drive it wants before you purchase. There are a ton of those in the marketplace and I have not had time to check many but, however to date, out of the half dozen I’ve tried, Western Digital’s WD Black collection has stood out for velocity, they usually do not run highly regarded.
The SN 770 M.2 2280 achieved speeds of 5,100 MB per second in my testing, which is blazing quick. When you’re doing a variety of drive-intensive duties, like modifying video or gaming, this drive is nicely definitely worth the cash. The most important model you will get proper now’s 2 TB, however the worth is cheap contemplating the velocity enhance. I have been utilizing it as my important drive for a number of months and located it to be quick sufficient for all the things I do, together with modifying 5.2K video footage and compiling software program. My favourite half? It generates little or no warmth. My older Dell XPS 13 used to get too sizzling to make use of with out one thing between it and my lap. Now it does not get sizzling till I begin attempting to export video, however rapidly cools off as quickly because it’s accomplished.
A Luxurious Improve
- Western Digital SN850X 2-TB SSD for $85: This drive is so screaming quick I needed to run my exams twice as a result of I did not consider the primary consequence. Western Digital claims as much as 7,300 MB per second learn speeds, and in benchmark exams, this drive’s outcomes got here shut. To take full benefit of the velocity right here, you will want a system that helps the PCIe 4.0 SSD normal, however this can be a nice drive if you wish to improve a gaming system, whether or not it is a desktop PC or your PlayStation.
Choosing the right laborious drive comes all the way down to balancing three issues: velocity, measurement, and worth. When you’re making nightly backups, then velocity in all probability does not matter. Go for the most cost effective drive yow will discover—up to a degree. Drives do not final without end, however some undoubtedly last more than others. I recommend sticking with recognized manufacturers which have an excellent popularity like Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, and the others featured right here. That is based mostly partly on expertise and partly on the drive failure information that Backblaze has been publishing for years now. Backblaze goes by huge quantities of laborious drives backing up clients’ information, and its report is price studying. The takeaway is easy: Keep on with names you understand.
If velocity trumps worth, then you definitely wish to have a look at the solid-state drives we have listed right here. SSDs do not simply have a velocity benefit. In addition they lack shifting elements, which suggests they will stand up to the bumps and falls of life in a bag on the street higher than spinning drives. The drawback is that they will put on out sooner. Each write operation to an SSD—that’s, whenever you save one thing to it—barely degrades the person NAND cells that make up the drive, which wears it out considerably sooner than a spinning drive. Simply how a lot sooner relies on how you employ it. That stated, I’ve a number of SSDs which can be greater than 5 years outdated, and I’ve used them for each day backups all through that point. None of them have had any issues.
Do you want an SSD over a spinning drive? The reply is nearly all the time sure—in the event you can afford it. However they’re particularly helpful for any drive you are working with frequently: your important boot drive, an exterior drive you employ to edit paperwork from, and for backups, in the event you want them to occur quick.
