Best external drives 2023: Reviews and buying advice

In case you use a PC, likelihood is you’ve got knowledge saved on it that you simply don’t wish to lose. Among the best methods to ensure your knowledge isn’t misplaced is to avoid wasting a replica onto an exterior drive. It’s a cheap and helpful method to again up your necessary information or retailer any overflow. It will also be a handy method to transport or switch information between your gadgets.

You’ll virtually at all times have the necessity for extra storage as knowledge information 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 very best picks beneath. We’ve included exterior drives with blazing-fast efficiency in addition to a choose for finest funds possibility, finest transportable SSD, and every little thing in between. Beneath our suggestions you’ll discover further useful data on what that you must know to decide on the very best exterior drive on your wants.

Up to date 01/10/2023: Try our newest evaluation of the Seagate Skywalker 2TB exterior HDD. This old-school Star Wars-themed exterior 2.5-inch, USB onerous drive has good efficiency and a enjoyable, collector version aesthetic that may attraction to followers.

1. Samsung T7 Defend – Greatest efficiency USB drive

Professionals

• Quick 10Gbps storage
• Rugged outer pores and skin for IP65 ranking
• As much as 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 (nonetheless glorious) T7 Contact, and now we’re ever greater followers of the follow-up T7 Defend. The USB 10Gbps drive is available in each 1TB and 2TB capacities, for $160 and $290, respectively. Whereas the Contact distinguished itself with a fingerprint reader for knowledge safety, the Defend leans in to bodily safety, with an IP65 ranking in opposition to particulate matter and water spray, making it an excellent efficiency drive for out within the subject. (Thoughts you, the Defend can nonetheless be secured with password safety.)

We additionally recognize that the Defend bests its predecessor in write speeds, giving it the efficiency increase it wanted to supplant SanDisk’s Excessive Professional Transportable SSD (beneath) as our prime efficiency choose.

Learn our full
Evaluation Samsung T7 Defend

2. SanDisk Excessive Professional Transportable SSD – Greatest efficiency drive runner-up

Professionals

• Total quickest USB SSD presently out there
• Comparatively reasonably priced
• IP55 rated in opposition to mud and gentle streams of water

Cons

• Barely slower studying information than Samsung’s T7

Whereas we’ve moved SanDisk’s Excessive Professional Transportable SSD (1TB) to runner-up standing in mild 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 so far. It’s barely dearer than the T7 Defend, at $190 for 1GB and $300 for 2GB, and it’s rated at IP55 for barely much less safety from the weather. However each are glorious performers.

Be aware: There are quicker USB 3.2 2×2 (also referred to as SuperSpeed 20Gbps) SSDs out there, such because the WD Black P50 and Seagate Barracuda Quick SSD. Nevertheless, SuperSpeed 20Gbps and USB4 ports are nonetheless so uncommon, we’re undecided it issues. These drives are additionally simply not as svelte because the Excessive Professional.

Learn our full
Evaluation SanDisk Excessive Professional Transportable SSD

3. WD Black P50 Recreation Drive SSD (1TB) – Greatest for gaming

Professionals

• As much as 2GBps with SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps
• Distinctively militaristic styling

Cons

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

Immediately’s video games can absorb 50GB or 100GB of storage and extra. In case you’re in search of a drive to rapidly load that recreation from in your gaming laptop computer, we suggest WD’s Black P50 Recreation Drive. And no, not simply as a result of it’s actually known as “Recreation Drive,” however as a result of we favor recreation’s to be launched from an SSD the place it may possibly actually be a aggressive benefit in some titles. Working an exterior SSD on your video games additionally means far, far quicker degree masses, too, in comparison with a plodding onerous drive. Whereas many PCs don’t have the USB SuperSpeed 20Gbps ports wanted to make the Black P50 sing, it’s really changing into pretty customary in newer desktops. The excellent news is, even operating a recreation at USB 10Gbps speeds means reads and writes as much as 1,000MBps, which continues to be an enormous enchancment over a tough drive. (Be taught extra about how we consider the very best exterior SSD for gaming.)

4. SanDisk Skilled G-Drive SSD – Greatest for photographers

Professionals

• Quickest USB 10Gbps drive so far
• IP67 rated in opposition to mud and water
• Trendy
• The identical or lower-priced than the competitors

MSRP:

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

We’re somewhat torn between recommending a Thunderbolt-based drive for exterior storage versus a USB exterior drive. Whereas a Thunderbolt 3 exterior SSD sometimes gives larger efficiency, that doesn’t enable you to in case your laptop computer doesn’t have a Thunderbolt port, and plenty of of these drives don’t have any USB help. That makes SanDisk’s G-Drive SSD the popular drive. It doesn’t help the extra superior, and in addition uncommon, USB SuperSpeed 20Gbps speeds, but it surely’s within the prime tier with USB 10Gbps speeds, which is what you’ll principally discover. Maybe extra importantly for a photographer transferring information within the subject, is its robust shell. The drive is constructed with IP67 water-resistance and dust-resistance rankings and might stand up to 2,000 kilos of weight, so that you gained’t lose that treasured photograph of a ghost cat within the mountains of Afganistan.

5. Essential X6 Transportable SSD (2TB) – Greatest funds possibility

Professionals

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

Cons

• Efficiency tanks when cache runs out

The Essential X6 Transportable SSD is sq. to be hip. Or positioned in your hip pocket, at any charge. 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 intensely reasonably priced.

Learn our full
Evaluation Essential X6 Transportable SSD (2TB)

6. Adata Elite SE880 SSD – Most transportable exterior drive

Professionals

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

Cons

• Slows significantly throughout lengthy contiguous writes
• Considerably 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. Certainly, measuring in at solely 2.55 inches lengthy, 1.38 inches vast, and 0.48 inches thick, it reminds you extra of a USB thumb drive than a normal 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 exams, the drive displayed excellent marks, even beating out another opponents on this checklist. But it surely misplaced important floor within the longer contiguous write exams, exhibiting that photograph and video execs with giant information to switch would possibly wish to contemplate different choices.

Learn our full
Evaluation Adata Elite SE880 SSD

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

Professionals

• Tremendous svelte
• Good 20Gbps efficiency
• Obtainable 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 velocity—all for an affordable worth. With as much as 4TB in capability, it’s similar to a few of the largest drives on this checklist but it surely matches 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 opponents. Total, this small, surprisingly reasonably priced, and decently quick SSD is a strong product, particularly in the event you plan to hold plenty of knowledge round with you.

Learn our full
Evaluation Kingston XS200 USB SSD

8. Transportable SSD X5 – Greatest Thunderbolt 3 drive

Cons

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

You probably have Thunderbolt 3 or 4 in your system, you owe it to your self to take a look at a transportable Thunderbolt 3 drive comparable 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 one motive we don’t universally suggest the Transportable SSD X5 is the relative rarity of Thunderbolt 3/4 ports on PCs. The arrival of USB4 ought to alleviate this, however provided that distributors resolve to mix it with the superset expertise that’s Thunderbolt 4. Or you might merely quickly see USB4 drives with the identical 40Gbps switch charges. It will get difficult. 

9. WD My Passport 5TB – Greatest for backups

Professionals

• Glorious value per gigabyte
• Good styling
• Complete software program suite

Cons

• Slower than common with giant information

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

Learn our full
Evaluation WD My Passport 5TB

10. Seagate Backup Plus Transportable – Greatest for backups runner-up

Professionals

• As much as 5TB in a 2.5-inch package deal
• Reasonably priced

Cons

• Gradual writing small information and folders

Just like the WD above, Seagate’s Backup Plus Transportable is a USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps) drive—a lot sufficient bandwidth for the onerous drive inside. Capability tops out at 5TB, however the drive can be out there in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB sizes. 

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

Learn our full
Evaluation Seagate Backup Plus Transportable

What that you must know before you purchase

Capability and worth

For many customers, the primary purchasing issues for exterior storage are capability and worth. Nevertheless, when you would possibly suppose that the lowest-cost drive gives essentially the most worth, it usually 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’ll be able to see that beneath the place we examine the favored WD Parts desktop onerous drive’s out there capacities and costs. You’re paying greater than twice as a lot for the lowest-capacity drive versus the following step up. It’s virtually equally as unhealthy on the WD Parts Transportable drive.

How a lot capability do you want?

One of the best “worth” are sometimes for the biggest onerous drives as you may see, but it surely brings significantly larger costs and never everybody wants that a lot capability. So how a lot do you want? We suggest a backup drive at the very least twice as giant as the whole capability of your PC. You probably have 1TB of storage in your PC, 2TB will will let you make a full backup whereas retaining historic backups on the identical drive. Having extra storage lets you hold extra historic information must you want them or use the identical drive to backup further PCs.

Whereas the desktop drive gives a far larger capability, additionally they require extra cables, weigh extra, and customarily is probably not fairly as shock resistant as a transportable onerous drive that’s designed to take a couple of extra bumps, even when on.

IDG

Interface

The overwhelming majority of exterior drives at this time are USB drives. Past that straightforward 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 Discussion board has lately modified the nomenclature to point throughput velocity—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, for example.

No onerous drive, until 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 onerous drive enclosures as a result of it doesn’t actually matter.

The place SuperSpeed 10Gbps/20Gbps, USB4, or Thunderbolt will certainly assistance is with the aforementioned RAID onerous drive setups, or extra doubtless—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 once costly, it’s mainly the usual at this time. A SanDisk Excessive Transportable SSD, our runner-up for transportable storage, might 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. Though quicker than the everyday USB 3.2 SuperSpeed 10Gbps, there aren’t plenty 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 worth and a common lack of compatibility with the way more in style USB 3.2 ports on the planet. Nonetheless, in order for you essentially the most efficiency, you will get it in drives comparable to our advisable transportable, the Samsung Transportable SSD X5, which is $200 for 500GB of capability. For comparability, a slower 1TB Samsung T5 on USB is simply $125.

Ports

Exterior drives include quite a lot of ports, although they’re progressively consolidating on the Sort-C connector. Right here’s what that you must care about:

USB 3 Micro-B Superspeed. That is nonetheless a quite common port on many lower-cost transportable and desktop exterior onerous drives at this time. It’s really the identical Micro USB port used in your cellphone, however beefed up with extra knowledge strains to hit USB 3.0 speeds. It’ll do 5Gbps and is ok for onerous drives and SATA (internally) SSDs. 

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

USB-C is the most recent of the USB connectors the world is coalescing round. You see it in every little thing from telephones to laptops. Take into accout, USB-C refers solely to the connector itself. What’s carried over the wires varies vastly. For instance, for knowledge transfers from an exterior drive, a USB-C port may imply every little thing from USB 2.0 Excessive Pace (480Mbps) to USB 3.2 SuperSpeed 20Gbps in addition to USB4 and Thunderbolt 3. Any larger efficiency port at this time 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 very best speeds of what a USB-C port can do.

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

Thunderbolt 2 is at this level, a lifeless port. Utilizing the mini-DisplayPort connector, it solely actually gained reputation on Macs, and even Apple put it out to pasture in 2017. There’s no have to put money into a Thunderbolt 2 drive until it’s for legacy help points.

Be aware that Apple makes a bi-directional Thunderbolt 1/2 to three adapter if that you must join the one to the opposite. It doesn’t switch energy, nevertheless, so you may’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 laptop’s SATA bus, eSATA was an inexpensive method 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. Ideally, the 2 backups are saved in separate areas, one being offsite. Retaining a replica on-line is nice for smaller quantities of knowledge and definitely meets the offsite standards. Nevertheless, for huge photograph, 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 would possibly even take the second drive to work, so there’s no probability of shedding each drives to the identical native catastrophe.

For extra steerage on constructing out the very best backup plan doable, see our roundups of the very best cloud backup companies and finest Home windows backup software program.

How we examined

We use our customary storage take a look at mattress to judge the efficiency of each exterior drive we evaluation. It’s a six-core (twelve-thread) Intel Core i7-5820K on an Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard with 64GB of Kingston DDR4 reminiscence operating Home 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 a few of 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 exams utilizing a 48GB batch of small information and folders, in addition to a single 48GB and 450GB information. The testbed boots from a NVMe drive, however the real-world (Home windows) file transfers are carried out to and from a 58GB RAM disk.