I suggest to buy an external hard drive and keep your virtual belongings in it. This measure of yours will not simply assure that your data is secured, but will likewise give control over who possesses admission to it. Let us face the truth that the room on your computer or phone is never sufficient. You may someday run out of the storage and need someplace to store your music, photos, and other essential files. You may also need an external hard drive for backing up the entire computer or even give extra space. It’s a great way to upgrade the storage capacity of your device.
Today external hard drives are available in all shapes and sizes. The best part is that they are affordable and offers high storage capacity.
Immediately the question arises how to opt the best external drive for your device.
The definition of the best model differs for everyone. If you are a professional videographer or a photographer you may need the one with bigger capacity. If you have a small business, you may depend on durability and transfer time along with storage capacity.
How to select best external hard drive
The first thing you need to look is capacity. Next step is to choose between whether you need a portable drive powered by USB socket or a fixed desktop drive. It is essential for you to know the fact that on one hand portable drives are convenient as you can carry them anywhere but on other hand desktop drives offer more space and are fast. There are also portable SSD drives that are ultra fast and quicker. The last point that will finalize your selection is the price of the external drive. Even if you are not certain which one to buy below is the list of the best hard drive to buy in 2017.
10 Best external hard drives
1. Western Digital My Passport
If you are looking for an affordable drive for faster transfers, then ‘Western Digital My Passport’ is the best choice. Its execution is striking. It has 3.0 USB ports with maximum transfer speed 74 Mbps read, and 168 Mbps write. Its disk controller is excellent, and is available in 1TB size that costs $60 to a 4TB size that costs $110. . It is loaded with WD’s Smartware software. You only necessitate a single cable for power provision and even transfers. When you plug it, you will ensure that it is present as two separate devices. One is for factory-loaded software and another one is for external storage space. A blue light starts illuminating when the drive gets active. It has an intuitive user interface. The built-in software allows easy installation. You can also manage the setting quickly.
There are retrieval and backup options to set backups every time you connect the drive to the device. You can quickly recover the files that are deleted from My Passport. Also, there is password protection and 256-bit data encryption. My Passport has a stylish build and is sleek. You can get it in 6 different colors. The casing is constructed up of plastic and is long-lasting. This drive does not require external power. It is small as well as light in weight. However, it is not the only lightest external drive available. It comes with a warranty of 3 years.
2. Silicon Power 1TB Rugged Armor A60 Military-Grade
This is a water resistant, drop proof, scratch proof, shock-proof and slip-proof hard drive that is not easy to break apart. It delivers a textured casing with edges and sides of silicon material. Its read and write speed is awe-inspiring. It uses USB3.0 and delivers fast transfer. You will find the drive compatible with both PCs and Mac. It comes with SP Widget software that makes the data backup and restoring very simple. Also, it has AES 256-bit encryption as well as cloud storage to manage data inefficiently. You can buy its versions up to Whooping 5TB. It is provided with three years warranty.
3. Seagate Backup Plus 4TB
It is best for Mac and is portable as it is 45 inches in length and weighs only a half pound. It is compatible with Apple Time Machine, but you use the drive interchangeably between the Mac and PC. For Mac users it is the perfect option for data storage. It is available with 1TB to 5TB capacity. It even has cloud connectivity and social media backup. It’s share feature allows you to upload multiple files at once from your computer to social platforms. It is USB powered and does not need external power supply.
4. Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive 5TB
It is one of the best performance external hard drive available today. Its capacity is 5TB. Data transfer speed is very fast. Thus, it is a perfect combination of capacity as well as speed. Range of size varies up to 8TB. Average failure rates is low so you can rely on it. The disk is compatible for both windows and Mac but for Mac formatted version you have to pay more.
5. Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim Portable
If you are in search of a hard drive that is easily portable as well as inexpensive then go for Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim Portable. It weighs not more than 4.8 ounces with a thickness of 9.65mm. It can create customised back up plans. There is no need of power supply as it is USB powered. USB 3.0 connectivity makes file transfer quick. It supports both Mac and PC with no obligation to reformat. You can buy 2TB at $100 and 1TB costs only $60. The case is made up of plastic with aluminum top and is available in gold as well as silver color. You get three years warranty with it.
6. Toshiba Canvio Basics 1TB Portable Hard Drive
This external hard drive is little bit bigger than the deck of cards. It is easy to use and portable. It is available in models 500GB, 1Tb, 2Tb, and 3TB. Just plug it into your PC with the help of a USB 3.0 port, and it starts working. However, for Mac, you will have to format it to OS X-compatible format and believe me it’s not that tough task. Its transfer speed is fast, and it hits rotational speed up to 5400 RPM. To keep your file safe, there are features such as internal shock sensor or ramp loading technology.
7. WD My Book
Although WD My Book is not portable neither it is a cheap, it is one of the best option if you are looking for a standard desktop drive. It is available with 3TB to 8TB capacity. It has compatibility with both Mac and windows. Transfer is easy and well as reliable. It is supported by USB 3.0 and 256-bit AES encryption.
8. Runner-Up, Best Overall: Toshiba Canvio Connect II 2TB Portable Hard Drive
This potable hard drive measures 4.3 X 3.1 X 0.8 inches and weight only 0.5 pounds. The range of sizes vary from 500GB to 3TB. It is compatible for both Mac and PC. Single USB port makes it very easy to set this drive. It offers 98MB/s read speed for small files on 5400rpm drive. For medium files it offers 103 MB/s read speed. Write speed for both small and medium files is 112MB/s. For large files read speed is 109MB/s and write speed is 112.4 MB/s. With password protection you can secure your backup as well. Through cloud backup you can easily access your data. 10 gigabytes online storage is also available. It comes with two years warranty.
9. Samsung T5
Samsung T5 is portable and lightest external disk drive available in affordable price. It utilizes Samsung’s 3D V-NAND technology and is available in variety of storage sizes. The top storage space drives are however costly. It is encased in solid shell made up of aluminium and is not easy to dismantle. Drop it from a height of 6 feet and still it works efficiently. It has excellent speed. Additional feature include compatible encryption software.
10. Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC
It is affordable, flexible, compact, stylish and portable disk drive. It comes with built-in USB 3.0 cable. It has rugged, water resistant and dust resistant case to protect your data from drops and knocks. Other security features are 256-bit AES security feature and Near Field Communication. To unlock the contents you just need to swipe the supplied smart card. It is available in sizes up to 2TB. However, it is not the fastest drive.
I am sure that our article on ‘best external disk drive’ have made your selection task easy. Still, if you have any related queries do add to the comment section below.