Despite the popularity of slim, speedy external SSDs, external hard drives are still essential, cost-effective devices, especially at a time when flash-storage prices have been trending upward. For as little as $100, you can add a terabyte to your laptop or desktop by plugging in a USB cable. PCMag has been testing and reviewing external drives for decades, and in our evaluations, we consider speed, capacity, cost per gigabyte, software features, encryption, and a host of additional factors. This guide makes sense of these essential external hard drive characteristics and outlines our top choices. Our current pick for the best external desktop drive for most people is the WD My Book, and for portable drives, the WD My Passport, Works with USB-C (6TB). That said, we stand behind all our recommendations, chosen for different budgets and use cases. Read on for all of them, plus the shopping basics to know.
Overview
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![WD My Passport, Works with USB-C (6TB)]()
Best Portable Hard Drive for Most PeopleWD My Passport, Works with USB-C (6TB)
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![WD My Book]()
Best Desktop Hard Drive for Most PeopleWD My Book
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![ADATA HD710M Pro External Hard Drive]()
Best Rugged Portable Hard Drive for Windows UsersADATA HD710M Pro External Hard Drive
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![SanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD]()
Best Rugged Portable Hard Drive for Mac UsersSanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD
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![WD Black P10 Game Drive]()
Best Portable Hard Drive for GamersWD Black P10 Game Drive
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![iStorage DiskAshur DT2]()
Best Security-Minded Desktop Hard DriveiStorage DiskAshur DT2
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![LaCie Mobile Drive (2022)]()
Best-Designed Portable Hard DriveLaCie Mobile Drive (2022)
You Can Trust Our Reviews
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
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![WD My Passport, Works with USB-C (6TB)]()
Best Portable Hard Drive for Most PeopleWD My Passport, Works with USB-C (6TB)
Pros & Cons
The WD My Passport, Works with USB-C is now available at the highest capacity (6TB) of any pocketable, spinning hard drive on the market today. Despite its name, it connects via a USB Micro-B port—its included cable is a USB-Micro-B-to-USB-A, plus an A-to-C dongle for connecting to a computer's USB-C port. Its speeds on our benchmarks were actually a little faster than the similar 6TB with its native USB-C port—though still far below portable SSD speeds—and it is priced a little lower.
WD My Passport UltraWhy We Picked It
Drive type and performance: The My Passport, Works with USB-C is a compact, portable hard drive. Its slate gray (officially, Silicon Gray) case, the only color available for this particular model at this capacity, snugly fits the 2.5-inch platter-based hard drive within. Its sequential speeds of 122Mbps read and 119Mbps write are at the lower end of a narrow range of values typical of HDDs with a 5,200rpm drive mechanism, and its PCMark 10 Overall Storage result was the best in our comparison group. These and its other test results are typical of platter-based hard drives, which are far slower than even the slowest USB 3.2 external hard drives.
Capacity options: You get a choice of four capacities with the My Passport, Works with USB-C: 2TB, 4TB, 5TB, and 6TB. The 6TB model that we tested (along with several other WD hard drives released at the same time) is one of the first portable hard drives to be available at that capacity, which sets it apart from offerings from other major vendors. It also helps that it sells at a very reasonable 3.2 cents per gigabyte, in an age where many vendors sell their higher-capacity products at a premium.
Port type and interface: You would think that a hard drive with its name would have a USB-C port, but no—this one has a USB Micro-B port and comes with a foot-long USB-Micro-B-to-USB-A cable plus a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter. This allows you to connect to either a computer's USB-A or USB-C port. Just don’t lose the cable and adapter; USB Micro-B cables have become less common than they were just a few years ago, though USB Micro-B ports are still frequently found on external hard drives.
Durability, encryption, and backup software: As for protecting the physical drive and its data, WD My Passport portable drives do not have an ingress protection (IP) rating, which quantifies water and dust resistance. The company advertises them as being shock- and vibration-resistant and drop-proof. The company also provides protection from hackers with the gold-standard 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption, activated through the WD Security app included on the drive, and data preservation with Acronis True Image backup software.
Who It’s For
Casual travelers: The WD My Passport, Works with USB-C is good for occasional travel; its AES 256-bit encryption should keep your data safe if the drive is lost or stolen. It is shock- and vibration-resistant, and drop-resistant up to 6.5 feet. But without an ingress protection rating, you may not want to take it on a wilderness trip.
Bargain hunters: The My Passport is one of the first 6TB portable spinning hard drives, and especially at its highest capacity, it comes in at a very low cost per gigabyte, so you can get a lot of storage, cheap.
Specs & Configurations
Backup Software Included? Cables Included USB Micro-B-to-A Cables Included USB-A-to-C adapter Capacity 6 Drive Type External Portable Spin Rate 5400 System-Side Interface USB 3.2 USB Powered? Warranty (Parts/Labor) 3 -
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![WD My Book]()
Best Desktop Hard Drive for Most PeopleWD My Book
Pros & Cons
If you're addicted to downloading videos and snapping up every game you can find online, chances are you need inexpensive, voluminous storage to house it all. The Western Digital My Book, now available in capacities up to a whopping 26TB, can hold thousands of hours of video, or millions of MP3s or photos. With a good mix of capacity, pricing, and performance, it's a shoo-in as an Editors' Choice pick for desktop external hard drives.
Why We Picked It
Drive type and performance: The My Book, shaped like a rather thick book, is strictly for sitting on a desk: hefty (weighing about 2.2 pounds), with a large footprint and requiring an included 12V power adapter. The My Book we reviewed had a 5,400rpm drive, and tallied impressive Blackmagic scores relative to portable spinning hard drives, though still well below even SATA SSDs. At some of the higher capacities, the My Book uses a 7,200rpm drive, though we haven’t had a chance to test it as such.
Capacity options: The My Book is available in a wide range of capacities, ranging from 4TB up to 26TB. (The My Book Duo, a dual-drive solution, offers up to 46TB in its default RAID 0 configuration.) Seagate offers similar capacities, from 4TB up to 28TB, in its Expansion Desktop Hard Drive.
Port type and interface: The My Book has a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port. In the model we tested, the port was USB Type-A, though some recent My Books use USB-C (but may include USB-A downstream ports for connecting peripherals as well).
Durability, encryption, and backup software: The My Book lacks an IP rating (which indicates a drive’s degree of protection from water and sand or dust). As it’s for desktop use, it does not require protection from the elements. WD makes no claim for drop protection; as spinning hard drives are susceptible to damage from tumbles than SSDs, be sure not to position a My Book too close to the edge of your desk. The My Book includes WD Backup software and provides 256-bit AES encryption enabled through the WD Security app.
Who It’s For
Office workers: The My Book is a good fit for employees (or businesses) that have to archive and/or back up large amounts of data; the included WD Backup software simplifies this task. The My Book also supports backups through Apple’s Time Machine. My Books are generally formatted as exFAT for cross-platform compatibility, but can be reformatted as needed.
Gamers: Although gamers will want to load and run games from a faster drive, the My Book is great for archiving a game collection. With a growing number of AAA games taking up in excess of 100GB of drive space, one’s internal storage can fill up quickly, so it’s good to have terabytes to spare for a growing library.
Creative pros: The My Book’s voluminous capacity makes it a good choice for photographers, videographers, and other content creators to back up their media files.
Specs & Configurations
Backup Software Included? Cables Included USB Micro-B-to-A Capacity 8 Drive Type External Desktop Spin Rate 5400 System-Side Interface USB 3.0 Warranty (Parts/Labor) 3 Learn More Western Digital My Book Review -
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![ADATA HD710M Pro External Hard Drive]()
Best Rugged Portable Hard Drive for Windows UsersADATA HD710M Pro External Hard Drive
Pros & Cons
There are rugged hard drives, and then there's the ADATA HD710M Pro External Hard Drive. Its IP (ingress protection) rating of IP68 for dust resistance and waterproofing (in the last case, submerged up to two meters for up to one hour) matches the best rating of any hard drive or SSD we have reviewed. The ADATA HD710M Pro also has grips and channels around the edges of the drive to keep the detachable USB cable tethered to the drive at all times, even when not plugged into the USB connector. (Note that ADATA no longer sells the specific version of the drive we reviewed, but it and the HD710 Pro, which is essentially the same product offered in a wider variety of colors and capacities, are still available through online retailers.)
Why We Picked It
Drive type and performance: The ADATA HD710M Pro is a massively ruggedized external hard drive, although relatively lightweight and compact as such. Its performance is typical of a 5,400rpm portable platter-based hard drive.
Capacity options: The HD710M Pro comes in capacities ranging from 500GB up to 5TB. External hard drive capacity currently maxes out at 6TB.
Port type and interface: The HD710M has a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port that fits a USB Micro-B connector. The drive includes a USB-Micro-B-to-USB-C cable.
Durability, encryption, and backup software: For a spinning hard drive, the HD710M Pro is as rugged as they come. Its ingress protection IP68 rating denotes imperviousness to even the finest dust and, aided by a waterproof cover, its water-fastness even exceeds that rating, able to withstand an hour’s immersion at 2 meters. It can survive drops of up to 1.5 meters. The drive’s Backup ToGo software includes a cloud backup option.
Who It’s For
Travelers: With unusually strong protection against drops, water, and dust for a spinning HDD, the HD710M Pro is a good choice for frequent travelers, especially those who venture off the beaten path. It can withstand most anything the elements can dish out.
Creative professionals: The HD710M is a good choice for photographers, videographers, photojournalists, film crews, and other creative types whose work often requires them to be away from the studio. It provides a high degree of protection from drops, dusty and dirty conditions, and inclement weather.
Specs & Configurations
Cables Included USB Micro-B-to-A Capacity 2 Drive Type External Portable Spin Rate 5400 System-Side Interface USB 3.0 USB Powered? Warranty (Parts/Labor) 3 Learn More ADATA HD710M Pro External Hard Drive Review -
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![SanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD]()
Best Rugged Portable Hard Drive for Mac UsersSanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD
Pros & Cons
The SanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD is a cost-effective, semi-rugged external hard drive available in capacities up to 5TB. As a spinning (5,400rpm) platter drive, its speed can't compare with an SSD, but it should work well for travelers or mobile workers who need lots of capacity for the spend.
Why We Picked It
Drive type and performance: The moderately ruggedized SanDisk ArmorATD comes formatted in HFS+, which can be used only on a Mac. (It can be reformatted for Windows use, but the process is a mild hassle if you don’t have a Mac.)
Capacity options: The ArmorATD Pro comes in capacities ranging from 1TB up to 6TB. The latter is the highest capacity now available on a portable hard drive. Several other WD/SanDisk drives also come in a 6TB version; you pay a bit of a premium for the ArmorATD over them, presumably due to its ruggedness.
Port type and interface: The ArmorATD has a USB-C port with a USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface. The port also works with the Thunderbolt ports on recent Macs. The ArmorATD comes with a pair of 2-foot cables, one USB-C-to-USB-C and the other USB-C-to-USB-A.
Durability, encryption, and backup software: The ArmorATD—the acronym stands for "all-terrain drive"— has an IP54 ingress protection rating, which denotes some security against sand and rain, though it's still potentially vulnerable to fine dust. You can splash water on (but not immerse) the unit with no ill effects. With a rubber bumper cushioning its aluminum frame and internal shock mounts, it's rated to survive up to 1,000 pounds of pressure or a drop from 3.3 feet. The ArmorATD lacks software, encryption, and backup features.
Who It’s For
Mac users: SanDisk’s G-Drive line has been traditionally geared to Mac users, and that remains the case now that G-Drive is a premium SanDisk Professional offering. The ArmorATD comes formatted in the Mac-only HFS+ file system, and reformatting it for Windows use can be onerous if you don’t own a Mac.
Travelers: The ArmorATD provides basic protection from dust, sand, and water, so it’s a good choice for people—whether workers or campers—who spend time in the outdoors but don’t go on extreme wilderness treks.
Specs & Configurations
Cables Included USB-C to USB-A Cables Included USB-C to USB-C Capacity 2 Drive Type External Portable Spin Rate 5400 System-Side Interface USB 3.0 USB Powered? Warranty (Parts/Labor) 3 Learn More SanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD Review -
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![WD Black P10 Game Drive]()
Best Portable Hard Drive for GamersWD Black P10 Game Drive
Pros & Cons
With the ribbed appearance of a corrugated shipping crate, the WD Black P10 Game Drive’s styling gives it the appearance of a container you (or your enemies) might use for cover in the wasteland of one of the games you might store on it. If you appreciate the gamer aesthetic, the P10 is an obvious choice.
Why We Picked It
Drive type and performance: The WD Black P10 is a compact, portable external spinning hard drive, available in high capacities. The P10’s poky performance, typical of a 5,400rpm spinning hard drive, makes it best suited for cold storage of games for eventual transfer to an SSD or other internal drive on your PC to play.
Capacity options: The P10 is available in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 5TB, and 6TB capacities. The 6TB version, introduced after we reviewed the P10, represents the highest capacity now available on a portable platter-based hard drive.
Port type and interface: The P10 has a USB Micro-B port on the drive end, and it supports the USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface. A USB Micro-B-to-A cable is included.
Durability, encryption, and backup software: The P10 is not ruggedized, and it does not natively support encryption.
Who It’s For
PC gamers: Although it lacks the speed to run games, the P10 can store a decent gaming library—in its largest (6TB) capacity, it could house several dozen modern, huge AAA games, ready to transfer to your computer as needed.
Console gamers: The P10 is compatible with Xbox Series X/S (it can play and store Xbox One games, and archive Xbox Series X/S games) and PlayStation consoles (it can play and store PS4 games, and transfer games to an internal SSD placed in the PS5’s secondary M.2 slot).
Specs & Configurations
Cables Included USB Micro-B-to-A Capacity 4 Drive Type External Portable Spin Rate 5400 System-Side Interface USB 3.0 USB Powered? Warranty (Parts/Labor) 3 Learn More WD Black P10 Game Drive Review -
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![iStorage DiskAshur DT2]()
Best Security-Minded Desktop Hard DriveiStorage DiskAshur DT2
Pros & Cons
With cavernous capacity and a minuscule cost per gigabyte compared with security-centric SSDs, the iStorage DiskAshur DT2—a desktop-style hard drive—is a formidable solution for corporations, institutions, and agencies needing to keep sensitive data safe. With a slew of protective features and boasting an impressive set of certifications, this PIN-authenticated external drive is easy for authorized users to access but impervious to attempts by outsiders to break in.
Why We Picked It
Drive type and performance: The DT2 is a platter-based desk-bound hard drive. With a 3.5-inch drive mechanism and a rated speed of up to 7,200rpm (iStorage says that the speed can range between 5,400rpm and 7,200rpm), the DT2 is among the faster external hard drives we've tested in recent years. Being a desktop drive, as opposed to a portable one based on a small mechanism, helps.
Capacity options: The DT2 comes in 11 capacities ranging from 1TB to 18TB.
Port type and interface: On one end are the power switch, a jack for the 12-volt AC adapter, a USB 3.0 Type-B port—the drive comes with a USB-B-to-USB-A cable—and a slot for a security lock. The last is because, while bad actors may not be able to access the contents of your drive, you don't want them walking off with it, either.
Durability, encryption, and backup software: With a flock of protective features and boasting an impressive set of certifications, this PIN-authenticated external drive is a cinch for authorized users to access but impervious to attempts by outsiders to break in. The drive incorporates a Common Criteria EAL5+ (hardware-certified) secure microprocessor, which enhances security through true random number generation and built-in cryptography. The drive's AES-XTS 256-bit full-disk encryption is entirely hardware-based, making it platform- and device-independent.
Who It's For
People who handle sensitive data: The DT2 is compliant with FIPS 140-3 Level 3—a set of federal standards that describe security protocols for use by US government contractors and vendors. It is also FIPS 140-2 Level 2/3 compliant and adds NCSC CPA (UK), NLNCSA BSPA (Netherlands), and NATO Restricted certifications.
People who need a lot of security and capacity: The iStorage DiskAshur DT2 is easily the highest-capacity ultra-secure hard drive we have reviewed, with our test unit holding 14TB and the largest model 18TB. It is cost-effective, particularly at higher capacities and especially when compared with similarly secure SSDs.
Specs & Configurations
Cables Included USB-B to USB-A Capacity 14 Drive Type External Portable Spin Rate 7200 System-Side Interface USB 3.2 Warranty (Parts/Labor) 3 Learn More iStorage DiskAshur DT2 Review -
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![LaCie Mobile Drive (2022)]()
Best-Designed Portable Hard DriveLaCie Mobile Drive (2022)
Pros & Cons
Sporting a tasteful silver-and-black chassis, the LaCie Mobile Drive (2022) is a mildly redesigned version of the company's external hard drive that we reviewed in March 2019. Available in capacities up to 5TB, the new drive is easy to set up and use. The Mobile Drive can hold a lot of data and look pretty while doing it. It’s a good choice for people who want to project a certain image.
Why We Picked It
Drive type and performance: With a corrugated, silvery design, the 2022 edition of LaCie's Mobile Drive is a stylish portable hard drive that can store up to 5TB of data. But for all its good looks, the Mobile Drive performs like the 5,400rpm spinning hard drive that it is, much slower than even a SATA SSD.
Capacity options: The Mobile Drive comes in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB capacities.
Port type and interface: The Mobile Drive has a USB-C port and includes a USB-C-to-USB-C cable.
Durability, encryption, and backup software: The Mobile Drive lacks any specific ruggedness credentials. The downloadable LaCie Toolkit includes backup, restore, and mirroring utilities. You can back up manually or choose set-and-forget operation, in which your content is constantly backed up whenever anything changes. The mirror function lets you sync files in a folder on your computer with one on the drive. (Whatever you put in or remove from one mirrored folder will be reflected in the other.) In addition to the three-year warranty, common among portable external hard drives, LaCie provides three years of access to Rescue Data Recovery Services.
Who It’s For
Executives: If you spend a lot of time in meetings, particularly face-to-face ones, the Mobile Drive is a showy accessory that can help to burnish your image. Of course, it’s practical, too, and can hold a lot of data in its higher capacities.
Public-facing employees: The Mobile Drive is a commonplace but uncommonly stylish product that, in addition to holding a lot of data, can act as a conversation piece and help you project an air of professionalism and style when dealing with others.
Specs & Configurations
Backup Software Included? Cables Included USB-C to USB-C Capacity 5 Drive Type External Portable Spin Rate 5400 System-Side Interface USB 3.2 USB Powered? Warranty (Parts/Labor) 3 Learn More LaCie Mobile Drive (2022) Review -
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4.0 Excellent |
4.5 Outstanding |
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4.0 Excellent |
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4.0 Excellent |
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Best For | Best Portable Hard Drive for Most People | Best Desktop Hard Drive for Most People | Best Rugged Portable Hard Drive for Windows Users | Best Rugged Portable Hard Drive for Mac Users | Best Portable Hard Drive for Gamers | Best Security-Minded Desktop Hard Drive | Best-Designed Portable Hard Drive | Best Portable Hard Drive for Most People | Best Desktop Hard Drive for Most People | Best Rugged Portable Hard Drive for Windows Users |
Drive Type | External Portable | External Desktop | External Portable | External Portable | External Portable | External Portable | External Portable | External Portable | External Desktop | External Portable |
System-Side Interface | USB 3.2 | USB 3.0 | USB 3.0 | USB 3.0 | USB 3.0 | USB 3.2 | USB 3.2 | USB 3.2 | USB 3.0 | USB 3.0 |
USB Powered? | ||||||||||
Capacity | 6 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 2 |
Spin Rate | 5400 | 5400 | 5400 | 5400 | 5400 | 7200 | 5400 | 5400 | 5400 | 5400 |
Cables Included | USB Micro-B-to-A, USB-A-to-C adapter | USB Micro-B-to-A | USB Micro-B-to-A | USB-C to USB-C, USB-C to USB-A | USB Micro-B-to-A | USB-B to USB-A | USB-C to USB-C | USB Micro-B-to-A, USB-A-to-C adapter | USB Micro-B-to-A | USB Micro-B-to-A |
Backup Software Included? | ||||||||||
Warranty (Parts/Labor) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Other Features |
Buying Guide: The Best External Hard Drives for 2026
How to Choose an External Hard Drive
Hard drives may get you more capacity for your dollar by far, but first you need to consider a major difference in external storage these days: the hard drive versus the SSD. Solid-state drives (SSDs) have fewer moving parts than traditional hard drives, and they offer the speediest access to your data. Unlike a conventional disk-based hard drive, which stores data on a spinning platter or platters accessed by a moving magnetic head, an SSD uses a collection of flash cells—similar to the ones that make up a computer's RAM—to save data.
Just how much faster is it to access data stored in flash cells? Typical read and write speeds for consumer drives with spinning platters are in the 100MBps to 200MBps range, depending on platter densities and the speed at which they spin. External SSDs offer at least twice that speed and now, often much more, with typical results on our benchmark tests in excess of 400MBps for the slowest ones. Practically speaking, this means you can move gigabytes of data (say, a 4GB feature-length film, or a year's worth of family photos) to an external SSD in seconds rather than the minutes it would take with an external spinning drive.
Not only is it faster to read and write data stored in flash cells, but it's also safer. Because there is no spinning platter or moving magnetic head, if you bump the SSD while you're accessing its data, there is no risk that your files will become corrupted and unreadable.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Still, the prices of external SSDs have risen sharply since late 2025 (see the best we've tested at the preceding link), and they're far from a complete replacement for spinning drives. Larger external drives designed to stay on your desk or in a server closet still almost exclusively use spinning-drive mechanisms, taking advantage of platter drives' much higher capacities and much lower per-gigabyte prices compared with SSDs.
Portable hard drives can be a great value if raw capacity is your top priority. You can find a 2TB portable hard drive for as little as $100, while 5TB hard drives start at about $150 and 6TB models at about $180. A 2TB SSD, though? Expect to pay around twice as much as you would for that 2TB hard drive. Likewise, 4TB external SSDs start around $350, and 8TB models start at around $800.
Should I Get a Desktop Hard Drive, or a Portable Hard Drive?
If you have a large media-file collection—perhaps you are a photo or video editor, or maybe a movie buff—you'll likely need several terabytes of space in which to store it. In that case, your best option is a desktop-class hard drive. We define these as having one or more spinning-platter drives inside and requiring a dedicated power cable plugged into AC power to work. (Of course, in this scenario, your files are going to have to stay at your desk.)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)A desktop drive with a single platter mechanism will typically use a 3.5-inch drive inside and comes in capacities up to around 20TB. Most are roughly 5 inches tall and 2 inches wide. In addition to storing large media collections, these drives can also serve as inexpensive repositories for scheduled backups of your computer's hard drive, using either the software that comes with the drive or a third-party backup utility.
The next size up for consumer desktop drives is about the same height but twice as wide, to accommodate more than one platter-based hard drive mechanism in the chassis. These larger models are more expensive but also much more capacious—think 24TB or more (in that case, populated by two 12TB drive mechanisms). In the case of these and single-platter-drive products, you're not meant to swap out the drive or drives inside.
(Credit: Molly Flores)The largest desktop drives are often much, much bulkier than the first two categories, so big that you'll want to stick them under your desk or in a dedicated server closet. They're primarily intended for professional use in editing studios, surveillance control rooms, and similar settings. Their defining characteristic is the ability to easily swap drives in and out of their multi-bay chassis, so most provide quick access to the drive bays at the front of the device.
Most such multi-bay devices are sold without the actual hard drives included, so you can install any drive you want (usually, 3.5-inch drives, but some support laptop-style 2.5-inchers). Their total storage capacities are limited only by the number of available bays in the unit and the capacities of the drives you put in them. Some in the storage industry refer to these (as well as smaller-capacity externals as a whole) as DAS—for "direct attached storage"—to distinguish them from NAS, or network attached storage, many of which are also multi-bay devices that can take two or more drives you supply. (See our separate roundup of the best NAS drives.)
At the other end of the physical-size spectrum are portable drives. Inside their enclosures, hard drive-based portables use the same kind of platter-drive mechanisms that older laptops did. These are called generically "2.5-inch drives," though they are actually a smidge wider than that. Any portable platter-based hard drive should fit easily in a purse or even a coat pocket. As a rule, portable drives get their power from the computer to which you connect them, through the interface cable, so there's no need for a wall outlet or a power cord/brick.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)The best way to gauge relative value among similar portable drives is to calculate the cost per gigabyte, dividing the cost of the drive in dollars by the capacity in gigabytes to see the relative per-gig price. Example: A $60 1TB (1,000GB) hard drive would run you about 6 cents per gigabyte, while an $80 2TB (2,000GB) drive would work out to about 4 cents per gigabyte.
Need Redundancy or Extreme Speed? Consider a RAID-Enabled Drive
If you buy a larger desktop drive with two or more discrete spinning-platter drive mechanisms inside, you'll almost certainly have the option to configure the drive as a RAID array using included software. Depending on which RAID Level you choose, you can prioritize capacity, speed, or data redundancy, or some combination thereof.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)A collection of spinning drives configured with a RAID Level designed for faster data access can approximate the speeds of a basic SSD, while you should consider a drive with support for RAID Levels 1, 5, or 10 if you're storing really important data that you can't afford to lose. Hit the link above for an explanation of the traits and strengths of each RAID Level. Some require you to sacrifice raw capacity for data redundancy, so you'll want to pay attention to the nuances of each one.
Which Drive Interface Should I Get?
How an external drive connects to your PC or Mac is second only to the type of storage mechanism it uses in determining how fast you'll be able to access data. These connection types are ever in flux, but these days, most external hard drives use a flavor of USB or, in rare cases, Thunderbolt.
Right now, the fastest connection type in wide use on hard drives is Thunderbolt 3, which is handy assuming you have a newer laptop or desktop with a Thunderbolt 3 port. (Thunderbolt 4 is found on most new Macs and some new PCs, with Thunderbolt 5 emerging, but hard drives that use either one are not yet common.) Both Thunderbolt interfaces piggyback on a USB Type-C connector (not all USB Type-C ports support Thunderbolt, though) and offer blazing peak throughput of up to 40GBps. As a bonus, a larger desktop drive that supports Thunderbolt might also have additional DisplayPort and USB ports on the enclosure, allowing you to use the drive box as a hub for your keyboard, mouse, monitor, and other peripherals. (See our explainer on Thunderbolt versus USB-C.)
You'll only see the speed benefits of Thunderbolt, however, if you have an SSD-based drive or a multi-drive, platter-based desktop DAS set up in a RAID array. For ordinary external hard drives, Thunderbolt is very much the exception, not the rule. It tends to show up mainly in products geared toward the Mac market.
A desktop hard drive with a single platter-based mechanism inside, or a portable hard drive, is far more likely to make use of plain old USB instead. Almost every recent drive we have reviewed supports USB, and the same goes for laptops and desktops. USB ports are ubiquitous, and many external drives now come with cables with both rectangular USB Type-A connectors and oval USB Type-C ones to enable adapter-free connections to PCs that have only one type. If the drive includes only a single cable, you may need an adapter, depending on your computer's available USB ports. Be mindful of that.
(Credit: Kyle Cobian)In addition to their physical shape differences, USB ports on the computer side will variously support USB 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, or USB4, depending on the age of the computer and how up-to-date its marketing materials are. You don't have to worry about the differences among these three USB specs when looking at ordinary hard drives, though. All are interoperable, and you won't see a speed bump from one versus the other in the hard drive world. (The drive platters' own speed is the limiter, not the flavor of USB.)
Likewise, we haven't seen any hard drives with native USB4 support, nor are we likely to. Although we have seen a few solid-state drives with USB4 interfaces (which offer the same theoretical 40GBps maximum throughput speed as does Thunderbolt), spinning hard drives are incapable of data-transfer speeds anywhere near that.
The only case with hard drives where the USB standard matters much is if you connect a drive to an old-style, low-bandwidth USB 2.0 port, which is better reserved for items like keyboards and mice. (Also, if it's a portable drive, that USB 2.0 port may not supply sufficient power to run the drive in the first place, so the speed shortfall may be moot.) Any remotely recent computer will have some faster USB 3-class ports, though.
Is a Rugged or Secure Hard Drive Worth It?
If you carry your drive around frequently, you'll want to pay attention to how rugged the drive is. Some models include plastic bumpers, and some even meet military standards for shock and dust protection. (Look for support for specifications such as IP67 or IP68.)
A subset of drives comes with essentially uncrackable AES 256-bit hardware-based encryption that you can engage. A few are endowed with a host of additional security features, anything from encasing the drive's innards in epoxy (to destroy the electronics, should the drive's casing be physically breached) to sporting a virtual keypad whose letters and numbers change location each time the drive is connected, to prevent an onlooker from guessing, say, a password from a user's sequence of keystrokes. Many such drives are designed to meet rigorous certification standards mandated by some corporations and government agencies. You pay a premium for a secure hard drive, but with one, you can rest assured that your data won't be stolen.
Perhaps the only thing you don't need to pay all that much attention to is the warranty. Sounds counter-intuitive, perhaps? Sure, a long warranty is nice. But if your drive breaks because you dropped it, the warranty likely won't cover that, anyway. Even if the drive fails because of a manufacturing defect, most warranties simply replace the drive and don't cover the cost of recovery services that attempt to rescue your data from the broken drive. For most folks, the real value lies in what's on your drive, not the drive itself.
Ready to Buy the Right External Hard Drive for You?
We trust our advice helped clarify what you need to know. To get you started in the right direction with product picks, the external hard drives (platter-based models) listed here are the best we've tested recently, at a variety of prices and capacities. They're a fine starter mix for your research. Remember that most of them come in a range of capacities, so even if the specific model we tested is too big or small for your needs, the drive maker may offer a more fitting size. And don't forget to explore our recommendations for the best external SSDs as well if you need more speed than a platter-based drive can offer.