Whenever you is most most definitely working out of storage home to your pc pc or you prefer to help up your records and retailer that backlog of films you is most most definitely going to edit in some unspecified time in the future (I am, I declare), an external onerous drive can resolve your mission. The misfortune is, there are hundreds of drive choices ranging from dirt-cheap to crazy-dear—which one is staunch to your wants? I’ve tested dozens, all over working methods and with various employ circumstances in mind, to search out the most spirited external onerous drives for storage, backups, gaming, video editing, network-hooked up storage (NAS) devices, and more.

Evaluation out our various guides, including Be taught the plot to Support Up and Transfer Your Photos Between Products and companies, Be taught the plot to Support Up Your Digital Lifestyles, and Be taught the plot to Support Up Your iPhone.

Updated January 2026: We delight in added Seagate’s One Touch SSD, swapped out our padding drive decide, and removed the Mandatory X6, which, sadly, has been discontinued. We delight in additionally added a gift explaining the rebranding of WD_Black and WD Blue drives as SeaGate Optimus GX, and up to date prices and links for the duration of.

Simplest for Backups

For incremental backups, which we recommend, velocity is not very any longer if truth be told an tremendous ingredient. That is the reason the predominant drive I suggest is that this Western Digital Parts onerous drive. I if truth be told delight in been utilizing a variation of the Parts desktop onerous drive to make incremental backups of my records for more than a decade. These drives are extensive and require external energy, but they’re a couple of of the most cost-efficient, most respectable drives I’ve outdated skool.

Transfer speeds are no longer off the charts—the Parts drive I tested scored 120 megabytes per 2d (MB/s) for sequential writes on Windows—but over again, you ought to ideally be working backups in a single day anyway, and even at these speeds the stylish PC backup will likely be performed by morning. These drives employ USB-C with toughen for USB 3, and I’ve had no mission utilizing them with Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Storage choices stagger your total plot up to 20 terabytes. Lovely test the prices; infrequently you might well be in a position to rep a 10- and even 12-TB drive for no longer powerful more than the 8-terabyte version. And I if truth be told delight in no longer seen an tremendous distinction between the Parts line, the WD My Book drives, or the WD My Passport drives. The My Passport drives uncover a top rate designate due to they’re smaller, and the My Book drives delight in some encryption functions that drive up the cost, but I accumulate the basic Parts drive is sufficient for most other folk.

Varied Huge Backup Drives

• Seagate Enlargement 8-TB Exterior Onerous Drive for $159: Seagate is one other respectable drive maker. It never hurts to thrill in more backups, and ought to you attain desire multiple backups, employ drives from various brands, since this can lower the chance that both fail concurrently.

Simplest for Moveable Backups

Whenever you commute plenty, you might well desire something that’s more straightforward to raise than the Parts drives, which don’t appear to be the most spirited in a suitcase. For backups when traveling, I love Western Digital’s My Passport series, especially the original “Extremely” version, which makes employ of a frail USB-C wire, laying aside the deserve to raise a separate cable. Or no longer it is no longer the thinnest drive on the market, but it is no longer up to an trudge thick and real ample that I never insecure about tossing it in my score. (Even though it ought to be stated that here’s a spinning drive, so don’t literally toss it.) I additionally love that the corners are properly rounded and there are no screws or anything else else that will procure on material to your score.

There are a form of colours available and you is most most definitely in a position to rep from 1 TB to 6 TB. I tested the 5-TB mannequin, but Western Digital claims the same speeds no matter drive dimension. I tested it utilizing CrystalDiskMark on Windows, AmorphousDiskMark on macOS, and KDiskMark on Linux and averaged the outcomes to near up with 121 MB/s for study velocity and 115 MB/s write velocity. Or no longer it is no longer what you might well desire to reproduction photos immediate for a consumer in the topic, but snappily ample to flee a day-to-day backup to your resort room.

Varied Moveable Backup Drives

• Western Digital Parts 5-TB Moveable HDD for $135: This drive is a runt thinner than our top decide, but feels flimsier in my skills. Speeds are tad slower as properly, but ought to you is most most definitely on a finances this might well merely prevent a chunk cash. Corsair is marketing and marketing this as a merely plot to backup your iPhone ProRes photos, and while it for certain works for that, efficiency is limited by the iPhone’s USB-C interface. For optimum throughput, join it to a PC with a USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 port.
• Seagate One Touch 4-TB for $125: Seagate’s One Touch drive presents some encryption tools, but speeds lagged a chunk in the support of our top decide. Calm, here’s a real option for backups and it is surprisingly tiny for a spinning drive enclosure. Additionally existing that this drive is infrequently sold with four months of Adobe Ingenious Cloud (a roughly $40 cost), but ought to you make employ of it, make definite to wreck due to after these four months you might well be charged.

Simplest USB5 Drive: The Thunderbolt 5

LaCie has up to date its rugged SSD line with the Rugged Pro5. This one ditches the iconic orange padding for blue, but it is a long way in every other case moral love the humble LaCie padded drives on the out of doorways. On the within, here’s an amazingly snappily drive. The 5 in the name is for, you guessed it, Thunderbolt 5, which no matter being announced seemingly with out a wreck in sight in the past, has been painfully listless to trickle onto the market. This made testing a chunk tricky, but fortunately a chum let me borrow his label-original MacBook Expert 14 for testing. The outcomes had been impressive.

LaCie claims study/write speeds of up to 6,700 MB/s and 5,300 MB/s, which it says are ample for precise-time editing of 8K and 6K RAW photos. In testing the most reasonable doubtless speeds, file transfers had been 5,787 MB/s study and 5,188 MB/s write—which, while no longer slightly matching the negate, is peaceful a long way and away the fastest drive on the net page. Nonetheless uncooked speeds are moral numbers for spreadsheets; I became yet again attracted to precise-world efficiency. Since I occurred to additionally be testing the Nikon Z6III (8/10, WIRED Recommends), which can shoot 6K ProRes RAW, I loaded a merely little bit of photos on the Pro5 and became once indeed in a position to edit utilizing DaVinci Discover to the bottom of Studio.

The map back here is the cost. At $600 for the 4-TB version (which is the minimum you might well desire for working with ProRes RAW video recordsdata), here’s a in point of fact costly drive. It’s, then over again, properly price the cash if it is velocity you is most most definitely after.

Simplest USB4 Drive

Whenever you do not yet delight in any devices with Thunderbolt 5 toughen, this Thunderbolt 4 drive might well well be my advice for someone hooked in to velocity. Corsair’s EX400U is a plucky runt drive, consistently turning in speeds of around 3,800 MB/s for sequential study and and 3,550 MB/s write. Again, here’s only going to be doubtless ought to you’ve got a machine that supports USB4/Thunderbolt 4 (including recent Macbooks, Dell XPS, and others—explore our manual to the most spirited laptops for more). Technically, moral as I became once wrapping up this change, Lacie’s original rugged SSD came out which beat this drive in my assessments by about 10 MB/s, but this drive is smaller, lighter, and more cost effective.

I additionally love that Corsair has incorporated a Magsafe connector on the support of the case, which makes broad option for backing up ProRes video photos from your iPhone.

Simplest for Photographers

Mandatory’s X9 Expert hits the candy location of velocity, portability, and price to be one of the most spirited drives available for photographers attempting to make backups in the topic. These drives are limited, about half of the scale of a deck of cards, and weigh a mere 1.3 ounces (38 grams). They’ll join to moral about anything else. I tested the X9 Expert on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS and never hit any points with any of them. By skill of velocity, the X9 Expert claims symmetrical study and write speeds, at 1,050 MB/s. I if truth be told consistently got increased speeds, up to 1,110 MB/s for study and 1,100 MB/s for write. That puts the X9 Expert on the conclude of the pack when it comes to portable drive velocity.

I’ve been testing the X9 Expert for several months now, and while I can not yet consult with the prolonged-term survival rate, I if truth be told delight in been testing X6 and X8 drives from Mandatory for over two years now with out explain. There is additionally the X10 Expert drive ($235), which presents even quicker speeds ought to you’ve got a PC that supports USB 2X2. (The most up-to-date Intel chips toughen this spec, but Apple doesn’t, so there isn’t any level in procuring the X10 Expert ought to you’ve got a Mac.) I attain no longer possess a PC that supports USB 2X2 for intensive testing, but I did rep an different to no longer no longer up to are trying it, and the X10 Expert does indeed bring on its promise of 2,100 MB/s (I got it up to 2,050 MB/s). In case your hardware supports it, the X10 Expert is price the more cash.

Simplest Exiguous Drive

Seagate’s original Extremely Compact SSD straddles the line between USB thumb drive and dilapidated external drive. The scale, form, and built-in USB-C connector make it a thumb drive, however the drive internal is plot quicker, offering 1,000 MB/s throughput via USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps). In my CrystalDiskMark test, it managed 1034 MB/s and a write velocity of 1018 MB/s, which, while no longer as snappily as a couple of of the original Thunderbolt 5 drives approaching the market, is peaceful plot, plot quicker than most USB sticks. In some ways, efficiency-wise, here’s a more compact, down-market version of the X9 drive above (LaCie is Seagate’s excessive-conclude, Mac-focused label). You attain rep a runt much less efficiency for the cash, however the compact, no-cable-wanted make ingredient might well well be price it to a couple of other folk.

My one gripe with this drive is that it is on the huge facet for a thumb drive, which implies that in case your pc pc has USB-C ports shut together it might per chance most likely well well cover two. It’s doubtless you’ll well mitigate this by ditching the rubber housing, but then you lose a couple of of the protection (the drive with housing is rated to face up to 3 meter drops and is IP54 rated for mud and water resistance). It additionally goes internal and outside of stock continuously. Seagate’s Extremely Compact SSD is one of several SSDs adopting the thumb drive make ingredient. We delight in additionally tested and love the SK Hynix Tube 31, which is featured in our manual to the Simplest USB Flash Drives.

Varied Huge Exiguous Drives

• Kingston XS1000 2-TB for $203: This limited runt drive is with out doubt one of the smallest on this manual. Appreciate the Mandatory X6, it has a mostly plastic enclosure, but it has withstood existence in my score slightly properly. While it is no longer as sturdy as the padded choices below, it is real ample for most things. Or no longer it is additionally quick. Kingston claims up to 1,050 MB/s. I never managed that, but I robotically hit around 800 MB/s, with some older laptops closer to 600 MB/s, which is peaceful slightly merely. The drive toilets down a chunk with tremendous recordsdata (MP4s, for instance), so it is no longer the most spirited for authentic videographers, but for all americans else, here’s a real, a runt more cost effective option.

Simplest Glide-Anywhere Drive

Whenever you might well love a drive that can withstand existence in a backpack or digicam score, rep moist, or deal with a tumble onto onerous surfaces, OWC drives are your most spirited choice. Or no longer it is demanding to decide on a winner here due to there are many real choices, but OWC’s Elektron drive narrowly beat others in benchmark assessments. I additionally love that you might well be in a position to swap out the drive for the duration of the aluminum casing (it is a long way uncomplicated to unscrew), which implies two years from now, you might well be in a position to rep a quicker naked SSD and tumble it in the hardy Elektron enclosure.

Varied Huge Rugged SSDs

• Sabrent Rocket Nano 1-TB SSD for $170: I if truth be told love this one. Or no longer it is smaller and a runt quicker than the OWC, but it has two drawbacks. The first is that it might per chance most likely well well rep scorching. Whenever you is most most definitely attempting to work with it to your lap, it might per chance most likely well well be downright awful. The quite diverse explain is that infrequently it is listless to be identified by my PC. I’d accumulate no sample to this; infrequently it seemed straight away, and various times it took a couple of minutes. If this stuff don’t misfortune you, this drive is limited, more cost effective, and entails a padded rubber case.

Simplest Padded Drive

Samsung’s T9 has been my stagger-to portable drive for a couple years now. While I attain love the LaCie drives (love the rugged Pro5 above) that most continuously dominate this category, the Samsung is lots snappily. The 20Gbps T9 became once in a position to take care of shut fleshy honest staunch thing about that velocity, clocking in at over 1350 MB/s, handily beating the Mandatory X9. The T9 additionally seems to be to thrill in a lower energy map, or no longer no longer up to after I plug it into my Android tablet it drains the battery a long way no longer up to any various drive I employ progressively.

The padding on the T9 is not very any longer up to what the LaCie drives offer, but it is additionally significantly more cost effective and has abet up properly to existence on the road. The single procure is that its no longer waterproof or mud proof. The padding stops on the ends so it is no longer totally sealed. I delight in not had any points, but ought to you rep it moist this might well well be an argument. Whenever you is most most definitely insecure about that, delight in a delight in a look on the T7 Protect below.

But every other Huge Padded Option

• Samsung T7 Protect 2-TB SSD for $235: Right here’s very equivalent to the above, but it provides an IP65 rating, which implies it is impartial in the rain and is protected against mud and sand. The T7 line is notable for its built-in safety functions love hardware-based totally encryption, but not just like the Touch mannequin, the Protect doesn’t delight in a fingerprint reader.

Simplest Gaming Drive

Take this category with a grain of salt. A lot of the drives here will work moral impartial for gaming (moral stick with the fastest you might well be in a position to search out the cash for). That stated, Western Digital’s original P40 does delight in some cool RGB lights on the bottom if that’s your jam. In my testing, that didn’t appear to affect energy consumption.

As for velocity, my assessments had been inconsistent. This drive is in a position to speeds that handily beat both the Envoy Expert and Samsung T7, but at various times it perceived to lavatory down (no longer no longer up to in benchmarks). In precise-world employ, the bottleneck I consistently hit became once some lunge in transferring extensive amounts of recordsdata. That might well well be a deal-breaker for some, but for the cost, it remains a real choice.

Simplest Bare Drive

Whenever you might well decide to position a greater SSD to your pc pc, all you wish is a unadorned drive, which is always more cost effective than the drives with enclosures listed above. The first ingredient to determine is which drive your PC makes employ of. Consult your manufacturer’s documentation to search out out. Within the meantime the most total make ingredient is M.2 2280, which is the prolonged, thin drive in the image above. More compact laptops might well well merely employ the identical, but shorter, M.2 2242 form. Again, test your PC to verify the drive it wants before you procure. Of the dozens I’ve tried, Western Digital’s WD Black series has stood out for velocity, and it doesn’t flee particularly warm.

The SN 990 PRO SSD NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen4 carried out speeds of seven,458 MB/s reads in my testing, roughly matching the claimed 7,450 MBs / 6,900 MBs study/write speeds. Whenever you is most most definitely doing a form of drive-intensive projects, love editing video or gaming, this drive is correctly price the cash. The largest version you might well be in a position to rep is 4 TB, and the cost is realistic brooding regarding the rate. There are quicker drives, but you might well pay for them and I accumulate that currently, past this drive there is a diminishing return in the rate vs designate curve. I’ve been utilizing this one as my predominant drive for several months months now and it if truth be told works broad for editing 5.2K video photos and compiling instrument. My accepted half? It generates runt or no warmth.

Varied Alternatives

• Western Digital SN850X 1-TB SSD for $245: But every other snappily one, Western Digital claims up to 7,300 MB/s study speeds, and in benchmark assessments, this drive’s outcomes came shut. Appreciate the Samsung above, to take care of shut fleshy honest staunch thing regarding the rate here, you might well need a machine that supports the PCIe 4.0 SSD standard, but here’s a broad drive in recount so that you can present a increase to a gaming machine, whether or no longer it is a long way a desktop PC or your PlayStation. This drive is additionally one of the few I’ve seen that’s available up to 8-TB skill.
• Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2-TB for $273: The 990 EVO Plus is an give a increase to to the very common 990 EVO. The distinctive did no longer offer anything else compelling and never made this manual, however the original version manages to be impressively quick and no longer overly scorching, as many Gen 5 PCIe disks I’ve tested delight in been. The 990 EVO Plus additionally launched with a 4-TB mannequin, something missing the predominant time around. By skill of velocity it doesn’t slightly match the SN850X above, topping out at 5,677 MB/s study, but it is lots snappily for most makes employ of and remains slightly cool even when pushed. Whenever you is most most definitely shopping for a merely all-around drive that stays cool, this one makes a merely choice, even though it is a long way on the costly facet for what you rep.

In most cases Asked Questions