External Hard Drives — Portable Storage & Backup 💾
Portable & Desktop External Drives for Backup (10)
How to Choose an External Hard Drive
Two questions decide it: how much you need to store, and how fast you need to move it. Backups and media libraries reward capacity, so a mechanical drive makes sense; editing and frequent large transfers reward speed, so a portable SSD earns its premium. The points below cover the rest.
External HDDs give you the most storage per rand and are ideal for backups, archives and large media libraries. Portable SSDs cost more per terabyte but transfer far faster, run silent and survive knocks better with no moving parts. Pick an HDD for bulk capacity, an SSD for speed and portability.
For document and photo backups, 1–2TB is usually plenty. For game libraries or 4K video, look at 4TB and up. As a rule, buy roughly double what you currently use so you have room to grow and aren't replacing the drive within a year.
2.5" portable drives are pocket-sized and powered by the USB cable alone — nothing extra to carry. 3.5" desktop drives offer the highest capacities at the best price per terabyte but need a mains power adapter, so they stay on a desk. Match the form factor to whether the drive travels or lives in one spot.
Check the port: USB 3.2 Gen 1/Gen 2 and USB-C deliver fast transfers, while older USB 2.0 is a bottleneck. A portable SSD over USB 3.2 Gen 2 can hit roughly 800–1,000 MB/s; a mechanical drive sits nearer 100–160 MB/s regardless of port. Use a cable and port that match the drive to get its rated speed.
Most drives ship formatted for Windows. Reformat to exFAT for use across both Windows and macOS, or to the console's required format for a PS5/Xbox. External HDDs work well for console game storage; check each console's current rules on running versus storing games.