How To Buy A Portable Hard Drive

To back up your PC on an external drive, go to Start > File History (Windows 11) or Backup settings (Windows 10) > Add a drive. You can back up a Mac with Time Machine.

To back up your iPhone to an external drive, on your Mac go to Finder > Locations > your iPhone > Manage Backups. Choose a backup and select Show in Finder, then drag the backup to the external drive in Locations.

The range of external hard drives is larger than ever, extending from cost-effective products to high-end models with an extensive software offering. Toshiba recommends that consumers make their purchasing decision based upon the following six criteria:

1) Storage CapacityThe first question to be answered is, what storage capacity do I need There are no restrictions in the product range, with drives ranging from lower capacity models of 500GB, up to huge 4TB options. The selection also depends on the area of application for the hard drive, such as whether it is just used for complete backups at home or primarily for the regular transport of specific data from A to B.

4) Size and Weight Weight and size are also essential if the hard drive is not only used for data backup at home but also while on the move. And design is also an important aspect for many consumers. Today there are many great-looking, stylishly-designed products to choose from.

Toshiba offers several external hard drive series targeting different user requirements. Further information on the mobile hard drives Canvio Advance, Canvio Alu, Canvio Premium, Canvio Slim, Canvio Basics and Canvio for Desktop can be found at -storage.com/

Data storage is an essential part of any PC build. Properly storing and backing up your data can save you from some major headaches if data loss ever occurs. One of the best ways to store data or create backups of your system is using an external hard drive. Backing up your data to an external drive is the safest and quickest way to ensure that no matter what happens to your PC, home, or office, your data will be safely stored on another physical drive.

Sometimes called portable storage, external hard drives perform the same tasks as internal HDDs and solid-state drives (SSDs). Hard drives, internal or external, are how your PC stores data. Everything from documents and photos to the operating system itself is stored on a hard drive. External hard drives are made to move between multiple machines or locations quickly and often have a small form factor. Do not be fooled by their small size: external hard drives can store tons of information or even back up decades of financial or legal documents.

When you need to move more than what a flash drive can handle, there are a few options for transferring data. Cloud-based services often have strict limits on how much data you can upload and can take hours to move a single file. That is where external hard drives come in. External hard drives are available in larger sizes than what flash drives are capable of while still featuring the same plug-and-play technology that makes them easy to use. Transferring large amounts of data using external drives is as simple as loading the device with data, traveling to the destination PC, and plugging the drive in.

Important data from work projects and school assignments to family photos and more is stored on a computer these days. Cloud-based backups exist but come with costly fees or subscription plans limiting how much data you can store with them. Having everything in one place is great for convenience but possibly detrimental in terms of potential data loss. Suppose you store backups of your data on an external drive. In that case, you have a duplicate of your information that can be used if your main drive ever fails or becomes damaged.

External hard drives can also be used to securely transfer data. There is zero threat from malicious online-based sources when you use an external physical drive to transfer data. The device itself has no connection to the internet unless connected to a PC. Once data has been transferred to the device, the external drive can be unplugged, and it becomes a miniature safe for your valuable information. The only way to access the data on your external drive is to plug it into another PC and give that computer permission to access the files on your external drive.

These days, all of your most sensitive information and documents are often stored electronically. If you do not have a backup of your valuable information, a single internal hard drive failure could mean losing legal documents, tax returns, birth certificates, and more. External hard drives are perfect for archiving your most critical information because they can safely store duplicates of your data. Physical backups are much more secure than cloud-based solutions because they are offline. When not in use, they are powered off and can be stored in a safe location.

The most common sizes for external hard drives are 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB. Some smaller and larger sizes are available as well. The amount of storage capacity does not affect the type of data that can be stored on the hard drive.

Choosing an external hard drive can feel like choosing a computer all over again. Luckily there are not nearly as many specifications or terms to remember. When choosing an external drive, you just need to think about what type of data you wish to store and how much of that data you will need to back up:

There are a few different types of external hard drives from which you can choose. Sometimes, specific drives can be needed depending on how much data you need to back up, or if you plan to be traveling with the external drive often. Below are some of the most common types of external drives and some information about them:

No part of your PC is more important than your data. Having the proper backups in place can protect you from losing decades of important files. External hard drives are perfect for backing up or transferring large amounts of sensitive data. When you have a physical backup stored in a separate location, you have a guaranteed duplicate of any information you could lose from your primary device.

External drives are also perfect for students or professionals who need to move large amounts of data that could take hours to upload and download every day. Buying an external drive can seem daunting, but you can refer to this guide at any time to help ensure that you find an external storage device that best fits your needs.

If the Western Digital My Passport SSD is sold out or unavailable, or if prices shift to make the My Passport SSD significantly more expensive, we recommend the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD V2 (1 TB). Like the My Passport SSD, the Extreme Portable SSD supports some of the fastest USB transfer speeds (USB 3.1 Gen 2), and the two drives finished in a virtual dead heat in our tests. The SanDisk also comes with 256-bit AES hardware encryption, if you choose to use it. Compared with the My Passport SSD, the Extreme Portable SSD looks a bit more durable; it also has an IP55 dust- and water-resistance rating, and it should easily survive a drop onto a wet sidewalk or roadside. The SanDisk has a higher list price, but the actual price you pay has been the same as the My Passport over the past year, and the SanDisk also has a lengthy, five-year warranty.

To find worthy contenders, we investigated the most popular portable solid-state drives on Amazon, and we checked online reviews on tech sites like AnandTech, Dong Knows Tech, and PCMag. We also scoured the websites of well-known external-SSD manufacturers such as LaCie, Samsung, SanDisk, and Western Digital. We came up with seven finalists:

Our pick and runner-up are now available in 4 TB capacities. Although this is a milestone, we think these particularly roomy models are too expensive at the moment, with a list price over $450. If you need to store that much data or keep archived backups over multiple years, a portable hard drive is much more economical (though slower, larger, and less durable) at about $100 for 4 TB.

We compared other current drives but dismissed them for other reasons, including a high price (G-Technology G-Drive, SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD V2, Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD, Western Digital WD Black P50 Game Drive SSD), a slower claimed transfer speed (Adata SC685, Crucial X6), or an outdated USB 3.0 interface (Seagate Expansion SSD, Seagate One Touch SSD, Seagate Ultra Touch SSD).

A portable hard drive or SSD is a do-it-all storage device, one that can carry huge libraries of files and share them amongst PCs, Macs, tablets and phones. It can also hold full system backup files that restore your computer's OS and software should you experience a crash. Getting the best external hard drive or best external SSD for your specific needs is an important shopping decision, balancing price, performance, features and even durability.

But with dozens of portable storage options available, how do you know which is the right external drive to buy Should you opt for a speedier, more rugged (and more expensive) external SSD instead of a portable hard drive made up of comparatively fragile spinning platters and an actuator arm Or could a slower, roomier and much cheaper portable hard drive be adequate for your storage needs

To help you pick the right storage device for your needs, we test and review dozens of drives as they become available and publish our list of specific recommendations for the best portable SSDs and hard drives on this page.

If you're looking for a less expensive, more-DIY alternative you can also create your own external drive with one of the best SSD and hard drive enclosures. You could also go for one of the best Flash drives, which are all pocket-friendly but usually not as performant as SSDs. 781b155fdc