5 External Hard Drives for Ultimate Backup
Hard disk drives (HDD) are not the only external storage devices out there. They were first introduced by IBM in 1956. Since then they have been the device of choice for secondary storage in computers. The only competitor to HDDs in the secondary storage business is the Solid State Drive (SSD). SSDs have higher data transfer rates, better reliability, lower access times and more. In this list, we have gathered some of the best external hard drives for backup purpose that you can purchase right away.
They store data on flash memories while HDDs store data on magnetically coated disks (platters). SSDs are also significantly more expensive than HDDs reason why keep an upper hand over SSDs in the external hard drive market. The importance of backing up data can never be over emphasised. The loss of critical data has put companies out of business, loss of data has ended peoples carriers.
Though some people use dedicated servers or the cloud for backup, external hard drives remain the most popular backup tools in use. External hard drives are small, light and easy to handle. Also, you do not need an internet connection to do your backup. The storage capacity of external hard drives has increased drastically over the years.
With a small budget, you can afford an external hard drive to store a considerable amount of data. The 2.5 inch (laptop hard drives) are the most common backup hard drives around due to their extreme portability. Unlike 3.5 inches (desktop hard drives) which can go up to 8 TB, most 2.5 inch drives you’ll find are less than or equal to 2 TB.
HGST Touro S External Hard Drive
It is a 2.5-inch aluminium designed ultra portable external hard drive with a speed of 7200 RPM. The Touro S comes loaded with a local and cloud backup software and 3 GB of cloud storage space. This allows you store and share data with friends with ease.
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The drive features a USB 3.0 interface for fast data transfer and is USB 2.0 backwards compatible. The Touro S is available in two capacities, 500 GB (128 g) and 1 TB (151 g). With its small and slick design, this external hard drive may just be the one for you.
You can buy it from here.
Western Digital My Passport External Hard Drive
This is a low cost external had drive that is available in multiple vibrant colours. It comes in all capacities from 1, 2, 3 and 4 TB to store all your important data. Western Digital My Passport features Western Digital’s backup software for automatic backups, you just have to schedule it.
The drive also features a 256-bit hardware encryption and a USB 3.0 interface (USB 2.0 compatible). The device comes formatted for Windows operating system and will need reformatting for other operating systems.
You can buy it from here.
Western Digital My Passport Wireless
Another nice Western Digital portable storage device. This external hard drive is truly all-purpose and mobile. It comes with an inbuilt Wi-Fi and SD card slot and USB 3.0 interface. You can back data from your phone, tablet, laptop, SD card.
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With up to 6 hours battery autonomy, you can connect to up to 8 devices, do backups and stream data between devices. You can stream data to any connected devices TVs, media players etc and comes in 1 or 2TB capacities.
You can buy it from here.
Seagate Backup Plus Fast External Hard Drive
The Seagate Backup Plus Fast is the external hard drive you need to store data for a lifetime. The hard drive weighs in at 246 g, has a nice design and comes in a beautiful black colour. The device operates at 5400 RPM and supports data transfer rates up to 220 MB/S.
It comes in 4 TB storage capacity with a fast USB 3.0 interface and is USB 2.0 compatible. The hard drive comes formatted for PC and will need reformatting before use with a Mac.
You can buy it from here.
Seagate Backup Plus Slim
Another great Seagate external hard drive only this time slimmer and lighter and ultra-portable. It’s available in 500 GB, 1, 2, 3, and 4 TB capacities, enough to store all your cherished data. Added to the hard drive storage is a free online storage space of 200 GB on Microsoft OneDrive for two years.
The drive comes in an aluminium case and is available in diverse colours. It features a USB 3.0 interface for fast data transfer. It also formatted with the NTFS file system, thus is ready for use with Windows. But it is used with a Mac after a simple and fast compatibility download.
You can buy it from here.
That ends our list of best portable external hard drives that you can purchase. You can pick one from any of these. If you’re too frequent in downloading movies, taking photos, sharing activities and similar tasks, then such external hard drive should be on your shopping list. If you have any other drive to share, use the comment section below. We would use your inputs and thoughts to build this list even better.