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ElectronicsDiskPortable

What are the best external hard drives?

8

Options
Considered

75

User
Recs.

Nov 4, 2023

Last
Updated

6 Options Considered

Best external hard drives	Price	Weight	Size
50 Seagate Backup Plus Slim	$54.95	5.6 ounces	4.47 x 2.99 x 0.48 inches
42 Seagate Backup Plus Portable	$109	8.6 ounces	4.51x3.07x0.81 inches
-- Solo G3	$285	-	-
-- WD My Passport	$58	-	-
-- Toshiba Canvio Advance	$50	149 g	78 x 109 x 14 mm

Seagate Backup Plus Slim

Top Pro

Has a mobile app that backs up all your data on your smartphone

Seagate has a mobile app called The Seagate Mobile Backup app available for both iOS and Android that backs up your contacts, messages, photos, and other data from your smartphone to your hard drive via Wi-Fi or your phone’s data connection to a drive that is plugged into a computer running the Dashboard software. See More

Top Con

You need to use an encryption software to encrypt your files

Does not have hardware encryption built-in. You'll have to use an encryption software if you want to encrypt the files you have stored in this hard drive. See More

kek's Experience

First day after I purchased it broke. It had bad sectors I couldn't fix how hard i try. Warranty didn't work out since they didn't respond (This may be local issue since they don't have technical support in Turkey). See More

Specs

Weight:5.6 ounces

Size:4.47 x 2.99 x 0.48 inches

Top Pro

The case can take some physical abuse without being damaged

The Seagate Backup Plus Slim has a hard and sturdy case that does not flex or creak under pressure. It's also durable to scratches from keys or other hard objects. See More

Top Con

The USB port is prone to breaking if you are not careful

The USB port wobbles up and down when you apply even a little bit of pressure to the USB cable and for this reason you must make sure to leave the hard drive unplugged when transporting it since it's quite easy to break the port accidentally. See More

Top Pro

Very portable

The Seagate Backup Slim, true to its name is one of the slimmest and most portable hard drives on the market. It's less than half an inch thick (0.48inch), it weighs just 5.6 ounces, and it's 4.47 inches long and 2.99 inches wide which makes it easy to just throw into a bag pocket when you are on the go. See More

Top Pro

Comes with a very helpful and useful software dashboard that lets you instantly backup all your data and files

The Backup Plus Slim comes with a very user-friendly software dashboard called the Seagate Dashboard which lets you back up your PC, mobile devices, and social media, or restore an existing backup. See More

Seagate Backup Plus Portable

Top Con

Not the most portable hard drive out there

Measuring 4.51 by 3.07 by 0.81 inches and weighing 8.6 ounces, this hard drive is a bit on the bulkier side. It's twice as thick and heavy as the Seagate Backup Plus Slim for example. See More

Top Pro

Included cloud storage

Included with the purchase of this hard drive is a 2 year subscription to 200GB of Microsoft's OneDrive online storage. This adds flexibility - you can access it from any computer as long as you have an internet access and login using your Microsoft account. See More

Specs

Weight:8.6 ounces

Size: 4.51x3.07x0.81 inches

Write Speed:93.5MB/s

Read Speed:100MB/s

Top Con

Can slide off an uneven desk

The hard drive can slide off any surfaces that aren't quite flat because of its smooth surfaces. You might want to make sure your desk is level, or use some felt pads, or put it on a surface that won't slide (for example a mouse pad). See More

Top Pro

Has a mobile app that backs up all your data on your smartphone

Seagate has a mobile app called The Seagate Mobile Backup app available for both iOS and Android that backs up your contacts, messages, photos, and other data from your smartphone to your hard drive via Wi-Fi or your phone’s data connection to a drive that is plugged into a computer running the Dashboard software. See More

Top Pro

Great performance for the price

The Backup Plus Portable has great performance for the price. According to the HD Tune benchmark, it has results of 100.6 MB/s read and 93.5 MB/s write, making it the fastest portable hard drive for this price range, especially for single-file transfers. See More

Top Pro

Comes with a very helpful and useful software dashboard that lets you instantly backup all your data and files

The Backup Plus Portable comes with a very user-friendly software dashboard called the Seagate Dashboard which lets you back up your PC, mobile devices, and social media, or restore an existing backup. See More

Solo G3

Top Pro

Waterproof

The Solo G3 can withstand submersion in water 10 feet deep for 3 days. It might not survive a prolonged flood, but it is extremely resilient to water. See More

Top Con

No redundancy built-in

There is just one drive inside, meaning that in the unlikely event of hard drive failure, all of your data will be lost. Some other hard drive protect against this by using RAID configurations. See More

Top Pro

Fireproof

The Solo G3 is rated fireproof at temperatures up to 1550 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. The average house fire temperature is 1100 Fahrenheit, and lasts about 30 minutes. This means that the Solo G3 will be able to survive the average house fire fairly easily. See More

Top Con

Massive

5.0x7.1x11 inches is huge for a hard drive, and it weighs 15 pounds. It is not portable at all. See More

Top Pro

Fast read/write speeds

Using USB 3.0 you can expect 109MBps write speeds and 111MBps read speeds. If you only use USB 2.0 though, those speeds will drop to 16MBps for write and 32MBps for read. See More

WD My Passport

Top Pro

Large Capacity options

Models available to up to 4TB. See More

Top Con

Doesn't have a Thunderbolt port

If you use a Mac or a higher end Windows unit, you may have experienced the speed of Thunderbolt external devices. Thunderbolt drives are more expensive than USB drives. Though, a similar 5400 rpm drive using a Thunderbolt connection can read 1.5x faster than USB 3. But you may not care depending on your usage. It has not hurt some users, some 80% of computer users will not find any benefit to Thunderbolt. See More

Top Pro

Relatively long warranty

The WD My Passport comes with a 3-year warranty. See More

Top Con

Relatively slow for single-file transfers

Even though it has a 201.8MB/s write speed, according to benchmarks it's surprisingly slow with single-file transfers compared to other portable hard drives. See More

Top Pro

WD is generally more reliable than Seagate Drives

Top Pro

Has a backup software

Western Digital provides a backup application that can be downloaded from the manufacturer's site. You can use the application to create automated backups or manual on-demand backups. See More

Top Pro

Supports Mac and PC

Supports both NTFS and HFS+(needs formating). See More

Top Pro

Very portable

At 0.54lbs, it's quite portable and easy to just throw into a bag and carry around. See More

Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim

Top Pro

Comes with a very helpful and useful software dashboard that lets you instantly backup all your data and files

The Backup Plus Ultra Slim comes with a very user-friendly software dashboard called the Seagate Dashboard which lets you back up your PC, mobile devices, and social media, or restore an existing backup. See More

Top Con

No encryption

Specs

Weight:4.3 ounces

Height:0.37 inches

Length:4.46 inches

Top Pro

One of the most portable hard drives on the market

As the name implies, this hard drive is extremely thin and lightweight. It weighs just 4.3 ounces and is 0.37 inch thick. This makes it one of the most portable hard drives currently on the market. See More

Top Con

Becomes less reliable as time goes on

According to benchmarks, during the first year of the lifetime of a Backup Plus Ultra Slim, the failure rate averages at 4.2 percent. After the first year however, the failure rate skyrockets to 14.5 percent and as far as hard drive and other storage devices go, anything above 10 percent is cause for concern especially since it's after just one year of use. See More

Top Pro

Has a mobile app that backs up all your data on your smartphone

Seagate has a mobile app called The Seagate Mobile Backup app available for both iOS and Android that backs up your contacts, messages, photos, and other data from your smartphone to your hard drive via Wi-Fi or your phone’s data connection to a drive that is plugged into a computer running the Dashboard software. See More

Top Con

Lacks rubber feet for grip

Will easily slide around the surface See More

Samsung T3 Portable

WD My Book 4TB External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 File Backup and Storage

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