Best External Hard Drive (2026): SSD to Store Data, Video & More

In case you’re operating out of space for storing in your laptop computer or you might want to again up your knowledge and retailer that backlog of movies you are going to edit in the future (I’m, I swear), an exterior arduous drive can clear up your drawback. The difficulty is, there are a whole bunch of drive choices starting from dirt-cheap to crazy-expensive—which one is true on your wants? I’ve examined dozens, throughout working methods and with totally different use circumstances in thoughts, to seek out the very best exterior arduous drives for storage, backups, gaming, video enhancing, network-attached storage (NAS) gadgets, and extra.

Take a look at our different guides, together with How to Back Up and Move Your Photos Between Services, How to Back Up Your Digital Life, and How to Back Up Your iPhone.

Up to date January 2026: We have added Seagate’s One Contact SSD, swapped out our padding drive choose, and eliminated the Essential X6, which, sadly, has been discontinued. We have additionally added a word explaining the rebranding of WD_Black and WD Blue drives as SeaGate Optimus GX, and up to date costs and hyperlinks all through.

Greatest for Backups

For incremental backups, which we recommend, pace is not an enormous issue. That is why the primary drive I like to recommend is that this Western Digital Components arduous drive. I’ve been utilizing a variation of the Components desktop arduous drive to make incremental backups of my knowledge for greater than a decade. These drives are large and require exterior energy, however they’re among the least expensive, most dependable drives I’ve used.

Switch speeds usually are not off the charts—the Components drive I examined scored 120 megabytes per second (MB/s) for sequential writes on Home windows—however once more, you need to ideally be operating backups in a single day anyway, and even at these speeds the typical PC backup shall be carried out by morning. These drives use USB-C with help for USB 3, and I’ve had no drawback utilizing them with Home windows, macOS, and Linux.

Storage choices go all the best way as much as 20 terabytes. Simply test the costs; generally you may get a 10- and even 12-TB drive for not rather more than the 8-terabyte model. And I’ve not seen an enormous distinction between the Components line, the WD My Book drives, or the WD My Passport drives. The My Passport drives command a premium value as a result of they’re smaller, and the My E book drives have some encryption options that drive up the value, however I discover the essential Components drive is enough for most individuals.

Different Nice Backup Drives

• Seagate Expansion 8-TB External Hard Drive for $159: Seagate is one other dependable drive maker. It by no means hurts to have extra backups, and in the event you do need a number of backups, use drives from totally different manufacturers, since it would cut back the prospect that each fail concurrently.

Greatest for Moveable Backups

{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson

Western Digital

My Passport Extremely

In case you journey so much, you may need one thing that is simpler to hold than the Components drives, which are not the very best in a suitcase. For backups when touring, I like Western Digital’s My Passport sequence, particularly the brand new “Extremely” model, which makes use of a typical USB-C twine, eliminating the necessity to carry a separate cable. It is not the thinnest drive available on the market, however it’s lower than an inch thick and strong sufficient that I by no means fearful about tossing it in my bag. (Though it needs to be mentioned that this can be a spinning drive, so do not actually toss it.) I additionally like that the corners are properly rounded and there aren’t any screws or anything that can catch on material in your bag.

There are a number of colours out there and you may get from 1 TB to six TB. I examined the 5-TB mannequin, however Western Digital claims the identical speeds no matter drive measurement. I examined it utilizing CrystalDiskMark on Home windows, AmorphousDiskMark on macOS, and KDiskMark on Linux and averaged the outcomes to give you 121 MB/s for learn pace and 115 MB/s write pace. It is not what you’d wish to copy images rapidly for a shopper within the subject, however quick sufficient to run a every day backup in your lodge room.

Different Moveable Backup Drives

• Western Digital Elements 5-TB Portable HDD for $135: This drive is barely thinner than our prime choose, however feels flimsier in my expertise. Speeds are tad slower as effectively, however in the event you’re on a finances this can prevent slightly money. Corsair is advertising this as a great way to backup your iPhone ProRes footage, and whereas it definitely works for that, efficiency is proscribed by the iPhone’s USB-C interface. For max throughput, join it to a PC with a USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 port.
• Seagate One Touch 4-TB for $125: Seagate’s One Contact drive presents some encryption instruments, however speeds lagged slightly behind our prime choose. Nonetheless, this can be a strong possibility for backups and it is surprisingly small for a spinning drive enclosure. Additionally word that this drive is usually offered with 4 months of Adobe Artistic Cloud (a roughly $40 worth), however in the event you use it, make sure to cancel as a result of after these 4 months you may be charged.

Greatest USB5 Drive: The Thunderbolt 5

{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson

LaCie has up to date its rugged SSD line with the Rugged Pro5. This one ditches the enduring orange padding for blue, however it’s in any other case identical to the unusual LaCie padded drives on the surface. On the within, that is an amazingly quick drive. The 5 within the title is for, you guessed it, Thunderbolt 5, which regardless of being introduced seemingly forever ago, has been painfully gradual to trickle onto the market. This made testing a bit tough, however fortuitously a good friend let me borrow his brand-new MacBook Professional 14 for testing. The outcomes have been spectacular.

LaCie claims learn/write speeds of as much as 6,700 MB/s and 5,300 MB/s, which it says are sufficient for real-time enhancing of 8K and 6K RAW footage. In testing the best speeds, file transfers have been 5,787 MB/s learn and 5,188 MB/s write—which, whereas not fairly matching the declare, continues to be far and away the quickest drive on the web page. However uncooked speeds are simply numbers for spreadsheets; I used to be extra all in favour of real-world efficiency. Since I occurred to even be testing the Nikon Z6III (8/10, WIRED Recommends), which may shoot 6K ProRes RAW, I loaded little bit of footage on the Pro5 and was certainly capable of edit utilizing DaVinci Resolve Studio.

The draw back right here is the value. At $600 for the 4-TB model (which is the minimal you’d need for working with ProRes RAW video recordsdata), this can be a very expensive drive. It’s, nevertheless, effectively definitely worth the cash if it is pace you are after.

Greatest USB4 Drive

{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson

In case you do not but have any gadgets with Thunderbolt 5 help, this Thunderbolt 4 drive can be my advice for anybody obsessive about pace. Corsair’s EX400U is a powerful little drive, constantly delivering speeds of round 3,800 MB/s for sequential learn and and three,550 MB/s write. Once more, that is solely going to be potential when you’ve got a tool that helps USB4/Thunderbolt 4 (together with current Macbooks, Dell XPS, and others—see our guide to the best laptops for more). Technically, simply as I used to be wrapping up this replace, Lacie’s new rugged SSD got here out which beat this drive in my assessments by about 10 MB/s, however this drive is smaller, lighter, and cheaper.

I additionally like that Corsair has included a Magsafe connector on the again of the case, which makes nice possibility for backing up ProRes video footage out of your iPhone.

Greatest for Photographers

{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson

Essential’s X9 Professional hits the candy spot of pace, portability, and value to be probably the greatest drives on the market for photographers trying to make backups within the subject. These drives are tiny, about half the dimensions of a deck of playing cards, and weigh a mere 1.3 ounces (38 grams). They will hook up with absolutely anything. I examined the X9 Professional on Home windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS and by no means hit any points with any of them. In terms of pace, the X9 Professional claims symmetrical learn and write speeds, at 1,050 MB/s. I truly constantly acquired larger speeds, as much as 1,110 MB/s for learn and 1,100 MB/s for write. That places the X9 Professional on the prime of the pack by way of transportable drive pace.

I have been testing the X9 Professional for a number of months now, and whereas I can not but converse to the long-term survival fee, I’ve been testing X6 and X8 drives from Essential for over two years now with out subject. There’s additionally the X10 Pro drive ($235), which presents even sooner speeds when you’ve got a PC that helps USB 2X2. (The most recent Intel chips help this spec, however Apple doesn’t, so there isn’t any level in shopping for the X10 Professional when you’ve got a Mac.) I don’t personal a PC that helps USB 2X2 for in depth testing, however I did get an opportunity to a minimum of attempt it, and the X10 Professional does certainly ship on its promise of two,100 MB/s (I acquired it as much as 2,050 MB/s). In case your {hardware} helps it, the X10 Professional is value the additional cash.

Greatest Tiny Drive

{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson

Seagate’s new Extremely Compact SSD straddles the road between USB thumb drive and conventional exterior drive. The dimensions, design, and built-in USB-C connector make it a thumb drive, however the drive inside is far sooner, providing 1,000 MB/s throughput by way of USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps). In my CrystalDiskMark check, it managed 1034 MB/s and a write pace of 1018 MB/s, which, whereas not as quick as among the new Thunderbolt 5 drives coming available on the market, continues to be approach, approach sooner than most USB sticks. In some methods, performance-wise, this can be a extra compact, down-market model of the X9 drive above (LaCie is Seagate’s high-end, Mac-focused model). You do get barely much less efficiency for the cash, however the compact, no-cable-needed kind issue is likely to be value it to some individuals.

My one gripe with this drive is that it is on the huge aspect for a thumb drive, which implies that in case your laptop computer has USB-C ports shut collectively it would cowl two. You possibly can mitigate this by ditching the rubber housing, however you then lose among the safety (the drive with housing is rated to resist 3 meter drops and is IP54 rated for mud and water resistance). It additionally goes out and in of inventory incessantly. Seagate’s Extremely Compact SSD is one in every of a number of SSDs adopting the thumb drive kind issue. We have additionally examined and just like the SK Hynix Tube 31, which is featured in our information to the Best USB Flash Drives.

Different Nice Tiny Drives

• Kingston XS1000 2-TB for $203: This tiny little drive is without doubt one of the smallest on this information. Just like the Essential X6, it has a principally plastic enclosure, however it has withstood life in my bag fairly effectively. Whereas it is not as sturdy because the padded choices beneath, it is robust sufficient for many issues. It is also speedy. Kingston claims as much as 1,050 MB/s. I by no means managed that, however I routinely hit round 800 MB/s, with some older laptops nearer to 600 MB/s, which continues to be fairly good. The drive bogs down a bit with giant recordsdata (MP4s, for instance), so it is not the very best for professional videographers, however for everybody else, this can be a strong, barely cheaper possibility.

Greatest Go-Anyplace Drive

OWC

Envoy Professional Elektron SSD

In case you want a drive that may stand as much as life in a backpack or camera bag, get moist, or deal with a drop onto arduous surfaces, OWC drives are your best option. It is robust to select a winner right here as a result of there are numerous strong choices, however OWC’s Elektron drive narrowly beat others in benchmark assessments. I additionally like which you could swap out the drive contained in the aluminum casing (it is easy to unscrew), which suggests two years from now, you’ll be able to choose up a sooner naked SSD and drop it within the hardy Elektron enclosure.

Different Nice Rugged SSDs

• Sabrent Rocket Nano 1-TB SSD for $170: I actually like this one. It is smaller and barely sooner than the OWC, however it has two drawbacks. The primary is that it may possibly get sizzling. In case you’re attempting to work with it in your lap, it may be downright uncomfortable. The opposite subject is that generally it is gradual to be acknowledged by my PC. I may discover no sample to this; generally it appeared immediately, and different instances it took a few minutes. If these issues do not trouble you, this drive is tiny, cheaper, and features a padded rubber case.

Greatest Padded Drive

{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson

Samsung’s T9 has been my go-to transportable drive for a pair years now. Whereas I do just like the LaCie drives (just like the rugged Pro5 above) that often dominate this class, the Samsung is a lot quick. The 20Gbps T9 was capable of take full benefit of that pace, clocking in at over 1350 MB/s, handily beating the Essential X9. The T9 additionally appears to have a decrease energy draw, or a minimum of once I plug it into my Android pill it drains the battery far lower than another drive I exploit usually.

The padding on the T9 is lower than what the LaCie drives supply, however it’s additionally significantly cheaper and has assist up effectively to life on the street. The one catch is that its not waterproof or mud proof. The padding stops on the ends so it is not utterly sealed. I have not had any points, however in the event you get it moist will probably be an issue. In case you’re fearful about that, take a look at the T7 Protect beneath.

One other Nice Padded Possibility

• Samsung T7 Shield 2-TB SSD for $235: That is similar to the above, however it provides an IP65 rating, which suggests it is positive within the rain and is protected against mud and sand. The T7 line is notable for its built-in security measures like hardware-based encryption, however not like the Touch model, the Protect doesn’t have a fingerprint reader.

Greatest Gaming Drive

{Photograph}: Western Digital

Western Digital

P40 Gaming Drive

Take this class with a grain of salt. A lot of the drives right here will work simply positive for gaming (simply stick to the quickest you’ll be able to afford). That mentioned, Western Digital’s new P40 does have some cool RGB lights on the underside if that is your jam. In my testing, that did not appear to impression energy consumption.

As for pace, my assessments have been inconsistent. This drive is able to speeds that handily beat each the Envoy Professional and Samsung T7, however at different instances it appeared to bathroom down (a minimum of in benchmarks). In real-world use, the bottleneck I constantly hit was some lag in transferring enormous quantities of information. That is likely to be a deal-breaker for some, however for the value, it stays a strong selection.

Greatest Naked Drive

If you wish to put a much bigger SSD in your laptop computer, all you want is a naked drive, which is usually cheaper than the drives with enclosures listed above. The very first thing to determine is which drive your PC makes use of. Seek the advice of your producer’s documentation to seek out out. Nowadays the most typical kind issue is M.2 2280, which is the lengthy, skinny drive within the picture above. Extra compact laptops could use the same, however shorter, M.2 2242 design. Once more, test your PC to substantiate the drive it wants before you purchase. Of the handfuls I’ve tried, Western Digital’s WD Black sequence has stood out for pace, and it does not run extremely popular.

The SN 990 PRO SSD NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen4 achieved speeds of seven,458 MB/s reads in my testing, kind of matching the claimed 7,450 MBs / 6,900 MBs learn/write speeds. In case you’re doing numerous drive-intensive duties, like enhancing video or gaming, this drive is effectively definitely worth the cash. The biggest model you may get is 4 TB, and the value is cheap contemplating the pace. There are sooner drives, however you may pay for them and I discover that at present, past this drive there’s a diminishing return within the pace vs value curve. I have been utilizing this one as my foremost drive for a number of months months now and it really works nice for enhancing 5.2K video footage and compiling software program. My favourite half? It generates little or no warmth.

Different Choices

• Western Digital SN850X 1-TB SSD for $245: One other quick one, Western Digital claims as much as 7,300 MB/s learn speeds, and in benchmark assessments, this drive’s outcomes got here shut. Just like the Samsung above, to take full benefit of the pace right here, you may want a system that helps the PCIe 4.0 SSD normal, however this can be a nice drive if you wish to improve a gaming system, whether or not it is a desktop PC or your PlayStation. This drive can also be one of many few I’ve seen that is out there as much as 8-TB capacity.
• Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2-TB for $273: The 990 EVO Plus is an improve to the highly regarded 990 EVO. The unique didn’t supply something compelling and by no means made this information, however the brand new model manages to be impressively speedy and never overly sizzling, as many Gen 5 PCIe disks I’ve examined have been. The 990 EVO Plus additionally launched with a 4-TB mannequin, one thing lacking the primary time round. When it comes to pace it does not fairly match the SN850X above, topping out at 5,677 MB/s learn, however it’s a lot quick for many makes use of and stays fairly cool even when pushed. In case you’re searching for all-around drive that stays cool, this one makes a sensible choice, although it’s on the expensive aspect for what you get.

Incessantly Requested Questions