The team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. Seagate/Business Insider The Insider Pick:. A portable hard drive can make it much easier to transfer your data from place to place. Not only is the fast, it also offers a hefty 2TB of storage, which should be plenty for most people's needs. While much of the world is moving toward cloud storage, a great external hard drive can still be an extremely helpful tool, especially if your internet connection is spotty or you simply want to move files around without having to rely on cloud storage. Of course, there are a ton of external hard drives to choose from, and they’re not all equal.

A lot of work and development has gone into building on storage technology over the last few years, and as such, they’ve gotten a lot better. There are a few things to keep in mind when you’re in the market for a new portable hard drive. For starters, you’ll want to consider the type of hard drive you want. SSD: There are two main types: HHDs, or hard disk drives, and SSDs, or solid-state drives.

The difference is pretty important. HHDs store information on a spinning disk and that disk can be a source of hard drive failure. SSDs, on the other hand, have no moving parts and are thus more reliable as portable hard drives. The tradeoff is that SSDs are a lot more expensive. Storage amount: You’ll also want to consider how much storage you need. If you’re a videographer or photographer, chances are you could easily fill up a hard drive quickly, so you’ll want a higher-capacity drive.

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If on the other hand, you’re simply transferring Microsoft Word documents to and from work, then you won’t need as much storage and could save a few bucks by getting a lower storage drive. Connection: Next up, you’ll want to think about the kind of connection you want your hard drive to connect through. The vast majority of external hard drives connect to a computer through USB, and nowadays it’s through USB 3.0, but there are still some USB 2.0-capable hard drives. There are also plenty of hard drives that connect through Firewire, and some that even connect through Thunderbolt. Operating system: Last but not least is operating system-compatibility.

Now, most hard drives can be formatted to work with both macOS and Windows, and you’ll be able to set that up when you first get the hard drive. Some, however, are pre-formatted, so you don’t have to worry about formatting. Make two copies in different locations: A quick note about hard drives: none of these are 100% reliable. You should always have two copies of your data in different locations. Hard drive failures happen to even the most reliable of drives, and you don’t want to be stuck losing valuable data. We've scoured external hard drive reviews on the web from experts and users to find the best hard drives for every use case. We've included hard drives with a ton of space, smaller ones, affordable options, and more.

Read on to learn more about our top picks and find which one is best for you. Updated on by Malarie Gokey: Added the Samsung T5 SSD after testing the product. Although the is our top pick, for various reasons laid out in the slides below, you should also consider the, the, the, and the. The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. The Insider Pick: A portable hard drive can make it much easier to transfer your data from place to place. Not only is the Western Digital Elements 2TB Hard Drive fast, it also offers a hefty 2TB of storage, which should be plenty for most people's needs.

While much of the world is moving toward cloud storage, a great external hard drive can still be an extremely helpful tool, especially if your internet connection is spotty or you simply want to move files around without having to rely on cloud storage. Of course, there are a ton of external hard drives to choose from, and they’re not all equal. A lot of work and development has gone into building on storage technology over the last few years, and as such, they’ve gotten a lot better. There are a few things to keep in mind when you’re in the market for a new portable hard drive. For starters, you’ll want to consider the type of hard drive you want. SSD: There are two main types: HHDs, or hard disk drives, and SSDs, or solid-state drives.

The difference is pretty important. HHDs store information on a spinning disk and that disk can be a source of hard drive failure. SSDs, on the other hand, have no moving parts and are thus more reliable as portable hard drives. The tradeoff is that SSDs are a lot more expensive. Storage amount: You’ll also want to consider how much storage you need. If you’re a videographer or photographer, chances are you could easily fill up a hard drive quickly, so you’ll want a higher-capacity drive. If on the other hand, you’re simply transferring Microsoft Word documents to and from work, then you won’t need as much storage and could save a few bucks by getting a lower storage drive.

Connection: Next up, you’ll want to think about the kind of connection you want your hard drive to connect through. The vast majority of external hard drives connect to a computer through USB, and nowadays it’s through USB 3.0, but there are still some USB 2.0-capable hard drives. There are also plenty of hard drives that connect through Firewire, and some that even connect through Thunderbolt. Operating system: Last but not least is operating system-compatibility. Now, most hard drives can be formatted to work with both macOS and Windows, and you’ll be able to set that up when you first get the hard drive. Some, however, are pre-formatted, so you don’t have to worry about formatting.

Make two copies in different locations: A quick note about hard drives: none of these are 100% reliable. You should always have two copies of your data in different locations.

Hard drive failures happen to even the most reliable of drives, and you don’t want to be stuck losing valuable data. We've scoured external hard drive reviews on the web from experts and users to find the best hard drives for every use case. We've included hard drives with a ton of space, smaller ones, affordable options, and more. Read on to learn more about our top picks and find which one is best for you. Updated on by Malarie Gokey: Added the Samsung T5 SSD after testing the product. Although the Western Digital Elements 2TB Hard Drive is our top pick, for various reasons laid out in the slides below, you should also consider the Seagate Expansion 4TB Hard Drive, the G-Technology 1TB G-Drive, the Samsung T5 SSD, and the Seagate Backup Plus 4TB Hard Drive.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. The Insider Pick: A portable hard drive can make it much easier to transfer your data from place to place. Not only is the Western Digital Elements 2TB Hard Drive fast, it also offers a hefty 2TB of storage, which should be plenty for most people's needs. While much of the world is moving toward cloud storage, a great external hard drive can still be an extremely helpful tool, especially if your internet connection is spotty or you simply want to move files around without having to rely on cloud storage. Of course, there are a ton of external hard drives to choose from, and they’re not all equal. A lot of work and development has gone into building on storage technology over the last few years, and as such, they’ve gotten a lot better.

There are a few things to keep in mind when you’re in the market for a new portable hard drive. For starters, you’ll want to consider the type of hard drive you want. SSD: There are two main types: HHDs, or hard disk drives, and SSDs, or solid-state drives. The difference is pretty important. HHDs store information on a spinning disk and that disk can be a source of hard drive failure. SSDs, on the other hand, have no moving parts and are thus more reliable as portable hard drives. The tradeoff is that SSDs are a lot more expensive.

Storage amount: You’ll also want to consider how much storage you need. If you’re a videographer or photographer, chances are you could easily fill up a hard drive quickly, so you’ll want a higher-capacity drive. If on the other hand, you’re simply transferring Microsoft Word documents to and from work, then you won’t need as much storage and could save a few bucks by getting a lower storage drive. Connection: Next up, you’ll want to think about the kind of connection you want your hard drive to connect through.

The vast majority of external hard drives connect to a computer through USB, and nowadays it’s through USB 3.0, but there are still some USB 2.0-capable hard drives. There are also plenty of hard drives that connect through Firewire, and some that even connect through Thunderbolt. Operating system: Last but not least is operating system-compatibility. Now, most hard drives can be formatted to work with both macOS and Windows, and you’ll be able to set that up when you first get the hard drive. Some, however, are pre-formatted, so you don’t have to worry about formatting. Make two copies in different locations: A quick note about hard drives: none of these are 100% reliable.

You should always have two copies of your data in different locations. Hard drive failures happen to even the most reliable of drives, and you don’t want to be stuck losing valuable data. We've scoured external hard drive reviews on the web from experts and users to find the best hard drives for every use case. We've included hard drives with a ton of space, smaller ones, affordable options, and more.

Read on to learn more about our top picks and find which one is best for you. Updated on by Malarie Gokey: Added the Samsung T5 SSD after testing the product. Although the Western Digital Elements 2TB Hard Drive is our top pick, for various reasons laid out in the slides below, you should also consider the Seagate Expansion 4TB Hard Drive, the G-Technology 1TB G-Drive, the Samsung T5 SSD, and the Seagate Backup Plus 4TB Hard Drive.