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

In the event you’re operating out of space for storing in your laptop computer or you might want to again up your information and retailer that backlog of movies you are going to edit in the future (I’m, I swear), an exterior exhausting drive can resolve your downside. The difficulty is, there are lots of of drive choices starting from dirt-cheap to crazy-expensive—which one is true in your wants? I’ve examined dozens, throughout working methods and with totally different use instances in thoughts, to seek out the most effective exterior exhausting drives for storage, backups, gaming, video enhancing, network-attached storage (NAS) gadgets, and extra.

Try 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 observe explaining the rebranding of WD_Black and WD Blue drives as SeaGate Optimus GX, and up to date costs and hyperlinks all through.

Finest 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 exhausting drive. I’ve been utilizing a variation of the Components desktop exhausting drive to make incremental backups of my information for greater than a decade. These drives are massive and require exterior energy, however they’re among the most cost-effective, 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 common PC backup can be performed by morning. These drives use USB-C with help for USB 3, and I’ve had no downside utilizing them with Home windows, macOS, and Linux.

Storage choices go all the way in which as much as 20 terabytes. Simply examine the costs; typically you will get a 10- and even 12-TB drive for not far 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 Guide drives have some encryption options that drive up the value, however I discover the essential Components drive is ample 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’s going to scale back the prospect that each fail concurrently.

Finest for Moveable Backups

In the event you journey quite a bit, you will need one thing that is simpler to hold than the Components drives, which are not the most effective in a suitcase. For backups when touring, I like Western Digital’s My Passport collection, particularly the brand new “Extremely” model, which makes use of a regular USB-C wire, eliminating the necessity to carry a separate cable. It isn’t 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 stated that it is 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 the rest that can catch on cloth in your bag.

There are a number of colours obtainable and you will get from 1 TB to six TB. I examined the 5-TB mannequin, however Western Digital claims the identical speeds no matter drive dimension. 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 isn’t what you’d wish to copy photographs rapidly for a shopper within the discipline, however quick sufficient to run a each 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 funds this can prevent a little bit money. Corsair is advertising and marketing this as a great way to backup your iPhone ProRes footage, and whereas it definitely works for that, efficiency is restricted 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 provides some encryption instruments, however speeds lagged a little bit behind our prime choose. Nonetheless, it is a strong possibility for backups and it is surprisingly small for a spinning drive enclosure. Additionally observe that this drive is typically bought with 4 months of Adobe Artistic Cloud (a roughly $40 worth), however in the event you use it, make sure you cancel as a result of after these 4 months you will be charged.

Finest USB5 Drive: The Thunderbolt 5

LaCie has up to date its rugged SSD line with the Rugged Pro5. This one ditches the long-lasting orange padding for blue, however it’s in any other case similar to the extraordinary LaCie padded drives on the surface. On the within, that is an amazingly quick drive. The 5 within the identify is for, you guessed it, Thunderbolt 5, which regardless of being introduced seemingly forever ago, has been painfully sluggish to trickle onto the market. This made testing a bit tough, however happily a good friend let me borrow his brand-new MacBook Professional 14 for testing. The outcomes had 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 had 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 excited about 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 a great 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 information), it is a very expensive drive. It’s, nevertheless, effectively well worth the cash if it is pace you are after.

Finest USB4 Drive

In the event you do not but have any gadgets with Thunderbolt 5 help, this Thunderbolt 4 drive could 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 doable if in case you have a tool that helps USB4/Thunderbolt 4 (together with latest 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 checks 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.

Finest for Photographers

Essential’s X9 Professional hits the candy spot of pace, portability, and value to be among the best drives on the market for photographers seeking to make backups within the discipline. 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 connect 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 the case of pace, the X9 Professional claims symmetrical learn and write speeds, at 1,050 MB/s. I really constantly received greater 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 am unable to but communicate to the long-term survival price, 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 provides even sooner speeds if in case you have 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 if in case you have a Mac.) I don’t personal a PC that helps USB 2X2 for in depth testing, however I did get an opportunity to no less than attempt it, and the X10 Professional does certainly ship on its promise of two,100 MB/s (I received it as much as 2,050 MB/s). In case your {hardware} helps it, the X10 Professional is price the additional cash.

Finest Tiny Drive

Seagate’s new Extremely Compact SSD straddles the road between USB thumb drive and conventional exterior drive. The scale, 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 through USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps). In my CrystalDiskMark take a look at, 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 means, means sooner than most USB sticks. In some methods, performance-wise, it is 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 could be price it to some individuals.

My one gripe with this drive is that it is on the large aspect for a thumb drive, which signifies 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 then you definately 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 often. Seagate’s Extremely Compact SSD is one in all 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 among 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 isn’t as sturdy because the padded choices under, it is sturdy 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 massive information (MP4s, for instance), so it isn’t the most effective for professional videographers, however for everybody else, it is a strong, barely cheaper possibility.

Finest Go-Anyplace Drive

In the event 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 exhausting surfaces, OWC drives are your best option. It is powerful to select a winner right here as a result of there are lots of strong choices, however OWC’s Elektron drive narrowly beat others in benchmark checks. I additionally like that you could swap out the drive contained in the aluminum casing (it is easy to unscrew), which implies 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 might probably get scorching. In the event you’re making an attempt to work with it in your lap, it may be downright uncomfortable. The opposite subject is that typically it is sluggish to be acknowledged by my PC. I might discover no sample to this; typically it appeared straight away, and different instances it took a few minutes. If these issues do not hassle you, this drive is tiny, cheaper, and features a padded rubber case.

Finest Padded Drive

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 normally dominate this class, the Samsung is lots 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 no less than once I plug it into my Android pill it drains the battery far lower than another drive I exploit commonly.

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 isn’t fully sealed. I have never had any points, however in the event you get it moist it is going to be an issue. In the event you’re fearful about that, take a look at the T7 Protect under.

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 implies it is fantastic 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.

Finest Gaming Drive

Take this class with a grain of salt. A lot of the drives right here will work simply fantastic for gaming (simply follow the quickest you’ll be able to afford). That stated, 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 affect energy consumption.

As for pace, my checks had 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 (no less than in benchmarks). In real-world use, the bottleneck I constantly hit was some lag in transferring large quantities of knowledge. That could be a deal-breaker for some, however for the value, it stays a strong alternative.

Finest Naked Drive

If you wish to put a much bigger SSD in your laptop computer, all you want is a naked drive, which is mostly 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. Today the commonest 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, examine your PC to verify the drive it wants before you purchase. Of the handfuls I’ve tried, Western Digital’s WD Black collection has stood out for pace, and it would not run very popular.

The SN 990 PRO SSD NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen4 achieved speeds of seven,458 MB/s reads in my testing, roughly matching the claimed 7,450 MBs / 6,900 MBs learn/write speeds. In the event you’re doing a variety of drive-intensive duties, like enhancing video or gaming, this drive is effectively well worth the cash. The most important model you will get is 4 TB, and the value is cheap contemplating the pace. There are sooner drives, however you will pay for them and I discover that at the moment, past this drive there’s a diminishing return within the pace vs value curve. I have been utilizing this one as my important 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 checks, this drive’s outcomes got here shut. Just like the Samsung above, to take full benefit of the pace right here, you will want a system that helps the PCIe 4.0 SSD customary, however it is 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 be one of many few I’ve seen that is obtainable as much as 8-TB capacity.
• Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2-TB for $273: The 990 EVO Plus is an improve to the very fashionable 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 scorching, 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 would not fairly match the SN850X above, topping out at 5,677 MB/s learn, however it’s lots quick for many makes use of and stays fairly cool even when pushed. In the event you’re on the lookout for a great all-around drive that stays cool, this one makes a good selection, although it’s on the expensive aspect for what you get.

Steadily Requested Questions