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

In case you’re working out of cupboard space in your laptop computer or you must again up your information and retailer that backlog of movies you are going to edit sooner or later (I’m, I swear), an exterior exhausting drive can resolve your drawback. The difficulty is, there are a whole lot of drive choices starting from dirt-cheap to crazy-expensive—which one is correct in your wants? I’ve examined dozens, throughout working techniques and with completely different use circumstances in thoughts, to search out the most effective exterior exhausting drives for storage, backups, gaming, video enhancing, network-attached storage (NAS) units, 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 decide, and eliminated the Essential X6, which, sadly, has been discontinued. We have additionally added a be aware 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

Courtesy of Western Digital

Western Digital

Components Desktop Exhausting Drive

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 huge and require exterior energy, however they’re among the most cost-effective, most dependable drives I’ve used.

Switch speeds will not be off the charts—the Components drive I examined scored 120 megabytes per second (MB/s) for sequential writes on Home windows—however once more, it is best to ideally be working backups in a single day anyway, and even at these speeds the typical PC backup might be completed by morning. These drives use USB-C with assist for USB 3, and I’ve had no drawback utilizing them with Home windows, macOS, and Linux.

Storage choices go all the way in which as much as 20 terabytes. Simply verify the costs; generally you may get a 10- and even 12-TB drive for not way 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 worth 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 should you do need a number of backups, use drives from completely different manufacturers, since it should cut back the prospect that each fail concurrently.

Finest for Moveable Backups

{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson

Western Digital

My Passport Extremely

In case you journey loads, you may 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 really like Western Digital’s My Passport sequence, particularly the brand new “Extremely” model, which makes use of a normal USB-C wire, eliminating the necessity to carry a separate cable. It isn’t the thinnest drive available on the market, but it surely’s lower than an inch thick and strong sufficient that I by no means apprehensive about tossing it in my bag. (Though it ought 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 are not any screws or the rest that can catch on cloth in your bag.

There are a number of colours obtainable 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 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 need to copy photographs rapidly for a shopper within the subject, however quick sufficient to run a each day backup in your resort room.

Different Moveable Backup Drives

• Western Digital Elements 5-TB Portable HDD for $135: This drive is barely thinner than our high decide, however feels flimsier in my expertise. Speeds are tad slower as nicely, however should you’re on a price range this may prevent slightly money. Corsair is advertising this as a great way to backup your iPhone ProRes footage, and whereas it actually works for that, efficiency is proscribed by the iPhone’s USB-C interface. For optimum 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 gives some encryption instruments, however speeds lagged slightly behind our high decide. Nonetheless, this can be a strong possibility for backups and it is surprisingly small for a spinning drive enclosure. Additionally be aware that this drive is typically offered with 4 months of Adobe Artistic Cloud (a roughly $40 worth), however should you use it, you should definitely cancel as a result of after these 4 months you may be charged.

Finest 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 long-lasting orange padding for blue, however it’s in any other case identical to the atypical LaCie padded drives on the skin. 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 difficult, however happily 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 concerned about real-world efficiency. Since I occurred to even be testing the Nikon Z6III (8/10, WIRED Recommends), which might shoot 6K ProRes RAW, I loaded a very good 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), this can be a very dear drive. It’s, nonetheless, nicely well worth the cash if it is pace you are after.

Finest USB4 Drive

{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson

In case you do not but have any units with Thunderbolt 5 assist, this Thunderbolt 4 drive can be my advice for anybody obsessive about pace. Corsair’s EX400U is a powerful little drive, persistently 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 attainable when you have 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 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

{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson

Essential’s X9 Professional hits the candy spot of pace, portability, and worth to be the most effective drives on the market for photographers seeking to make backups within the subject. These drives are tiny, about half the scale 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 terms of pace, the X9 Professional claims symmetrical learn and write speeds, at 1,050 MB/s. I truly persistently bought increased speeds, as much as 1,110 MB/s for learn and 1,100 MB/s for write. That places the X9 Professional on the high of the pack when it comes to 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 price, I’ve been testing X6 and X8 drives from Essential for over two years now with out problem. There’s additionally the X10 Pro drive ($235), which gives even sooner speeds when you have a PC that helps USB 2X2. (The most recent Intel chips assist this spec, however Apple doesn’t, so there is not any level in shopping for the X10 Professional when 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 at the least strive it, and the X10 Professional does certainly ship on its promise of two,100 MB/s (I bought it as much as 2,050 MB/s). In case your {hardware} helps it, the X10 Professional is value the additional cash.

Finest 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 way sooner, providing 1,000 MB/s throughput by way of 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, 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 type issue is likely to be value it to some individuals.

My one gripe with this drive is that it is on the huge facet for a thumb drive, which signifies that in case your laptop computer has USB-C ports shut collectively it would cowl two. You may mitigate this by ditching the rubber housing, however then you definitely 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 among a number of SSDs adopting the thumb drive type 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, but it surely has withstood life in my bag fairly nicely. Whereas it isn’t 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 massive information (MP4s, for instance), so it isn’t the most effective for professional videographers, however for everybody else, this can be a strong, barely cheaper possibility.

Finest 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 exhausting surfaces, OWC drives are your most suitable option. It is robust to choose a winner right here as a result of there are numerous strong choices, however OWC’s Elektron drive narrowly beat others in benchmark checks. I additionally like which you could swap out the drive contained in the aluminum casing (it is simple to unscrew), which implies two years from now, you possibly can decide 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, but it surely has two drawbacks. The primary is that it could possibly get scorching. In case you’re attempting to work with it in your lap, it may be downright uncomfortable. The opposite problem is that generally it is gradual to be acknowledged by my PC. I might discover no sample to this; generally it appeared straight away, 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.

Finest 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 loads 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 at the least 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, but it surely’s additionally significantly cheaper and has assist up nicely 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 utterly sealed. I have never had any points, however should you get it moist it is going to be an issue. In case you’re apprehensive about that, take a look at the T7 Protect beneath.

One other Nice Padded Choice

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

Finest 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 effective for gaming (simply keep on with the quickest you possibly can 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 checks 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 (at the least in benchmarks). In real-world use, the bottleneck I persistently hit was some lag in transferring large quantities of information. That is likely to be a deal-breaker for some, however for the value, it stays a strong selection.

Finest Naked Drive

If you wish to put an even 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 search out out. As of late the commonest type 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, verify your PC to verify 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, roughly matching the claimed 7,450 MBs / 6,900 MBs learn/write speeds. In case you’re doing a variety of drive-intensive duties, like enhancing video or gaming, this drive is nicely well worth the cash. The most important 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 worth curve. I have been utilizing this one as my predominant 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 may want a system that helps the PCIe 4.0 SSD customary, 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 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 talked-about 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. By way of pace it does not fairly match the SN850X above, topping out at 5,677 MB/s learn, but it surely’s loads quick for many makes use of and stays fairly cool even when pushed. In case you’re searching for a very good all-around drive that stays cool, this one makes a good selection, although it’s on the dear facet for what you get.

Ceaselessly Requested Questions