Despite fast internet and cheap cloud storage, nothing beats a good external hard drive. Whether you’re backing up data or taking your gigs on the go, one of these brilliant storage devices is sure to be perfect for your needs.

What to Look for in an External Hard Drive in 2024

External hard drives (or HDDs) come in many shapes and sizes and are designed for different use cases. They all provide extra storage for backups and can easily be moved from one device to another, but several key areas shape which drive is right for you.

First, is it a desktop external drive or a portable external drive? Portable drives get all the power they need from the USB connection. There’s no need to look for a power outlet to use them. They also tend to be smaller and pocketable, making them great travel companions. The downside is that they can be slower than full-size desktop external drives.

Performance in an external drive depends on several factors, such as the drive’s rotational speed, the drive interface (e.g., SATA II vs. SATA III), and the speed of the external connection’s interface (e.g., USB 2, USB 3, or Thunderbolt).

Typical mechanical drive speeds fall between 100-150MB/s, with high-end drives reaching 250MB/s. Drives that use methods such as RAID can go significantly faster, and, of course, non-mechanical Solid State Drives (SSDs) are the fastest option possible.

Durability is another factor. Ruggedized drives are designed to take more punishment with water, shock, and dust protection. That makes them ideal for creative professionals who aren’t always in ideal conditions.

Of course, this isn’t a factor for everyone, and you can always get a padded case for portable drives if you’re worried but don’t work outdoors. The most durable drives are SSDs, but it will be some time before the price per gigabyte competes with mechanical drives HDDs.

Speaking of which, if you’re budget-conscious, you may want to take note of how many dollars each gigabyte of storage costs for a given drive. Although higher-capacity drives may cost more in total, they can be cheaper than smaller drives on a per-gigabyte basis. That’s partly because mechanical drives have a price floor regardless of size, so bang-for-buck tends to improve the bigger you go.

Best External Hard Drive Overall: WD Elements Desktop

When it comes to the best external hard drive, the WD Elements Desktop External Hard Drive is a versatile and powerful option. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, but it’s an excellent option for those who don’t need a portable drive.

It comes from a reputed brand and is available in sizes ranging from 4TB to 24TB, allowing you to pick the size matching your requirements.

The drive has a desktop form factor, and its sleek design ensures it will complement your computer setup without looking out of place. The WD Elements Desktop is also plug-and-play for Windows PCs, but you can easily format it to work with Macs as well. It also supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds, meaning you can get up to 5Gbps data transfer rate with a compatible computer.

Unfortunately, it requires AC power to operate, but that’s a common drawback of most desktop HDDs.

Best External Hard Drive Overall

WD 16TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive

$280 $310 Save $30

The WD Elements Desktop External Hard Drive is great for your storage needs. It comes in sizes up to 24TB and supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds for data transfer.

$280 at Amazon$280 at B&H Photo Video

Best Budget External Hard Drive: WD My Passport Ultra Blue

It’s not hard to find external hard drives that cost very little and have unknown drives, dubious electronics, and questionable reliability and support. We don’t recommend buying drives without a well-known manufacturer behind them and we certainly wouldn’t trust them with important information.

That’s why we have the WD My Passport Ultra Blue Portable instead. While available in sizes up to 5TB, the 2TB drive is the sweet spot for a low price and usable capacity.

The drive has a USB-C cable and a USB-A adapter, so it should be easy to use with modern ultrabooks and desktop systems. It’s a good basic drive with a 3-year warranty, and its design and materials aren’t cheap-looking.

The main downside is that Mac users must reformat the drive to write data onto it. The My Passport Ultra Blue is also unlikely to win in any performance competitions, so it’s better suited to store files rather than running applications or directly editing videos. If you’re looking to run files directly from the HDD, there are better but pricier options available.

Best Budget External Hard Drive

WD My Passport Ultra Blue

$90 $100 Save $10

Need to save money but also need to make sure your data is safe? WD’s Ultra Blue will have all the space you need, is portable, and will not break down after a year.

$90 at AmazonBest BuyAdorama

Best External Hard Drive for Mac: WD My Passport Ultra for Mac

WD’s My Passport Ultra for Mac is a fantastic choice for your Mac storage needs. Featuring a sleek metal design, the external hard drive comes ready to use for Macs and doesn’t require any formatting. It’s also bundled with a USB-C cable, as Type-C is the most common port on current Mac desktops and laptops. That said, the company graciously includes a USB-C to USB-A adapter if you need to use it with an older Mac.

The My Passport Ultra is also reasonably priced and supports hardware encryption. You can also use the WD drive with Windows 10 or newer PCs without reformatting, as the company includes an HFS+ driver that adds support for HFS+ formatted drives to Windows.

The external hard drive is rated for USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds, and you can choose from four storage sizes up to 6TB. If you need a bigger external hard drive, our best overall pick is a good alternative. However, you’ll have to reformat it to use it with a Mac.

Best External Hard Drive for Mac

WD My Passport Ultra for Mac

WD’s My Passport Ultra for Mac comes ready to use with Mac computers. You don’t have to worry about formatting or compatible cables.

$130 at Amazon$130 at Western Digital

Best External Hard Drive for PS5: Toshiba Canvio Advance Portable Hard Drive

The Toshiba Canvio Advance is an excellent hard drive that meets all of PS5’s compatibility requirements, including the SuperSpeed USB 5Gbps support. It works seamlessly, and you’ll have no trouble using it with your gaming console. It comes in four exciting colors, and the textured finish looks stylish.

Depending on how many games you plan to store, you can choose from three storage sizes of up to 4TB. Remember that PS5 only allows you to store games on an external drive. You can’t play games directly from the USB storage. You’ll first have to transfer the game back to the PS5 internal storage or the M.2 SSD storage and then start playing. This is true for all external hard drives, regardless of what they claim.

Besides the PS5, you can use this drive on your computer. It also doesn’t require any external power, and the power coming through the USB connection is more than enough.

Sadly, it doesn’t come in 6TB or 8TB sizes. So, if you want to take full advantage of the 8TB external storage supported by the PS5, you can pick the WD_Black D10, which is fully compatible with the console and comes in an 8TB size.

Best External Hard Drive for PS5

Toshiba Canvio Advance Portable Hard Drive

$108 $115 Save $7

The Toshiba Canvio Advance Portable Hard Drive will work seamlessly with your PlayStation 5. It is available in three sizes and four colors.

$108 at Amazon$109 at B&H Photo Video

Best External Hard Drive for Xbox Series X|S: WD_BLACK 12TB D10 Game Drive for Xbox

It may feel like déjà vu, but this model of the WD_BLACK D10 isn’t quite the same drive as we’ve just recommended for the PlayStation 5. This 12TB model is better suited to Xbox users since the Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles don’t have the 8TB capacity limit of the PlayStation systems.

The same benefits mentioned for the 8TB drive above still apply here. It’s a fast 250MB/s drive perfect for playing Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games on your Series X or S console. The only difference is that you have an extra 33% storage for about the same increase in price and a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Just be careful, as you may not always be able to play Xbox Series games at optimized speeds without restoring them to the console first.

Best External Hard Drive for Xbox

WD_BLACK D10 Game Drive For Xbox

$275 $300 Save $25

WD_BLACK’s 12TB model is perfect for the Xbox, which doesn’t have the same capacity limits as Sony’s consoles.

$275 at AmazonBest BuyLenovo

Best Portable External Hard Drive: LaCie Rugged Mini

What makes for a great portable drive? It has to be small, run without main power, and be durable. The LaCie Rugged Mini hits all of these targets dead-on and manages to do so at a very reasonable price.

LaCie drives are known for their big orange rugged design, and the Mini is no different. The design may not appeal to everyone, but there’s a reason for it. The bright orange color makes it much easier to spot your drive if you drop it in water or the mud!

This drive is physically small, or at least no larger than the typical non-rugged portable HDD. Storage options go up to 5TB, although we think 2TB is the sweet spot when balancing price against storage capacity.

The LaCie Mini offers only average performance at 130MB/s, but this should still be good enough for backups or transferring media files for transport. We did note several user reviews complaining about the drives dying for no apparent reason. Still, we can’t find any evidence that this LaCie drive has a failure rate higher than normal for mechanical drives.

Most users are perfectly happy with the longevity of their drives, and the brand is known for its quality, so we recommend the Rugged Mini to whoever needs that extra protection for their hard drive.

Best Portable External Hard Drive

LaCie Rugged Mini External Hard Drive

$80 $100 Save $20

If you want a truly portable hard drive, you want to make sure it can withstand drops and jostles. LeCie’s Rugged Mini HDD can survive that and much, much more.

$80 at AmazonAdorama

FAQ

How do you format an external hard drive for Mac?

To format or re-format an external hard drive for Mac, you’ll want to use Disk Utility. Once you navigate there, find the drive under the External drives section, and click on it. Once there, you choose ‘Erase’ and it will format the drive for you.

How do you back your iPhone files onto an external hard drive?

To back up your iPhone data onto an external hard drive, you’ll need to back up your iPhone data onto your Mac. From there, you can back up your iPhone data the same way you would your Mac data.

How do you eject an external hard drive?

While you can unplug an external hard drive when you’re done with it, it is better to eject it to prevent possible data loss. On Windows, navigate to File Explorer, then find the hard drive under the ‘This PC’ menu. Right-click the drive, and choose Eject. On Mac, go to Finder, then find the drive under the ‘Devices’ menu. When you hover over the drive, there will be a small eject button next to the device name. Click that, and it’ll eject the hard drive.

Can you password-protect an external hard drive?

Both Windows and Mac have built-in encryption tools to password-protect your external hard drive.

For Windows, enable BitLocker for your drive by right-clicking the drive in the menu and selecting ‘Turn on BitLocker’. Then, when the pop-up screen appears, check the box that says ‘Use a password to unlock the drive’. Enter your password, and the external hard drive is locked.

For Mac, locate the drive in the Locations section of Finder, then right-click it and select ‘Encrypt’. A pop-up will tell you to create a password. When you do, the external hard drive will be locked.

How do you transfer files onto an external hard drive?

Whether you’re on Windows or Mac, moving files onto an external hard drive is easy. Find the files you wish to move and highlight them, then drag them to the external drive. You can drag them by having the drive itself open in a new window or by dragging the files to the drive’s icon.