We live in the digital era – an era that is witnessing change at an unprecedented rate. Since cloud storage has quickly become a new trend, external hard drives remain one of the widely used devices. If you are on a hunt for the best external hard drive in 2021, look no further as we have got your back in this article.
Creating a backup of vital information is key to the safe and smooth operations of any organization. Backup in external hard drives is important because it remains available if anything goes wrong with your computer or if any hacker groups succeed in breaking into a cloud storage facility.
When it comes to external hard drives, there are myriad options available on the market. We have shortlisted fewer options.
Storage capacity
Arguably the most important factor that influences the decision of buying an external hard drive is storage capacity. Various other factors such as encryption and remote access become of no use if the storage capacity of that device does not meet your requirements. And it wouldn’t be wise to pay a huge sum for a device that you think you won’t be able to even come close to filling with your data. Now, the question here may pop up in your mind what size is the best? Well, it depends solely on your requirements. Buy a mid-range flash drive that exceeds your maximum storage requirements.
As far as the maximum storage capacity of external hard drives is concerned, it stretches to as much as 2TB. However, they come with a hefty price tag and are unnecessarily big for your simple needs. An external hard drive with 64 GB storage capacity can cost you as much as $20. So, what’s the need to spend your hard money on costlier hard drives?
However, if your storage needs are bigger and you need a portable hard drive that can keep your files safe for a longer duration, then, you should go with a hard drive with a storage capacity of at least 1 TB [terabyte]. If you are into movie collections and need something even bigger, you should not worry at all as there are devices that offer multi-terabytes storage capacity. As per a rough estimate, an external hard drive with a storage capacity of 5 terabytes may cost you something around $160 billion.
External Hard Drive – SSD vs. HDD
External hard drives are of two types: SSD hard drives and HDD hard drives.
Let’s explore HDD-type first. HDD is an abbreviation for “hard disk drives” and these devices store data by using spinning magnetic disks. HDDs are relatively inexpensive (when compared to SSDs). However, they are slower and bigger. So, if there isn’t a specific circumstance, we think SSD should be your preferred choice.
As SSD is the latest technology available, they are much faster than the traditional HDD external hard drives. But this super-fast speed comes with a hefty price tag.
Transfer speed
As mentioned in the above paras, the best SSD Hard Drives are much faster than the traditional HDD drives. And when it comes to transferring large files, data transfer speed becomes the most important factor. Nobody wants to wait forever.
Portability and durability
If you need an external hard drive for residential usage only [provided that it will remain in your home], you should go with the NAS (Network-attached Storage) devices. They are durable and sit on your network, packing multiple storage modes and devices. Such a hard drive is hard to find as there are only a few manufacturers out there who manufacture NAS devices.
On the other hand, if portability matters and you need to carry a drive with you, then the best SSDs hard drive should be your preferred choice.
