See a cheap one on Amazon? Here’s why it might not be the real deal, in one minute.
Hard drive 101: How to buy, store and protect yours
All that drive space that comes with your computer, phone or tablet can quickly fill up, especially if you’re a movie fan, gamer or just have a lot of photos to store. The quick and easy fix? Pick up an external drive.
You can use these drives for backups, too. If a disaster strikes your laptop — it gets lost, looted or breaks down — you’ll be glad to have copies of your important data somewhere safe.
How to pick the best drive
The most important spec is storage space. I’ll keep it simple: Buy as much space as you can afford.
Then, determine whether you need a solid-state drive (SSD) or a hard disk drive (HDD). HDDs use older and slower tech but give you a whole lot of bang for your buck. If you need to store a lot of files but don’t need to access or edit them often, HDD is the way to go. Otherwise, SSD is best for your needs, since it has much faster data read/write speeds.
The picks below are all compatible with PCs, Macs, Android devices, gaming consoles and others:
💰 Budget: The $79.99 SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 500GB (11% off) gives you plenty of space in a stylishly compact, hard shell you can take anywhere. The $59.99 WD Elements Portable HDD 1TB gives you even more room. Both brands are super-reliable when it comes to keeping your data safe and sound. (I’m astounded you can pick up 1TB for $60! I remember when that was $500 in 2007.)
💰💰 Midrange: With the $129.99 Seagate Portable HDD 5TB, you’ll get a massive amount of storage in a compact form for not much money at all. The $169.99 Samsung T7 Portable SSD 2TB (37% off) gives you less room for more money, but it does have the benefit of SSD, so it’s incredibly fast — and about the size of a deck of cards.
💰💰💰 Premium: The $295 Samsung T7 Shield SSD 4TB (44% off!) is ultra-fast and can handle dust, water and drops better than almost all other drives — it’s the ultimate in external drives, really. The $254.99 WD Elements HDD 16TB (14% off) is big and chunky by comparison and needs a separate power cable, but it still gives you a massive amount of space for all your files.
How to look after your drive
External drives don’t need much in the way of maintenance. Once they’re set up, you can generally leave them be. With that said, there are ways to make sure your drive has a long (and healthy!) life:
- It’s not a coaster for your coffee mug: Keep your drive on a flat, hard surface with plenty of ventilation space around it. Make sure ports and any vents are kept clean. I like a dry, lint-free cloth for this.
- Connect and disconnect: If you’re not using your drive for a while or you’re taking it somewhere else, unplug it from your desktop or laptop computer. This reduces the chance of your data becoming accidentally corrupted.
- Use the bundled cables: For power and data, make sure you’re using the cables provided with the drive — or, at least, high-quality replacements. You don’t want a cheap cable affecting the data on your drive.
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6 everyday objects that can threaten your cybersecurity
We have to worry about many forms of cyberattacks, from phishing to spyware. Since we know about these digital threats, we tend to be more careful online. However, you also have to defend against physical cybersecurity threats.
Redbox had a black box: Redbox went out of business, and 24,000 movie kiosks are sitting around. Your name, email address, home address and rental history are likely stored on those internal hard drives, going back a decade. Even worse? Some machines stored the first six and last four digits of credit cards. Hello, we need a factory reset.
Quick tip: Find out how much storage is remaining on your Mac or PC
Back in the day, hard drives had severely limited storage space. Now, we’re spoiled with multi-terabyte hard drives that can store endless movies and programs. While that’s super convenient, it can also make us a little complacent.
Review: Give the gift of storage with these compact drives
Think about all the data you store digitally — it could be anything from health records to sensitive financial documents. And what about the ever-growing collection of photos you take on your phone?
Of course, you can back everything up on the cloud. Tap or click here for our comparison of Google Photos, iCloud and IDrive. I’m a big fan of having a backup of the backup, so I also use local storage, including hard drives and flash drives.
If your pics or music are on a hard drive: Data company Iron Mountain says 20% of the hard drives they get from the ‘90s are dead on arrival. Even when stored in perfect conditions, these drives deteriorate; most last only three to five years. Don’t let this happen to you. Use an adapter to transfer your files to a new external drive.
We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
Single gunshot wound to the head: That’s the official cause of death for former President Trump’s would-be assassin, Thomas Crooks. The FBI says Crooks’ final search on his encrypted Samsung phone was for p*rn. A few hours before that, he flew his drone over the rally site. Now, investigators are moving on to his laptop and external hard drives found at his parents’ home.
3 places to store photos in the cloud
Saving images via hard drives or importing to your computer can be a hassle. If you take a ton of photos, the cloud can store them without the need for extra work. The best part about the cloud is it isn’t designated to any particular provider. It is totally internet-connected and whether you use Apple, Google or Amazon products, it is available for you. Let’s take a look at three popular cloud services so you can decide which one is best for you.