An external hard drive is a basic, user-friendly gadget, but the broad range of drives available might make selecting one challenging. This article explains how to choose the best external hard disk for your needs.
5 Factors to Consider When Purchasing an External Hard Drive
Every external hard drive can hold some files, but different storage capacity, technologies, and connecting options are available. This might make your decision difficult. Keep these key considerations in mind.
- Price
- Storage technology
- Storage capacity
- Connection type
- Power requirements
How much should an external hard drive cost?
External hard disk drives are still inexpensive at bigger capacity. It’s less expensive to buy a single external drive with the capacity you want than to buy several smaller ones.
External solid-state drives are different. Price increases fast with capacity: 16TB drives are sometimes more than $1,000. Buying numerous smaller drives is less expensive than buying a single bigger one.
| Price Range | What You Can Expect |
|---|---|
| $30 – $50 | A 500GB to 1TB external hard disk drive. |
| $50 – $100 | A 1TB to 4TB external hard disk drive, or a 500GB to 1TB external solid-state drive. |
| $100 – $200 | A 2TB to 8TB external hard disk drive, or a 1TB to 2TB external solid-state drive. |
| $250 – $500 | An 8TB to 20TB external hard disk drive, or a 2TB to 4TB external solid-state drive. |
| $500+ | A 20TB or larger external hard disk drive, or an 8TB or larger external solid-state drive. Some may have a premium enclosure or extended warranty. |
More costly drives rarely offer distinguishing qualities when compared to less priced ones. Storage capacity impacts the pricing. However, drives priced above $500 may strive to distinguish out by offering a premium casing made of solid metal or an extended guarantee.
Which Storage Technology Should an External Hard Drive Use?
External hard drives utilize one of two storage methods. They are either hard disk or solid-state drives.
Hard drives are physical metal disks housed in an enclosure. They spin whenever data has to be written or retrieved. This makes them more brittle, slower, and noisier to use. There is also a limit on how compact they can become, with the tiniest hard disks being 2.5 inches wide. Low cost mitigates these issues: hard drives provide the most storage space for your money.
Solid-state SSDs are… well, solid. They contain no moving components and instead store information by shuffling electrons. This makes them more dependable since the drive lacks rotating components that can fail. They are frequently smaller and quieter than hard disk-based external devices. However, their solid-state processors are more expensive, so be prepared to pay more per gigabyte.
What Storage Capacity Should an External Hard Drive Have?
The basic response is, “as much as you need.” However, it may be difficult to discern if the data you wish to preserve are spread over numerous directories on your computer. A disk space analyzer is a useful tool for this.
Prices in this market are continuously fluctuating, but we recommend starting with a 1 terabyte (1TB) model because they provide a lot of space and are typically only a few dollars more than a lesser capacity drive.
A bigger drive may be required to store many hours of 4K video, hundreds of DSLR photographs, super-sized images, or vector-based graphics. If you work with those types of files, you’re probably aware of their size and the number of files required for storage.
Which connection Type Should an External Hard Drive Use?
Most external drives connect using one of the current USB standards. Older models connect via USB Type-A and USB Type-B, while current models use USB Type-C. Almost all external drives have a cable, so the only variation is which port your computer has.
That is why it is important to know what sort of USB ports your computer has. Even if the cable fits into your computer’s port, connecting an external drive to a sluggish USB connection may result in poor performance. If this is the case with your computer, consider using a slower, less costly external hard drive instead of newer, quicker versions, since you will not profit from them.
USB-C is the most recent connector, providing fast communication rates and power via a single cable. USB Type-C is physically distinct from previous connection kinds. If your computer lacks USB-C, you can purchase a USB-C to USB-A converter; however, the USB Type-A connection may be unable to charge the drive (if the drive does not have a power source).
There is one more connection to mention: Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt 3 and 4 are physically compatible with USB-C, but are generally faster, with a minimum bandwidth of 40 gigabits per second. Most external drives do not use Thunderbolt because USB is generally fast enough, although Thunderbolt may be used on high-end external drives. To take full use of this connection, your PC must have a Thunderbolt 3 port.
What Power Requirements do External Hard Drives Have?
Most current external hard disks do not require additional power. They are powered solely by USB, which pulls power from your computer. That means you don’t have to use a power brick.
This is not always true, though. Larger external hard disk drives are more likely to require external power. This is also true for older external drives manufactured before USB 3 and Thunderbolt became popular.
An external hard disk that requires power is not designed to be moved frequently, even if it is theoretically portable. If you seldom need to move your external drive, get one with a power brick.
Who Should Purchase an External Hard Drive?
An external hard drive will appeal to anyone who requires extra capacity but does not want to (or cannot) update their computer’s internal hard disk. Internal hard drive upgrades are often less expensive but more difficult, and many laptops do not accept upgrades.
Another reason to acquire an external hard drive is if you regularly switch between computers. Because an external hard drive is physically distinct from your computer, it is simple to give to someone else or bring with you when you use a different computer.
Finally, these devices often have larger capacity than a USB flash drive, however the most costly flash drives can equal the storage of certain external hard drives.
