If you’re looking for an easy way to backup and store your data then an external hard drive is a really handy and convenient way to go about it. Over the past few years the prices of high capacity hard drives have been falling through the floor. Many people expect them to be pretty expensive but they are a surprisingly affordable option.
You can get them in a variety of shapes, sizes, capacities and types. It can be difficult to work out exactly what you need and hopefully this page will help you work out which is the right one for you.
External Hard Drive Retailers
Buying an external hard drive online is the best option, you will get a much better deal and end up getting more for your money. Make sure you stick with a reputable online seller though like the below-
Connectivity Options
Most people will want a drive that you can just plug into any USB port on any computer to instantly access the files. USB external hard drives are the most common and offer fantastic convenience. Having the ability to plug the drive into any device that has a USB port makes storing and accessing digital files a breeze.
The other option you have is a network attached storage (NAS) based drive. These types of drives usually plug into a network router and can then be shared with every computer on the network. These are usually a bit trickier to setup, but is a great option if you want central data storage that everyone in the house can access, eg a music or movie library.
You can also get drives that offer both USB and NAS connectivity so keep your eye out for them, although NAS drives are usually a bit more expensive than their USB equivalents.
Power Source
Something that you should watch out for when buying a unit is whether it needs an external power source or not. Some external drives will need a separate power source which may be a secondary USB connector or needs plugging into a wall socket.
If you’re likely to be carrying the drive with you, ideally you will need a portable external hard drive that does not require a separate power source. There are quite a few of these available and they don’t cost anymore so make sure you check that out before buying. Personally I have an external drive that never moves and just backs up my computer and a separate portable hard drive for taking my music with me.
External Hard Drive Capacities
The modern high tech multimedia filled world that we live in today drives a constant demand for more storage. Whether it’s your favourite music, precious family photos or your movie collection it all takes up space on your computer’s hard drive.
Luckily for us, it’s now cheaper than ever to get 1000′s of GB of storage to fill with all of our digital media. They are available in a variety of sizes ranging from 250GB – 3000GB (3TB). Working out how much storage you’re going to need can be tricky, but I would advise that you get a bit more than you think. A good rule of thumb is to buy tripe the size you think you need to account for your current and future data storage needs. You can use this table below to help you work it out-
If you are really struggling to work out how big of a drive you need, then I would go for a 1TB external hard drive personally. That will offer more than enough storage for most users, however if it’s likely you want to store a lot of high definition video then a 2TB external hard drive might be a better choice for you.
Shape And Size
There are also a huge range of shapes and sizes to choose from. Smaller capacity drives come in a 2.5″ format which make them ideal candidates for someone that wants to take their data with them, but you are limited to small capacities such as a 500GB external hard drive.
Larger capacity drives come in the 3.5″ format and are usually a bit bulkier. However you can now get 3.5″ drives that hold up to 3000GB/3TB of data on a single drive.
Really it all comes down to personal choice, some drives are plain ugly and some are designed to take your breath away.
Buy A Branded Drive
One of the most important tips I can give you when buying an external hard drive is to buy a well known brand. Budget unbranded units usually come with cheaper drive that uses inferior parts increasing the risk of losing all of your precious data due to a hard drive failure. You want to be safe in the knowledge that one day you’re going to plug the drive in only to find you have lost all of your data.
Companies such as Maxtor, Western Digital, Seagate, Buffalo, Toshiba, Samsung, Sony, Hitatchi, Lacie and Iomega are all well known brands that provide some of the most reliable hard drives in the business. Brand drives usually come with an extended warranty for a number of years as well. It’s usually worth going through my external hard drive reviews guide to gauge how good a drive actually is.
Although it might be tempting to save a bit of cash, it’s not worth taking the risk of losing your data because of a cheaply made external drive.
External Hard Drive Uses
There are a number of uses for external drives, some of the most common are-
Data Storage – Storing large amounts of data, for example family photos or your music and movie collections. This is one of the most common uses for external disk drives.
Data Backup – It is always a good idea to backup your valuable data to a secondary drive. Hard drives do fail and if you have never suffered a serious failure where you have lost a lot of precious photos, work documents or music then you are lucky. I learnt this lesson the hard way and ever since have always backed up my data to an external drive. Most drives come with backup software which automatically backup all of your important files for you on a schedule.
Data Transfer – Sometimes you need a quick and convenient way of transferring files from one computer to another. USB based external drives are great for doing exactly that.
Even games consoles use them in one way or another such as the Xbox 360 hard drive which has a number of uses. Sony even put the PS3 hard drive to good use as well which can be easily upgraded.
Where To Buy The Best External Hard Drive?
The cheapest place to pickup the best external hard drive is via a reputable online retailer. I would recommend taking a look at what any of the sites below have to offer.
In Summary
I hope this has helped to clear up any confusion you had about the technicalities of external storage. To recap-
Connectivity - USB or NAS? Do you want a drive you can just plug into a USB socket or one that can be accessed by anyone on the network?
Power Source - Do you need a device that’s portable? If you do make sure it does not require an external power source.
Capacity - Buy a bigger capacity hard drive than you think you need your always going to need more storage in the future.
Buy Branded - Branded drives are made from high quality parts and come with long warranty’s, don’t risk losing your data due to a disk failure which is more common in unbranded drives.
If you have any questions about external hard drives then please feel free to get in touch and I will do my best to answer any questions you have and help you out. It can be quite confusing for a first time buyer, and as a computer expert I’m here to help!
