From WIRED · Scott Gilbertson · · 4m
Back up your whole life with the best external hard drives
A guide to choosing the right external storage for photos, videos and everything else you need to keep safe.
In brief
A guide to choosing the right external storage for photos, videos and everything else you need to keep safe. External hard drives and SSDs offer fast, reliable backup options for different needs, though memory prices have quadrupled in six months due to AI data centre demand. Originally reported by WIRED.
Back up your phone today
Photos on your phone should be backed up now, not later. An external hard drive makes it easy and far simpler than recovering them after your phone dies.
SSDs beat traditional drives
Solid-state drives are fast and durable, making them the ideal choice for backups. Traditional hard disk drives remain useful and cheaper for backing up everything on your computer.
Memory prices have quadrupled
The AI race and memory-hungry data centres are driving prices sky-high with no end in sight. Eight terabyte SSDs now sell for more than a new MacBook Air.
Western Digital Elements for desktops
The Western Digital Elements desktop hard drive costs three hundred eighty dollars for eight terabytes. It is big, requires external power, but offers cheap, reliable storage for infrequent access.
Elements drive speed and compatibility
The Elements drive scored one hundred twenty megabytes per second for sequential writes on Windows. It uses USB-C three point two and works with Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Crucial X9 Pro for phones
The Crucial X9 Pro SSD costs two hundred forty-one dollars for two terabytes. Tiny and weighing one point three ounces, it backs up phones with speeds up to one thousand one hundred ten megabytes per second.
X9 Pro works everywhere
The X9 Pro tested successfully with iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. It is about half the size of a deck of cards and offers fast local backups with more privacy than cloud storage.
Western Digital My Passport Ultra
The My Passport Ultra costs one hundred sixty dollars for one terabyte. Less than an inch thick with rounded corners, it is solid enough for travel and uses a standard USB-C cable.
Passport Ultra performance and security
The Ultra achieved one hundred twenty-one megabytes per second read and one hundred fifteen megabytes per second write. It includes two hundred fifty-six-bit AES encryption for travellers and road warriors.
SanDisk G-Drive ArmorATD
The G-Drive ArmorATD costs one hundred ninety-five dollars for one terabyte. Semi-rugged with a removable rubberized sleeve, it supports macOS HFS+ format and works with Apple's Time Machine backup system.
ArmorATD durability and speed
The ArmorATD is designed to sustain drops of up to three point three feet and has an IP fifty-four rating for splash protection. It achieved one hundred thirty-three megabytes per second read speed.
LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5
The LaCie Rugged Pro5 costs one thousand seven hundred dollars for four terabytes. It uses Thunderbolt five and achieved five thousand seven hundred eighty-seven megabytes per second read speed in testing.
Pro5 for video editing
The Pro5 handled six K ProRes RAW editing on a MacBook Pro in DaVinci Resolve Studio. LaCie claims speeds adequate for real-time editing of eight K and six K RAW footage.
Samsung T9 portable SSD
The Samsung T9 costs four hundred ninety dollars for two terabytes. It clocks in at over one thousand three hundred fifty megabytes per second and draws less power than competing drives.
TerraMaster D1 SSD enclosure
The TerraMaster D1 SSD Pro costs two hundred fifty dollars. It supports USB four and Thunderbolt four and five, achieving around six thousand five hundred megabytes per second for sequential read and write.
Sandisk NAS eight hundred drive
The Sandisk NAS eight hundred costs three hundred ten dollars for nine hundred sixty gigabytes. It is optimized for network-attached storage and has a staggering rating of fourteen petabytes written over its lifespan.
Samsung nine ninety PRO bare drive
The Samsung nine ninety PRO SSD Gen four costs three hundred twenty dollars for one terabyte. It achieved seven thousand four hundred fifty-eight megabytes per second read speed and generates very little heat.
Choose based on your needs
Picking the right drive balances speed, size and price. For nightly backups, speed does not matter. Stick with known brands like Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung and others with good reputations.
SSD or HDD: which is better
SSDs offer fast data transfer and withstand bumps and drops better. HDDs are cheaper for massive storage. SSDs can wear out faster but several five-year-old SSDs have worked fine for daily backups.
At a glance
External hard drives and SSDs offer fast, reliable backup options for different needs, though memory prices have quadrupled in six months due to AI data centre demand.
