At times we are short on inbuilt storage and have to rely on some kind of external backup solution. And the best external hard drives offer an effective way to counter that. They bring a backup solution that can be used for carrying your files wherever you go. External hard drives are an excellent way to protect, secure and save all your files and folder.

USB flash drives and microSD memory cards are not always enough to get the work done. They are comparatively low on read and write speeds and carrying large files could be an issue on these. That’s where external hard drives come into play. Portable hard disks are one of the best ways to store and secure large files that require a lot of storage space and faster read/write speeds.

Further, portable SSDs take the external hard drives up a notch and offer a more durable and a lot faster solution. There are secured drives as well, which are specifically designed to keep your files extremely secure. But these could be costly.

The best external hard drives are those which offer ample storage, fast read and write speeds, and are not heavy on the wallet. These are cost-effective and practical. Here’s our pick for the best external hard drives that you can buy right now. Whatever your storage needs, here’s something for everyone.

  • Seagate

    You can easily store and access 4TB of content on the go with the Seagate Portable Drive, a USB external hard drive. Included is an 18-inch USB 3.0 cable.

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  • Samsung

    It offers superfast Read-Write speeds of up to 540 MB/s. The Samsung SSD comes with a top to bottom metal design that fits in the palm of your hand.

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  • MiniStation

    It is ruggedized and is USB PC Compatible plug-and-play. It is compatible with Mac after formatting. It has integrated wrap-around USB 3.0 Cable

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  • Western Digital My Passport

    It comes with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibility. Moreover, WD offers 2 year of manufacturer's limited warranty.

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  • Seagate

    Store and access 5TB of photos and files with Seagate Backup Plus Portable, an on the go USB drive for Mac and Windows.

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  • Western Digital My Passport

    It is designed for Mac. It comes with WD Discovery software for WD backup, password protection and drive management.

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  • G-Technology

    It comes with triple-layer shock resistance for added durability. It is rain-and dust-resistant (IP54) with a 1000lb crush rating.

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  • LaCie

    Travel with a massive capacity of up to 5TB in an ultra compact portable external hard drive. Included is Adobe creative cloud.

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  • iStorage

    It is a USB 3.1 Portable Hardware Encrypted Hard Drive. It is real time military grade AES-XTS 256-bit hardware encryption.

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We recommend buying the Samsung T5 SSD that offers read-write speeds of up to 540 MB/s. Moreover, it comes with optional password protection and AES 256 bit hardware encryption. It features a top to bottom metal design that fits in the palm of your hand. The company is also offering three years warranty with this product.

If you are looking for a rugged external hard drive, you should go with the G-Technology one mentioned here. It offers triple-layer shock resistance for added durability. Moreover, it comes with rain and dust resistant (IP54) enclosure with a 1000lb crush rating so it’ll withstand being squashed in the cabin baggage section. It is ready to go with mac and Windows.