External Hard Drives: How to Choose?

Evolution of External Storage

Over the past decades, external storage devices have become an integral part of both professional users and everyday consumers. From photo archives to business data backups, choosing the right external drive ensures quick access and reliable data storage without overloading the internal computer disk.

Today, the market is dominated by two basic technologies – mechanical HDDs and solid-state SSDs. SSDs offer greater speed and shock resistance, while HDDs are appealing due to their excellent price-to-capacity ratio. Additionally, cloud solutions are not always convenient due to subscription fees and limited bandwidth, making a physical external drive a reliable, fast, and one-time solution for storing, transferring, or archiving content.

When choosing, it’s worth considering not only current needs (the amount of photos, videos, documents) but also future growth: 4K/6K content, gaming libraries, or virtual machines quickly consume free space, so it is often recommended to plan for at least 30–50% extra capacity.

Main Advantages

• Additional Storage: not all computer users have enough space on their internal drives, so external drives provide a quick way to expand storage without internal modifications.
• Portability: portable drives are lightweight and compact, allowing data to be transferred between workstations or to travel with an entire media library.
• Backups: creating backups on an external drive is a simple way to protect against data loss.
• Fast Transfers: using fast interfaces (e.g., Thunderbolt), data transfer can be exceptionally quick compared to cloud storage.

An added value is a well-organized backup strategy. The widely applied 3–2–1 rule: keep 3 copies, on 2 different devices, 1 off-site. An external drive is perfect as a second layer of storage, and encryption can be applied to critical documents.

Main Differences

3.1. Construction and Durability

HDDs (mechanical drives with spinning platters) are more prone to mechanical wear and shock damage, while SSDs (using flash memory chips) are more resistant to drops and vibrations.

HDDs have moving parts (platters and read/write heads), making them sensitive to drops, temperature fluctuations, and vibrations. SSDs have no moving parts, feature silent operation, lower power consumption, and are often more compact.

3.2. Speed

SSDs have significantly higher sequential and random read/write speeds (up to ~2000 MB/s PCIe NVMe), while HDD speeds typically reach up to ~200 MB/s.

In everyday work, the advantage of SSDs is particularly noticeable when working with many small files, opening projects, transferring RAW/ProRes footage, or running virtual machines. It’s also important to consider SLC caching and the presence of DRAM: for longer write marathons, SSDs with DRAM and larger cache yield better results.

3.3. Price per GB

HDDs remain cheaper – a 1 TB model can be found for < 50 €; SSD prices have dropped significantly in recent years, but a 1 TB SSD still costs around ~80–120 €.

If capacity for the lowest price is a priority, choose HDD. If speed, durability, and compactness are most important, it’s worth investing in SSD. Hybrid solutions (SSD for work + HDD for archiving) are a common practical compromise.

Choosing Capacity and Testing

4.1. Choosing Capacity

When selecting capacity, evaluate the amount of data you currently have and will have in the future: 1–2 TB is often sufficient for documents and photos, while 4K videos will require 4 TB or more.

Reference sizes: one unprocessed RAW photo can take up 30–80 MB, and 1 hour of 4K 100 Mb/s recording is about 45 GB. If you are editing videos or working with 3D/project files, plan for at least 2–3 times more capacity than your current needs.

4.2. Performance Testing

In tests using tools like “CrystalDiskMark” or “Blackmagic Disk Speed Test,” SSDs demonstrated speeds up to 10 times greater than HDDs.

When evaluating performance, not only sequential numbers are important, but also random access (IOPS), queue depth (QD), long-term write stability, and thermal throttling. Test in real scenarios: large files (video), many small files (photo catalogs), application projects.

USB, Thunderbolt, and Other Options

5.1. USB-A vs USB-C vs Thunderbolt

• USB-A 3.0: up to 5 Gb/s – widely compatible but limited speed.
• USB-C 3.2 Gen 2: up to 10 Gb/s – a good compromise between speed and compatibility.
• Thunderbolt 3 / 4: up to 40 Gb/s – maximum speed for SSDs, but more expensive devices.

Pay attention to USB “generations” (e.g., USB 3.0 = USB 3.2 Gen 1; there is also USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 – up to 20 Gb/s) and quality cables. A weak cable or slow USB hub can bottleneck speed. “Thunderbolt” is particularly useful for NVMe drives and professional workflows (8K, high-bitrate codecs).

5.2. eSATA and Other Alternatives

eSATA offers up to 6 Gb/s, but is rarely found in modern devices; wireless (Wi-Fi) stations are practical for home networks but are slower and less reliable.

If you work with multiple drives, consider docking stations or universal enclosures that allow you to swap drives as needed. For professionals, “RAID” boxes (0/1/5/10) with “Thunderbolt” or 10 GbE provide performance, fault tolerance, or both.

Format Comparison

6.1. Portable Drives

2.5″ portable HDDs and SSDs do not require an additional power source, are compact, and are perfect for travel.

Portable SSDs often come with a rubber casing, shock resistance, dust, or moisture protection (IP rating). This is an excellent choice for photographers, content creators, students, and mobile workers.

6.2. Desktop Drive Stations

3.5″ desktop drive stations offer up to 20 TB capacity at a more favorable price but require a separate power adapter and take up more space.

The advantage of desktop solutions is longer uninterrupted work sessions, less heat due to larger enclosures, often quieter cooling, and better sustained write speeds in large archives. This is a reliable base for home office or studio backups.

Manufacturer Experience

SSDs typically have a longer mean time between failures (Mean Time Between Failures, MTBF) and better resistance to temperature fluctuations, but for long-term archiving, HDDs can be more economical. Seagate and Western Digital are known for reliable desktop drive models, while Samsung and SanDisk excel in the portable SSD segment.

Consider reliability more broadly: TBW/DWPD (SSD write endurance), SMR vs CMR (HDD recording technology), warranty duration, software support (firmware updates), S.M.A.R.T. metrics (reallocated sectors, error correction). For long-term archiving, still make multiple copies – media failures are inevitable.

Security and Automation

Many drives offer hardware AES-256 encryption (e.g., “WD My Passport,” “Samsung T7 Shield”). Manufacturer software (“WD Backup,” “Samsung Portable SSD Software”) allows for automated data copying and recovery.

Additionally, it’s useful to evaluate the file system: exFAT is widely compatible between “Windows” and “macOS,” NTFS – for “Windows” environments (writing on “macOS” – with additional drivers), APFS/HFS+ – for “Mac.” For businesses, “BitLocker” (Windows) or “FileVault” (macOS) are closely integrated with the OS and suitable for sensitive data.

Practical Examples

When working with high-resolution videos or virtual machines, fast SSDs significantly reduce wait times and improve workflow – especially for creators, graphic designers, and media professionals.

Typical scenarios: transferring “Lightroom” catalogs, “Final Cut/DaVinci/Premiere” projects, gaming libraries, “Docker/VM” images. SSDs allow for smooth operation “from disk,” while HDDs are more suitable as mass, economical storage for archiving and backups.

Popular Models