The Top 5 Best External Hard Drives

I've always extolled the virtues of regularly backing up your data, so for me having an external hard drive is must. And these days, it won't cost anyone an arm and a leg. For under $100, you can add up to a terabyte of data storage to your PC or Mac, portable or desktop. But which to choose? There's a lot to consider—desktop- or laptop-class, traditional spinning or SSD—so finding the perfect hard drive for your use can seem overwhelming. That's where we come in. We narrow down your choices to the top 5 best external hard drives on the market.
The first thing to consider is the type of external hard drive you want: desktop-class or laptop-class. Desktop-class drives, with 3.5-inch mechanisms inside, require a power adapter. They are designed to stay in one place, usually on your work surface at home or the office. Desktop-class drives currently top out at 4TB, though there are setups with two drives in a chassis for more storage. A desktop-class drive with a built-in fan for extra cooling will extend the drive's life expectancy.
Notebook-class (a.k.a. pocket or portable) hard drives are usually 2.5-inch or 1.8-inch mechanisms powered through the connector cable (so no power adapter needed). These drives come in capacities up to 1.5TB, but capacities from 250GB to 750GB are more common.
External solid-state drives (SSDs) are found mostly in the notebook-class form factor, but these are still relatively rare because they're pricey in terms of cost per gigabyte. They're currently limited to smaller capacities, specifically in the 64GB to 512GB range. We recommend that you buy SSDs for use as internal rather than external drives.
For a more comprehensive explanation on what to look for in an external hard drive, check out our buying guide. And see below for our list of the top 5 best external hard drives on the market today.

FEATURED IN THIS STORY:

LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (1TB SSD)
$999 list
$999.00 at Amazon The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt is a 1TB solid-state drive with RAID array. That means the speed-demon Mac user has a large, speedy external storage option. It's the drive made for the deadlines that needed to be met minutes ago. Read the full review ››

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LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt (120GB SSD)
$199.99 list
$199.99 at Amazon If you need the fastest, rugged portable storage, the LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt is the drive you want. It's made for a Mac, but is strong enough for a PC, especially now that Thunderbolt is available on Windows laptops. Read the full review ››

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Lenovo ThinkPad USB 3.0 Secure Hard Drive
$199.99 direct
$199.99 at Lenovo Plenty of drives can put 750GB in your shirt pocket, but the Lenovo ThinkPad USB 3.0 Secure Hard Drive also puts 256-bit encryption at your fingertips. Read the full review ››

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Seagate Backup Plus
$139 list
Best Price at Amazon The Seagate Backup Plus is a worthy successor to the venerable GoFlex line, offering a killer combination of speed, ease of use, and versatility, all while innovatively incorporating social networking. Read the full review ››

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Seagate Backup Plus Portable Drive for Mac (1TB)
$129 list
Best Price at Amazon The Seagate Backup Plus Portable for Mac is perfectly named. It doesn't purport itself to be the fastest drive, but it is a lot faster than the FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 drives made for Macs. If you need backup for your Mac, period, then take a look at this drive. Read the full review ››

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