Best external hard drives 2024: Top HDD and SSD models

Owning one of the best external hard drives is a great way to back up your data or simply give you more storage space for your astrophotography work. It's Black Friday week, so now is the perfect time to grab a deal — in fact, our favorite external hard drive, the SanDisk Extreme, has already been discounted to $80 on Amazon.

Anybody who works with media files often, like photographers, will benefit from keeping an external hard drive, given how little storage space the best laptops these days normally come with. We've covered a range of different hard drives, both HDD and SSD, in many shapes and sizes, so hopefully, you'll find something to suit on our list.

For those who are new to photography or looking to upgrade their kit, we also have guides to the best cameras, tripods, and power banks for keeping all your equipment charged while you're on the go.

The quick list

Tantse Walter

Tantse Walter is a photographer and adventurer who has spent seven years facilitating global adventurous expeditions. She loves getting into the nitty-gritty of sourcing and planning trips. Whether that be for astrophotography location scouting, or just for the love of exploration. Tantse enjoys taking creative, bright and bold photos of people, places, animals and the night sky.

Best external hard drives we recommend in 2024

Best external hard drives we recommend in 2024

Best overall

The SanDisk Extreme has just about everything going for it. We are genuinely struggling to find a reason why we shouldn't recommend it. It's fast, it's durable, it's shock-absorbent, it's reliable, it's incredibly small and it has high performance: literally everything you could possibly want from a hard drive.

It has an IP55 rating, meaning it's resistant to water and dust, and a rugged exterior means it'll withstand drops and knocks. And because it's so small — it's practically useable as a keyring — it's the perfect portable storage device if you travel often. It takes up basically no space at all. Heck, you can use this as a keychain if you want, thanks to its built-in clip hole. Attach it to your laptop case, your purse or even your belt. Whatever works for you.

But it's not all about the looks and design: We were impressed by the SanDisk Extreme's performance, too. It has fast write speeds so it won't slow you down when you're trying to edit or transfer high-resolution photos or 4K videos. It easily connects to any USB-C or USB-A device and offers password protection with 256-bit AES hardware encryption to keep all your files secure.

You can choose from four different capacities: 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and 4TB, as well as three different colors, Black, Sky Blue or Monterey. We've found this to be an incredibly reliable device, and it comes with a five-year warranty for added peace of mind — what's not to love?

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Best for minimalists

If you care about how stylish your SSD looks, then perhaps you might want to consider the Seagate One Touch. Incredibly lightweight, this little storage device is also surprisingly robust: its silver exterior is fully shockproof, giving you some peace of mind knowing you're protected from bumps and knocks.

This isn't the type of storage device you can take into the great outdoors, however: it isn't waterproof-rated, so it's one to keep dry and keep indoors if you want to ensure your data and files are safe and sound.

The Seagate Toolkit software makes on-demand and scheduled backups a breeze, and it is compatible with both Windows and Mac. You could leave it plugged in and set it to back up your computer at the end of every working day, for example.

Included with your purchase of the Seagate One Touch is a 6-month Dropbox Backup plan, which lets you back up the external hard drive onto Dropbox for added protection. You also get a six-month subscription to Mylio Photos+. USB-C and USB-C to A cable are also provided with the hard drive.

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Best for heaps of media

One of the biggest selling points of the FireCuda Gaming Hub is its large storage capacity, with a high spin speed for a classic HDD meaning you can guarantee solid transfer speeds when you're working with big media files.

Whether you're looking for something from which to spin out games or store massive amounts of media, the FireCuda Gaming Hub offers plenty for your home desk set-up. You can customize the RGB LED lighting too so it fits in with your particular style, while you can position it either vertically or horizontally depending on your preference.

Of course, being such a high-capacity hard drive means the FireCuda isn't a great choice for portability. While its moderate size would fit inside a backpack without too much trouble, it requires an external power source to run, so it's not really ideal for pairing with a laptop if you're often out and about. Rather, this is a great choice if you're looking for a reliable and powerful hard drive that can permanently sit on a desk at home or in the office.

It's worth noting that although the Seagate FireCuda Gaming Hub is fast for a spinning external hard drive, it doesn't compete with most external SSDs. That said, the huge capacity makes up for that sacrifice.

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Best for mounting

If you're a photographer working with RAW files or heavy-duty photos, we would strongly recommend the SanDisk Professional G-Drive, which can certainly augment the storage capacity of your laptop or PC.

It's a very well-engineered HDD with a strong build quality, while it can also be stacked and mounted to your specifications if you're using it primarily to complement your at-home set-up or fit in with your workstation. There aren't any software facilities, but in our experience, many portable hard drive users often don't need that anyway.

However, like the FireCuda we've included in our list above, the G-Drive requires an external power supply, so it's not a great choice if you're wanting something portable. It's also slower than some drives on this list thanks to being a traditional HDD rather than an SSD. But if a high capacity storage device if what you need and the fastest transfer speeds aren't important, this is a very good choice — and it looks seriously slick, too.

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Best lightweight option

Measuring 85 x 57mm and weighing in at 58 grams (0.13lbs), storage device really don't come much smaller than the Samsung T7 SSD. This drive is absolutely worth considering if you want something ultra-lightweight, stylish and effortlessly portable. It's about the size of a credit card (although a little thicker, with a depth of 8mm) so it'll easily fit into any pocket with no fuss. And, being an SSD, it of course boasts super speedy data transfer speeds.

Despite being so tiny, however, the Samsung T7 SSD isn't fragile: It's made with a robust aluminum body and it can survive drops of up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) without being damaged. It's also built in such a way that its temperature stays regulated without overheating.

The T7 comes preformatted in the exFAT format and is compatible with Windows, Mac and Android straight out of the box. It offers fast write speeds for transferring large amounts of data, and it features password protection with AES 256-bit hardware encryption. If you want even more security, you can opt for the Samsung T7 Touch, which offers biometric security via fingerprint.

It's worth noting that there's no waterproof rating on this device, but it comes in three appealing colors: Titan Gray, Indigo Blue and Metallic Red. You can buy it in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB versions, and it comes with a three-year warranty for peace of mind.

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Best desktop hard drive

If you need a massive amount of space and a hard drive that's going to stay put, the Western Digital My Book is a great option. This is a solid, understated HDD with a capacity that can go up to a whopping 22TB, so it's ideal for anyone working on large-scale products or with large files.

It needs a constant power supply whenever it's in use, so that's something to bear in mind if you have limited sockets around your desk. It's also a little on the bulky side, so you'll need a bit of space on your desktop to keep it. You won't get the fastest transfer speeds here, since this is a HDD rather than an SSD, but that does mean it's capable of backing up far more data than a newer, faster type of drive.

The My Book can be password protected and linked to a particular laptop or desktop computer, meaning it only asks for the password when you connect it to a new device. You can also install Western Digital Utilities, which provides options for scheduling backups and data encryption, keeping your files extra secure.

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Best for in the field

LaCie's Rugged SSD does exactly what you would expect it to, with this series of durable and shock-proof devices boasting a reputation for being among the best to take with you if you're prone to moving in testing conditions. These devices are blanketed in a thick layer of bright orange silicone and can withstand drops of up to 4 ft (1.2 m).

LaCie Rugged SSDs sport a waterproof rating of IP67, which means they can be submerged in water up to 3.2 feet (1 meter) and they're completely protected against dust. Beyond that, they're crush-resistant too and able to withstand up to two tons of weight on top of them. Phew.

In other words, LaCie's Rugged range can cope with just about anything you want to throw at it, so there's no better storage device to have if you're out and about in the great outdoors.

There are various models of the LaCie Rugged with different features on offer, including options with encryption, embedded SD card slots as well as Thunderbolt 3 connections that offer up to 2,800 MB/s transfer speeds. You can even get some as hard drives and some as SSDs, depending on your needs and budget.

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Best shockproof hard drive

There are faster hard drives out there than the Transcend StoreJet 25M3C, especially when you look at some of the zippier SSDs. But it's a great option if you need a larger capacity and don't particularly mind middling speeds of up to 5 Gbps. Plus, its main selling point is its excellent shock resistance. It's available in several different configurations, but the 25M3C is a particular highlight thanks to its USB-C port. However, you can also use it with a USB-C to USB-A adaptor.

The palm-sized Transcend StoreJet 25M3C boasts 'supreme' shock resistance. Transcend boasts about it having passed US military-grade transit drop testing, thanks to its silicone rubber casing coupled with internal shock-absorbing suspension and reinforced hard casing. If you're clumsy or prone to dropping things, then, you don't have to worry about this one slipping out of your hands.

While using Transcend Elite software, you can utilize the 'one-touch auto backup' to instantly back up your data. The software also allows for advanced data management such as backup and restore, cloud backup, encryption and disk locking.