External hard drives are useful for keeping your documents and memories safe. Some might even consider external hard drives for the advantage they provide via their portability. If you’re looking for one, you’ve come to the right place.

Today, we’ll list out the top 10 external hard drives that you can buy. But before we begin, what makes up an excellent external hard drive?

With so many options in the market deciding your next purchase might be an arduous task but fear not as we have some pointers on which you can choose the drive which is perfect for you.

• Transfer speeds: When you’re moving a large amount of data back and forth between your system and external hard drive, you’ll realise that speed is crucial. Most recent data contents have grown in quality and therefore come in bigger sizes — a 15-minute clip of a 4k@ 30fps clip from your smartphone would roughly take around 1.6GB of space. So the faster the transfer speeds, the better.
• Port selection: Most modern external hard drives have moved on to USB3.0, but you can also opt for models with USB type-C for better transfer speeds, though you will have to shell out a bit extra.
• Build quality: It is an external hard drive, so a good build is going to score you points in the long run.
• SSD vs HDD: If you have the money to spend, go for an SSD, it’s just better than HDD in almost every aspect.

So, with that out of the way let’s dive into the list of our top 10 external hard drives.

Also read: Hard Disk Drives (HDD) vs Solid State Drives (SSD)

Buffalo MiniStation Extreme

Capacity: 2TB | Interface: USB 3.0

Price: INR 19,965

The Buffalo MiniStation Extreme might be a mouthful, but it does deliver as a good external hard drive. It is NFC enabled, ruggedly built and can withstand some abuse, and comes enclosed in dust and waterproof housing.

You can find the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme here

Western Digital My Passport 4TB

Capacity: 4TB | Interface: USB 3.0

Price: INR 8,699

The recent generation of the Western Digital My Passport range has been promising/ They come in various sizes ranging from 1TB to 4TB and offer 256-AES encryption to safeguard your data.

You can find the Western Digital My Passport 4TB here

Seagate Game

Capacity: 2TB | Interface: USB 3.0

Price: INR 10,130

Are you looking to expand your Xbox One’s storage? Seagate Game is the drive for you. If you’re team blue, well, they have a PS4 back and blue edition for you too.

You can find Seagate Game here

Toshiba Canvio Basics

Capacity: 2TB | Interface: USB 3.0

Price: INR 6,149

Toshiba Canvio Basics is a no-nonsense approach to the average user’s data needs with a balance of useful features, build, and price.

You can find Toshiba Canvio Basics here

Also read: SATA SSD vs PCIe SSDs: Which one should you buy?

Silicon Power Armor A62

Capacity: 2TB | Interface: USB 3.0

Price: INR 6,299

Don’t let the name and humble looks fool you. The Silicon Power Armor A62 can handle some rough stuff with its high-impact rubber casing and some water too with its IPX4 rating.

You can find the Silicon Power Armor A62 here

Aegis Padlock Fortress

Capacity: 1TB | Interface: USB 3.0

Price: INR 28,161

If data security tops the list of your priorities while buying an external hard drive, then the Aegis Padlock Fortress is the real deal for you. The external Hard Drive offers Fips 140-2 level 2 certified encryption with a read-only access option too.

You can find the Aegis Padlock Fortress here

Seagate Expansion 8TB

Capacity: 8TB | Interface: USB 3.0

Price:

Ok, now it’s time for the big dogs. The Seagate Expansion 8TB is a monster of a drive for all your home data storage needs but do note that it requires power from an external source unlike other drives on this list. So to say, it’s not as portable as the others on this list.

You can find the Seagate Expansion 8TB here

Also read: Is partitioning your Hard Disk Drive (HDD) a good idea? Pros and Cons

LaCie Rugged 2TB

Capacity: 2TB | Interface: USB Type-C /Thunderbolt

Price: INR 16,999

If you’re a MAC user, the LaCie Rugged 2Tb is a solid choice as it offers a Thunderbolt port and doesn’t require you to format the drive for MAC usage. Plus, it has a durable outer shell which can withstand abuse and even an IP54 rating for water resistance.

You can find LaCie rugged 2TB here

Seagate Backup Plus Hub 6TB

Capacity: 6TB | Interface: USB 3.0

Price: INR 14,299

If cost is not a significant factor with your external hard drive purchase, we recommend that you consider the Seagate Backup Plus Hub. It uses Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology which allows more physical bits of data in the same place without compromising on the data quality.
It is also fast and runs cool and quiet despite not having a cooling fan.

You can find Seagate Backup Plus Hub 6TB here

Samsung T5

Capacity: 1TB | Interface: USB 3.1/ Type-C

Price: 32,999

The Samsung T5 might be a bit expensive (especially on the larger capacity models) but in our view justified with what it offers. The T5 is an SSD meaning it’s the fastest drive on this list boasting a write speed up to 540MB/s which is roughly around five times faster than a standard HDD.

Plus with its Shockproof, lightweight, and durable build quality it is a joy to handle and carry around. It also features AES-256 hardware encryption and USB 3.1 and type-C, A too which makes it compatible with almost any device. It’s hard to find fault with the T3, and it easily beats out everything else on this list to make it to your No.1 spot.

You can find the Samsung T3 here

There you have it folks our top 10 external hard drives to store your precious data. Note: All the prices

Also read: Master Boot Record (MBR) vs GUID Partition Table (GPT): Which method to use for your SSD