best external backup drive 2018 for windows

It's USB 3.0 compatible too, so you've got a drive that'll plug into most PCs and laptops. That's way better than you'll find on SSDs and actually beats most internal HDDs if you start comparing them. It hits around 150MB/s during both read and write tests, which is about mid-range for HDDs, but in terms of price you can get this drive for around $130 (£120), or even go up to 10TB if you're feeling particularly storage hungry.

While there's no real point in getting a Seagate with less than the maximum capacity, its speeds are quickly eclipsed by other drives, the 8TB version strikes a nice balance between capacity and efficiency. It's not exactly the best external hard drive you don't get the best speeds when you're transferring files-although they're not too far behind the WD My Passport-what you get is masses of space and a very reliable drive. If you need to go big when you leave home, Seagate's 8TB Expansion drive is the way to go. Grab one of these and you'll never have to worry if you or Call of Duty update again. Whether you're looking to bolster your gaming desktop PC's storage, or find some more space for your gaming laptop (opens in new tab), you'll find the best external HDDs below. We've benchmarked a ridiculous number of external hard drives trying to narrow them down to the best of the best. For a serious chunk of storage space, it'll be best to go the spinning plater route-need 8TB of portable storage? Knock yourself out. Beyond 1TB, an HDD isn't completely redundant.

NVMe SSDs that go inside your PC are up to 10x faster than HDDs, but are more expensive-check out our HDD vs SSD (opens in new tab) comparison for the key differences. If speed is an absolute priority over storage capacity, I'd recommend picking up one of the best external SSDs (opens in new tab), just for the straight throughput of smaller drives (up to 1TB). But the best external drive balances speed and capacity, and SSDs do offer us just that. An external hard drive with spinning platters (rather than the solid state memory chips in SSDs), will still be cheaper and a good option if you're looking for masses of external storage.

Best external backup drive 2018 for windows