Online cloud services are a popular way to store data today, and it’s no secret why: they’re cheap and convenient. But at the end of the day, nothing beats the security and peace of mind you get when your digital products are safe and sound on your own physical hard drive (the so-called “cloud” is really just someone else’s computer, anyway). External hard drives comprise a huge market covering everything from compact portable hard drives to office-grade network attached storage systems, but whatever you’re looking for, we’ve got it here. Read on for the best cheap external hard drive deals available this month:

Today’s best external hard drive deals

How to choose an external hard drive

The first two steps in choosing an external hard drive are setting your budget and determining what size you need. As cheap as storage per gigabyte is today, the classic trade-off between hard drive size and portability still holds; Basically, is your main consideration storage space or physical size? If your external hard drive is for home and office use in a single workstation and will more or less be placed in one place, then storage space is more valuable than mobility. If, on the other hand, you frequently transport data from one PC to another, then a portable hard drive might be a better option, even if you’re sacrificing some storage space for a smaller footprint.

The exact usage of your hard drive will also influence your purchase decision. If your external HDD or SSD is just for file storage then this is pretty simple, but if you’re going to be regularly reading and writing to your external storage (e.g. editing videos directly from the drive rather than from your desktop drive) computer system), you’ll want to make sure you get something that has good read and write speeds and uses up-to-date connectivity standards, like USB 3.0. For more details on external hard drive designs and features to consider when making your purchase decision, read on.

Hard drive vs. SSD

Storage drives are mainly divided into two main categories: traditional hard drives or HDDs and solid state drives or SSDs. Most hard drives, until recently, were mechanical hard drives. These have moving disks (called platters) inside, where data is written and read. These traditional hard drives have largely fallen out of favor for use as system drives, but their larger capacities and much cheaper cost per gigabyte mean they remain a very popular choice for external storage use.

In recent years we have witnessed the revolution of solid state drives. These drives are basically a type of flash memory, where data is written to chips instead of magnetic platters, which means there are no moving parts, which in turn means faster read/write speeds and (in theory) better long-term reliability. However, these drives are typically smaller and considerably more expensive per gigabyte than HDDs; the tradeoff is that they’re what you’ll typically find when looking for portable external hard drives that are small enough to fit in your pocket.

There are also hybrid hard drives, sometimes called SSHDs. These hybrid drives are essentially HDDs that feature built-in flash storage (usually a fairly small amount) where your most frequently used files are stored and read, combining much of the responsiveness of SSDs with the increased storage capacity of HDDs. These might be worth the price if you need the enhanced storage of an HDD but expect to do a lot of reading and writing to the external drive.

Are all external hard drives SSDs?

Virtually any hard drive can be used as an external drive with a suitable hard drive enclosure, and these are available as SSDs and HDDs. Although SSDs are rapidly replacing HDDs for use as internal system drives (the hard drive inside your PC where your operating system and other software are installed), HDDs are still very popular for external use, as they are much , much cheaper per gigabyte and therefore give you much more storage capacity for your dollar.

Are external hard drives reliable?

An external hard drive is simply any HDD or SSD, like those found in laptops and desktops, that is inside an external case. This enclosure features some means of connecting the hard drive to your computer or other device, usually a USB port, and may also (depending on its size) have some sort of power adapter. What that means is that an external hard drive will be just as reliable as any internal hard drive, as long as it comes from a reputable manufacturer. Stick with proven manufacturers like Western Digital, Seagate, SanDisk, Samsung, and Kingston, and your data should be in safe waters.

Are external hard drives fast?

One very important thing to consider is read and write speeds (the speeds at which data is downloaded and uploaded to the hard drive), but this is less of a danger than in the past. Even traditional rotating hard drives (HDDs) offer pretty solid read/write speeds these days, with 7200 rpm coming as standard. Be sure to double check this and avoid any that use the old 5400rpm standard, though they are less common now. Solid state drives naturally offer the best read/write speeds, but as explained above, they offer the least value per gigabyte.

Also, don’t overlook connection speeds. Faster read/write speeds will be hampered when transferring data over a connection that uses an older standard like USB 2.0. Make sure your external hard drive uses at least USB 3.0 (which is about ten times faster than USB 2.0 in comparison).

Do external hard drives need power?

Hard drives are electronic devices that need power from some external , but that doesn’t mean all external hard drives need to be plugged into the wall. Most can usually draw enough power through the same USB connection they use to transfer data, but larger hard drives may require an external AC adapter that will come with the hard drive. This isn’t a huge deal for most, but it’s something to keep in mind if power outlets are a prime spot where you’ll be setting up your unit.

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