One of the best exterior laborious drives of 2025: Knowledgeable examined

The SL500 breaks the mildew with its measurement. It is skinny, gentle, and roughly the dimensions of a bank card at solely 4.8mm thick. The stable aluminum unibody building matches comfortably within the palm of your hand and slips unobtrusively right into a pocket. 

The design not solely protects the drive from bumps and scrapes but in addition does a unbelievable job of dissipating warmth. The SL500 can be quick, able to reaching as much as 2,000MB/s learn and 1,800MB/s write speeds, making it simple to maneuver giant information. Efficiency on Macs and different methods that do not help USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 could also be considerably decrease. 

Should you’re searching for a skinny, gentle drive that means that you can file ProRes video in your iPhone 15 Professional/Professional Max, the Lexar SL500 is certainly value a glance. Plus, it will probably simply slip right into a pocket or bag.

Lexar SL500 options: USB-C and USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 interface | 1TB to 4TB capacities | 256-bit AES software program encryption | 2.5-inch type issue | 5-year restricted guarantee

A standard mistake I typically see is folks buying the most important, bulkiest exterior laborious drive they will discover below the impression that it is the greatest answer for his or her wants. Later, they discover themselves with an enormous, noisy system that occupies an excessive amount of desk house and is inconvenient to hold to the workplace or on the street.

That is why I like to recommend the WD My Passport Extremely to those that want a compact, easy-to-use laborious drive for a couple of essential information, knowledge switch between methods, or journey.

Through the years, I’ve really helpful this drive to dozens of individuals, from residence customers in want of a backup answer to newbie photographers and videographers dealing with disk house limitations. Everybody who has bought one has reported being glad with their selection.

What units this drive aside are two key options: It contains WD Backup software program for PCs, which simplifies and optimizes the backup course of, and it affords built-in 256-bit AES {hardware} encryption, making certain that knowledge on the drive is safe.

Given the stable fame of the WD model and the standard of their laborious drives, I’ve little considerations about untimely knowledge loss.

WD My Passport Extremely options: USB-C and USB 3.1 interface | 1TB to 5TB capacities | 256-bit AES {hardware} encryption | 2.5-inch type issue | 3-year restricted guarantee

There are tons of safe storage drives (SSDs) on the market that may stand up to water and mud however drives that shield your knowledge from the weather in addition to cybercriminals are uncommon.

iStorage DiskAshur Professional 3 is an exterior drive that James Bond would really feel assured utilizing to maintain his secrets and techniques locked away. The drive has been licensed to FIPS 140-2 Degree 2 requirements, serving to organizations adjust to knowledge rules reminiscent of GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and TAA. It makes use of AES-XTS 256-bit {hardware} encryption, which means all knowledge on the drive is at all times encrypted, and the drive has its personal keypad for passcode entry so there isn’t any software program to put in on the host laptop.

Assessment: iStorage DiskAshur Professional 3 

The DiskAshur Professional 3 additionally includes a wear-resistant, backlit alphanumeric keypad for getting into an 8- to 64-character passcode. This keypad is essential as a result of it prevents attackers from utilizing put on patterns to guess the code. If somebody tries to brute-force the passcode, the drive has strong countermeasures. 

The drive can be constructed to resist bodily tampering. Accessing the interior parts requires bodily breaking the enclosure. Even then, each inner part is encased in layers of robust epoxy resin. This makes it just about unattainable to entry the parts with out irreparably damaging them.

Moreover, the drive is sealed in opposition to the weather and rated IP56 for mud and water resistance. This implies the system is protected in opposition to dangerous mud and robust jets of water from all instructions.

iStroage DiskAshur Professional 3 options: USB 2.0/3.0 interface | 500GB to 2TB capacities | 2.5-inch type issue | 3-year restricted guarantee 

That is the go-to selection for individuals who require an unlimited quantity of storage however wish to keep away from the additional {hardware} and setup complexities of a NAS (Community Connected Storage) system. With capacities starting from 4 to 22 terabytes, the WD Digital Parts is ideal for even essentially the most demanding knowledge hogs.

Nonetheless, do not assume that prime capability interprets to a excessive price ticket. The price of the 24TB model breaks right down to an inexpensive $23 per terabyte. This makes it a really perfect answer for people who handle or work with giant media information, particularly movies. It is a in style selection amongst drone pilots who do in depth filming.

Additionally: One of the best NAS units

I personally relied on related drives for a few years earlier than my storage wants grew and I transitioned to a NAS system. All through all these years, these drives by no means failed me; they constantly carried out nicely till I required much more storage capability.

The one draw back I’ve seen is that the drive may be relatively noisy. In my case, this was partly as a result of me working a number of drives on my desk concurrently, however even a single drive may be removed from silent by itself.

WD Digital Parts options: USB 2.0/3.0 interface | 4TB to 24TB capacities | 3.5-inch type issue | 2-year restricted guarantee 

Whereas most exterior laborious drives are destined for a sedentary life on a desk at residence or within the workplace, this explicit mannequin is engineered for journey. With its IP54 rain and mud score and crush resistance of as much as 1000 kilos, this drive is ideally suited to endure the hardest environments.

Contemplating the inevitable drops onto laborious surfaces that happen throughout outside actions, the drive is provided with rubber bumpers and inner shock absorbers. These options provide added safety to the drive’s delicate parts.

Nonetheless, it is necessary to notice that that is nonetheless a tough disk drive with spinning platters that retailer knowledge. Regardless of the strong safety, any system with shifting elements is inherently vulnerable to wreck from drops and vibrations. Due to this fact, exercising warning is advisable when dealing with this drive.

I’ve owned a number of ArmorATD drives and located them exceptionally sturdy. They’ve been notably helpful for backing up knowledge. I normally carry a number of drives with me, making certain that necessary photographs and movies are duplicated throughout a number of items for added safety.

SanDisk Skilled G-Drive ArmorATD options: USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3 interface | 1TB to 5TB capacities | 3.5-inch type issue | 3-year restricted guarantee 

That is the best budget-friendly selection for these in search of simplicity with out the excessive value or complexity. It is a simple drive that may be simply related to a system as wanted. Remarkably compact, it is solely barely bigger than the two.5-inch laborious drives present in laptops, making it one of many smallest and lightest exterior drives accessible.

This drive is completely suited to people who handle small quantities of knowledge, reminiscent of college students or residence customers seeking to again up important information.

Moreover, this drive comes from Toshiba, a producer recognized for its glorious monitor file. Toshiba’s drives are famend for his or her reliability, and you may anticipate years of reliable service from this mannequin.

Toshiba Canvio Fundamentals options: USB 2.0/3.0 interface | 1TB to 4TB capacities | 2.5-inch type issue | 1-year restricted guarantee 

Should you’re fearful about knowledge loss, then that is the exterior laborious drive for you. Why? As a result of it takes an everyday exterior laborious drive and provides a second drive. This second drive can be utilized in one in every of two methods:

• It may be used alongside the primary drive, doubling the unit’s capability.
• It may be used as a redundant backup of the primary drive in a RAID array. This fashion, if one drive fails or the info is corrupted, the info stays protected on the opposite.

And I must say this clearly: Drive failure is uncommon, but it surely occurs, particularly while you’re transferring a number of knowledge (the form of factor you would possibly do if you’re processing high-definition video, for instance). When you have irreplaceable knowledge, then an exterior laborious drive like this is a vital a part of the answer for stopping knowledge loss.

WD My E book Duo options: USB 3.2 interface | 8TB to 44TB capacities | 3.5-inch type issue | 3-year restricted guarantee