Best External Hard Drives In 2020 – Reviews and Buyer’s Guide

External hard drives are a perfect backup solution for keeping your private and confidential data secured from any kind of theft. Apart from this, there due to the compact size of these external hard drives, you can easily take it from one place to another. 

To this, we have alternates like flash drives and micro SD memory cards, but these are not the perfect solution. A Portable SSD drive is also an option but it is expensive because of its security features.

Choosing an external drive is not that easy as it looks. There are a number of factors that are required to be kept in mind before buying.

For example, there can be a case where you want to transfer data at a faster pace or there can be a case where the security of your data is your prime concern. There is a different external hard drive for each case individually.

To ease out the things I had done a thorough screen of various external hard drives available in the market and have listed down some of the best ones here. 

P.S: As always I have kept my eyes blindfolded for brand names so as to make sure that I present an unbiased list for my visitors.

List of Best external hard drives in 2020

1) Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC 

2) Samsung T5 SSD

3) Western Digital My Passport Ultra 4TB

4) Adata SD700

5) Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt

6) WD My Book Duo 4TB

7) Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive 5TB

8) LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB

9) Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro

10) iStorage diskAshur 2TB

11) Transcend StoreJet 25M3 External Hard Drive

12) Sony HD-B1 1TB External Hard Disk

Now let us check each one of them in detail. Check out the features and specifications below before concluding a sale.

Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC external hard drive

Cost-wise this is the cheapest of all the external hard drives mentioned above. Please check out the features below:

Compatible with both Mac and Windows operating systems.

Rugged Case which keeps the hard drive protected from dust and water.

Built-in USB 3.0 cable

256-bit AES security feature

Data protected throughout. 

NFC( Near Field Communication ) feature

Samsung T5 SSD external hard drive

Awarded as the best external SSD in the year 2018, this external hard drive highly compact and extremely fast. Check out its awesome features below:

Data transfer rate of up to 540 MB/s,

4.9x faster compared to other external HDD

USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Up to 10Gbps)

Backward compatible

Durability: Shock resistant ( from up to 2 mts)

Optional password protection 

AES 256 bit hardware encryption

Compatibility with Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks), Android 4.4 (KitKat), or higher. 

Western Digital My Passport Ultra

This hard drive is available in 1TB to 4 TB variants

Automatic backup

Features Cloud storage

Easy to use

Password protection

256-bit AES hardware encryption

Western Digital own Discovery software for backup, password protection, and drive management

Superspeed USB 3.0 port and USB 2.0 compatible

3-Year manufacturer’s limited warranty

Cons

Speed-wise not the best

Adata SD700

Another masterpiece, A pocket-friendly hard drive with a hell lot of awesome features. Check out its specifications below:

Extremely Fast

3D NAND flash

IP68 rated dust/waterproof 

Military-grade shockproof

Lightweight and easy to carry

Cross-platform compatibility

Interface USB 3.1 gen 1

Cons:

No Type C USB

Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt

Friendly to pocket, Buffalo Ministation Thunderbolt is a great option if you have a device with a thunderbolt port. Check out the specifications and features which you can leverage here:

Specification:

Comes in 1TB and 2 TB variants

USB 3.0 (especially for people without access to Thunderbolt port)

Time machine compatibility

Reasonable fast

Cons

Standard hard drive limits speed

No second Thunderbolt port

WD My Book Duo 4TB

If you are looking for high capacity harddrive at a pocket-friendly prices then this is the right fit for you.

Auto backup with included WD Backup software

Time Machine compatibility

Password protection

256-bit AES hardware encryption

Reimagined design

Trusted drive built with WD reliability

Compatible with Windows7,8 and10, Mac OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, or Mavericks. 

USB 3.0 port

USB 2.0 compatible

Warranty: 2 years

Cons

Only one USB 3.0 port

Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive 5TB

A perfect combo of speed and capacity, this external hard drives leaves all its competitors’ way behind. It also comes with backup software and is compatible with windows and Mac both. Check out its features and specifications below:

USB 3.0

Comes with a backup software

Brushed Metal Case

Single click backup

Option to schedule daily, weekly or monthly backups

Warranty: Three Years

Cons

Reformatting required for using with a time machine

Power button missing

LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB

Even though a bit higher on the costing side, I have included this in my list because of the ultra-fast speed that it offers. It delivers speed up to 5 GB/s. If budget is not a constraint for you, then this can a perfect choice for you. Check out its features and specification below:

Delivers speeds of up to 5 GB/s

Features reversible USB-C connectivity

 Compatible with USB 3.0 Ports

Sturdy, all-aluminum enclosure

Light in weight

Comes with USB Type-C to Type-A and USB Type-C to Type-C connectors

Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro

Again a bit expensive but comes with Wi-Fi feature and hence worth a buy. There is a battery built into the device which makes it completely wire-free. Check out the features and specifications below:

Come with SD 3.0 card reader for fast media offloads

Wireless 802.11ac which ensures fast data transfers

Powerful 6400 mAh battery.

Compatible with Windows 10, 8.1 or Windows 7, Mac OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, mavericks or mountain lion operating systems

Can be used as a USB power bank to charge mobile phones

USB 3.0 for super-fast transfers

USB 2.0 port to transfer any media from an external storage device

Cons

USB C Absent

iStorage diskAshur 2TB

This is the first choice of a user which for whom data security is the prime concern. This one is very expensive( 4 times the price of other brands 2 TB hard drive). You can configure it to self-destruct so that if someone tries to tamper your storage device it will destruct itself.  Check out the features and specifications below:

Portable hardware encrypted hard drive

Fips 140-2 Level 3 certified

Common Criteria Eal4+ ready

AES-XTS  256-bit hardware encryption

Pin authentication required (7-15-digit pin)

Transcend StoreJet 25M3 External Hard Drive

Another marvelous masterpiece with a hell lot of features. Check out the specifications and features below:

Shock resistance: Military-grade 

SuperSpeed USB 3.1 Generation 1 compliant

Advanced three-stage shock protection system

Durable anti-shock rubber outer case

Advanced internal hard drive suspension system 

Slim form factor for extra convenience 

Quick reconnect button –

256-bit AES file and folder encryption

Comes with exclusive Transcend Elite data management software

Sony HD-B1 1TB External Hard Disk

Looks-wise this is the most beautiful hard drive of all. Light in weight, this is a good option at an affordable price.

USB 3.1 Generation 1 compliant

800×600 pixels or more, high color (more than16bit)

Super speed transfer: Up to 5GB/s

Backward compatible and USB 2.0 ports compatible

Comes with free Sony file rescue software

NTFS formatted

Warranty: 3 Years

This concludes the list of best external hard drives. Check out the utility, specifications, and features before buying. Here I have mentioned external hard drive 1tb, external hard drive 2tb, and external hard drive 4tb. Choose one as per your storage needs.

Comment with your views about the topic and suggestions to improve the same. Besides if you are using any one of these products that your reviews related to the product will be helpful for my visitors. So please give your views.

Technology Rocks!!!