Technology is constantly advancing and things are becoming bigger and bigger. Thanks to the new and improved ways of recording and creating our favorite forms of art, the items themselves require more space to store, which in turn makes the customer expand their storage units. One of the most essential gadgets that everyone needs to have in 2024 is an external hard drive. This nifty little device is the answer to all of your extra space needs. They are by far best suited for personal files like photographs and music, and since an average user of today already has thousands of these, a number that is constantly increasing, a top of the line external hard drive is very convenient. In this article, we will tell you about the best external drives for photos and music in 2024. To learn more about transferring large amounts of data the right way, without it being labeled as “too large to transfer,” check out FileWhopper.
The List of Best External Hard Drives
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Samsung Memorie T5 Portable SSD
Right of the bat, we will introduce one of the best brands in the hard drive game, the South Korean tech giant Samsung. The famous company has numerous different drives to offer, but the absolute best for your every need is the T5 Portable SSD. This model has it all. Since it is an SSD, the transfer speeds are extremely fast. It is small and therefore easy to carry around. The body is made of durable plastic, and the whole gadget is quite reliable. It comes in four different capacity sizes, 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, or 2 TB. The drive uses a generation two USB 3.1 interface for uploading and downloading your files. Since it is a Samsung product, it is on the expensive side and costs around $110 for the smallest capacity and around $330 for the largest. Four colors are available, blue, red, gold, and black.
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Seagate Fast External Hard Drive
If we were to determine the biggest competitor to Samsung when it comes to external hard drives, Seagate would definitely be a worthy opponent. Their SSD external hard drive offers almost everything the Samsung above it has. It also comes in four different sizes, 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB, it is extremely fast at up to 540 MB per second for both writing and reading, and it is small enough to fit into your pocket. However, it uses a slightly older interface, the USB 3.0, which is still well in line with the competition. This Seagate model comes in different colors including four camo choices, a white and black embroidered design, and a modern metallic/black variety. The starting price for the 250 GB model is around $100.
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SanDisk Extreme Portable External Hard Drive
For now, we are going to continue with the big names in the industry. SanDisk has a long tradition with everything customers might need for their storing purposes, from SD cards and internal drives to exciting new external drive solutions. This is an external SDD with a USB 3.1 interface of the second generation. It ranges from 250 GB to 2 TB, and the price for the least capacity is $90. This makes it similar to both the Seagate and the Samsung drives mentioned above. However, the brand has equipped their gadget with tons of protection. It is resistant to dust, water, and drops, all thanks to the great body design. It even has a very useful carry hook in the top right corner. The regular version transfers data at 550 MB/s, while the more expensive Pro model does it at twice the speed at 1050 MB/s. The smallest capacity of the Pro is 500 GB, and it costs around $130.
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WD Elements External Hard Drive
Although a lesser familiar brand, WD Elements offers some truly wonderful products. In case you need more than 2 terabytes of space, this is your brand. This drive has a wide capacity range, including 500 GB, 750 GB, 1 TB, 1.5 TB, 2 TB, 3 TB, 4 TB, and 5 TB. Such diversity in storage is enough for however many photos, music, or other files you may have. A downside is that this is not an SSD but an HDD, which is noticeable mostly in the less than ideal transfer speeds. Also, it utilizes USB 3.0, which is a bit slower than the newer 3.1 interfaces. Four colors are available, white, black, silver, and red. While it is less powerful than some other entries on the list, it more than makes up for it with the amazing starting price of only $50. This means it is the budget option for those who want more space while sacrificing speed.
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TerraMaster D5-300C Hard Drive
We are going to finish things off with an absolute beast of a hard drive, made by the Chinese company TerraMaster. This HDD/SDD hybrid device is capable of storing up to 50 TB of space, which is probably an overkill for most of the average users. It is still a useful option for music producers and photographers who deal with millions of items throughout their careers. In addition, if you frequently back up your files, this drive can literally back up the backups of your backups. There are three versions of the D5-300C. The first one has two USB 3.1 bays, the second has five USB 3.0 bays for 2+3 RAID storage facilities, and the third which supports five USB 3.0 RAID5 bays. Depending on your other drives, you can pick and choose what the best model for your circumstances is. The prices are $160, $200, and $280, respectively. All models have fans on the back, come with cables, and transfer the files at 210 MB/s.
Closing Remarks and Takeaways
There you have it fellow music and photograph enthusiasts, five of the best external hard drives for all of your needs in 2024. On this list, there is something for everyone no matter if you are looking for high-end models, or if you are willing to sacrifice speed, quality, or storage for one or the other. All you have to do now is determine the right model for you and purchase it. You will never again suffer from insufficient storage space on your desktop or laptop.
