The Best Portable Hard Drives for Your Home and Travel

When we were researching online and offline for the best portable hard drive, we found that there are several branded and non-branded hard drive that works well. We can’t just say that only big brand products are good. Some cheap hard drives also showed the speed and data writing capability much faster like the costly ones.

Four of our team members including me have tested and researched for around thirty plus hours for the best hardware at a suitable price.

But, we all know that price defines the quality in the tech world. Let’s get the point. Some cheap quality hard drive showed that they have fast data writing capability, but we didn’t stop there.

We know that storing the data for a long time is also important. It seems that these hard drive gets corrupted very easily. So when you are going to the market you need to know at least something about the quality of hard drives you can buy with your money.

Don’t worry, at reviewron we get you covered. We have listed some of the best portable hard drives you can get for your money.

Why/Who Needs a Portable Hard Drive?

Internet professionals, Photographers, School students, and even movie addicts all may need an external portable hard drive at any time. Although, the size and quality matters depending on what you are going to store on the drive.

If you are getting a hard drive just to use occasionally, we suggest that you go for a small storage capacity and mid-priced one. Same goes for the people who love to store only a few things. Don’t spend much on a larger storage or SSD. Normal HDD disk is good for the regular job like this.

But, if you are a photographer or professional who works in and out with extensive data, an SSD disk with higher writing speed is recommended.

Portable SSD costs much than the normal HDD storage.

Best Portable Hard Drives in Our List

In the tech world, price differs the quality. When you are spending money to get a quality product you should get the best. We have some brand name of the hard drive market: Seagate, Western Digital My Passport, ADATA, Toshiba and Samsung.

All these brands have a good quality portable hard drive of various storage size and price. Let’s highlight some of them.

Top 10 Picks

Reviews	Details	Price
Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable External Hard Drive	Brand: Seagate Capacity: 2TB Interface: USB 3.0 Speed: 120 MB/s	Check Price
Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro	Brand: Western Digital Capacity: 2 TB Interface: USB 3.0 Read Speed: 130 MB/Second	Check Price
SAMSUNG T5 Portable SSD 2TB	Brand: SAMSUNG Capacity: 2TB Interface: USB 3.0 Read-write speeds: up to 540 MB/s	Check Price
SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable External SSD	Brand: SanDisk Capacity: 2TB Interface: USB 3.1 Type C Read Speed: 550 MB/s	Check Price
Seagate Barracuda Fast SSD 1TB External Solid State Drive Portable	Brand: Seagate Capacity: 1TB Interface: USB 3.0 Speed: up to 540MB/s	Check Price
G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mobile SSD Durable Portable External Storage	Brand: G-Technology Capacity: 1 TB Interface: USB 3.0 Type A, USB 3.0 Type C Speed: 560 MB/s	Check Price
Seagate Game Drive For Xbox 1TB SSD External Solid State Drive	Brand: Seagate Capacity: 1 TB Interface: USB 3.0 Speed: 540 MB/s	Check Price
Transcend 2TB Rugged External Hard Drive	Brand: Transcend Capacity: 2TB Interface: USB 3.0 Speed: 5Gbps	Check Price
WD 1TB Gaming Drive Accelerated for Xbox One, Portable External SSD	Brand: Western Digital Capacity: 1TB Interface: USB 3.0 Speed: 400 MB/s	Check Price
Crucial X6 2TB Portable SSD	Brand: Crucial Capacity: 2TB Interface: USB Type C Speed: 540 MB/s	Check Price

Here are a bit more about the best 3 portable hard drives we considered.

01. Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro

We have added this in the top of our list because it’s wireless and it has good battery backup. Although people have mixed feelings about western digital’s previous versions, we are sure that you are going to love this one.

SD 3.0 card reader
Wireless 802.11 AC
Battery up to 10 hours
Compatible with most of the operating system
USB power bank to charge mobile devices
USB 3.0 for super-fast transfers
Convenient USB 2.0 port to easily transfer media from an external USB storage device, like a compatible DSLR or CF card reader
Wirelessly stream 4K videos and view photos with the My Cloud mobile app.

The price gets a bit high due to the wireless functionality. But, the premium look and functionality it brings surely is a good thing for photographers and those who love to stream movies.

The Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro comes with 1TB, 2TB,3TB, and 4TB capacity. It resembles mostly with an external DVD drive, but somehow different with its USB slots.

Cons: It doesn’t have a USB C slot and the price is higher than other same capacities external hard drive storage. Except for these things the portability and read-write capability of the disk is A class. Comes with easy to follow setup instruction.

We know not everyone needs a wireless storage, but for those who need it, it’s the best. Photographers and video makers can easily offload their media and images with it. Also, you can check the raw images with the My Cloud mobile app.

Occasionally it can be used as a power bank. The hard drive is equipped with 6,400 mAh battery. Doesn’t it sound like a perfect travel partner?

02. Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable External Hard Drive

Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable External Hard Drive

Overall

4.7

Price
Usability
Design
Warrenty

The Slim 2TB - Seagate's Best Portable Hard Drive

We have tested 5 different companies, 10 portable hard drives and it seems the slim 2TB from Seagate is the best. We considered the price, usability, design and the warranty of the product.

Pros

Good Price
Compact and lighter design
Segate’s own backup software

Cons

No USB C
No Wireless

Get it on Amazon

Seagate is our favorite brand for a long time. The Backup Plus Slim 2TB is the market best depending on our test and most user reviews.

We consider several factors before declaring it’s the best one for you. The price comparing to other same-sized devices, the physical size of the hard drive and the read-write quality. In every test, this is the winner on our list.

The main problem faced by anyone using an external hard drive is it’s data transfer and writing speed. While we tested other devices this one seems significantly faster.

Includes Seagate’s own backup software
USB 3.0
Compatible with PlayStation 4
Can be used both on PC and MAC
Thinner and lighter design

Comparing to the design, it has a good premium look with nice compact size for carrying it anywhere you go. Look into Amazon and you can see this is one of the highest sold portable hard drive in the market.

Although it comes with various color and capacity we recommend the 2TB for anyone with a regular need for data backup.

If you do not need a wireless functionality in your portable hard drive, then this should be your choice. The price is much cheaper than the WD passport we have mentioned above. It beats the WD in speed, size, and portability.

Although, we recommend the 2TB size for its speed and size if you need larger one and money is your primary concern then go for the Seagate plus 4TB size. This is not slimly designed like the 2TB one. It’s heavier and thicker than the 2TB size.

Still, it provided a good read and write capability, but slower than the slim. They have also a 5TB version. But, in our test we have seen, the bigger the storage size the slower it gets.

If you consider the price then the bigger size costs less in per terabyte. Now it’s up to you what size you need to buy.

03. Samsung T5 Portable SSD – 500GB

There are a lot of people who are not a big fan of Samsung product anymore. The quality comparing to other Samsung gadgets, failure in the phone series they produced in recent years, all are against them.

Although we have found this particular Samsung T5 portable SSD a winner in the speed test. 500GB is not a suitable storage capacity for everyone. It can go with normal work and day to day backup function.

When considering the speed of the SSD you must pay a good price. SSD drives are much faster than the other HDD devices we mentioned.

Let’s check the general specs:-

Read-Write speeds of up to 540 MB/s
A metal designed body that fits in the palm of your hand
AES 256-bit hardware encryption
USB Type C to C and USB Type C to A cables
3-year warranty

As you can see the read-write speed is a lot faster than the other devices. Its metal body saves it from shock and the hardware encryption keeps your data safe.

When most of the Portable Hard Drive lacks the USB C facility, Samsung T5 portable SSD wins here.

Customers are also happy with the warranty of 3 years. Most devices gave warranty for only a year or two.

Only if you can afford the SSD then you can go for the bigger storage capacity like 1TB and 2TB. This SSD has superior password protection technology with hardware encryption for your important files.

People who need safety first must use the Samsung T5 Portable SSD.

How to keep your Portable Hard Drive Safe?

The SSD devices can resist a drop from a certain height. Most HDD drive will also water resistant at a certain level. Although it is not totally recommended you soak your device in water.

Problems with portable hard drives are their connection point. Always remove the USB cable before you put them in your bag or pocket. Pressure on the joint might damage the socket point. On that case, it’s harder to get your files back if you can’t find a same kind of enclosure.

Use with one hand and do not drop your Portable HDD, you can use them for years.

To compare the price you can check other variations from Toshiba and ADATA portable Hard Drives.

Remember you need to consider the following specs when buying a portable hard drive: