Best external hard drives to buy right now?

Charles Stewart69 said:Hey everyone,

I totally missed out on all those summer sales—my bad—and now I’m hunting for an external drive, something 500 GB or bigger. Western Digital hiked up their prices on me in the meantime, so I've been scouting other brands. Long story short, I found some decent deals on these: Toshiba, Transcend, HP, and Prestigio. So, my question is, what’s your experience with these guys? If you were in my shoes, which one would you grab?
Thanks.

A buddy of mine actually picked this one up yesterday at Best Buy for $173

Benjamin King2 said:...or maybe this:

Is this a good buy for a laptop? I'm looking to dump all my movies and shows onto an external drive once my laptop starts running out of space.
http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive

Thanks for the help!

I'm planning on pulling the hard drive out of my old laptop. Does anyone have a recommendation for what I should call the thing you put it in so I can use it as an external drive?
An HDD enclosure or something?🙂

If you're working with a SATA drive: http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive

For those old-school IDE drives—if you can even find them anymore—try this: http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive

Benjamin King2 said:If you're working with a SATA drive: I saw this external drive listed online earlier. Looks like a decent option if you need some extra space.

For an IDE drive: I found this external drive online. Looks like what I need.

You've helped me out so much here that I feel like I owe you a huge favor. Seriously, you're probably one of the best people in the entire country.🙂

Kate Adams83 said:Man, you’ve helped me out so much here that I seriously owe you a huge favor—maybe even a steak dinner or something. The biggest guy I've ever seen. Right here—maybe even the most extreme case in the whole damn country!🙂

Judging by that avatar, you're definitely overthinking this one. 🤣

Can someone tell me if this drive is actually worth the money? http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive Most importantly, is Adata a reliable brand?

So, are Adata drives actually any good?

What can I actually get for $67, like, is there anything decent at Chipotles for that kind of cash?

So, I’ve got this ancient 80GB hard drive lying around the house 😁, but it’s SATA, and my PC uses PATA—or wait, maybe it's the other way around 😁, the computer has the newer one. Are there actual cables I can just buy to hook this old relic up to the motherboard? How much would those cables even run me, and more importantly, can I totally wipe everything off this old drive (it’s got Windows, music, games, and all that other random junk)

I am looking for a high-quality, reliable external hard drive with a large capacity, ideally 2TB.

My computer features both USB3 and eSATA ports, so utilizing those would be ideal. It isn't a strict requirement, but hardware encryption would be a welcome feature.

What actually distinguishes the various Western Digital lines, such as the Elements, Studio, or Live series?

Should I opt for a portable model or a desktop version?

What would you recommend? I prioritize build quality and reliability over finding the lowest price.

darkmarlin16 said:What can I pick up for $67, is there anything decent at Chipotles for that price?

I've got this old 80GB hard drive sitting at home 😁—it’s SATA, but my PC uses the older IDE setup (or maybe it's the other way around 😁, the PC has the newer one)—so, are there any cables I can buy to hook that old thing up to the motherboard? How many cables would I need, and can I completely wipe everything off this old drive (it’s got Windows, music, games, and all that other junk)

Since we're talking about external drives here, are you looking to mount this inside your computer case, or do you want to use it as a portable drive in an external enclosure? You can definitely wipe the drive—just format it if it’s only got one partition, but if it’s split up into multiple partitions, just delete them all and create one fresh one.

Aaron Johnson55 said:I need a high-quality, reliable external HDD with a large capacity—ideally 2TB.

My computer has both USB3 and eSATA ports, so it would be great to take advantage of those. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it wouldn't be bad if the HDD featured hardware encryption.

What's the actual difference between those various Western Digital lines (Elements, Studio, Live...)?

Should I go Portable or not?

What do you guys recommend? (I value quality over price.)

I think your best bet would be to grab something like this: http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive

A 2TB drive costs only about $50 more, and for that, you get an extra terabyte. Plus, it has hardware encryption.

The Mybook Essential is really the only series that offers that—stuff like Elements or Passport usually lacks encryption or only supports smaller capacities.

As far as hardware encryption goes, there are specialized enclosures out there, though I have to admit I haven't seen those specific ones for sale locally... something like this: http://www.addonics.com/products/dced256e.php

Portable enclosures are 2.5", and you just don't get that kind of massive capacity with them.

Benjamin King2 said:I’d suggest looking at something like this: http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive

A 2 TB drive costs roughly $50 more, but you get an extra terabyte for the price. It also features hardware encryption.

The Mybook Essential is the only series in that lineup offering this; the Elements or Passport lines either lack encryption or don't support higher capacities.

Regarding hardware encryption, there are standalone enclosures available, though I haven't seen them stocked much here in the States... something like this: http://www.addonics.com/products/dced256e.php

Portable enclosures are 2.5", which generally doesn't pair well with high-capacity needs.

Benjamin King2, thanks for the suggestion and the breakdown.

Since I've never used external drives before, I'm not entirely familiar with the specs. If I understand correctly, portable drives draw power directly from the computer via USB, whereas these others plug straight into a wall outlet. Is that accurate, and are there other significant differences?

What happens when you run out of drive letters? I have several internal drives and two optical drives, plus constant USB usage, so I'm down to just two letters. If I want to split an external drive into four partitions, how does the system label them?

Yeah, if you’re working with those beefier external enclosures, they usually come with their own dedicated power adapter.

Now, regarding that annoying 26-drive letter limit—you can actually bypass it by using what’s called a drive path. Let’s say you’ve got partitions labeled P, R, S, and T on that external drive. Instead of cluttering up your list, just create a blank folder on your C: drive and call it something like Mybook. Then, head over to Disk Management and, for each of those partitions, change the drive letter to point to the specific mounting folder you just made. Once you open that Mybook folder in Windows Explorer, you'll see the contents of all those mounted partitions right there. You can dump them all into one single folder if you want, or get organized and make a separate folder for each partition. After that, just go back into Disk Management and delete the P, R, S, and T letters—that frees them up for other devices. From then on, you'll access everything through that mount folder. It’s much cleaner.

I found this great visual breakdown that explains the whole process perfectly: http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive

Benjamin King2 said:Since we're talking external drives here, are you planning on slapping this thing inside a PC case or are you looking to just toss it in an external enclosure and carry it around like a portable? You can totally wipe the drive; just format it if there’s only one partition, but if it’s got multiple partitions, you'll need to clear all of them out and just set up one fresh new one.

Honestly, I don't really care, because what am I even supposed to do with an internal drive once it's gone external anyway?😕

And man, any idea how much the cables are gonna run me?🤷

Benjamin King2 said:If you want to get around the 26-drive-letter limit, you can use drive paths instead. Suppose you have partitions P, R, S, and T on an external drive; you could create a blank folder on your C: drive and call it Mybook. In Disk Management, you would change the drive letter for each partition to point to that specific mounting folder you just created. Once you navigate to the Mybook folder in Windows Explorer, you'll see the contents of all those partitions right there. You can use one single folder or set up individual folders for each partition. Afterward, simply remove the P, R, S, and T letters in Disk Management to free them up for other devices. From then on, you access everything through that mount folder.

Here is a visual guide explaining the process: http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive

Thanks again, Benjamin King2.

I was hoping for a more straightforward way to manage drive letters.

It might be more efficient to just merge the partitions on smaller drives into one—that shouldn't cause any friction, I assume. Also, I suspect the A: and B: designations are still available for use, correct?

darkmarlin16 said:I mean, honestly, who cares—what am I even supposed to do with an internal drive if I try to turn it into an external one anyway?😕

Any idea when those cables are actually gonna show up? You happen to know?🤷

So, if you're looking to turn an internal drive into an external one—totally doable—all you really need is a decent enclosure. Just make sure you check whether you're dealing with a PATA or a SATA drive first, depending on what kind of hardware you've got lying around.

I was digging through some old archives today—don't ask why, I just have a thing for digital archaeology—and I stumbled upon this deep dive regarding external storage setups. It’s one of those pieces that really gets into the weeds of how we manage data, specifically looking at the jump between older tech and what we're using now. It basically breaks down the whole headache of managing high-capacity drives—you know, the kind where you're constantly praying the connection doesn't drop right when you're mid-transfer—and compares different ways to handle large volumes of files. There's a lot of talk about the reliability of certain brands versus others, which is always a fun rabbit hole to fall down since "reliable" is such a subjective term in the tech world until the moment your drive clicks and dies. Anyway, if you've ever spent three hours staring at a progress bar only to have it fail at 99%, this is probably right up your alley. Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive
I was digging through some old tech archives today—you know how it goes, one minute you're looking for a driver and the next you're three hours deep into a rabbit hole—and I stumbled upon this old write-up about external drives. It’s basically a breakdown of the 2 TB options that were floating around back in the day. Honestly, looking back at these specs feels like reading a history book, except instead of ancient empires, we're talking about spinning platters and interface speeds that feel prehistoric now. If you're still rocking an old setup or just curious about how much things have changed, check out the details here: http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive. It’s interesting to see how the hardware landscape shifted from those early high-capacity models to what we consider "standard" today. Not that anyone actually misses the noise of an old mechanical drive grinding away on a desk, right? Anyway, just a bit of nostalgia for the tech nerds out there.

So, if you’re trying to hook up a drive to your case but you’ve already burned through every single available port—which happens way more often than people admit—you can just grab a PCI card like this one. You plug the drive directly into the card, and honestly, it's basically the same deal as plugging it straight into the motherboard. Simple enough. I was digging through some old tech reviews earlier—you know how it goes, getting lost in the digital rabbit hole—and I stumbled upon this piece about external storage. It’s one of those deep dives that really makes you rethink how much we rely on these little plastic bricks sitting on our desks. The whole thing basically breaks down the nuances of high-capacity drives and why, despite everything moving to the cloud, having a physical backup is still the only way to sleep at night. There's a lot of talk about speed vs. reliability, which is the eternal struggle, isn't it? You want the lightning-fast transfer speeds of an SSD, but then you look at the price tag and suddenly that bulky spinning platter looks a lot more tempting—even if it does sound like a miniature jet engine taking off whenever you try to move a large file. It touches on some stuff regarding data integrity too—something most people ignore until their entire digital life vanishes into the ether because they trusted a cheap, no-name drive from a random corner of an online marketplace. Honestly, it's a solid read if you're someone who actually cares about where their data lives. It's not just about capacity; it's about knowing that when you plug that thing in, it'll actually work. Simple as that.

Aaron Johnson55 said:Thanks again, Benjamin King2.

I was honestly banking on a much more straightforward way to handle adding this—something less... complicated, let's say. Drive letter. Always comes back to the drive letter, doesn't it? It’s funny how we spend all this time worrying about hardware speeds and whether our Western Digital drives are actually performing at their rated capacity—which, let's be honest, they rarely do—but then everything falls apart because of a simple drive letter assignment. You think you've got your setup dialed in, your USB3 connections are solid, and your data is sitting pretty on that 2 TB drive you grabbed from Amazon, only to realize the system decided to rename your partition for absolutely no reason. It’s like walking into your own kitchen and finding out someone moved the silverware to the garage. Just... why? Anyway, if you're staring at a missing mount point or a path that just isn't working, it usually boils down to the OS being indecisive about which letter belongs to which piece of silicon. Fix the mapping, fix your life. Or don't. I'm just saying..

Maybe I’m better off just merging those partitions on my smaller drives into one big single volume—that shouldn't be an issue, right? I'm assuming I can still make use of both the A: and B: drives if I do that?

You can actually merge those partitions using this—it's just a freeware tool: Check out this link if you need some help messing around with your drive partitions—it’s the personal version of Partition Wizard: http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm

You can actually use both A and B for drives—it's not like you're stuck choosing just one.

Benjamin King2 said:Look, if you want to turn an internal drive into an external one, all you really need is an enclosure, and you just gotta make sure you pick either PATA or SATA depending on what kind of drive you're dealing with:

http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive
http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive

And hey, if you’re trying to plug a drive into a case but you've already run out of ports, you can just grab a PCI card like this one and plug the drive right into that—it works exactly like plugging it straight into the motherboard: http://www.amazon.com/2TB-hard-drive

if I'm following your logic here🤷, you're basically saying that I take this---->
.... and shove it into one of those enclosures you were talking about

The drive I'm planning to toss into the enclosure is SATA (that's the older style, while the newer ones are PATA, right? Or am I totally tripping?)

So how does that actually hook up to the computer, like, does it use USB or what? 🤷

PATA is the older standard—you know, the one with that chunky 40-pin connector. You just plug the drive directly into the matching header inside your PC case, and then you've got your external USB port on the chassis to hook everything up to the computer.

Benjamin King2 said:PATA is basically old-school tech—you know, the kind with that massive 40-pin connector. You plug the drive directly into the motherboard inside the case, and then the case itself provides an external USB port so you can actually hook it up to your computer..

so yeah, that's what I was wondering about🙂.

thanks a ton 🙂.

one more thing though 😁.
how big is this enclosure actually? like, can I just hold it in my hand, or is it some massive beast? 😬
and is it even something I can pick up at Chipotles? 🤷

I’m seriously in need of a massive external drive. I'm looking at something in the 6 or 8 TB range. Has anyone here actually dealt with drives that big lately? Everything I see online makes it look like Western Digital is the only player in the game for those capacities.