Top 5 Best External Hard Drives (2020)

Welcome to GetMojo, we do the research so you don’t have to! In this video, we’re offering our picks for the 5 best external hard drives on the market in 2020.

With technology getting more advanced, file sizes are getting bigger – and so is the requirement of our storage solutions. That’s where external hard drives come in. But with so many on sale, which one should you buy? Well, to help you decide, we’ve sifted through numerous website and consumer reviews to present our 5 recommended products.

Note: Clicking links in this article may generate affiliate revenue for GetMojo.

The Front Runner: Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB

This hard drive doesn’t necessarily have any frills, but it’s affordable, capacious and gets the job done. At just $68, this USB 3.0 Seagate hard drive gives you 2TB of storage and is packaged in a slimline shell for easy portability and storage. It may not have the fastest transfer speed out there, but it’s great for casual users and those who need a spacious back-up drive.  

The Workstation One: Western Digital My Book 12TB External Hard Drive

Not all of us need to stick our hard drives in a bag or coat pocket. So if you tend to stay glued to a desk, then this desktop hard drive, which is available in numerous sizes – up to 24TB in fact – is a great option. Our pick is the 12TB option, which supports the popular USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 connections. It also has a 360MB/s sequential read speed. Its price tag is quite large at $350,  but so is its storage capacity. 

The Portable One: SanDisk 1TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD

We’re switching gears next, as we go from desktop-bound to super mobile. If you need pocket-sized storage that’s rugged enough to take a bit of a beating,  then this 1TB SanDisk model is definitely worth a look. Boasting a transfer speed of up to 550MB/s, this 1TB hard drive is also IP55-rated, meaning it’s water and dustproof, and can survive 6 foot drops onto concrete. You do pay for the added durability however, as it’s priced at $160.

The Security-Conscious One: iStorage diskAshur DT2 2TB External Hard Drive

Having your work backed-up on a hard drive is all well and good – but what happens if your work is sensitive and it’s stolen? For the security-conscious people out there, iStorage has this $210 option. As well as offering PIN authentication when you go to use it, this hard drive also offers military-grade encryption, which basically makes it unhackable. It also has a tamper proof design, and a feature that can effectively self-destruct your information after a certain number of failed attempts to access it.   

Before we reveal our last pick, here are a few other great products that are worth considering:

Samsung T5 Portable 500GB SSD 

LaCie Rugged Mini 5TB External Hard Drive 

Western Digital 2TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive

The Rugged One: Adata SD700 1TB Ruggedized SSD

The SanDisk model we mentioned previously is pretty tough, but this Adata SSD takes things up a notch. As well as being super palm-of-your-hand compact, and offering 440MB/s transfer speed thanks to it being a solid state drive, this Adata hard drive also carries a IP68 rating. That means it’s waterproof, dustproof and shockproof. We really like the secure cover that fits over the drive’s port too. And at just $130, it’s really affordable for what you get.  

So which external hard drive should you buy? Well, it can be tempting to buy a huge 20TB hard drive that’s bulletproof, but just be sure that you’re only buying what you realistically need, otherwise things can get expensive.  

Stay tuned to GetMojo for the most complete video product reviews!