- Total Ratings 1, $58.95 New. Western Digital WDBA2D0020BBL-WESN My Passport 2TB USB-C Portable External Hard Drive - Blue. 4.7 out of 5 stars. (7) Total Ratings 7, $74.99 New. LaCie Rugged 2 TB,External, USB-C, (STFR2000800) Hard Drive.
- Product Title Seagate 4TB Expansion 3.0 USB Portable External Hard Drive - STEA4000400 Average Rating: ( 4.6 ) out of 5 stars 167 ratings, based on 167 reviews Current Price $104.99 $ 104.
When thinking about external data storages and transfers, these two usually comes into mind. Picking the right one for you may already be an easy task, but we'll make it even easier for you.
Store, share and transport files with the lightweight Western Digital My Passport Portable Hard Drive. The SuperSpeed USB port lets you transfer large files in seconds and 256-bit AES hardware encryption helps keep your files secure. The My Passport provides enough space to. Samsung T7 USB 3.2 Gen 2 1TB Portable SSD Hard Drive. Rating 5.000016 out of 5 (16) £151.99. Our Lowest Price Ever. Add to wishlist. Add to wishlist. Western Digital Hard Drive Case - Black. Rating 4.30006 out of 5 (60) £9.99. Add to wishlist. Add to wishlist. Seagate Retail 2TB One Touch Hard Disk Drive.
- 1 Definitions
Definitions
USB Portable Hard Drive
Used prominently for large data storage and transfers, it is a hard drive that uses USB connection and semiconductor memories that can't provide the whole storage capacity required in your standard computer hard drives. This now limits the cost per bit of the stored information, but unlike your computer hard drives, a portable hard drive can be carried around easily, hence the term 'portable'.
Aside from being portable, it is also good for storing software and other data that is not needed regularly to save space from your hard drive. Other than that, it is also good as a data back-up in case of hard drive crashes (which will rarely happen, but still happens).
Storage capacity varies and can go from 500 GB up to 8 TB of space (As of March 2015). Sizes available would be between 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch. Transfer rate would also have a difference depending on its model and could go from 12 MB/sec up to 10 GB/sec, compared to your internal hard drives that could go from 100 MB/sec up to 12 GB/sec.
A sample USB portable hard drive would be your Transcend 2 TB Thunderbolt that uses USB 3.0. It can reach up to a very fast 10 Gbit/sec, but will also cost you around $190.
USB Flash Drive
Also known under a variety of different names like USB storage, pendrive, thumbdrive, USB drive and USB stick, it is a storage device that includes a flash memory (electronic non-volatile computer storage) with an integrated USB interface. It generally is removable, rewritable, and is the smallest among USB external storage devices.
Its purpose is the same as the floppy disks and CD's that were often used for storage, back-up, and data transfer, but is much more durable. It uses USB mass storage device class standard supported by different operating systems.
Sizes can vary and even shapes, from 1 inch to 4 inches and from a rectangular shape to even fruits and animal figures. Transfer rate would be from 35 MB/s up to 530 MB/s and could go from 8 MB up to 512 GB of storage space.
A sample USB Flash Drive would be your SanDisk Cruzer CZ36 that could store up to 32 GB of space that uses USB 2.0, and costs around $10.
USB Portable Hard Drive vs USB Flash Drive
What's the difference between a USB portable hard drive and a flash drive? The purpose is mostly the same but the differences lie within their sizes, transfer rates, portability and of course their prices.
A USB portable hard drive comes in large storage spaces up to a whopping 8 TB, while a USB flash drive can only go up to 512 MB. A flash drive's size however will be much smaller than your portable hard drive, making it much easier to carry around. Speed will go in favor of your portable hard drive with up to 10 GB/s versus your flash drive's 530 MB/s. Since a portable hard drive is much more efficient than a flash drive, it does come with a larger price with $25 on an 80 GB USB 2.0 compared to a 128 GB flash drive worth around $26.
Adobe creative cloud crack. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but depending on how you see yourself using these portable storage devices, one will surely be more suited for you than the other.
Comparison Chart
| USB Portable Hard Drive | USB Flash Drive |
| Can store up to 8 TB of storage space | Can store up to 512 GB of storage space |
| More expensive | Cheaper |
| Faster transfer rate | Slower transfer rate |
| Comes in 2.5' and 3.5' in size | Comes in different shapes and sizes |
| Standard size is much bigger than flash drives | Standard size is much smaller than portable hard drives |
| Relatively heavy | Relatively lightweight |
If you need more space than your computer offers, you can get a portable hard drive. With a portable hard drive, you can plug it into your computer to access the data you've stored whenever you need.
1Decide what kind of portable drive you want.
Compatible with any computer, portable USB drives live inside their own little cases, and they plug into any available USB port. Some people call portable drives 'external drives.' Like USB drives, portable SATA drives are also portable, living outside your PC. Instead of plugging into a USB port, though, these plug into an external SATA port, a rare feature found on some newer PCs. Because few computers come with an external SATA port, portable USB drives are much more versatile.
2Figure out what features you need (or want) and are willing to pay for.
The higher the capacity of an external hard drive, the more information a drive can store, which also raises the price. Access or seek time measures the amount of time the drive takes to locate stored files, measured in milliseconds (ms). DTR (data transfer rate) measures how quickly your computer can transfer the files after it finds them. And your drive stashes recently accessed information in a special, extra-speedy spot called a cache, where it can dish it out quickly if you need it again.
3Before settling on a particular make and model of drive, read that drive's customer reviews on sites like Amazon and NewEgg.
Best Usb Portable Hard Drive
Sometimes it's a good idea to trade some speed or capacity for reliability.
4Find the size of your Windows drive, also referred to as your C partition,by choosing Start→Computer and looking at the number beneath your C drive's icon.
A partition is simply a sectioned-off portion of a hard drive. A hard drive can have one partition that fills the entire drive; a drive can also be divided into several separate partitions, each with a different letter.
5Buy a portable hard drive at least as large as your C partition.
For example, if your C partition is 279GB, buy a hard drive of at least 300GB, preferably 500GB.
6Plug the portable hard drive into its power adapter, if needed.
External Usb Portable Hard Drive
Some portable hard drives don't require any power; others require a power adapter connected between the drive and an outlet. (Geeks call their little black power adapters wall warts.)
7Plug the portable drive's USB cable into both your computer and the drive itself.
The cable's large plug fits into your computer's or laptop's USB port (left); the small end fits into the drive's own, smaller USB port (right).
Usb-c Portable Hard Drive
8Double-click the new drive's icon in Computer to see the drive's contents.
That's it. After you open its window in Computer, you can start moving files to and fro, just like with any other drive.
