When looking for an external hard drive, the most important factor to consider is brand. The brand of the hard drive impacts reliability, speed, compatibility, customer service and ultimately the user experience. The top brands for external hard drives are Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, LaCie, Samsung, and G-Technology.
Western Digital
Western Digital (WD) is one of the most popular and trusted brands for external hard drives. Here are some key points about WD external drives:
- Reliability: WD drives have a long-standing reputation for reliability and low failure rates. The company stands behind its products with strong warranties.
- Performance: WD offers both high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs) and faster solid state drives (SSDs). The HDDs offer good speeds of up to 5Gb/s while the SSDs can reach up to 10Gb/s read/write speeds.
- Range of products: WD has a diverse external drive lineup ranging from small portable drives to high-capacity desktop options. There are also rugged and gaming-focused drives.
- Software: WD drives come with useful software like WD Backup and WD Security to protect and manage data.
- Compatibility: WD drives work well with both Windows PCs and Macs. Many drives are Time Machine compatible.
- Customer support: WD offers a strong 2-3 year limited warranty on most drives and has helpful customer service.
Overall, you can expect a solid and reliable performance from a WD external drive. They offer great value for money. The brand is a top choice for both casual and power users.
Seagate
Seagate is another huge name in data storage and a top competitor to Western Digital. Here are some of the key highlights of Seagate’s external drives:
- Affordability: Seagate drives tend to be competitively priced with relatively lower cost per TB than other brands.
- Slim and portable options: Seagate’s Backup Plus Slim drives are compact and easy to carry around.
- High capacities: Seagate offers massive external HDDs up to 16TB for storing enormous media libraries.
- Durability: Seagate drives are built to last with shock-resistance and long mean time between failures.
- 5-year warranty: Most Seagate drives come with an industry-leading 5-year limited warranty for peace of mind.
- Universal connectivity: Seagate drives work interchangeably between Mac and Windows out of the box.
On the downside, Seagate drives can sometimes run hot and be a bit noisier compared to competitors. But overall they deliver outstanding value and capacities.
Toshiba
Toshiba is a well-regarded brand for external hard drives. Here are some of its notable features:
- Ruggedness: Many Toshiba drives meet rigorous military standards for shock, impact, and temperature tolerance.
- Portability: Toshiba’s Canvio models are extremely compact and lightweight external HDDs.
- Speed: The Toshiba Canvio models support USB 3.0 for fast data transfers.
- Design: Toshiba drives have clean and minimalist aesthetics compared to some competitors.
- Storage management: Toshiba includes backup and recovery software for easily protecting and organizing data.
- Warranty: Most Toshiba external drives have a standard 1-2 year limited warranty.
Toshiba isn’t on the cutting edge for speeds or capacities but consistently delivers reliable and travel-friendly external storage. It’s a smart choice for everyday backup and access.
LaCie
LaCie is a premium brand owned by Seagate that specializes in sleek and stylish external drives. Key features include:
- Design: LaCie drives have unique and eye-catching designs from artists and designers.
- Performance: Models like the LaCie Rugged offer up to 5Gb/s transfer speeds and ample cache for smooth video editing.
- Ruggedness: LaCie Rugged and LaCie Rugged RAID drives can withstand drops, shock, dust, and water.
- Big capacities: The LaCie 2big RAID goes up to massive 28TB for professionals and creatives.
- RAID support: LaCie offers optional RAID support for redundancy against drive failure.
- Warranty: Most LaCie drives include 2-3 year limited warranties.
If you want flair along with serious storage and speed, LaCie is an excellent premium choice. The brand caters more to creative professionals than casual users.
Samsung
As one of the largest electronics companies in the world, Samsung offers external solid state drives unmatched in speed and sleek design. Key advantages of Samsung external SSDs:
- Blazing speeds: Samsung drives leverage the ultrafast NVMe interface for sequential read/write speeds over 2,000MB/s.
- Compact and light: Models like the T7 Touch are smaller than a business card and weigh just two ounces.
- Security: Some Samsung drives offer password protection and AES 256-bit hardware encryption.
- Durability: Samsung SSDs can withstand drops of over 6 feet thanks to a sturdy metal body.
- Capacity: Drive sizes range from 500GB models for portability up to 4TB for power users.
- Warranty: Samsung provides a 3-year limited warranty on its external SSDs.
For those needing uncompromising transfer speeds in a tiny package, Samsung external SSDs deliver exceptional performance and convenience. They are more expensive per gigabyte than HDDs but provide blazing file access.
G-Technology
G-Technology from Western Digital focuses on high-performance external drives aimed at creative professionals who work with bandwidth-intensive HD video, graphics, photos, and music. Notable features include:
- Speed: G-Technology drives offer transfer rates up to 10Gb/s and 7200RPM disk speeds.
- Capacity: Models scale up to massive 56TB for storing 4K/8K video footage.
- RAID support: G-RAID drives provide RAID 0/1 functionality for improved performance or data protection.
- Ruggedness: G-Technology drives meet MIL-STD-810G 5-foot drop tolerance for on-location durability.
- Thunderbolt 3: G-Technology drives support cutting edge Thunderbolt 3 speeds.
- 5-year warranty: A nice perk for important media files is the 5-year limited warranty.
If you need professional-grade speed, capacity, and reliability when working with large media files, G-Technology delivers. Just expect to pay a premium.
Factors When Choosing an External HDD Brand
Beyond looking at the top brands, there are some key factors to weigh when picking out an external hard drive:
- Usage: Are you storing documents and backups or lots of large media files? Do you travel often?
- Interface: Faster Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.0/3.1, and USB-C are best for high resolution media files.
- Drive type: HDDs offer more storage for less money while SSDs are pricier but much faster and more rugged.
- Size: Desktop drives offer massive multi-terabyte capacities while portable drives have compact stylish designs.
- OS compatibility: Most drives work interchangeably between Mac and Windows but check requirements if concerned.
- Security: Some drives include password protection and hardware encryption to safeguard sensitive data.
- Warranty: Aim for at least a 2-3 year limited warranty for reliability peace of mind.
Also consider aesthetics, price per TB, maximum capacity needed, bundled software, and customer ratings. Be sure to get a drive with sufficient room to grow and backup important files.
Conclusion
Any of the major brands – Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, LaCie, Samsung, or G-Technology – make excellent choices for external hard drives with minor differences in speeds, value, warranties, and aesthetics. Key is choosing a drive with ample capacity, modern interface like USB-C or Thunderbolt 3, rugged enough build quality for your usage, and sufficient warranty coverage. For most users, a mid-range 2TB to 4TB portable HDD from Western Digital, Seagate or Toshiba provides the best mix of affordability, capacity and reliabilty for backing up documents, photos, videos and other media files. Power users needing maximum performance for 4K/8K video editing and other graphics work should look to high-end SSDs or RAID drives from LaCie, Samsung or G-Technology.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most reliable external hard drive brand?
Based on failure rates and user reviews, the most reliable brands for external hard drives are Western Digital and Seagate. Both companies make durable and long-lasting drives with a low percentage of defects.
What brand of external hard drive lasts the longest?
Western Digital and Seagate drives have proven to have excellent longevity, often lasting many years even with frequent use. LaCie and G-Technology drives also have impressive lifespans of 5 years or more for creative professionals.
Is WD or Seagate better?
WD and Seagate are extremely close competitors when it comes to quality. WD scores better on noise levels while Seagate sometimes has a price edge. Overall both WD and Seagate are great choices that will serve most users very well.
What is the fastest external hard drive brand?
Samsung and LaCie offer the fastest consumer-grade external SSDs and HDDs respectively. Samsung’s T5 and T7 Touch SSDs can reach speeds up to 1,050MB/s. LaCie’s Rugged Thunderbolt SSD hits up to 1,000MB/s.
What external hard drives do professionals use?
Creative professionals and power users often choose higher-end external drives from LaCie and G-Technology. Key features are max speeds via Thunderbolt 3, large capacities up to 56TB, and RAID support.
Comparision Table of External Hard Drive Brands
| Brand | Drive Types | Max Speed | Warranty | Price Per TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Digital | HDD, SSD | 10Gb/s | 2-3 years | $25-$100 |
| Seagate | HDD, SSD | 10Gb/s | 1-5 years | $25-$100 |
| Toshiba | HDD | 5Gb/s | 1-3 years | $30-$90 |
| LaCie | HDD, SSD | 10Gb/s | 2-5 years | $90-$500 |
| Samsung | SSD | 10Gb/s | 3 years | $100-$500 |
| G-Technology | HDD, SSD | 10Gb/s | 5 years | $100-$700 |