Prime Day is finally upon us, and as we look over the landscape of Prime Day deals, it’s a good time to issue a reminder: The cloud is not the only storage solution, far from it. The cloud can be complicated and is only helpful when you have access to it, which is not always the case. Some of us prefer an external hard drive, for ease of transfer, portability, security, and peace of mind. Right now, there are some great opportunities to explore Prime Day external hard drive deals. Whether you want a back up to your back up, faster backups, or just an alternative to the cloud, this could be your opportunity to save.
Today’s best Prime Day external hard drive deals
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PNY Elite 480GB USB 3.0 Portable SSD
— $49, was $150 -
Toshiba Canvio Slim 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0, Black
— $56, was $70 -
Seagate Game Drive 2TB External Hard Drive for Xbox
— $65, was $110 -
Western Digital Elements 3TB External Hard Drive
— $70, was $90 -
SanDisk Extreme 500GB External Portable SSD (USB 3.1 Type-A/Type-C)
— $85, was $170 -
Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro 3TB Portable External HDD
— $180, was $250 -
WD Black 2TB P50 Game Drive Portable External SSD
— $350, was $500
Expires soon
Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro 3TB Portable External HDD
$180 $250
Wireless technology has even come to external hard drives, and the My Passport Wireless Pro takes portability to another level owing to its innovative design that’s perfect for when you’re on the go.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
SanDisk Extreme 500GB External Portable SSD (USB 3.1 Type-A/Type-C)
$85 $170
This 500GB portable external HDD is a rugged option if, along with portability, durability is a concern for you when transporting data in rough environments.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Seagate Game Drive 2TB External Hard Drive for Xbox
$65 $110
If you’ve piled up one too many Xbox games (which is admittedly a nice problem to have), then this 2TB storage drive can help ease your console’s storage burden.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
G-Technology G-DRIVE 4TB External Hard Drive
$140 $180
If you aren’t sure about the efficacy of WD or Seagate, G-Technology’s got you covered, with their G-DRIVE external hard drive offering 4TB of space that you can use to backup your files.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
WD Black 2TB P50 Game Drive Portable External SSD
$350 $500
This is a high-performance sturdy SSD that comes with a shock-resistant exterior and 2TB of storage which should be enough for nearly 50 console games.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Seagate Expansion Desktop 8TB External Hard Drive
$125 $165
When native storage isn’t enough, add the Seagate Expansion Desktop external hard drive to your PC build for a massive boost in storage capacity, with this one offering a whopping 8TB of space.
Buy at Staples
Expires soon
Western Digital Elements 3TB External Hard Drive
$70 $90
Store a small truckload of files with this 3TB hard drive, perfect for working professionals with an archive’s worth of documents or the small-time indie multimedia users with a number of videos.
Buy at Target
Expires soon
PNY Elite 480GB USB 3.0 Portable SSD
$49 $150
This SSD puts 480GB of storage in the palm of your hands and is the most affordable option in its category.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Western Digital Easystore 8TB External Hard Drive
$140 $200
If you want a reliable hard drive option, the WD Easystore 8TB is a great and heavy-duty option if you’ve got more documents and files than you know what to do with.
Buy at Best Buy
Expires soon
Toshiba Canvio Advance 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0, Black
$56 $70
Back up all your important files in this Toshiba Canvio 2TB external hard drive. It comes in a compact size so it’s easy to store.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Western Digital My Passport 5TB External Hard Drive
$100 $150
The WD My Passport is a reliable hard drive in any situation, and with 5TB of storage, you can comfortably store all your important files without any problems.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Western Digital Elements 8TB Desktop External Hard Drive
$145 $180
If your desktop’s built-in storage doesn’t have enough space to satisfy your needs, this WD Elements hard drive has 8TB of space for over eight times the amount of files a regular laptop can hold.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Toshiba Canvio Slim 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0, Black
$56 $70
Unlike the original Toshiba Canvio 2TB external hard drive, this one comes in a slimmer design, but it’s just as reliable when backing up files.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB External Hard Drive
$55 $80
Store all your photos, videos, and important files with the Seagate Backup Plus Slim extern hard drive. This one has 1TB for everything you need, doubling what most laptops can afford to store.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Western Digital Black P10 5TB Portable Game Drive
$95 $150
Available in several sizes (5TB being the largest), the Western Digital Black P10 Game Drive is a great storage solution for PC, Mac, PS4, and Xbox when your devices are running short on space.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
G-Technology G-DRIVE Mobile 4TB External Hard Drive
$140 $150
The G-Technology G-DRIVE Mobile hard drive is a great add-on to any desktop, compatible with both Macs and Windows, with this one having 4TB of space for all your important files.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Seagate Game Drive 2TB External Hard Drive for PS4
$65 $110
Why delete old games when you could store them for a lifetime? With the Seagate 2TB Game Drive, you can hold onto your games and saves and revive them just in time for the PS5.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Western Digital Elements 5TB External Hard Drive
$100 $130
The Western Digital Elements is one of the top lightweight external hard drives, and with a 5TB capacity, this one doesn’t skimp on storage space like many portable HDDs.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Seagate 8TB Game Drive Hub for Xbox
$145 $220
Give your Xbox the best storage upgrade available with the officially licensed Seagate Game Drive, offering an immense 8TB of capacity for all your games, DLC, and more.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Seagate Expansion Desktop 16TB External Hard Drive
$295 $390
Augment your computer’s storage with the biggest hard drive Seagate has to offer, boasting an enormous 16TB worth of space for all your storing needs.
Buy Now
Expires soon
Western Digital 2TB Gaming External Hard Drive Drive for PS4
$62 $90
External hard drives aren’t just for PCs — modern gaming consoles like the PS4 can also use them, and this 2TB Western Digital portable HDD is perfect for expanding your PlayStation’s storage.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Seagate Game Drive 4TB External Hard Drive for PS4
$88 $150
Can’t get rid of your favorite games from the past few years? The Seagate 4TB game drive lets you store all your files and saves, with enough room to let you make new memories with new games.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Seagate Mobile Drive 1TB External Hard Drive for Chromebooks
$50 $60
If your chromebook needs more space, look no further than the Seagate 1TB mobile drive, offering an entire terabyte’s worth of storage for any files you can’t get rid of.
Buy at Best Buy
Expires soon
Western Digital My Passport 4TB External Hard Drive
$109 $120
The Western Digital My Passport external hard drive is a powerful upgrade to any storage, and with 4TB to back you up, it’s a great add-on to your computer.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Toshiba Canvio Advance 4TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0, Black
$80 $100
Nevr worry about misplacing your files again when you back them all up in the Toshiba Canvio Advance 4TB Portable External Hard Drive. It even has security software to prevent unauthorized access.
Buy at Amazon
Expires soon
Western Digital My Passport 4TB External Hard Drive for Macs
$120 $135
Your Mac not packed with enough space? Take the WD My Passport 4TB hard drive out for a spin, designed specifically for Apple computers, and store as many files as you could ever need.
Buy at Office Depot
Expires soon
Samsung T5 1TB Portable External SSD
$130 $250
About as long and wide as a credit card (although obviously thicker), the fast and super-compact Samsung T5 external SSD is our favorite external hard drive thanks to its speed and size.
Buy at Amazon
How to choose an external hard drive
There are a multitude of external hard drives brands, fabrications, and sizes to choose from when browsing Prime Day external hard drive deals. So many, in fact, that the choice can be overwhelming. To help you find the right external hard drive for you, let’s take a look at the major features — storage capacity, SSD vs. HDD, transfer speed, portability and durability, security, compatibility, and extra features — to make sure you get the right one.
The first thing we should look at is storage capacity. Ask yourself how big a hard drive you need? Look at what you’ve got saved on your computer, and in the cloud and measure accordingly, taking into account your future needs and how many devices you’re going to back up on this external hard drive, which can range from 64GB to several TB, which is quite a difference. Then consider SSD versus an HDD. We go deep on the difference here, but, basically, SSDs have no moving parts (HDDs do), making SSD drives much faster, less easily damaged, and more expensive. We usually recommend SSDs, with budget considerations in mind, of course. Older drives will have USB 2.0, as a standard, and it’s pretty slow, reaching only 480Mbps. Newer drives will have USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen1, or USB 3.2 Gen1 as standard (they’re similar) with speeds of up to 5Gbps. Then there’s USB 3.1 Gen2 and USB 3.2 Gen2 (again, similar), providing 10Gbps transfers. At the top of the USB 3 pile is USB 3.2, or 3.2 2×2, with 20Gbps. Up from there is the Thunderbolt 3 protocol with up to 40Gbps in transfer speed.
Related
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One of the main reasons to choose an external hard drive over, or in addition to, the cloud is its portability. Lots of great drives are meant to stay at your home or your office, but if you’re looking for one to take with you where you go, there are some things to consider. External hard drives can vary greatly in size and weight; the smaller ones with the most capacity tend to be, you guessed it, the most expensive. Part of this consideration is durability; no drive lasts forever, and lots of contemporary drives come with rugged casings to protect them against damage, SSD, without those moving parts, tends to stand up better to impact damage than HDD.
Another consideration is security. How sensitive is the data you are backing up and transferring? If the answer to this question is anything but “not very” you’ll want to consider encryption, either through software or the device’s hardware. You can get software that’s compatible with most drives, but if you want to step up your security, get a drive with hardware encryption. If security is a top concern, you can even look at drives with physical security systems.
Finally, but not least important, is compatibility and features. Hard drives often come formatted for a specific operating system. So ask yourself before buying, ‘Do I have Windows or MacOS and will this change any time soon?’ You can always reformat an external hard drive, or partition it, but you probably want to avoid that challenge by making sure your external drive is compatible with the target operating system. Look at the features too: Consider what kind of warranty is offered; look at your machine and note whether you’re going to need to buy extra cables; some come with Wi-Fi — is this important to you?
When you’re exploring Prime Day external hard drive deals, make sure to get the external hard drive that’s right for you.
We strive to help our readers find the best deals on quality products and services, and we choose what we cover carefully and independently. The prices, details, and availability of the products and deals in this post may be subject to change at anytime. Be sure to check that they are still in effect before making a purchase.Digital Trends may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.