If you're looking for the best external hard drive to keep your important and irreplaceable documents save, while quickly and easily expanding the storage space of your PC, laptop or games console, then you've come to the right place. On this page you'll find our pick of the best external hard drives money can buy in 2018. These external hard drives offer you a way to store your files quickly and easily, offering fast data transfer speeds, while also offering sturdy build quality so you don't have to worry about them breaking and losing your files. When buying the best external hard drive for your needs, there are certain things you need to take into account. First of all is data transfer speeds. This determines how fast you can move files onto the external drive from your PC, and is especially important if you need to move a lot of large files.

Its built-in Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cable is a nice touch for Mac users on-the-go, as it eliminates the need to carry around a cable with you. $170 at Amazon Slim and affordable storage.

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The biggest deciding factors when it comes to data transfer rates is the connection the drive uses, and whether it is a standard hard drive or a solid state drive (SSD). Many external hard drives use USB 2.0 connections, but for faster speeds you'll want USB 3.0 or ideally the newer USB Type-C connection. You'll need to ensure your PC or laptop also has a USB Type-C port.

In this guide we list the best external hard drives with both traditional hard drives and faster (and more expensive) solid state drives. Not the fastest drive An external hard drive you can buy without breaking the bank, Buffalo's MiniStation Extreme NFC could be your match made in heaven. With compatibility for both Mac and Windows machines, the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC is very flexible, and comes with a rugged case that's dust and water resistant, along with a built-in USB 3.0 cable. Not only is your data kept protected from knocks and drops with the rugged shell, but it's also got 256-bit AES security features and NFC (Near Field Communication) features as well. Essentially it allows you to unlock the drive to get to your files quickly and easily by tapping the supplied NFC card onto the drive's body.

• This product is only available in the US at the time of this writing. UK and Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro 2. Western Digital My Passport 4TB. WD backup software is basic The latest generation of the Western Digital My Passport range of external hard drives has landed, coming in sizes from 1TB to 4TB.

It features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption, along with WD's own backup software. Best of all, it is a very good performer when it comes to data transfer speeds, beating many of its competitor.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn't reach the top speeds of solid state external drives, but for external hard drives based on traditional HDDs, this is the drive to get. Samsung T5 SSD. Expensive If you'd rather have an external hard drive that took advantage of solid state drive (SSD) speeds, then the Samsung Portable SSD T5 is definitely the best external hard drive for you. Samsung has a brilliant reputation for external SSDs, thanks to products like the T3, and the T5 builds on its predecessor by adding a fast USB Type-C connection that ekes out every last drop of performance from the solid state drive inside. Of course, it's also backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 if your PC doesn't have USB Type-C. It's expensive, but it's well worth the cash. Read the full review: 4.

Adata SD700 External SSD. No USB Type-C The will suit those looking for a rugged storage device that can provide ample capacity without costing too much. It performs superbly well and remains the only SSD we’ve seen that is IP68 rated.

Thanks to the solid state drive that resides in this external hard drive, it's a lot faster than external drives that use traditional spinning hard drives - so you're getting great transfer speeds as well as rugged protection. It also comes in capacities up to 1TB, so you don't have to worry about missing out on storage space just because it uses an SSD - this drive really does hit all the right notes. WD My Book Duo 4TB.