Do you need an external hard drive? Then pay attention to this | Tech

Just like printed photos and texts on paper, digital photos, videos, texts and other files are also vulnerable to things like loss or damage. Everything people store is at risk of being lost. That is why it is wise to store data properly.

We are increasingly doing this in the cloud, but it is still possible physically. For example, on the built-in storage space of your computer or laptop, or on an external drive. The advantage of the latter is that you can save a copy of all important files on your computer.

You can also easily take an external, portable (hard) drive to colleagues and friends if you want to share files. Moreover, extra storage space is nice for, for example, game consoles whose internal storage space is full.

External hard drives come in two flavors: the actual hard drives (HDD) and solid state drives (SSD). Traditional hard drives are mechanical devices that read and write data, similar to the way a turntable plays a vinyl record.

Internally, they include a moving read and write head, which records and retrieves data. Their speed is measured in revolutions per minute (RPM) – 5400 and 7200 RPM are the most common.

An SSD is technically not a drive: it has no rotating parts. They are non-mechanical devices that use memory chips and transistors to retrieve data at lightning speed. You can easily see this if you have one built into your computer: it boots up much faster than when the operating system is still running on an HDD.

HDDs are slower than SSDs, but they’re also significantly cheaper, so you can buy a lot more storage for less. SSDs are shock resistant, while an HDD is quite vulnerable. Overall, a traditional hard drive is a great way to store and backup redundant data. Go for speed and more complex applications: a solid state drive is powerful enough to run operating systems or apps, and provides super-fast storage.

Before you buy an external storage space, it is important that you know what you want to use it for. If you are purely concerned with transferring documents, photos or other media from one device to another, a USB stick is often enough. If you’re just looking for extra gigabytes, this option works fine too. But if you want much more space, you can buy drives of a few terabytes (about 1000 gigabytes) or more.

The largest external hard drives are certainly not always the best. Transfer rate is also important. If you regularly send files back and forth, it can become annoying to have to wait a long time. An SSD can be the solution for that.

It is also important to pay attention to the type of USB connection on the drive. USB 2.0 is an old standard and therefore slower. USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen1, or USB 3.2 Gen1 offer speeds of up to 5 gigabytes per second, with USB 3.1 Gen2 and USB 3.2 Gen2 you’re at 10Gbps and 20Gbps respectively. Some drives do not work with USB but with Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 connections and can achieve huge transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps.

To keep your data extra secure, some drives come with built-in security software, such as password protection or a fingerprint sensor. Advanced security features are also available, such as encryption. Important when it comes to confidential information or corporate files.

Most external drives are pre-prepared for a specific operating system, namely Mac or Windows. There are also external drives specially formatted for Linux. If you have purchased external storage and are switching operating systems in the meantime, you can reformat a drive to work with the system via Disk Utility (Mac) or Disk Management (Windows). You must make a backup beforehand.

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