I have been using this drive for weekly backups for almost two years without any issues. That said, our friends at Ars Technica, as well as other users around the web, have noticed an extremely high failure rate with this drive, primarily the 2 TB and 4 TB versions. SanDisk has released a firmware update that appears to resolve the issue, but keep in mind that you should always have three backups on two different media, one of which is located offsite. See our guide on how to back up your digital life for more backup tips.
Other fast driving
- Samsung T7 2-TB SSD for $165: Before I tested the SanDisk, it was our top choice for speed. It’s not quite as fast in most situations, but it’s still a pretty fast drive.
- Seagate One-Click 1-TB SSD on sale for $85: I haven’t tested Seagate’s latest One Touch SSD drives, but I have used the company’s older spinning drives and found them to be very reliable.
If you need a drive that can withstand being in a backpack or camera bag, resisting moisture, or withstanding a drop to a hard surface, then OWC drives are your best choice. It’s hard to pick a winner here, as there are so many solid options, but OWC’s Elektron drive narrowly beat out the others in benchmark testing. I also like that you can replace the drive inside the aluminum case (which unscrews easily), which means after two years, you can pick up a faster bare SSD and put it into a rugged Elektron case.
If you want a larger drive, both physically and in terms of storage capacity, Envoy Pro FX from OWC ($256 for 1 TB) Also a good choice. It’s faster and has a capacity of up to 4 TB, but it costs $480. The 2TB model is more than enough for most people, but it’s still pricey. It has an IP67 rating and is quite drop-resistant. (Take all “military standard” claims with a grain of salt – no company is doing independent testing, and this isn’t a nitpick on OWC, as every “rugged” drive manufacturer claims so.) The advantage of the drive, though, is that even It also operates very cool under heavy load, such as editing 4K video clips directly from the drive.
Other rugged SSDs
- Sabrent Rocket Nano 1-TB SSD for $120: I really like this one. It is smaller and slightly faster than OWC, but it has two disadvantages. The first is that it gets hot. If you want to work with it on your lap, it can be uncomfortable. Another problem is that sometimes my computer is slow to recognize. I can’t find a pattern in this; sometimes it happens immediately, sometimes it takes a few minutes. If those things don’t bother you, this drive is small, cheaper, and includes a padded rubber case.
For those who need backup in the field, such as photographers and videographers, the aforementioned pen drive is a reliable solution. But if you want extra comfort, this padded driver from LaCie has long been a favorite among travelers. LaCie offers both an SSD version and a traditional spinning drive version. If speed isn’t an issue, as with nightly backups, then a cheaper spinning drive makes more sense. If you’re backing up during a photo shoot or similar situations where you need a quick backup, then the SSD version is what you want.
Other great padding options
- Samsung T7 Shield 2-TB SSD for $170: It’s not as padded as LaCie’s rugged drive, but it’s cheaper and nearly as fast. It has an IP65 rating, which means it can work well in the rain and is protected from dust and sand. The T7 series is known for its built-in security features like hardware-based encryption, but unlike the Touch models, the Shield doesn’t have a fingerprint reader. However, if you don’t need the full padding protection of LaCie and want to save a little money, the T7 Shield is a good choice.
Take this category with a grain of salt. Most of the drives here are fine for gaming (just stick with the fastest drive you can afford). That said, Western Digital’s new P40 does have some cool RGB lights on the bottom, if you will. In my testing, this didn’t seem to affect power consumption.
As for speed, my testing was inconsistent. The drive was able to easily beat the Envoy Pro and Samsung T7 in terms of speed, but seemed to struggle at other times (at least in benchmarks). In real-world use, the bottleneck I’ve been running into is some lag when transferring large amounts of data. This might be a deal-breaker for some, but for the price, it’s still a solid choice.
If you want to install a larger SSD in your laptop, you’ll just need a bare drive, which is usually cheaper than the cased drives listed above. The first thing to do is figure out which drive your computer uses. Please consult the manufacturer’s documentation for details. In my experience, the most common form factor is the M.2 2280, the slim driver pictured above. More compact laptops may use a similar but shorter M.2 2242 design. Double-check your computer to confirm the drive you need before purchasing. There are a lot of these on the market, and I haven’t had time to test many yet, but of the six I’ve tried so far, Western Digital’s WD Black series stands out in terms of speed, and it doesn’t run very hot.
In my tests, the SN 770 M.2 2280 hit an impressive 5,100 MB per second. If you’re doing a lot of drive-intensive tasks, like editing videos or gaming, this drive is well worth the money. The largest version you can get is 2 TB, but the price is reasonable considering the speed increase. I’ve been using it as my primary drive for a few months now and find it fast enough for everything I do, including editing 5.2K video clips and compiling software. My favorite part? It generates very little heat. My old Dell XPS 13 used to get too hot to use without anything between it and my lap. Now, it doesn’t get very hot until I start trying to export the video, but once that’s done, it cools down pretty quickly.
Luxury upgrade
- Western Digital SN850X 2-TB SSD for $85: This drive was so fast I had to run the test twice because I didn’t trust the first result. Western Digital claims read speeds of up to 7,300 MB per second, and in benchmark tests, the drive’s results were very close. To take advantage of the speeds here, you’ll need a system that supports the PCIe 4.0 SSD standard, but if you’re looking to upgrade your gaming system (whether it’s a desktop PC or PlayStation), this is a great drive.
How we test external hard drives
I tested these drives by first running them through a suite of benchmarking tools. On Windows, I use CrystalDiskMark to measure sequential and random read/write speeds. On macOS I do the same thing using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, and on Linux I use KDiskMark (I usually reformat the disk from exFAT to ext4). I ran the test six times and took the average. In addition to the benchmarks, I also have two folders for testing actual speeds. I transferred a 25 GB folder of MP3 files, and then a folder containing three files that totaled 25 GB in size.
After running the test, I use the drive for daily tasks – editing files directly (booting from it in the case of a bare drive), making nightly backups, throwing it in my camera bag, etc. All of these data points, along with price, form factor, portability, and other features (whether encryption is offered, etc.), help decide which disk is best.
Choosing the right hard drive comes down to balancing three things: speed, sizeand price. If you’re backing up every night, speed may not matter. Up to a point choose the cheapest drive you can find. Drives don’t last forever, but some will last longer than others. I recommend sticking with well-known brands with good reputations, such as Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, and others featured here. This is based partly on experience and partly on drive failure data Backblaze has published over the years. Backblaze backs up customer data across a large number of hard drives, and its report is worth a read. The takeaway is simple: stick with names you know.
Which are the most reliable external hard drive brands?
This question is difficult to answer because it depends on so many factors. But if you look at Backblaze’s 2023 statistics report, you’ll find that the best hard drive brands are Toshiba, Seagate, Western Digital, and Hitachi (HGST in Backblaze’s chart). The best performing drives currently appear to be Seagate’s 6 TB and 8 TB SSDs. With this in mind, if I were to build a network-attached storage (NAS) system, I would use the Seagate Exos 8 TB HDD. But after that, failures (especially SSD failures) seemed pretty random.
Which is better, SSD or HDD?
It depends on what you are doing. If you need fast data transfer speeds, then you need a solid-state drive (SSD). If you have a lot of data to store or back up, a spinning drive (hybrid hard drive or HDD) is a cheaper option. If you’re a videographer, you need both – open your wallet. Generally speaking, if you can afford it, an SSD is the way to go.
If speed trumps price, then you’ll want to check out the solid-state drives we’ve listed here. SSDs offer more than just speed advantages. They also lack moving parts, which means they can withstand bumps and drops in the bag on the road better than rotary drives. The downside is that they wear out faster. Each write operation to an SSD (that is, when you save something to it) slightly reduces the performance of the individual NAND cells that make up the drive, which wears out a bit faster than a spinning drive. How much faster depends on how you use it. That said, I have several SSDs that are over five years old, and I’ve been using them for daily backups during that time. None of them had any problems.