10 Best External Hard Drives in India 2021(Western Digital, Adata and More)

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Let's navigate through the essentials like storage size, security etc to understand things you need to know before finalizing your purchase.

Desktop drives are huge and come with storage space ranging from 4TB and upwards to 20TB. Owing to their weight and dimensions, they are not portable and require an external power supply to function. With desktop drive you won't be worrying about running out of space.

Instead of buying multiple portable drives, buying a desktop drive is wiser. They are cost-effective compared to the portable ones, and you get more storage space undoubtedly.

If you have a massive collection of files, games, movies, post-production work, or any backup files, having a desktop drive means that you can organize all your data in one place.

The desktop drive comes with different configurations; one of them is a single hard drive or with two or more hard drives working together. You get the option to adjust levels to either double up transfer speed with disks running at the same time or using one as fault tolerance which allows the system to run when one drive fails and protect from data loss. It is called RAID( Redundant Array of Independent Disks).

There are different RAID levels to adjust between performance and data protection. Most businesses focus on data protection to minimize disruptions due to data loss. For household owners, performance is more vital.

RPM (Rotations Per Minute) is an essential but neglected aspect of hard drives when buying one. The higher the RPM, the better is the file transfer speed. Most common RPM rates are 5400RPM and 7200RPM. There are specific hard drives that come with RPM up to 12000RPM.

A 7,200 RPM drive will deliver data about 33% faster than the 5,400 RPM drive. So a file that will take 60min to transfer on 5400RPM disk will take 45min on a 7200RPM disk. With insignificant price difference, buying one with higher RPM is a better choice.

There are different generations of USB available for the hard drive; most dominant are USB 2.0, 3.0. USB 3.0 is the new generation of USB. It offers up to 10 times higher speeds than USB 2.0 Example transfer speed on USB 2.0 is 480 megabits per second (Mbps) whereas on USB 3.0 transfer speed is 4,800 Mbps. USB 3.0 are also backwards compatible, i.e. they will work on USB 2.0 ports as well but with lower rates.

Different generations of USB have a unique color code assigned to them, USB 3.0 can be identified with its blue colour insert; you can check your computer to have a port with the same. It is power efficient, as well. When you are not using the disk, the system will understand and will not draw power from the port.

The biggest dilemma of what size to buy is always time-consuming since you can’t accurately estimate how much space you will be using in future. As a safe rule of thumb, consider buying an external drive three times the size of your current PC/laptop storage. Example. You have a 500GB internal storage, consider buying hard disk 500X3 = 1.5TB

You can opt for lower or higher storage space as per your requirement and budget. A lot of space goes into saving backup from phone and PC/laptop, game titles, previous project files etc. In due time you would be surprised how half-space has filled up. To have an estimate before finalizing is good.

Although all current hard drives support the latest running operating system may it be Mac or Windows. It is crucial to check specifications whether the hard drive is compatible with your current operating system or not, save self from hassles of errors and replacements.

Users running older operating system (like Windows 7, Vista, XP or for Mac OS Sierra, Yosemite) need to pay special attention to check the compatibility of the hard drive with their system.

The portable hard disk comes in different sizes and casings. We would specifically recommend buying a hard drive with a shockproof and rugged case. Certain shock or mishandling can result in corrupting the hard drive mechanism and render all your data redundant with one fall. You can opt for non-rugged one as well but make sure to have a protection case around it always.

A protective casing will ensure rough handedness and mishandling is of least concern. Specific hard drives are military-grade durable. For people always on the go, the rugged external hard drive is the best option for storing data without worrying about travel wear and tear effect.

There’s more to look for while buying a hard drive apart from storage space and speed. Do not miss out on them.

AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) which is the method of encryption used to protect data by many top government agencies and business with data servers. 256-bit is the size of the key used to unlock the encrypted data. AES encryption is like a safe with two keyholes. 

The first key is your password, which is set up by you and the second key, which is known only by the encrypted drive, is a 256-bit encryption key.

It would take billions of years, even for a supercomputer to guess the right key. The encryption helps in securing your data, and in case your disk goes missing, your data won’t be stolen. Individual hard drives come with specific 256Bit encryption, check the descriptions closely for AES.

Specific hard drives come equipped with wireless function. Be sure to check out for them. Wifi-enabled hard disk saves time with direct access from compatible device anywhere.

Wireless hard drives can double up as a device for content streaming like movies,pictures on your tablet and PC apart from backing up data.

Particular new generation hard drives come with SD card reader capability. With card reader slot, content can be transferred and saved directly, and your SD card is good to use again.

They are convenient for photographers, cinematographers or on the go travellers. Example recording drone footage, transferring the video file to the hard drive and ready to shoot again with the same card.

Please scroll through our latest recommendations for laptops, mechanical keyboards and Bluetooth earbuds. We have worked hard to prepare a thorough buying guide to help you be a smart consumer.

Data backup and storage is a necessity in today's fast-paced digital world. You don't want to miss out on saving precious memories or your favourite movies, games and not have space for the new ones. Buying one is essential and buying one being aware is more diligent.

Author - Dhruv Manchanda