{"id":5864,"date":"2020-07-31T20:54:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T20:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/blog\/best-external-drives-2020-reviews-and-buying-advice\/"},"modified":"2020-07-31T20:54:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T20:54:00","slug":"best-external-drives-2020-reviews-and-buying-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/best-external-drives-2020-reviews-and-buying-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Best external drives 2020: Reviews and buying advice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\n[responsivevoice_button rate=&#8221;1\u2033 pitch=&#8221;1.2\u2033 volume=&#8221;0.8\u2033 voice=&#8221;US English Female&#8221; buttontext=&#8221;Story in Audio&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2>Best external drives 2020: Reviews and buying advice<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"drr-container\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Anyone who uses a PC should have an external drive. It\u2019s both a useful means of data backup and storage, and a way to transport files from your desktop or laptop to another device. Xbox One X\u00a0users, as well, would be wise to invest in an external drive as a way of augmenting the console\u2019s measly 1TB hard drive (the external drive needs to be USB 3.0-compatible and will be formatted when you insert the drive).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Two things are for sure: No one ever said they wanted less storage space, and no one ever said they wanted a slower drive. Our latest top picks for best external performance drive (<a class=\"productLink\" href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" data-productid=\"1444057\" data-product-name=\"SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD\" data-vars-product-name=\"SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD\" data-vars-link-position-id=\"000\" data-vars-link-position=\"Body Text\" data-po=\"amazon-ajax\" data-product-id=\"1444057\" data-vars-product-id=\"1444057\" data-bkc=\"Hardware\" data-bkmfr=\"SanDisk\" data-vars-bkmfr=\"SanDisk\" data-bkvndr=\"\" data-vars-bkvndr=\"\" data-amazon-ajax-link=\"true\" data-amazon-ajax-link-loaded=\"false\" data-amazon-ajax-link-asin=\"B07YFGSDQR\" data-amazon-ajax-link-subtag=\"US-001-3198109-000-1444057-web-20\">SanDisk\u2019s Extreme Pro Portable<\/a> and <a class=\"productLink\" href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" data-productid=\"1444002\" data-product-name=\"Samsung Portable SSD T7 Touch (500GB)\" data-vars-product-name=\"Samsung Portable SSD T7 Touch (500GB)\" data-vars-link-position-id=\"000\" data-vars-link-position=\"Body Text\" data-po=\"amazon-ajax\" data-product-id=\"1444002\" data-vars-product-id=\"1444002\" data-bkc=\"PCs\" data-bkmfr=\"Samsung\" data-vars-bkmfr=\"Samsung\" data-bkvndr=\"\" data-vars-bkvndr=\"\" data-amazon-ajax-link=\"true\" data-amazon-ajax-link-loaded=\"false\" data-amazon-ajax-link-asin=\"B082YHBYNJ\" data-amazon-ajax-link-subtag=\"US-001-3198109-000-1444002-web-20\">Samsung\u2019s T7<\/a>) are blazing-fast, great news if you\u2019re moving around large amounts of data. If backup or connectivity are your priorities, we\u2019ll also walk you through our other top picks, and everything you need to know to buy the best external drive for your needs.<\/p>\n<p>And while we\u2019re talking about storage drives, know how to monitor the health of your hard drives\u2014the preservation of your precious data depends on it.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"body\">The best external drives 2020<\/h3>\n<h2 class=\"toc\" id=\"toc-1\">Best external backup drive<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"emo emo-sb enhanced fullwidth\">\n<h6 class=\"nav-title\">\u00a0<\/h6>\n<div class=\"product-details\">\n<figure class=\"productFigure\"><img border=\"0\" data-productid=\"1437767\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41FUR9vWdlL.jpg\" class=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>WD My Passport 4TB<\/figure>\n<p class=\"expanded-desc\">Lots of storage for less than the competition, attractive styling, and good performance with small files highlight this USB 3.0 portable hard drive. An excellent bargain. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Our pick for best portable external backup drive for 2020 is <a class=\"addLink\" href=\"http:\/\/buy.geni.us\/Proxy.ashx?TSID=14154&amp;GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPassport-Portable-External-Drive-Black%2Fdp%2FB07VP5X239%3Fascsubtag%3DUS-001-3198109-000-000000-web-20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" data-product-name=\"My Passport 5TB drive\" data-vars-product-name=\"My Passport 5TB drive\" data-vars-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Passport-Portable-External-Drive-Black\/dp\/B07VP5X239\" data-product-id=\"000000\" data-vars-product-id=\"000000\" data-bkmfr=\"Western Digital\" data-vars-bkmfr=\"Western Digital\" data-bkvndr=\"Amazon\" data-vars-bkvndr=\"Amazon\">Western Digital\u2019s My Passport 5TB drive<\/a><a class=\"removelink\" href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"removelink-tooltip\" style=\"display: none;\" data-removeparamvalues=\"Western Digital\u2019s My Passport 5TB drive|Western Digital|https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Passport-Portable-External-Drive-Black\/dp\/B07VP5X239|Amazon|My Passport 5TB drive|2|Add Link\">Remove non-product link<\/span><\/a>. Why? Well, you can never have enough, can you? Sure, the 4TB version is actually a tick lower in cost-per-terabyte, but that extra space can be invaluable if it allows you to jam all your valuable files onto this drive before gently placing it in a safe. After all, they don\u2019t call it bulk storage for nothing. (Read our full\u00a0review of the WD My Passport.)<\/p>\n<h4>Runner-up<\/h4>\n<aside class=\"emo emo-sb enhanced fullwidth\">\n<h6 class=\"nav-title\">\u00a0<\/h6>\n<div class=\"product-details\">\n<figure class=\"productFigure\"><img border=\"0\" data-productid=\"1438833\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41uxMYuIv3L.jpg\" class=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>Seagate Backup Plus Portable<\/figure>\n<p class=\"expanded-desc\">If capacity and portability are your primary concerns, and the Backup Plus Portable fits up to 5TB in pretty much a standard 2.5-inch USB external package. It&#8217;s fast with large files, but on the slow side with small ones. Regardless, it&#8217;s a worthy drive that gives you more space for your movies and games. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Our runner-up for this popular category is Seagate\u2019s <a class=\"productLink\" href=\"http:\/\/buy.geni.us\/Proxy.ashx?TSID=14154&amp;GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSeagate-Portable-External-Photography-STDR2000100%2Fdp%2FB01LZP2B23%3Fth%3D1%26ascsubtag%3DUS-001-3198109-000-1438833-web-20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-productid=\"1438833\" target=\"_blank\" data-product-name=\"Backup Plus Portable\" data-vars-product-name=\"Backup Plus Portable\" data-vars-link-position-id=\"000\" data-vars-link-position=\"Body Text\" data-po=\"vendor\" data-product-id=\"1438833\" data-vars-product-id=\"1438833\" data-bkc=\"Storage\" data-bkmfr=\"Seagate\" data-vars-bkmfr=\"Seagate\" data-bkvndr=\"Amazon\" data-vars-bkvndr=\"Amazon\" data-vars-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Seagate-Portable-External-Photography-STDR2000100\/dp\/B01LZP2B23?th=1\">Backup Plus Portable<\/a>. Like the WD above, it\u2019s a USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps) drive. It tops out at 5TB in a single drive and can also be had in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities. There\u2019s even a \u201cfast\u201d 4TB version that uses two hard drives in RAID for more performance.<\/p>\n<p>In our tests of the 4TB version, we found the Seagate to be slightly faster with large file transfers (think movies) but worse with small file transfers (think Office documents). It\u2019s still a worthy runner-up, though. (Read our full\u00a0review of Seagate\u2019s Backup Plus Portable.)<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"toc\" id=\"toc-2\">Best performance USB drive<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"emo emo-sb fullwidth\">\n<h6 class=\"nav-title\">\u00a0<\/h6>\n<\/aside>\n<p>This is the one: SanDisk\u2019s Extreme Pro Portable SSD (1TB)\u00a0is the fastest USB 3.1 Gen 2 external SSD we\u2019ve seen to date. Burst performance is roughly on a par with the runner-up Samsung T7\u2019s, but it blows that drive out of the water during long writes.<\/p>\n<p>SanDisk\u2019s drive doesn\u2019t offer the T7\u2019s handy and fun fingerprint security, but it\u2019s about the same price and offers software-based password protection if security is a concern. Read our full review.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"nativo-promo nativo-promo-1 smartphone tablet desktop\" id=\"\"\/>\n<h4>Runner-up<\/h4>\n<aside class=\"emo emo-sb fullwidth\">\n<h6 class=\"nav-title\">\u00a0<\/h6>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Samsung\u2019s Portable SSD T7 Touch runs a close second to the SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable. Compared to its predecessor the T5 (which will still be available) it\u2019s thinner, a significantly faster reader, and it also sports a fingerprint scanner.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, you could get an official FIPS-certified secure drive, but those cost far more than the T7, which gives you this extra bit of security while remaining within the price range (currently <a class=\"productLink\" href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" data-productid=\"1444002\" data-product-name=\"Samsung Portable SSD T7 Touch (500GB)\" data-vars-product-name=\"Samsung Portable SSD T7 Touch (500GB)\" data-vars-link-position-id=\"000\" data-vars-link-position=\"Body Text\" data-po=\"amazon-ajax\" data-product-id=\"1444002\" data-vars-product-id=\"1444002\" data-bkc=\"PCs\" data-bkmfr=\"Samsung\" data-vars-bkmfr=\"Samsung\" data-bkvndr=\"\" data-vars-bkvndr=\"\" data-amazon-ajax-link=\"true\" data-amazon-ajax-link-loaded=\"false\" data-amazon-ajax-link-asin=\"B082YHBYNJ\" data-amazon-ajax-link-subtag=\"US-001-3198109-000-1444002-web-20\">$130 on Amazon<\/a>\u00a0for the 500GB model we tested) of a normal USB SSD. That makes it a sweet deal for the average user who still wants effective data protection.\u00a0Read our full review.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"toc\" id=\"toc-3\">Best portable Thunderbolt 3 drive<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"emo emo-sb enhanced fullwidth\">\n<h6 class=\"nav-title\">\u00a0<\/h6>\n<div class=\"product-details\">\n<figure class=\"productFigure\"><span><img border=\"0\" data-productid=\"1441456\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2018\/08\/x5_dynamic1-100769366-small.jpg\" class=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/span><span class=\"product-name\" data-productid=\"1441456\">Samsung Portable SSD X5<\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Portable Thunderbolt 3 drives have been long overdue, but we\u2019re happy to recommend <a class=\"productLink\" href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" data-productid=\"1441456\" data-product-name=\"Portable SSD X5\" data-vars-product-name=\"Portable SSD X5\" data-vars-link-position-id=\"000\" data-vars-link-position=\"Body Text\" data-po=\"amazon-ajax\" data-product-id=\"1441456\" data-vars-product-id=\"1441456\" data-bkc=\"Hardware\" data-bkmfr=\"Samsung\" data-vars-bkmfr=\"Samsung\" data-bkvndr=\"\" data-vars-bkvndr=\"\" data-amazon-ajax-link=\"true\" data-amazon-ajax-link-loaded=\"false\" data-amazon-ajax-link-asin=\"B07GBWZJFG\" data-amazon-ajax-link-subtag=\"US-001-3198109-000-1441456-web-20\">Samsung\u2019s new Portable SSD X5<\/a>. Let\u2019s just say it\u2019s stupidly fast and kinda like putting a scorching Samsung 970 Pro in an enclosure that fits in your pocket and not giving up much performance at all.<\/p>\n<p>Notice that we don\u2019t say \u201cbest portable performance Thunderbolt 3 drive,\u201d because by very definition, a Thunderbolt 3 drive should be blazingly fast. The only reason we\u2019re not universally recommending the Portable SSD X5 is the relative rarity of Thunderbolt 3 ports on PCs. You\u2019d need to be driving a brand-new Dell XPS 13 or HP Spectre x360 13 to be able to use Thunderbolt 3. (See the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macworld.com\/article\/3298577\/samsung-portable-ssd-x5-review-wickedly-fast-portable-thunderbolt-3-storage.html\">full review of the Portable SSD X5<\/a>\u00a0on our sister site Macworld.)<\/p>\n<aside class=\"nativo-promo nativo-promo-2 tablet desktop smartphone\" id=\"\"\/>\n<h3 class=\"toc\" id=\"toc-4\">What you need to know before you buy<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"large \"><a class=\"zoom\" href=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2017\/07\/usb-ss10-cmyk-2014_press_use-me-100729045-orig.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img border=\"0\" alt=\"usb ss10\" width=\"700\" height=\"426\" data-imageid=\"100729045\" data-license=\"IDG\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2017\/07\/usb-ss10-cmyk-2014_press_use-me-100729045-large.jpg\" class=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a> <small class=\"credit\">USB IF<\/small><figcaption>\n<p>SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps is the official name for the USB 3.1 Gen 2 spec used in the fastest USB external hard drives today.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>Capacity and price<\/h4>\n<p>External-drive shopping can pull you deep into specs and features, but the most important two numbers for most consumers are capacity and price. Many assume the lowest-cost drive gets you the most value, but it often doesn\u2019t. In fact, dollar for dollar, it\u2019s often the worst deal.<\/p>\n<p>For example, we took the WD Black My Passport portable drive and compared the prices of the 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB drive, on capacity and price. Keep in mind, this is one drive on one day (Oct. 10, 2017), and just one vendor, Amazon, but it illustrates the point.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"large \"><a class=\"zoom\" href=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2019\/10\/best_hdd_deal-100813678-orig.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img border=\"0\" alt=\"best hdd deal\" width=\"1200\" height=\"408\" data-imageid=\"100813678\" data-license=\"IDG\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2019\/10\/best_hdd_deal-100813678-large.jpg\" class=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a> <small class=\"credit\">IDG<\/small><figcaption>\n<p>The 1TB drive may seem like the cheap deal, but it\u2019s actually the worst deal based on capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you look at the chart above, you can see the worst deal is that $60 1TB HDD, while the 4TB nets the most storage capacity for the money. In fact, the price of the 1TB hard drive has actually increased slightly from earlier this year when it was $58. The price of the 4TB drive has also come down slightly from this Spring when it cost $29 per terabyte.<\/p>\n<p>So yes, if you\u2019re buying an external drive, you pay more for the lowest capacity. However, this doesn\u2019t mean you should automatically shell out for that 4TB drive. In the end, it still costs more. If you really don\u2019t need the storage capacity of a 4TB drive, put that extra cash toward something you actually do need.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h4>Interface<\/h4>\n<p>The vast majority of drives today are USB drives. From there it gets confusing. Today, the flavors include: USB 3.0, USB SuperSpeed, USB 3.1 Gen 1 (which is basically USB 3.0), and USB 3.1 Gen 2.<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, it doesn\u2019t matter which of these versions you get (beware the much older USB 2.0, though). USB 3.0 allows transfer speeds up to 5Gbps, as does USB 3.1 Gen 1. USB 3.1 Gen 2 is the fastest USB version and can move data up to 10Gbps.\u00a0No single hard drive today can surpass the throughput of USB 3.1 Gen 1, though.\u00a0The sleight of hand to watch for is if a drive vendor lists \u201cUSB 3.1\u201d in the specs without specifying Gen 1 or Gen 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The only place Gen 2 can help is with an SSD. The good news is that while USB 3.1 Gen 2 used to be only in crazy expensive SSD external drives, it\u2019s fairly affordable today. A Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD that is our runner-up for portable storage can be had for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/SanDisk-1TB-Extreme-Portable-SDSSDE60-1T00-G25\/dp\/B078SWJ3CF\/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1536615766&amp;sr=1-5&amp;keywords=sandisk%2Bextreme&amp;th=1\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">$125 in a 500GB<\/a> capacity.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"large \"><a class=\"zoom\" href=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2017\/07\/usb_portable_drives-100729043-orig.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img border=\"0\" alt=\"usb portable drives\" width=\"700\" height=\"465\" data-imageid=\"100729043\" data-license=\"IDG\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2017\/07\/usb_portable_drives-100729043-large.jpg\" class=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a> <small class=\"credit\">IDG\/Gordon Mah Ung<\/small><figcaption>\n<p>The top drive uses the older, slower Mini-USB interface. The second drive features today\u2019s standard: SuperSpeed Micro B connector. The Orange drive features both a SuperSpeed Micro B and Thunderbolt 2. The bottom drive features USB-C or USB Type C at up to 10Gbps.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>Ports<\/h4>\n<p>External drives come with a variety of confusing and esoteric ports. Here\u2019s what you need to care about.<\/p>\n<p><strong>USB 3.0 Micro B<\/strong>\u00a0port is the most common port on portable backup drives today. It\u2019s basically the same Micro USB port used on your phone, but beefed up with more connectors to hit USB 3.0 speeds. It\u2019ll hit 5Gbps and for everything but the fastest portable SSDs is still fine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>USB 3.0 Type B<\/strong> port is the larger, blocky version of USB 3.0 Micro B. USB 3.0 Type B is often used in larger external drive enclosures. As its name implies, it\u2019ll hit USB 3.0 speeds at up to 5Gbps.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>USB Type C<\/strong> is the newest of the USB connectors and features a nifty reversible design that\u2019s being used on phones, tablets, and PCs. Its most important feature is that it supports up to 10Gbps transfer speeds. The key phrase here\u00a0is \u201cup to.\u201d USB Type C is just the connector and port on the drive (or phone), but the rules allow USB Type C to support transfer speeds from USB 2.0\u2019s 480Mbps to USB 3.0\u2019s 5Gbps and USB 3.1\u2019s 10Gbps. So don\u2019t caught up thinking that because a drive you buy has this nifty new interface and port, you\u2019ll get awesome speeds. And no, hooking up a hard drive to a USB Type C port doesn\u2019t make anything faster.<\/p>\n<p>Outside the theoretical speed advantage of USB Type C is a power advantage. A standard USB Type C port on your desktop or laptop should be able to support a minimum of 15 watts, so you should be able to run larger, more power-hungry drives.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thunderbolt 3<\/strong> was designed as one cable to rule them all, and it\u2019s rapidly looking like it will. The port basically adopts a USB Type C port and connector but also offers the ability to run pure PCIe at up to 40Gbps. For the performance-minded, Thunderbolt 3 is the natural alternative. One negative, though: It ain\u2019t cheap. Our recommended portable, the Samsung Portable SSD X5 is $697 for 1TB of capacity. A 1TB Samsung T5 on USB is only $278.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no reason to pay extra for a Thunderbolt 3 drive unless it\u2019s high-performance. A Thunderbolt 3 portable hard drive would be a complete waste of time and money for most people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thunderbolt 2<\/strong> is, at this point, a dying port. Using a miniDisplayPort connector, it only really gained popularity on Macintosh PCs and is now being put out to pasture. Unless you have an older Mac, there\u2019s really no need to invest in a pricier Thunderbolt 2 drive or port today unless it\u2019s for legacy support issues.<\/p>\n<p><strong>eSATA<\/strong> is another mostly dead port. Made as an extension of SATA, eSATA was a cheap way to get beyond the 60MBps performance of USB 2.0. USB 3.0 put the last nail in its coffin, though, so you can ignore this port today. Like Thunderbolt 2, the only reason to invest in an eSATA drive is for use with older computers.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"body\">Buy two?<\/h3>\n<p>There\u2019s an old saying that \u201cone is none and two is one.\u201d You can apply that phrase to space capsule oxygen tanks, plane engines, or whatever mission critical system you depend on, including hard drives.<\/p>\n<p>The philosophy on external drives used for backup is that copying 10 years\u2019 worth of photos onto an external drive and then erasing it on your PC\u2019s local drive isn\u2019t actually a backup at all. If that drive gets chewed up by the dog or otherwise dies, you\u2019ve lost it all.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re paranoid about backups, consider getting two backup drives, possibly in different colors, and then alternating complete backups of your PC to the drives every few month. This should mitigate data loss should a drive die.\u00a0Truly paranoid people will even take the second drive to work so there\u2019s no chance of losing both drives to the same local disaster.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"large \"><a class=\"zoom\" href=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2017\/07\/dsc09424-100729035-orig.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img border=\"0\" alt=\"dsc09424\" width=\"700\" height=\"465\" data-imageid=\"100729035\" data-license=\"IDG\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2017\/07\/dsc09424-100729035-large.jpg\" class=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a> <small class=\"credit\">IDG\/Gordon Mah Ung<\/small><figcaption>\n<p>Our storage test bed is a Core i7-5820K with 32GB of RAM on an Asus X99 Deluxe board with an Asus Thunderbolt EX 3 card or AFT USB 3.1 add-in card.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"toc\" id=\"toc-5\">How we tested<\/h3>\n<p>We use our standard storage test bed to evaluate the performance of the drives we review. It\u2019s an Intel six-core Core i7-5820K on an Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard with a Thunderbolt 3 card and 32GB of RAM running Windows 8.1.\u00a0We use various synthetic benchmarks including Crystal Disk Mark 5, AS SSD, and Iometer. We also use a manual file-copy test where 20GB of small files and another 20GB single file are written to and read from the storage drive. The test bed boots to a plain SATA drive, but all targets and sources for drive performance use a 24GB RAM disk.<\/p>\n<p>We also use an Asus Thunder EX3 discrete Thunderbolt 3 card and Asus USB 3.1 10Gbps card for testing. The Asus card uses an Asmedia 1142 controller.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"toc\" id=\"toc-6\">Our external drive reviews<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to learn more about our top picks as well as other options, you can find links below to all the external drives we\u2019ve reviewed. We\u2019ll keep evaluating new ones on a regular basis, so be sure to check back to see what other drives we\u2019ve put through their paces.<\/p>\n<div class=\"end-note\">\n<p>\t\t<!-- blx4 #2008 blox4.html  --><\/p>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"blx blxParticleendnote blxM2008  blox4_html  blxC24068\">Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-item-metadata entry-meta\">\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\">Disclaimer: Content may be edited for style and length.\u00a0<a class=\"newsium-categories category-color-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/3198109\/best-external-drives.html#tk.rss_all\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Story Source<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0 [responsivevoice_button rate=&#8221;1\u2033 pitch=&#8221;1.2\u2033 volume=&#8221;0.8\u2033 voice=&#8221;US English Female&#8221; buttontext=&#8221;Story in Audio&#8221;] Best external drives 2020: Reviews and buying advice Anyone who uses a PC should have an external drive. It\u2019s both a useful means of data backup and storage, and a way to transport files from your desktop or laptop to another device. Xbox One &#8230; <a title=\"Best external drives 2020: Reviews and buying advice\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/best-external-drives-2020-reviews-and-buying-advice\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Best external drives 2020: Reviews and buying advice\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc-laptops"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Best external drives 2020: Reviews and buying advice - Aviance Technologies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Best external drives 2020: Reviews and buying advice - Aviance Technologies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0 [responsivevoice_button rate=&#8221;1\u2033 pitch=&#8221;1.2\u2033 volume=&#8221;0.8\u2033 voice=&#8221;US English Female&#8221; buttontext=&#8221;Story in Audio&#8221;] Best external drives 2020: Reviews and buying advice Anyone who uses a PC should have an external drive. It\u2019s both a useful means of data backup and storage, and a way to transport files from your desktop or laptop to another device. Xbox One ... 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