What’s the best external drive?
While cloud storage seems more convenient, many people still prefer external drives for storing data in a safe and secure manner. Running low on space for those precious family photos or important work files? Investing in an external hard drive or solid-state drive (SSD) could be exactly what you need. We’ve tested the top storage options on the market to help you find reliable devices that offer great value for your money.
Storage prices have come down over the years, but high-capacity SSDs will still need a bigger investment. That’s why you can also opt for traditional hard disk drives. They aren’t as fast as SSDs, but they give you more storage space for your dollar. When choosing your drive, remember to check what cables you’ll need, as this can affect both compatibility and convenience.
All of CNET’s top picks for external hard drives and SSDs are compatible across platforms, including Windows PCs, Macs and gaming consoles like PlayStation and Xbox. Just keep in mind that you might need to format the drive for your specific system. Often, they’ll be designated to work with a specific platform and sometimes they come with backup software that’s platform-specific. Unless otherwise indicated, all the PC drives mentioned here are compatible with Windows but can be formatted for Mac. Plus, many of them include USB-C and USB-A cables or adapters. If they don’t happen to be included, you can easily buy dongles for about $12.
Console gamers will want to keep an eye out for platform-specific details. For example, the PS5 lets you store and play PS4 games from an external drive but not PS5 games. The Xbox Series X, on the other hand, can store Series X games on an external hard drive, but you’ll have to transfer them to internal storage before playing them. Both consoles will let you expand internal storage. The Xbox Series X uses a proprietary Seagate-made storage expansion card, and the PS5 uses a more standard M.2 SSD.
With those caveats in mind, our current top picks for the best external hard drive and external solid-state drive are below. These (or nearly identical models with less storage capacity) have been used or anecdotally tested by CNET editors. We’ll update our list of the best external hard drives and SSDs as we test new products. Ideally, you should have redundant backups — either off-site or in the cloud — for important data and large files like family photos, in case of theft or fire. Make sure to encrypt your data, too.
Best external drives of 2025
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Western Digital, which owns SanDisk, sells its WD My Passport SSD as well this SanDisk External Portable SSD for basically the same price. I like the design of this model a little better, and it’s technically ruggedized with an IP65 rating, meaning it can withstand a sustained spray of water. Also, it’s dust- and shock-resistant and has a USB-C interface.
The latest version offers speeds up to 1,050MB/s (just over 1GB per second) and is right around $90 for the 1TB version. While step-up models like the SanDisk Extreme Pro offer faster read/write speeds with the right computer, that may be overkill unless you regularly work with very large files.
Your speed will vary if you’re moving a mishmash of files to or from the USB drive, but when copying a single large file you should be able to get close to that fast transfer speed.