When you purchased your computer, you thought it had plenty of space. Or at least, it seemed like it did until photos, videos, programs, documents, and other files began crowding the hard drive.

Whether desktop or laptop, 10 years old or only 2, running out of disk storage on your Mac or PC is a widespread problem with an easy solution. For a lot of people, the go-to is cloud storage services such as iCloud or Google Drive, but these aren't a great fit for everyone, especially if you have a lot of files or need to access them offline. In this case, an external drive is the best option because you'll have all your files on hand at all times and it can store significantly more data than a cloud drive. In this article, we'll help you better understand the use cases of a physical drive, and roundup the best external drives for backup and storage purposes. Both Mac and PC options are covered. Quick Summary Tired of learning all the 'techy' terms related to hard drives? We understand.

Here's a brief of our recommendations to save you time exploring. For Mac users: From the sleek design to the pre-formatting, this terabyte-sized drive is perfect for Mac users who need a little extra space and offers an extremely high 7200 RPM speed for accessing all your files. For Windows PC users: At 5400 RPM but only around 3' x 4', this tiny drive packs a real punch. You can get it in sizes from 1 to 4 TB, all of which are equally portable and will allow you to access your files with speed and efficiency wherever you go. For the best of both worlds: Whether you simply prefer the speed of an SSD or use both Mac and PC on a regular basis, this drive offers formatting that works everywhere you go and top notch read/write rates. The drive is small, portable, and sleek (available in multiple colors!) Who Should (or Should NOT) Get This?

Every hard drive offers great storage capacity but what makes WD My Passport different from others is faster data transfer speeds. How to search for a word in a document. This is the latest generation of the Western Digital My Passport range of data storage and weighs about eight ounces with a compact size like a passport and easy to carry in hand. See it on Amazon. One of the Classiest Looking Hard Drives for Mac G-Technology G-Drive Mobile 4 TB. The G-Technology G-Drive external hard drive comes with 4 TB storage capacity, USB-C compatible and USB-A cable and a USB 3 port.

You don't have to be a power user to make use of an external drive, but if you aren't sure you need one, here are some considerations: • Has your computer slowed down due to being stuffed with files you aren't necessarily using all the time? • Do you need to backup your computer, especially if you're worried about a crash soon due to the age of the machine? • Are the fees for your cloud storage service not worth the amount of storage you get? • Do you want to clean up old files that you only occasionally reference? • Need a better place to run large applications from, or have programs you want to run on more than one computer?

If you're saying yes to any of these, then there's a good chance you would benefit from an external drive. It'll give you space and security that you need. However, an external drive might not be the best choice for you if you only have a few files that need storage, or if you already have a backup of your computer for example via backup software.