At this time of the year, many of us are scoring new laptops for the work or school year. And while SSDs have made our computers faster than ever before they are typically of lower capacity than their HDD compatriots. Spinning drives are a great solution for backups, external media storage and other applications where your local storage is limited. Here are some of the best 4TB hard rive deals around.
I've settled on 4TB as that's a decent size for most people to store backups and some media. With 4TB, you can partition the drive easily and use one partition for general storage and the other as a backup drive.
For all these drives, there are larger and smaller capacity options so if 4TB doesn't cut it you can go for more or less.
Also, it's pretty easy to buy a drive and enclosure and roll your own external unit. That way, you know exactly what sort of drive you're getting.
WD My Cloud Home
Hard drives are no longer just abut local storage. The WD MyCloud works with the My Cloud app so you can remotely access content stored on the drive. It also offers automated backup from smartphones to protect those previous memories.
The price is $279 via JB HiFi
Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive
As well as the 4TB of storage capacity, this drive is a USB hub so the port it takes from your computer is replaced by a couple of easily accessible USB ports at the front.
The price is $179 via Amazon
WD My Cloud Home Duo
Unlike many of the other options on the market, the Duo provides a pair of 2TB drives that can either bemused as a single 4TB volume or as a pair of mirrored 2TB drives. That means all your data is written to both drives at the same time for extra protection.
The price is $399 via JB HiFi
LaCie Rugged
For those that need to carry their storage with them, LaCie has built a solid reputation for making devices that can handle lots of punishment. The Rugged is a great device that's USB powered over USB-C.
The price is $264.95 via Ebay
Seagate Expansion Portable Drive
If you're after a more compact solution, the portable Seagate option, which connects over USB 3 is a solid choice. Mac users will need to reformat the drive to use it – a simple process – but as it's USB powered it won't need its own power outlet.
The price is $140.35 via Amazon
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Originally published in Lifehacker Australia on 9 January 2019: https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/01/cheap-desktop-hard-drive-deals/