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For example, plug a USB 3.1 Gen 2 device into a USB 2.0 port and you’ll see throughputs of 480Mbps only. The only downside is that you only get the throughput speed of the lowest-rated USB port. Don’t worry, as USB is backwards compatible, all the way down to USB 2.0. To make the most of a drive, you need to plug it into the same type port on a computer. You may find that USB 3.1 Gen 2 devices comes with a USB Type-C connector cable, although an adaptor will be provided in the box so that you can use the old USB Type A connector, which is typically found on the back of your computer. Typically, hard disks can use the USB 3.0 speeds, but SSD external hard drives benefit from the faster USB 3.1 Gen 2 speeds. Newer drives will support USB 3.1 Gen 2, which allows for 10Gbps.ĭon’t be fooled by the speed of the USB interface, as the actual transfer speeds differ between devices. Both standards allow for a maximum throughput of 5Gbps. All modern drives will have USB 3.0 support or USB 3.1 Gen 1 support.
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Which interface should you go for?Įxternal hard drives are rated by the speed of their interface. The main downside is that you pay a lot more per gigabyte, so you’re likely to end up with less disk space overall. And, because solid-state storage takes up less room than mechanical platters, these types of external hard drive can often be smaller, too. They’re more expensive than their mechanical counterparts, but they’re faster and more robust. SSD-based external hard drives have solid state storage in them. The downside is that mechanical hard disks are quite slow and they’re not as rugged. The basic choice you have to make is hard disk or SSD? Traditional hard disks are a lot cheaper per gigabyte, so make sense if you need a load of storage and don’t want to pay a fortune for it.
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What type of external hard drive do you need? You’ve now got a huge choice of disk, depending on the capacity you need and speed you require. The good news is that external hard drives have moved on a lot since the early days. And, even if you’re not copying files between computers, an external hard disk makes it easy to store backups of important files or have access to the data you need on the move. What’s the best external hard drive? We test nine popular USB models from big manufacturers to see how they stack up.ĭespite fast internet connections and cheap cloud storage plans, an external hard disk is still often the easiest way to transfer lots of files.