Best USB Powered External Hard Drives with Rugged Budget Options

If you are using a PC, you would need to ideally have access to an external hard drive. It helps you with the option for data backup and other storage requirements. It would also help transfer data from one system to another with ease. While it is essential and useful to buy an external hard drive, how about the checking out the options that have USB powering option? Here are our best choices for achieving the best results.

Best USB Powered External Hard Drives in 2019

Choosing the best external hard drive may not come as easy as you would think of it. There are several factors you need to give a thought to. The dependable design and durability are a couple of features you should specifically focus on.

Here are our top picks for the best options in terms of best external hard drives with USB interface.

Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC external hard drive

Check on Amazon Check on Newegg

It provides a high-end data protection features along with a sophisticated design; the Buffalo MiniStation external hard drive comes with a USB 3.0 interface. Some of the features that would make it a formidable option can include shock and water resistance, hardware encryption and NFC connectivity.

You have access to the U.S. Military Standard shock protection. The integrated USB cable will ensure that you will never have to worry about misplacing your cables. Compatible with both Mac and Windows devices, the hard drive also offers you 256-bit AES security features. The NFC connectivity should be one of the prime features providing you with the ability to unlock your files almost instantly. The mammoth 2 TB capacity is available at an affordable price, and thus you do not need to break your bank for the best in class backup and storage enhancement options.

Western Digital My Passport

Check on Amazon Check on Newegg

Known for the best portable storage, the Western Digital My Passport range of external hard drives offer you great functionality as a backup option, thanks to the built-in WD Backup software. The inexpensive price tag is what would make it a convenient option along with the USB 3.0 connectivity. The drive is available in a wide range of options in terms of storage capacities from 1 TB to 4 TB.

The hard drive is one of the lightest and smallest hard drives. The drive is bus-powered, which means the same cable is used for both power supply and data transfers. The interface provided by the built-in software is intuitive and easy to understand. The backup options available within the software assist you in making incremental backups of your precious data. While the drive is compatible with Windows 7, 8 and 10, it may need reformatting if you are using it on Mac  OS. The built-in 256-bit AES hardware encryption is another added advantage.

Seagate Backup Plus Hub 6TB External Desktop Hard Drive (STEL6000100)

Check on Amazon Check on Newegg

The drive is available in a wide range of capacities, and you can buy it in 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, and 8TB versions. The external hard drive does offer you faster and flexible performance. It makes use of Shingled Magnetic Recording or SMR drives which means you have access to more physical bits of memory instead of the standard options. If you install an NTFS driver for Mac, you will be able to use it interchangeably between your Windows and Mac systems and that should make it a great option.

Note: This drive required an external DC Power

The hard drive comes with two USB 3.0 powered ports for secure connectivity with other devices with ease. As for the backup functionality, the Seagate dashboard provides you with the option to schedule both automatic or on-demand backup feature. The hard drive also comes with a complimentary two-month membership for Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan.

Toshiba Canvio Advance 2TB Portable External Hard Drive

Check on Amazon Check on Newegg

The Toshiba hard drive provides you access to high storage capacity, quick access to your stored content and the time-tested, reliable performance. The USB  3.0 functionality works seamlessly well with backward compatibility for USB 2.0 as well. Some of the advanced features include easy to use software for keeping your files protected.

The hard drive also comes with Toshiba Storage Backup Software. You need to set the time, and the intervals for backing up your data and the software will handle everything right away. The Toshiba Software protection software is yet another added advantage that protects your drives with care. The capacities are available to up to 4 TB, and that should be an essential addition to your storage capacity. Compact design should make it an extremely portable option for your needs.

U32 Shadow 1TB USB-C External Hard Drive for Xbox One

Check on Amazon

The hard portable external hard drive is specially designed for Xbox One. The Plug and Play compatibility with Xbox One should make it an excellent choice for any gamer among you. Since the drive is USB powered, you do need to worry about any of the extra power adapters. The Aluminium construction will make it extremely lightweight and easy to carry it anywhere you wish to.

The drive comes with a capacity of 1 TB and can support  650,000 photos, 250,000 songs, and over 500 hours of video files. You have access to three years of warranty. Offering you the best of the protection and heat dissipation, you will find the external hard drive equally usable on your computer systems with a few manipulations.

LaCie Rugged 2TB Thunderbolt USB-C Portable Hard Drive

Check on Amazon Check on Newegg

Offering a rugged design and a USB-C thunderbolt port, the LaCie Rugged 2TB Thunderbolt USB-C Portable Hard Drive should be the best you can lay your hands on. What’s more – you have three years of free data recovery services just in case something happens to your hard drive and you lose your data. The external hard drive comes with a capacity of up to 5 TB. The hard drive comes with LaCie Toolkit which offers you access to on-demand, one click, and automatic backup options.

Durability and a mac friendly functionality are the two salient features that should make it a formidable choice as one of the best external hard drive options. It offers you access to drop resistance up to five feet. The hard drive also comes with an IP54 water and dust resistance compatibility. You can use multiple connectivity options depending upon the device you are connecting it to. Some of the connection standards supported would include USB-C, USB-C Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt, or USB 3.0.

What should you look for in an External hard drive?

While we are discussing external hard drives with USB powered interface, how about learning a few insights into what you should look for in a new portable hard drive? Here are the features that are worthy of notice-

Portability

This is perhaps one of the essential aspects you need to give a thought to. Hefty hard drives may not serve the purpose that they are specifically designed for. Simple portability will make the hard drive the best option for your needs.

Transfer Speeds

This is yet another vital consideration that serves a greater purpose. If you have plenty of data to be copied, it may be wiser to go with an option that provides you with a faster read and write speeds. Ideal read and write speeds would be 130 MB per sec and 120 MB per sec respectively.

Capacity

The capacity you would opt for will be dependent upon what exactly you are looking for. If you are storing something that has a large file size like RAW files it may be a good idea to go with a capacity of 4 TB. Under standard conditions, a capacity of around 2 TB should be sufficient.

Samsung T5 Portable SSD – 500GB – USB 3.1 External SSD

Check on Amazon Check on Newegg

The hard drive comes with USB 3.1 Type C port connectivity to work with almost any device. The compact design will ensure that you can carry it anywhere with ease. The drive offers you up to 540 MB / sec read and write speeds. The hard drive is made of shock-resistant internal and external metal elements make it a safer option to use under any condition.

The post is about the external hard drives, but we have included the SSD drive from Samsung just because of the excellent functionality that it brings with it. Ease of connectivity is one of the features that makes it a formidable choice. While the drive comes with a USB Type C connectivity, it is backward compatible with both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. Of course, the hard drive is slightly on the pricier side, but the features and functions offered by it make it worthy of opting for. The drive works seamlessly with Windows, Mac, and Android.

The Concluding Thoughts

That was all we have had concerning the best external hard drives that offer you the best of portability and efficiency at the same time. The top picks as featured here should meet almost all your needs efficiently. Check them out and share your views with us.

Also Read:

• Best 2.5 to 5.25 Drive Bay Adapters
• Best Streaming Hard Disk Drives
• Best USB-C to SATA Docking Station
• Best 2.5“ to 3.5“ Drive Converter Brackets