What Is an External Hard Drive and Why Do I Need One?

An external hard drive is a device, exactly the same size as that of a book, that helps you save all of your apps and files. If you’re familiar with using the USB flash drive, external hard drives are just like them. But they are bigger in size with more storage capacity.

The key difference between a hard drive (HD) and an external hard drive (external HD) is that the external HD is portable and easy to carry. You can disconnect it at any time and take it with you, at your ease. No need to worry because you’ll not lose data inside.

These external drives attach/connect your PC with a USB cord, and you can easily copy your data to them as you do to other folders. Same as flash drives, you can attach your external HD to any laptop or PC, and copy your files.

Sometimes external HD can be utilized as supplemental or additional storage on your laptop. For instance, if you have a large number of High-Definition videos and images that can slow your laptop, connect your external HD and store those images and videos in that.

What Else External Hard Drives Do?

External hard drives are also beneficial if you want to move files between laptops, no matter what their operating system is. If your laptop contains data that your friend needs, you can share it with them even if they own a Mac.

You simply need to store the data in your external HD, attach it to your friend’s system, and shift it there within a few minutes.

Many external HDs can store up to 1 terabyte (TB) of data, this equals to 1000 gigabytes (GB), or 1,000,000 megabytes (MB). To keep that into perspective, one of the costliest iPhones in the market stores around 512 GB- half the terabyte. And the average picture which is taken through a smartphone is like 2 MB.

An external HD can store documents, various types of media, applications, and software. If you have a file present on your laptop, it can be easily copied to the portable drive.

The majority of the portable drives have pre-installed applications to assist you in managing your data in a better way.

3 Reasons Why You Might Need an External Hard Drive

1. For Backups

One of the most important steps you can take to protect the data of your laptop is to have an external HD. A backup is just a second copy of your data that will be present if something uncertain happens.

Water drops, moisture, and computer viruses can cause serious damage to your device destroying all the data.

You might also lose all of your data if someone stole your computer. This is why you should always be prepared and keep a backup saved on the drive. In that way, whenever you purchase a new laptop or PC, you can easily transfer the data from your backup.

The latest HDDs have an automatic backup system that will make backups of your device many times a day. Please note that your external HD must be attached to your computer for these automatic backups. You can also manually back up your PC’s data at whatever time you prefer, or make backups of any folder or file.

We save a lot of important data on the HDDs of our computers, like work files, financial documents, and photos. In order to protect important data, you should create backups habitually.

It’s appropriate to have at least two backup sources. Always make sure to save these hard drives at separate locations so they won’t be facing the threat of theft or environmental damage. To be on the safe side, you can utilize both the cloud and the hard drive.

2. Data Sharing

An external hard drive is one of the best ways to transfer a huge amount of data. The most approved ways of data transferring are through email, cloud storage, and flash drive. Sadly, these ways aren’t suitable for sending/receiving more than a few files or images. If you’re attempting to transfer more data in gigabytes, you’ll find these ways of transfer are very difficult and slow. If you are looking to transfer a large amount of data, then cloud storage would do. However, downloading and uploading may take a lot of time.

On the other hand, an external HD permits you to transfer more data at a much quicker speed. If you’re planning to transfer the data of your old computer to the new computer. Or if you are looking to share your information with your client or boss, HDD would prove to be more feasible.

1. Transfer the data to the external drive
2. Attach the external drive to a computer
3. Transfer the data

It’s much like a flash drive, but with more capacity and storage space.

3. Gaming

Modern games such as the top trending AAA titles are so massive in size and graphical details. They take a lot of storage on your hard drive. If you love gaming and are an intense gamer, your hard drive must be overflowing with games.

You’ll definitely be needing an external HD to save them. Please note that your device won’t be able to perform well if it is low on space. If you attach an external hard drive, it can definitely boost your gaming performance.

This blog covers all the aspects of what an external drive is and why we need it. If you wish to know more on the topic, let us know in the comments and we will keep you updated.

After reading this blog, if you are looking to buy one external portable hard drive then you can place your order at Paklap at the best possible prices in Pakistan.