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5 Top Rated External Hard Drives for 2019

January 26, 2019 By Dan Leave a Comment

External HDDs have enough storage for you to easily back up your data, rather than keeping it on USB sticks like in the “old days”.

Characteristics of External HDDs

Capacity

If you need to back up some documents and your smartphone photos, 1TB should be plenty. If you want to store your music collection, video files or keep a clone of your internal storage go for 2TB, 4TB and above.

Transfer speed

Backing up your files can take a lot of time, depending on the size of your data. If speed is important to you, look for an external HDD with a transfer speed of at least 120MB/s for writing and 130MB/s for reading (USB 3.0 connection). The older drives using USB 2.0 would limit speeds to around 35MB/s, approx. 4 times slower.

Portability

If you’re often on the go, portability is key. The most frequent size is 2.5″ inch for portable HDD. They do not weigh much, they can help you easily move data from one device to another. The 3.5″ inch HDDs are larger and heavier.

Physical protection

A rugged exterior can be handy if you want your external HDD to withstand shock, or even fire or water. External SSDs can survive more brutal treatment. The more money you spend, the better the protection will be.

Connectivity

Nowadays, all external HDDs have USB 3.0 connections, or even USB 3.1. Some older models have a USB 2.0 connection. There are also some models with Ethernet or Wi-Fi connections, to share data using the network. For 2.5″ inch HDDs, the USB cable, in addition to transmitting the data, also serves to power the device. Larger 3.5″ inch HDDs that consume more power need a separate cable.

Reliability

It’s difficult to choose the most reliable external HDD. The technologies used in traditional HDDs or SSDs imply a limited lifespan, which is why warranties are relatively short – one to three years. What’s important, is not to rely on any single drive for storing your backups. Ideally, you should have three copies: one on a PC, one on a backup drive, and one in the cloud.

Security

To protect your data in the event of losing the drive or having it stolen, you can encrypt it. You can either use hardware encryption on the whole drive if supported, or you can use software to encrypt parts or all the drive otherwise.

There’s a huge range of external HDDs for sale, so I’ve picked some great external HDDs to help you find the perfect one for your needs.

Best reliability – recommended for backup and storage at home

WD 4 TB My Book Desktop Hard Drive – Black

Hard Disk Size:4.0 TB
Hardware Interface: USB 3.00
Hard Disk Description: Desktop
Hardware Platform: PC, Mac

Best speed and capacity – recommended for price/performance

Seagate Expansion 8TB Desktop External Hard Drive

Hard Disk Size:8.0 TB
Hardware Interface: USB 3.00
Hard Disk Description: Desktop
Hardware Platform: PC, Mac, Android OS

Best portability – recommended for travel

WD 500GB My Passport Go Cobalt SSD Portable

Hard Disk Size:500 GB
Hardware Interface: USB 3.0/2.0
Hard Disk Description: Portable
Hardware Platform: PC, Mac, Android OS

Best external SSD – recommended for speedy transfers

Samsung Portable SSD T5 500GB

Hard Disk Size:1.0 TB
Hardware Interface: USB-C 3.1/3.0/2.0
Hard Disk Description: Portable
Hardware Platform: PC, Mac, Android OS

Best rugged – recommended for extreme conditions of use

ADATA HD710 Waterproof/Dustproof/Shock-Resistant External Hard Drive, Yellow

Hard Disk Size:1.0 TB
Hardware Interface: USB 3.00
Military-Grade Waterproof and Shockproof Construction
Passed the stringent IEC 529 IPX7 test – Passed the stringent Military MIL-STD-810G 516.5 drop test.
Blue LED Indicator Light
Wrap-around USB Cable

The Importance of Backing Up Your Data

January 24, 2019 By Dan Leave a Comment

Backup, Probably The Most Important IT Operation

While the internet is full of possibilities, it also brings various challenges that you may want to overcome. One of the things you need to keep in mind is the fact that malware attacks (in particular, ransomware attacks) are increasingly common nowadays. Ransomware encrypts files on the infected computers making them inaccessible. In the last two years, the WannaCry, Petya and Bad Rabbit ransomware attacks spread across the world and generated millions of dollars in losses. They even put human lives at risk by making hospital computer systems nonfunctional and unable to help patients – see all the details here. If you want to stay safe online and keep yourself away from this type of attack, you should consider taking some precautions:

Keep your operating system and installed software up to date

You always want to update all your software if you want to stay away from malware attacks. Every time a vulnerability is discovered and reported, software developers update their programs to fix it. So, try to update every piece of software you use as often as you can. This will help keep you away from potential issues.

Use licensed software

Whenever you deal with cracked software, you might be putting your computer at risk. Many malware infections come from unwanted software, installed from disreputable sources. That’s why you should consider using only licensed software.

Install security software

Installing security software helps you avoid malware infections or attacks. There are multiple antivirus solutions on the market you can rely on. Plus, you can choose to install an internet security software that includes additional features, depending on your needs.

Create a backup of your data

While the options listed above create additional layers of security, having a backup for your data is the only guaranteed way to ensure your data’s safety. You can opt for either a local or a cloud backup, ideally both.

Local backups mean that you’ll be keeping the data on a computer or external storage that’s not connected to the internet.

Cloud backups mean storing data on secure servers from companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Dropbox or other cloud storage providers.
Either way, creating a backup of your data is crucial for recovering from any malware attack or hardware failure. Investing in a proper backup solution is a must.

If you are a Windows user and you want to learn how to protect your files, I recommend this book: How To Backup & Recover Your Windows 10 or Windows 7 64 Bit Computer In One Hour

Samsung 860 EVO 500GB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD – Review

January 23, 2019 By Dan Leave a Comment

Samsung 860 EVO Overview

Product: Samsung 860 EVO 500GB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E500B/AM)
Price: $84.99
Cheapest Place to Buy: Amazon (Current Amazon Top Seller)
Drive Capacity: 500GB
Warranty: 5 years
My Rating: 9.7/10

Part of Samsung’s budget SSD line, the Samsung 860 EVO 500GB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal
SSD uses V-NAND technology. V-NAND stands for vertical NAND, which contains flash cells stacked vertically and 3 dimensionally for greater density and speed. NAND chips have more memory than their stated capacity, about 4 percent. This is used by the controller for operations, and to replace defective cells. This spare capacity (over-provisioning) increases an SSD’s lifespan.

The best feature of Samsung 860 EVO

In my opinion, endurance is the best feature. Endurance can be measured through a unit known as Total Bytes Written, which is meant to help users understand how long their drive should last.
For the 860 Evo, TBW=1200TB compared to 300TB for the last generation, 850 Evo.
That’s four times better.

Other specifications

Speed

It is not the fastest SATA SSD (up to 550 Mb/s max. sequential read and up to 520 Mb/s max. sequential write), but it comes close to the highest specifications of the SATA III standard (600 Mb/s).

Price and Capacity

This SSD has an affordable price for a huge amount of solid state storage.

Why use an SSD over an HDD

Speed is the main advantage of an SSD over an HDD. To understand why you need to
understand how data is written to SSDs. With a hard drive, data is basically written serially, down a single channel. Inside an SSD, data is written in a parallel mode, down multiple channels to the multiple NAND chips at once. The more NAND chips an SSD has, the more channels it has to write/read across, and the faster the drive will be. So, for an SSD, a higher capacity means better performance.
You can read more about choosing between HDDs and SSDs in this post.

Other things to consider before buying

Before buying, you should ensure the compatibility of your motherboard with the SATA III feature of this SSD. The difference between SATA II and SATA III is the data transfer speed (SATA II – 300 Mbps – SATA III – 6Gbps). If you are not sure if you have SATA III, you can use this free program: HWiNFO.
With cloud storage getting cheaper, you can keep more data in the cloud and less on your computer so you may not need as much storage space as you did a few years ago. In order to install it in your PC, you need to buy a SATA III 6 Gbps cable and a mounting bracket. It’s cheaper if you buy the bundle, not separately.

Conclusion

If you need to buy a SATA SSD right now, Samsung 860 EVO is the best option.
An SSD is one of the best, if not the best way to upgrade any old computer that has a traditional hard drive. Even if your computer already has an SSD you can buy a bigger one if you ran out of space.

Check out the Best Sellers in Internal Solid State Drives here.

7 Important Tips For Your SSD Maintenance

December 20, 2018 By Dan Leave a Comment

Upgrade The SSD’s Firmware

SSD firmware is the software that works as an interface between your PC hardware and the SSD. Fixing performance and compatibility issues or bugs is done by firmware changes. That’s why you need to keep the firmware updated.
You’ll need to go to the official site of your SSD manufacturer and follow their guide to
update the SSD’S firmware. If the SSD is not empty, back up your data before updating the firmware. Sometimes it may end up in a drive failure because of the conflict between the hardware of your PC and new firmware.

When possible, is a good idea to reduce unnecessary writing on SSDs. This is the key to maximizing an SSD lifespan. The following tips help you accomplish that.

Do Not Use Data Wiping Software On SSD

When a user performs a delete command, the data will be deleted entirely. There is no possibility to recover it. Using a data wiping software on SSD to write with 0s and 1s your SSD’s empty space, will consume a full write cycle and will reduce its lifespan.
On HDDs, the delete command marks sectors as deleted. A data recovery software can quickly recover data from these marked sectors. A data wiping software will overwrite these sectors with 0s and 1s making them free from recovery.
Though, there is an exception. Recent research shows that data will not be permanently destroyed when you delete an entire drive. You need to use specialized data eraser software that supports SSDs.

Do Not Store Large Files On SSD

I do not recommend you to use your SSD for your large media files such as movie files.
Every write counts for an SSD’s lifespan, and larger files will consume your writing cycle quota faster.
Your media files don’t need the speed provided by an SSD. There’s no noticeable difference in speed when you play movies from HDD or SSD.

Set The Temporary File Location On HDD

Your operating system, your browser and other programs installed on your PC create temporary files. Since these files are created very frequently, it can be a burden to your SSD if they are written on it. If you use two drives on your PC, I recommended you to set temporary files to be written on HDD.

The last three tips are for Windows OS users.

Disable Hibernation

Every time you hibernate Windows, the memory currently in use is saved to a file. If this file is written on an SSD, it can stress your SSD and degrade its lifespan.

Turn Off Indexing

Unlike conventional HDDs, SSDs don’t need any indexing for finding files, because they are fast enough.

Do Not Store The Page File On SSD

Windows may write several gigabytes in the paging file, depending on the size of your RAM. If you use your SSD as the location for the page file, it can degrade your SSD life.
Add more RAM to your PC and turn off the page file, or move its location to an HDD if you have a secondary drive in your PC.

HDD or SSD in PCs

December 14, 2018 By Dan Leave a Comment

In this post, I want to help you choose between an HDD and an SSD. We’ll see the difference in the way these storage devices work, advantages and disadvantages, specifications to be considered in operation, how to select the right option for you, and some maintenance tips for SSDs.

A hard disk drive (HDD), is an electromechanical data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using one or more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. (Wikipedia)

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies as a memory to store data persistently. (Wikipedia)

Main advantages and disadvantages of HDDs and SSDs

Both HDDs and SSDs are non-volatile storage types, meaning that stored data is retained even when powered off. That is their common feature. The difference between a hard disk drive and a solid-state drive is: HDDs use a paired magnetic head that reads and writes data while the platter spins and SSDs use interconnected flash memory.

There are three main attributes that can be used to compare HDDs and SSDs:

speed
storage capacity
cost efficiency (cost per GB)

An HDD advantages over an SSD: total storage capacity and cost efficiency.

SSDs main feature is speed. An SSD is 25 to 100 times faster than a typical HDD. SSDs are fragmentation-free, while HDDs are prone to fragmentation. An SSD is more expensive than an HDD in terms of dollar per GB. This is one of the primary disadvantages of a solid-state drive.

Other specifications to be considered when comparing HDDs and SSDs

Power draw and heat

For an HDD more is required to rotate the metallic platter and move that magnetic head. SSDs operate at lower temperatures than HDDs. This reduces system power and cooling requirements and helps to prevent premature component failure.

Noise and vibration

Because operation relies on moving parts, HDDs vibrates and produce noise. Since there are no moving parts in SSDs, there’s no sound or vibration

Lifespan

SSDs have a shorter lifespan than HDDs. The flash memory of an SSD can only be used for a finite number of writes. An SSD cannot write a single bit of data without first erasing and then rewriting very large blocks of data at one time. As each cell goes through this cycle, it degrades further.

Reliability

HDDs are prone to integrity failure or data loss. Disk surface can be damaged because magnetic heads can crash into the spinning platter.

Magnetic sensitivity

An SSD is safe from any effects of magnets, while on HDDs magnets can corrupt data.

So which is the better option, an HDD or SSD?

There’s no straight-forward answer to this question; you have to evaluate the decision based on what you’ll use the PC for, and the budget you have.

An HDD might be the right option if:

you need more capacity
you don’t want to spend much money
you don’t care too much about how fast the PC boots up or opens programs

An SSD might be the right option if:

you need a fast PC
you are willing to pay for speed
you don’t mind limited storage capacity or you are willing to pay for it (consumer SSD now go up to 4TB)

There is also the option of using one of each in a PC. You can use SSD to host the operating system and programs, which will speed up booting and application launching. You can use the HDD for storage of other files and data where speed is less important.

Don’t forget that whether you’ve chosen an HDD, an SSD or both you need to back up your data regularly. I recommend having a local backup and a cloud one. You can read more here.

HDD or SSD and PC advertisements
In a typical PC advertisement, the price and manufacturer’s name are listed at the top, followed by the processor’s name and the DRAM and HDD sizes are given in gigabytes or terabytes, below. Thus, the larger capacity of a hard disk is used as a sales argument. SSD is more expensive than an HDD in terms of dollar per GB. In this case, if you choose the HDD the purchasing decision has more to do with storage capacity than performance.

Essential tips for SSDs maintenance

Reduce writes to SSDs

This is the key to maximizing an SSD lifespan. The latest operating systems have SSD-friendly settings that help reduce unnecessary writes.

Never use more than 70% of an SSD’s total capacity.

While SSDs are way faster than HDDs, they dramatically slow down performance as you fill them up. When you’re getting close to the 70% threshold, you should consider upgrading your computer’s SSD with a larger one.