External Hard Drives: Expert and User Reviews

Our AssessmentReviews at this U.K. website are refreshingly cynical about marketing hype and fluffy features. The site frequently reviews a variety of consumer and small-business external storage devices, including hard drives, biometric hard drives and network-attached storage boxes. Testing is competent and appropriate and ratings are consistent with reviewer comments. Finding reviews of external hard drives could be easier, however, as they are grouped together with all other computing peripherals, though top 10 roundups are frequent and helpful. The Iomega Prestige Desktop, ioSafe Rugged Portable, Verbatim Store 'n' Go and Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk receive recommended ratings; the Verbatim USB 3.0 HDD and Samsung M2 Portable 3.0 get an Editor's Choice award.

Our AssessmentMacworld is the most prolific source of external hard drive reviews we found. All are Windows and Macintosh compatible, but the reviews always state which drives are pre-formatted for the Mac OS. The testing process and published results are very good, and each product gets a rating of 1 to 5 "mice." Despite the Mac-centric point of view, these reviews are useful for any prospective buyers.

Our AssessmentAs in the above review, CNET singles out top picks in the category -- this time, network-attached storage devices. Each gets a star rating and a written review.

Our AssessmentIn this report, ConsumerReports.org explains the pros and cons of different types of computer backup, including external hard drives, USB flash drives and online backup services. Editors briefly evaluate a few examples of each type and recommend the best choices. This is a great plain-English review for the non-tech-savvy, which makes it unfortunate that it does not appear to have been recently updated.

Our AssessmentThis Australian magazine, which is that country's equivalent to ConsumerReports.org, tests nine external hard drives -- some USB 2.0, some USB 3.0. Editors rate each for performance, features and ease of use. All of the top picks are widely available in the U.S.

Our AssessmentGovernment Computer News tests the rugged ioSafe SoloPro with USB 3.0. Greg Crowe concludes that this waterproof, fireproof external hard drive is a good way to keep data safe.

Our AssessmentPCMag.com regularly tests individual hard drives, rates all of them and grants the best ones an Editors' Choice award. Testing and evaluation are competent, but far less comprehensive than some other reviewers. Reviews address some key buying considerations (such as cost and speed), but not others (such as noise and heat/projected reliability). Tests aren't head-to-head, but reviews often mention how a unit stacks up against other models. Reviews are easy for the non-tech-savvy to understand.

Our AssessmentFor hard drives, ThinkComputers.org offers some variation in ratings and some generic comparisons. Testing is very similar to PCMag.com's, but better documented. These reviews are of average usefulness; readers likely will need another source before making a fully informed buying decision.

Our AssessmentLaptop Magazine regularly tests external hard drives, awarding each a star rating and naming the best ones as an Editors' Choice. Reviews are complete but not extremely technical. The drives tested here tend to be the most popular ones on the market.

Our AssessmentThis retail site allows users to review products. Because Newegg.com sells to computer builders, reviewers are more knowledgeable than on many other sites. The Western Digital My Passport Essential and Seagate External hard drives dominate in terms of customer satisfaction, each maintaining a perfect 5-star rating with 30 to more than 60 reviews posted.

Our AssessmentThis chart names PC World's top external hard drives. As with the NAS drive rankings (mentioned previously), PC World offers only skeleton ratings for each drive, along with a line of description, a short list of pros and cons, and the results of speed testing. This roundup is somewhat older, and does not appear to have been updated recently on the site.

Our AssessmentWalter S. Mossberg reviews a variety of tech devices for The Wall Street Journal -- usually the big-news products or unusually good things he has tried. In the latter category, Mossberg reports on three external hard drives: the Clickfree portable backup drive, network-attached Western Digital My Book World Edition and the Hitachi LifeStudio external hard drive with auto-sync USB key. Mossberg also reviews the Apple Time Capsule, which he says is primarily useful for Mac laptop users running the included Time Machine backup software. His only recent review, of the Seagate GoFlex Satellite, is mixed. Reviews can be hard to find on the site.

Our AssessmentBenchmarkReviews.com both evaluates products and links to other reviews. Site navigation is very awkward, but when you can find the in-house reviews, they are worth reading. Reviews incorporate solid testing, a balanced approach and good context. They conclude with pros and cons lists and overall ratings, as well as subcategory ratings for presentation, appearance, construction, functionality and value. We'd like to see more reviews and an easier way to find them, however. In addition, reviews in this category are becoming dated.

Our AssessmentSmallBusinessComputing.com reviews external storage solutions periodically. Review quality is hit-or-miss -- most do a good job judging the hard drives, but some are little more than a list of features. One of the latest reviews, for the Seagate GoFlex Home, includes numeric ratings for performance, features and value, but earlier reviews don't. For that reason -- and because reviewers seem to like most equally -- it's hard to tell which external hard drives are the best.

Our AssessmentIn many categories, DigitalTrends.com's reviews are cursory and they focus on sounding hip. However, hard drive reviews are much more substantive. Screenshots of bundled software are very helpful. Reviews are objectively balanced. However, DigitalTrends.com has reviewed only a few external hard drives within the past year.

Our AssessmentITReviews.com conducts minimal testing and doesn't always document it. However, reviews are balanced and occasionally cover factors not addressed in other reviews. The Iomega eGo Portable earns an ITReviews.com Best Buy award.

Our AssessmentNetwork-attached storage is grouped separately from other external hard drives at Amazon.com. NAS models from Synology get the most consistently high ratings from owners, though many drives don't have enough feedback for the ratings to be significant.