External Hard Drive Brands and Links

Storage options

If you need 128 GB of storage space or less, see our report on USB flash drives. USB drives use solid-state flash memory, and they are less prone to drive failure. Most USB flash drives are about the size of a small pack of gum.

TomsHardware.com discusses the difference between USB 2.0, FireWire and eSATA interfaces.

You can find a good buyer's guide on the Seagate website.

Bit-tech.net offers a primer on hard drive technology.

MaximumPC.com discusses how to back up a hard drive.

Wired has a description of how to back up your data on a Mac.

ExtremeTech.com discusses how to set up home backups using network-attached storage devices.

Popular Mechanics has an easy to follow guide on whether to choose an external hard drive or a network-accessible storage system.

StorageSearch.com has industry business-oriented information.

PC World helps decipher the lingo for storage specifications.

PCMag.com offers a good guide on how to buy a network-attached storage device (NAS).

Kroll Ontrack survey on failure rates for solid-state (SSD) hard drives is detailed here.

External hard drive brands

For more features and specification information on external hard drives, see the manufacturers' websites below:

Apple

Clickfree

Iomega

ioSafe

Linksys

Pogoplug

QNAP Systems

Seagate

Synology

Thermaltake

Transcend

Western Digital