5 things to look for in an external hard drive

5 things to know about external hard drives for photographers

Seagate GoFlex Desk 4TB, £230

Transporting your photo collection and creating all-important back-ups couldn’t be easier than with an external hard drive.

Below we round up five key considerations photographers should keep in mind when looking for an external hard drive for photos.

1 If storage capacity is your main priority, a desktop drive usually offers more for your money than a portable drive.

2 Portable hard drives are, by their nature, more vulnerable to damage. Choosing a drive with a solid, well-made case has more than just aesthetic benefits; it should also better-protect your valuable data.

3 If you intend to use your hard drive as a backup device, consider the quality of the included backup software. Some hard drive manufacturers only offer trial packages, while others include far more functional and useful alternatives at no extra cost.

4 Drives with faster USB 3.0, FireWire 800, or eSATA interfaces are only worth investing in if your computer comes equipped with a similarly speedy connection.

5 High-capacity drives may initially seem expensive, but work out cheaper in terms of gigabytes-per-pound.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2012 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Camera & Gear Tests, Photography Kit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.