Many of us associate the power and value of a computer based on the capacity of its hard drive. To a certain extent, this is true. After all, newer (and presumably better) computer models come with robust hard drives. However, this may not be enough with the kind of computing needs and habits many people have nowadays. If you often download, upload and store large amounts of files, a built-in hard drive is most likely insufficient. As a result, many turn to an external hard drive for better support but is it truly useful and necessary? Here are 10 benefits of using an external hard disk drive and reasons why it is important to you:
1. Extra space
Of course, the function of an external hard drive is to provide some much-needed extra storage space. If your memory is used up or about to get saturated and replacing your current hard drive is out of the question, getting an external hard drive is a wise decision. You will have more space with which to store additional data in text, images or audio form. You could also use the extra room to transfer files to unload your computer and boost its performance. Definitely a handy must-have external storage device to have.
2. Inexpensive storage
External hard drives with a storage capacity of 2TB can be purchased online for approximately $70. When comparing their value to internal hard drives, external hard drives offer an equally cost-effective option. Therefore, there’s no compelling reason not to consider owning one, as you can get a significant amount of portable storage for a very reasonable price.
3. Storage for old files
If you have files that have been sitting on your computer for months (or years) but you still cannot get around to deleting, you might find an external hard drive very useful. Many of us are wary about removing old files from our computers, believing that they will come in handy someday. The problem here is that it tends to clog up the system and eat up resources. With an external hard drive, old files may be transferred and memory freed up to increase speed and improve performance of the computer.
4. Backup important data
Many computer users fail to back up their data. This could cause a potential costly problem, particularly when important files are involved. If there is no available space on your computer or you simply want to stash important data someplace else, then use an external hard drive to store extra copies of your files.
Read also: The Importance of a Disaster Recovery Plan
5. Convenient and handy
External hard drives are smaller, lighter and more portable than a laptop, so these can be detached, carried around, placed in a bag or purse and stored without requiring a lot of space. These are handy enough to be brought anywhere, allowing you to access your files from another computer unit.
Read more: 5 Uses for Hard Drives Old and New (That you may not have thought of)
6. Storage for copying and transferring files
External hard drives prove to be invaluable when you have a substantial volume of files that require copying from one computer to another. They offer a secure and reliable means of storing these files before transferring them to the intended destination.
7. Security
Certain external hard drives offer encryption capabilities, rendering transferred files incomprehensible to unauthorized individuals. For individuals who extensively use the internet, it is feasible to enhance file security by transferring them to an alternate storage device. Once the data is saved, simply disconnect and power off the external hard drive. Even if it remains connected to your computer, hackers will be unable to access your files remotely.
Read more: 5 Reasons Why Everyone Should Have External Hard Drives
8. Extended lifespan
Incorporating an external drive into your setup safeguards against the chaos resulting from an internal hard drive failure. Remember, when the internal drive fails, it jeopardizes the entire system’s functionality. In contrast, if the external drive malfunctions, your computer remains operational, ensuring uninterrupted usage. Repairing an external drive is generally faster and less costly than fixing the internal drive. Additionally, using an external drive as your primary storage option reduces strain on the internal drive and extends its operational lifespan.
9. As an emergency boot drive
If your computer’s main drive crashes, you can utilize an external hard drive to boot your computer through several methods. Although this may require some technical know-how, having an external hard drive for emergency boot purposes benefits the user.
10. Being prepared
One of the benefits of using an external hard drive is it enables proactive file protection and safeguards against system failure or unforeseen events. It empowers you to be prepared and secure your important files effectively. Definitely worth considering!
Benefits of an external hard drive: conclusion
An External hard drive offers a multitude of benefits for individuals and businesses alike. It provides ample storage space, increase portability, enhance data security, and offers a customizable backup solution. Investing in an external hard drive offers both space optimization and data security benefits. Understanding its significance helps you make an informed decision about the ideal storage solution. Choose an external hard drive today for peace of mind, knowing your data is secure and easily accessible.
yes its good because its handy and also if the old files are not used oftenly then we can transfer all the old files into that. Ofcource you can maintain good security through it. Thanks buddy.
Yea that’s right. If you feel reluctant to delete certain unused files or not sure if you would need them later, just have them stored on an external hdd! This way you’ll get to keep the files and your internal hdd is not overly loaded with unused files or programs. Thanks for stopping by Atish.
I feel that it is very important to back up data on external drives, just incase of a system failure. Many people, through my experince don’t do this regular enough until its too late.
Why do you think people don’t do backups on an external hdd Paul? Is it because they’re lazy, they think it’s unnecessary or an external hdd is too pricey for them?
Another great use for an external hard drive is for VMware; by moving the VMware virtual hard drive off of your computer’s main hard drive, virtual machines don’t have to compete with the host operating system for hard drive access. It makes virtual machines run much faster.
External Hard disk provides a lot of advantages. We ca take the data any where we want to and it is compatible with mostly every PC. It is also available for cheap in the stores. So why not good 😛
Convenient, easy storage and good for backing up data/files! Thanks for the comment Shubham.
Nice post now portable hard disk available in 2 Tera Byte it was great to see that we can use that amount of data easily.
The huge amount of data and files that we have today has made HDD to the terabyte level. I won’t be surprised if one day we will see HDD in the petabyte and exabyte level too. Thanks for the comment Rizwan.
External HD is really handy for storing you old files and backups. i have 3 external hd. when i bought my first one 160gb that was the best now you can even find 4tb HD
i just hate deleting files from my computer
nice article
thanks for sharing
You’re welcome! Glad you stopped by Bryan.
External Portable Hard Drive is very much important…. and there is suggestion Peter Sir Please Add Hacking Section also If you want Writer I am always here………..
You are very welcome to write for my humble blog Vivek. Just pop over to the guest post section and register yourself as a contributor. Looking forward to your article 🙂
In my opinion external hard drives are the best way of storing all of your essential files.
Keeping everything stored on your internet hard drive slows down boot-up times as well as slowing down the computer in general. The added benefit of an external drive is the (obvious) benefit of being able to move it around with you.
There are a lot of benefits to an external hard drive. The extra space and the backup capabilities are my favorites.
External Hard Drives are the best because you can store a large amount of data and Its portable too. I have one external hard drive and I am very happy with that.
Despite the popularity of cloud storage, external hard drives still play a major role in storage as there’re concerns over the security issues in the cloud. Thanks for the comment, Puneet.