External SSDs Are Faster, but HDDs Offer More Storage per Dollar, Engadget Reports

External drives are useful for adding capacity to laptops, since replacing or adding an internal laptop drive is not usually possible today, Engadget reported. They also help users carry data between locations and create backup archives. As with internal drives, buyers must choose between SSDs and HDDs.

Engadget said the main advantage of an external SSD is speed. SSDs use flash storage, which loads random sections instantly; on an external drive, the benefit appears mainly when transferring and opening files. The difference matters for users who move gigabytes of files daily or regularly load photos and videos from an external drive for editing. For an archive that is rarely touched, the speed advantage is less important.

SSDs are also better for carrying around, according to Engadget. They have no moving parts, so they are not terribly susceptible to bumps and drops, and their simpler internal makeup makes them lighter and smaller. They do not make noise, and because they lack internal motors they require less power than a traditional hard drive, which can matter when a laptop is used away from a charger. The largest drawback is cost per gigabyte. Engadget cited Amazon prices at the time of writing: a Samsung T9 Portable SSD 1TB was around $232, while a Seagate 2TB Portable Hard Drive was $130. The article said that although standards and configurations vary, an SSD will provide less space for the money.

External HDDs offer the inverse value, Engadget reported. Their biggest advantage is the amount of storage added for the money. The article said external SSDs around 4TB or above become prohibitively expensive, while external HDDs are available at those large sizes for more reasonable costs. Elsewhere, HDDs fall short of SSDs. An average external HDD hovers around 100MB/s when reading and writing, while an external SSD can easily hit 500MB/s or above. HDD speeds are serviceable for many tasks but do not match the built-in storage on a modern laptop or desktop. Users who are not recording 4K video, loading games or regularly moving dozens of gigabytes back and forth may not have a performance problem.

The mechanical head that writes data to spinning platters makes noise, especially when working hard, Engadget said. Those internal components use more power than an SSD and are sensitive; dropping an HDD or leaving it in extreme temperatures could cause it to malfunction.

For buyers deciding between the two, Engadget recommended thinking about the use case. An HDD makes more sense for a drive that stays permanently attached to a desktop for backups, as long as the files are not needed regularly and backup speed is not a concern. An SSD is worth it for quickly moving files between devices, using the drive as extra storage for games, or editing video. Engadget said an SSD is the better choice when the drive will act like an extension of existing internal storage rather than a separate device for files that are not used often.

External drives can also be used with more devices than some users realize, according to the article. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S cannot play current-generation games from a USB drive, but they can use one to store extra games so users do not have to constantly delete and redownload them.