Best External Hard Drives
Compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It took 19 minutes to transfer 3 games (118.3 GB) over from the internal hard drive to this external hard drive. If you have a TON of downloadable games then you can simply just have multiple external hard drives and download all you games to them. Then you can just plug in the external hard drive with the game you want and you're good to go."
"I've often complained about Amazon rating system for tech products and external USB hard drives are great example of the problem. Reviews here don't help much: you read 1 star review saying "drive arrived dead", then you have 5 star review saying "drive is great". The drives I've tried out are: WD 1TB Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBYNN0010BBK-WESN. https://www.amazon.com/Black-Passport-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B01LQQHI8I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=pers0nal-20&linkId=8ae37a7d7b9d5f8cf95b8b36f9e0e5e1. HGST Touro S 1TB 7200RPM High-Performance Portable Drive, Platinum (0S03694). https://www.amazon.com/HGST-High-Performance-Portable-Platinum-0S03694/dp/B00IVFDQFM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1487637450&sr=1-1&keywords=hgst+external+1tb&linkCode=ll1&tag=pers0nal-20&linkId=d813ac13cad5cfa89dd1cbc0bd5e087e. Seagate Expansion 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (STEA1000400). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TKFEEAS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=pers0nal-20&linkId=760fd69a7e53bfff98e624d465627daf. Now, on the Seagate drive I'm reviewing here - it's pretty solid HDD. Which is quite important because of known problems with Wii U supplying enough power though it's USB ports. That's also why I got WD and HGST to test - historically those brands have lower fail rates for their drives. HGST is way better than both Seagate and WD; but unfortunately you won't find it in stock here on Amazon as much as Seagate and WD. But if you want more data - like historic fail rates, more testing info and answers to your questions, leave a comment on this review and I'll be glad to respond and help!"
"The XBOX software will prompt you to use the drive for media or to format it."
"Can confirm I backed up to an internal hard drive using an external drive dock."
"After exploring all solutions with Seagate, they confirmed that the drive was dead."
Compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"First off, i was wary of the number of review stars on this drive since A) it's a seagate which seems to get a bad rap as of late, and B) most of the 5-star reviews are vine voice reviews of free products. Over the last year or so i've come to the conclusion that these elite reviewers would rather keep their free stuff coming than provide honest reviews... but who am I to judge... i'd probably do the same."
"Inside this case is Seagate's Archive hard drive which OEM bare drive retails for $249. After the drive was 90% full, large files peaked at 100MBps read and write, and smaller files averaged around 64MBps write, 80 read. Cases are plastic so they're not the best for heat dissipation, but the drive itself sits in a metal bracket inside the case which helps."
"I bought this hard drive in February when I read that a soon to be released update for the PS4/PS4 PRO would support external hard drives to install games and applications. PS4 received update, I installed this drive, had PS4 format drive (simply follow the prompts) and there you go. If you do not have the 4.50 update installed on your PS4 then this drive nor any other drive will work to install GAMES."
"After purchasing and using this product over a year now, I had to return the 1st drive due to failure...returned drive got a 2nd replacement drive and the 2nd drive failed in under 90 days."
"Just to be clear it worked fine for the first year no problems at all and i never moved it, it was stationary with ample air flow and nothing around it."
Compatible with PlayStation 4 (Requires PS4 System Software Update 4.50 or higher).Works interchangeably on PC and Mac computers—without needing to reformat.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I ran a read test on Windows using HD Tune Pro since that's where my drive was plugged in at the time, and the results (shown in as screenshots attached to this review) show the drive did in fact contain some bad sectors. I ran a non-destructive write test using badblocks on Linux which, for each sector, will first read the sector and store it in memory, then write a random pattern, then read this pattern back and make sure it matches the pattern that was written, and finally restore the original contents of the sector. Although it's clear that the drive is currently working, the history of weak sectors means I will keep a close eye on it in case data ends up being written to the sectors that used to be weak, since if they become weak again, the drive will have trouble reading from them and I could start to lose data as a result."
"I have over 200 PS4 games and I have all of the ones that I play downloaded to this external drive (91 games currently) with plenty more space for future downloads."
"It was packed in an easy to open and protective box and the basic instructions were simple and clear, plug the HDD into your computer with the accompanying cord and download the Seagate Dashboard application to begin backing up. Thinking something was amiss, I unplugged the drive, restarted the Dashboard, and reconnected the drive. No luck, the drive was now not being recognized by my computer, either through the file system, the Device Manager, the Drive Manager, or Seagate's Dashboard application."
"After 6 months the hard drive has died."
Best External Zip Drives
The package includes a New Zip 100 USB Powered and a USB cable. One 100 MB Zip disk (not included) holds the equivalent of 85 floppy disks.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I had purchased PCMover when I originally bought the Dell laptop in order to move data from a Gateway desktop system with Windows 98."
"I have a critical application that still uses ZIP disks and I have to live with this ancient technology."
"I am finding that sometimes I have to insert a disc then unplug USB and plug it back in to make it read the disc, but this bothers me not in the least."
"Ordered zip drive on Thursday and it was delivered on Saturday! I am running windows 7 so I just pluged it in and started using my zip disk right away."
"Yes, this version of the USB Zip Drive works."
"Item as described, the extra effort from the seller to inform me of the Windows System interface was much appreciated."
"I had put over a 1,000 pictures on Zip discs and I wanted to burn them to CD's My old omega Zip drive quit on me while I was doing that. Again, thank goodness for Amazon and their vendors without them I would have lost all of those valuable photos."
"The slight curvature of the case is a reminder not to put anything heavy on top of the drive."
Best External Solid State Drives
The Samsung T5 Portable SSD has the latest in Samsung V-NAND flash memory technology. Top to bottom metal design that fits in the palm of your hand.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Samsung's new portable SSD brings some new technology but similar performance to their prior (and excellent) T3 drive. The T5 is one of the first consumer products with a new 3D NAND technology where the chip is constructed vertically to allow for more storage density in small form factors. It falls behind the T3 in its sequential write performance, however, typically getting around 300-325 megabytes per second sustained over long periods of time after a short burst in the mid 400's. The Mac software installs a memory resident "monitor" app that runs in the background all the time and is very difficult for an end-user to uninstall."
"Once I know for sure I have all footage safely copied (I use a mirrored RAID solution). I don't have tok worry about dropping the T5 either... Did I mention this thing is fast!!!"
"Very fast storage - USBC or standard USB cables included."
"I am impressed with the speed of this drive."
"It copies data from a 2017 MacBook Pro at well over 500MB/s, and sustains this speed for the duration of the job."
"Plus, it comes with usb c to usb c and usb c to usb a cables."
"For the money you can't beat the speed and portability this drive offers."
"First thing is I formatted for my OS for Mac, since I needed more space on Mac to be freed up."
Best USB Flash Drives
Experience premium, reliable and secure storage with a Cruzer USB flash drive. Premium, reliable and secure storage for your videos, music, photos, or other files.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I was able to write 2 GB of data in a little under 2 minutes, and copy that data on another computer in less than a minute. I have not tested the water proof and shock proof durability."
"No doubt, I lack the technical expertise to evaluate this flash drive – many reviewers provide excellent spec information on the quality parts and superior processing performance of the Cruzer. The price has really come down, and for those who worry about the security of emailing files or cloud computing, flash drives offer a no-frills, secure, and easy solution to your storage and sharing needs."
"Pros: - good price (approx $1 per GB). - full 64 GB of storage in very small package. - trusted SanDisk name. - validates as true 64GB USB 2.0 device. - small metal rod on back for connecting to key chain. - BoBoTech shipped quickly. Cons: - USB 2 is a bit slow (but USB3 devices are WAY more expensive). - plastic shell seems a bit flimsy (this hasn't been a problem on my smaller 16GB Cruzer). - 1/8" wider on each side from the connector - very tight fit next to power connector on my laptop. Overall, I would recommend this drive if you are looking for a large capacity thumb drive and can live with USB 2 transfer speeds."
"I had scanned in a few of my drawings and then tried to color them in using my Windows photo editor, but the whole program was extremely slow because I was trying to edit it from the flash drive."
"I made a folder on my desktop and put 70 files of varying sizes equaling 4.03GB. Here are the results: SanDisk Cruzer 64GB USB Flash Drive SDCZ36-064G-B35 transferring 70 files equaling 4.03GB it took 18.34 minutes. Transcend 64 GB JetFlash 500 Retractable USB Flash Drive - TS64GJF500E transferring the same took 13.43 minutes. I can't speak for the long term reliability of the Transcend thumb because this is the first I've owned. What I do know is that it has a good solid feel, it's cheaper then the SanDisk of the same size, and it's considerably faster. The Sandisk is still significantly slower and occasionally stops responding during transfer. I just do a system shutdown hopping the OS will safely close the open files. One time it stopped responding on a 3 gig transfer so I let it sit for an hour. It is used at work in the daily grind and shows no signs of instability or speed loss. Your pro's, this should never have happened and because it did you've introduced doubt into the minds of consumers you had won over years ago. This leaves me wondering was it a shameful loss for SanDisk or is there a new player in the game."
Best Floppy & Tape Drives
Feature: -USB Interface. -3.5-inch 720KB/1.44MB FDD. -Super Slim and light weight. -Available USB Bus supply current: 500 mA or less. -Data capacity:720KB/1.44MB (Formatted). -USB DATA Transfer Rate: Full speed/12 Mbps. -Data Transfer Rate:250 Lbits(720KB)/500 Kbits (1.44MB). -Number of Cylinders; 80. -Rotation speed:300 rpm,360 rpm recording method:MFM. -Media: High Density (2HD) OR Normal Density (2DD). -Average Latency Time:100 MSEC (1.44MB mode) 83.3 MSEC (720KB mode). -Operating systems supported: For Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10,for Mac. Note When Use: For running smoothly,Please plug our external floppy disk drive into rear USB interface of motherboard directly. If you connect our floppy drive through USB hub,USB extension cable or frontal USB interface,it may can not be recognized by your computer because it cannot get sufficient power from them.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It solved a problem I had recovering old photos."
"Note that the A: drive doesn't automatically appear Computer in Windows Explorer view, but if you select it, A: appears and can be selected after the drive is connected."
"I've only used this a few times, so the review may morph as the product reveals itself, but it worked right out of the pkg with my Macbook air."
"I had some old Floppies from years ago."
"Does not work in all USB ports."
"I purchased this to recover some pictures that I couldn't find on any of my other media."
"If you want a way to revisit those old floppy disks you forgot to convert to cd or other form, this is a very good way to do it now at a very affordable price."
"The problem I had was that it doesn't detect, But if you try many times it will eventually detect the drive."
Best Tape Libraries
Size: 128GB |. Style: Lightning White. Easily transfer photos and videos between your Apple mobile devices and your PC/Mac.Compatible:iOS 8.0.x or later, Mac 10.3.x or later, Windows 10/8/7/XP, Linux 2.6.x or later.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"For starters, if you have anything but an ultra slim, super thin case on your phone, you won't be able to insert this device in without removing the phone from its case."
"Really my only problem is that the data transfer speeds on it seem to be very low."
"With use, these will crack, bend or break and often affect the ability for proper or full insertion. You know the story, one kid wants to play, removes the other kids, next thing you know they are all grounded and the XBOX goes in the closet (maybe not for you, but definately in my house)."
"This flash drive is a must!"
"I think this drive may have a slight advantage in long-term durability, since supposedly the DTSE9 suffers from a problem where the metal casing separates from the innards of the drive (though this hasn't happened to mine). In terms of putting the drive on a keyring, this is definitely the superior drive... the thinner loop works much better on a key ring. Both drives are pretty good-looking, but this drive wins out because the Kingston has a dissimilar metal that lines its loop, making the inside of the loop look jagged. A lot of flash drives will survive water, but I like that this drive explicitly states that it is waterproof. Meanwhile, the four DTSE9 drives that I carry daily have not given me any problems, and they get used/abused much more than this drive ever did."
Best Computer Network Attached Storage
Finally, a cloud of their own - Give your customers a complete solution to save everything in one place and access it anywhere from their computers, tablets and smartphones. Auto Network Discovery, Windows and Mac Compatible.Compatible with Windows® 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Mac OS® X El Capitan,Yosemite, Mavericks, or Mountain Lion operating systems.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It would make sense to assign a static IP to the NAS, however Western Digital chose not to do that so... During the initial setup the first screen tells you what the assigned IP is - WRITE IT DOWN - after you get through the setup and before you try and access the NAS you are going to need a few pieces of info. Change from DHCP to STATIC and fill in the blanks with the info you collected earlier and you're done, now the NAS won't lose its IP address. So to eliminate this I again went into settings and under the "General" tab I found energy saver and turned off "drive sleep" Checking my electric meter, it hasn't exploded from the massive power draw (seriously kidding) this thing must have to place it in "energy saver" mode so I guess I am ok... To slow was a wild card for me and it could have been a bunch of things, my bet was the antivirus software and for me I was spot on. Overall I really like the NAS which is why I gave it 4 stars, it would have been 5 but for some poor choices on the manufactures end with default settings, IMO. It has performed without issue so far and I will update this thread if there are any changes."
"UPDATE with benchmarks is at the bottom of the review: Western Digital has put together a very nice network attached storage (NAS) device with the My Cloud. Also of note is that the Macs, Windows PCs, and even smart TVs in the house could immediately find and access the drive through their native interfaces. I do not recommend installing the configuration software Western Digital will suggest you use as it will stay resident on your computer and just links to the web based control panel anyhow. The drive is able to serve media files fast enough to play back Blu Ray quality movies on compatible devices. When using the drive when away from the local network special software will need to be installed on a Mac or PC to access files. The app performs similar to other cloud storage services, with the ability to upload and download photos and videos from any location."