I need a portable hard drive, help!

[PyongyangKipperbang]

One of the benefits of being married to an IT expert was that he would sort all this stuff out and my kit never let me down!

I need one for documents relating to my studies and photos, but am on a budget so any help would be gratefully received!

I usually get them from Amazon - but if you have a Curry’s or similar nearby you can probably get one there…even a big Sainsbo??

You can pick up a second-hand one from Cex, or Cash Converters. Alternatively, you could use cloud (online) storage. Terabox is free and gives you (as the name suggests) a terabyte (1000 gigabytes) of space.

How big do you need ?

You can get some pretty big thumb drives these days.

Unless you are saving movies you could probably get a massive amount of photos on a 256 gb one.

I would rather get a new one and I can get to Currys or order on Amazon but its more what sort I should get as they have changed a lot since I last bought one!

Sorry, wasnt clear on that!

I was looking at the 1TB ones, but concede that that may be too large.

Remember you really should get 2, or have at least a backup copy somewhere if they are important to you.

Remember 1TB holds about 100,000 photos if they are 10mb each.

Movies are the thing that tends to take up real space.

Thank you, that is really helpful. I dont have movies etc.

So two or three smaller drives would be a better spend than one large one?

Noted and much appreciated thank you!

2 is better than one because you can backup to both, unless you already have a backup.

But you need to work out how much space you need before you purchase.

2 more tips. You can get some really cheap thumbdrives, but I really wouldn't buy these, I would go for a quality branded make. I use Sandisk. More expensive but much less likely to go wrong.

Final tip is make sure they are USB 3.0 if you are copying a lot of files, because otherwise it can take ages (this assumes you have USB 3.0 ports on the PC of course, but most new PCs do). Again the USB 3.0 ones are a bit more pricey but IME worth the extra cost.

Samsung T7 on Amazon, in whatever size you need. My DH is also in IT and swears by them for reliability and quality.

Thank you. I would always go Sandisk because ex swore by them too. I really do appreciate your help.

Looking now, thank you!

Very much over budget but I wish they werent!

I bought a 2 TB T7 last December and just checked the price now - it's almost doubled! I asked DH why, and he said that the demand for AI servers has driven up the price of all types of data storage and memory.

I was a bit "WTF?!" when I saw the price!

Ebuyer.com is often good for things like this. usually next day delivery.

Can I ask why you are not looking at cloud storage? Dh is in IT. My sister had an external hard drive corrupt with over a thousand photos on. It took Dh over a month to pull as much data off as he could. If the house burns down, there goes all the stuff stored on the hard drive. You might leave it somewhere.

I have a google account so all my photos and documents are stored on that. 2TB of storage on that is £79.99 per year. I have 1TB of storage and I haven't used half of that. We also have stuff backed up onto cloud storage that was pre google account so all our photos from 2001 onwards.

Apple has the same thing.

I do but I want a hard back up

ETA especially due to recent data hacks etc

The assumption you're are making is that everybody has ultrafast reliable internet available. The same mistake website designers make, all those animated graphics and bits of video may look good, but I just want the page to load quickly.

This is wise, and I do the same. The cloud services can be and have been hacked.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2025/08/09/google-confirms-it-has-been-hacked---user-data-stolen/

They're also vulnerable to phishing attacks and malware/ransomware on your computer, as the data appears and is connected like an external drive that your software has direct access to.

The Cruicial ones are very good - we use several for business and home.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-1TB-Portable-External-CT1000X9SSD902/dp/B0CGW1FQV4/ref=sr_1_2?crid=J5CHS659OQNS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MFeP374IdymAmiUa0FHdzliya6tzSoXX1YKl4nmcDj6tL26xuayNl9bfd-DIrlKtx0CmUne-L8p-oyk7E0xONxTALZXLIav14rmY2I3xX_4k6hnMHGcBx5b_DISvtLiFwJ6KYuQ7d83wVDAft1WY6U7dtPtI3wMcSURJV8sCokW-YB3QU6_NXykDRQUQBqKjFCG4LvC7kQBUHP_Um9MFDQP5aK0lBKwe5941KDd5VhQ.LUSg_EP-ZO4lsrM2_PlzF4iGk6WaRkW_0iT2bwyNgUM&dib_tag=se&keywords=crucial%2Bssd&qid=1773740989&sprefix=cruci%2Caps%2C223&sr=8-2&th=1

What computer are you using it with and what ports does it have? i.e. USB C

Any rough idea how much data you want to back up?