Your assumption is correct. I have a couple of 3.1 external enclosures, that I have tested. Depending on the size of the cache on the drive (the one that I use has 64mb), the backup job will compete in a shorter period (maybe 10 seconds), but the drive will write data from the cache for at least another 10 seconds. Shop for usb 3.0 external hard drive at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Sep 04, 2020 The Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB Portable External Hard Drive is an ultra slim and high-efficiency hard disk drive. The compatibility features are great with both USB 2.0 and the USB 3.0 connectivity, and it works well with a wide variety of operating systems like Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android. LaCie - Mobile Drive 1TB External USB 3.1 Gen 2 Portable Hard Drive - Silver Moon. Model: STHG1000400. User rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars with 129 reviews. ORICO 24TB 3.5 inch External Hard Drive Docking Station SATA to USB 3.0 HDD Enclosure for 2.5 3.5 inch SATA Hard Drive Disk HDD/ SSD Tool Free Support UASP and 12TB Drive Max Transparent Limited time offer, ends 01/03.
Last Updated on September 4, 2020 by Sketch 41 download free.
Nowadays, the size of data is increasing day by day. People have lots of movies, games, songs, photographs and more data to store. These are the types of data that we never want to lose and want to carry anywhere we go.
Sometimes, the data is private so you don't want to store it in the cloud storage. External portable hard disks have become a part of our life to handle those huge amounts of data we come across daily. The external storage technology has increased to a tremendous amount by enabling us to store, transfer and manage GBs and TBs of data easily.
There are many brands that manufacture external hard disks for a good value for money, but from the customer point of view, an external hard disk has to be reliable and durable. Therefore, the requirements for a portable hard drive with 2TB storage or more arises. 2TB External Hard Disk is the best way to keep your favorite data with you.
So, we have done the research and going to provide you the list of top 10 cheapest 2tb external hard drives that are reliable and are a must-buy.
10 Best 2TB External Hard Drives
We have also written a 2TB external hard drive buying guide at the end of the article. There, we discuss some of the important factors of hard drives, you should consider before buying the hard drives.
Jump to What to Look for in an External Hard Drive before Buying
1. Seagate Backup Plus Slim
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB Portable External Hard Drive is an ultra slim and high-efficiency hard disk drive. The compatibility features are great with both USB 2.0 and the USB 3.0 connectivity, and it works well with a wide variety of operating systems like Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android.
Large volume files are dealt with quite smoothly with exceptional data transfer speed. This hard drive did not display any heating issues or vibrations. You can easily backup your Facebook, Flicker, and other content with a useful Seagate Mobile Backup Application. The USB cable is of average quality and getting a spare wire should take care of that.
This 2TB Portable External Hard Drive would make an apt choice if you are on the lookout for a hard disk drive with at least 2TB inbuilt storage. With all its advanced features at affordable pricing, it should be a perfect choice to buy.
Pros:
- Super Slim form factor
- Very Good Overall Read & Write Performance
- Free Two Year 200GB OneDrive Subscription
- Useful bundled software
Cons:
- Poor write performance
- Windows software was sluggish, at times
- Only Available In 1/2TB Capacities
2. Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC
An external hard drive you can buy at affordable pricing, Buffalo's MiniStation Extreme NFC could be your match made in heaven. With compatibility for both Windows OS and Mac OS, the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC is very flexible. This hard drive comes with a rugged case that's dust and water resistant, along with a built-in USB 3.0 cable.
Moreover, not only is your data kept protected from knocks and drops with the rugged shell, but it also allows 256-bit AES security features and NFC (Near Field Communication) features as well. Essentially it enables you to unlock the drive to get to your files quickly by tapping the supplied NFC card onto the drive's body.
Pros:
- Built-in USB cable
- Hardware encryption
- Mac and PC format utility
- Ruggedized and water resistant
Cons:
- NFC card is easy to lose
- Doesn't unlock via smartphones
3. WD My Passport Ultra 2TB
The WD My Passport Ultra 2TB Portable External Hard Drive is a fantastic product with the right mix of specs and features. The hard disk is slim and lightweight that makes it easy to handle and transport. It exceeds all your expectations when it comes to data transfer speeds but doesn't come near the top of the leaderboard.
This hard drive offers a useful 256-AES encryption feature that lets you secure it with a password. It is compatible well with both Windows and Mac OS and its backup feature is extremely smart that only allows the files which have been newly added or altered. The one small flaw it has is that the encryption feature does not compatible with Linux OS. The WD My Passport Ultra 2TB Portable External Hard Drive is a stunning product from a trustworthy brand. It should make a great choice for you.
Pros:
- Excellent large-block transfer rates
- Included WD software for local and cloud backups adds value
Cons:
- No option to exclude/include extensions.
4. Samsung T5 SSD
The Samsung T5 Portable SDD is a bit pricey, but the speed and security it comes with are worth it for those looking for durable performance. It comes in light weight (2 ounces) and small as the palm of your hand. The all-metal, shock-resistant enclosure is rugged and portable, making it safe to just stash in a bag on the go.
Moreover, it has a super fast transfer speed up to 540 MB/s that is about five times as fast as a standard HDD, making it much faster to move giant files like 4K videos and high-resolution photos. The T5 compatible with USB 3.1 Type-C and Type-A ports, and works with Windows, Mac, and Android devices.
Pros:
- Streamlined, metal enclosure
- Excellent performance
- Easy-to-use software
- Full hardware-based encryption
Cons:
- No backup software
5. Toshiba Canvio Basics
The Toshiba Canvio Basic 2TB External Hard Disk Drive is another quality device in our list. The solid build quality and sleek, compact design from Toshiba makes it a sturdy device. It is compatible with Windows OS and Mac OS. The Canvio drive can handle large volume file transfer quite smoothly.
The data transmission speed it works exceeds your expectations. You can easily connect it with Smart TV through TV USB port. Toshiba is popular name in the hard disk industry and this hard disk is unbeatable in terms of value for money and portability. This 2TB wired external hard disk drive is a great product to meet your extensive storage needs.
Pros:
- 1TB platter technology
- Pocket sized
Cons:
- The provided USB 3.0 cable is a bit short for PC use.
- Not the fastest external drive
6. Transcend StoreJet 25H3P
Transcend StoreJet 25H3P 2.5-inch 2 TB Portable External Hard Drive is what stands out the most and it gives it a sturdy and rugged look. It has superlative data transfer with 3.0 USB port. The durability of the external hard disk is also enhanced by Military-grade shock resistance with a high-tech three-stage shock protection system.
This 2TB HDD also offers a Transcend Elite Data Management Software that let you arrange and systematize your data better. This external hard disk is compatible with USB 3.0, 2.0 and supports most of the commonly used operating systems. The Transcend StoreJet external hard drive is a must-buy if durability is your biggest concern.
Pros:
- Fast transfer rates
- Three stage shock protection system
- One Touch auto backup button
- Power saving sleep mode
Logic pro 9 documentation. Cons:
- Only available in purple
- Drive does not ship with Mac software
7. Sony PSZ-HB2T/BC 2TB Pro External Hard Disk Drive
Sony PSZ-HB2T/BC 2TB Pro External Hard Disk Drive external hard disk is a perfect choice for lovers for brand Sony. The build quality is excellent, and the drive is sure to last for a long while. The attractive slim and compact design from Sony gives it an elegant look. The hard disk proves to be a steady performer with fast data transfer speed.
The hard disk offers some additional utility features such as an automatic cloud backup with preloaded Back-Up Manager software. This includes password protection security and free backup software. The drive uses AES 256-bit algorithm data encryption and password protection technologies which give complete security to your data. The Sony PSZ-HB2T/BC 2TB Pro External Hard Disk Drive is a quality product from a top brand.
Pros:
- Great performance
- AES 256-bit encryption
- additional utility features
Cons:
- More expensive per-GB
8. Lenovo F309
The Lenovo F309 2TB External Hard Disk Drive is an amazing product from a trusted brand, and its reasonable pricing makes it a true value for money gadget. The hard disk feels pretty sturdy with the solid build quality it has. The sleek and compact shape it has, give it some good portability and easy handling.
The USB 3.0 connection offers easy and quick data transmission. Its performance and speed are comparable to products from more expensive brands. No compatibility issues so you can use it with different operating systems, desktops and notebooks. It has electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection of up to 8 KV that guards it against shock.
Pros:
- Good performance
- sleek and compact shape
- ESD protection
- No compatibility issues
Cons:
- No backup software
9. ADATA HV620 2TB USB 3.0 Stylish and Sleek External Hard Drive
The Adata HV620 External Drive 2TB will suit those looking for a rugged storage device that can provide ample capacity without costing too much. Its performance is superb well and remains the only SSD we've seen that is IP68 rated. The solid-state drive that resides in this drive, it's faster than external drives that use traditional spinning hard drives.
Moreover, This external drive offers great transfer speeds as well as rugged protection. Also, you don't have to worry about missing out on storage space just because it uses an SSD – this external drive really does hit all the right notes.
Pc special edition. Pros:
- Scratch-Prevention Design
- Sleek and Glossy
- LED Indicator Shows Transfer Status
- SuperSpeed USB 3.0
Cons:
- No free backup software
10. WD Elements 2TB Portable
The WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Disk is a perfect storage solution from Western Digital. The amazing portability on offer has to be its USP. The drive is extremely lightweight, slim and compact in design and it is an easy fit into your pocket. Its plastic body makes the product extremely durable.
The drive compatible with both USB 3.0 and 2.0 connections and offers amazing transfer speed. The USB cord is of good quality, but its short length might disappoint many users. This portable drive also includes a free trial of WD SmartWare Pro automatic backup software. It can be a great choice if you are looking for a reliable 2TB external hard disk.
Pros:
- Low price.
- Huge capacity.
- No external source needed for power.
Free cod games on xbox. Cons:
- No free backup software
What to Look for in an External Hard Drive before Buying
Capacity: The capacity is the most important thing, you need really depends on your lifestyle. If you're a photographer or videographer, for instance, you'll require something with a large capacity that can store all of your media files. In that case, you should go for 4TB and above. If, however, you're a student who just needs to back up some term documents and smartphone photos, 1TB or 2TB should be plenty.
Transfer speed: Backing up your files takes time, depends on the size of data. If you have a lot of data to backup, you could be looking at a couple of hours at the least. If speed is your concern, buy an external hard drive with transfers speeds of at least 120MB/s for writing and 130MB/s for reading.
Portability: There are a lot of pretty hefty hard drives out there, but if you're often on the go, portability is key. Some devices are as compact in design as a deck of cards, which make them easy to put into your bag or pocket for convenient backing up.
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How to Speed Up a USB 3.0 External Hard Drive in Windows 10/8/7
If your hard drive is slow, you are in the right place. This page walks you through the way to speed up and increase a USB 3.0 external hard drive for data transferring or file copying in Windows 10, 8, or 7, etc. If you are having one of the problems listed below, you'll need to find a way to improve the performance and speed up your external hard drive:
- 1. Copying files stops halfway
- 2. External hard drive transfer speed slow
- 3. File copying slow on USB 3.0 flash drive or external hard drive
- 4. The computer gets stuck while copying or transferring files to USB 3.0
- 5. PC freeze on copying files from USB 3.0.
To increase the transfer speed of the external hard drive, we listed the five best methods for fixing this issue, and you can apply any one of them for a try:
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
1. Optimize the Performance | Connect your external hard drive to your PC. Open Windows File Explorer.Full steps |
2. Convert USB 3.0 Drive to NTFS | Install and launch EaseUS Partition Master on your computer.Full steps |
3. Fix Corrupted System Files | Press Win + X to bring up the Power User menu and select Command Prompt.Full steps |
4. Clean Up Junk Files | Download EaseUS Tools M for free and install it on your computer.Full steps |
5. Format External Hard Drive | Connect your external hard drive to a Windows 10 PC. Open File Explorer, locate and right-click.Full steps |
Tip 1. Optimize External Hard Drive Performance to Increase Speed
When the storage devices get slow, one quick way to improve the device's performance is to change the device hardware settings. Follow the steps below to speed up your external hard drive.
Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to your PC.
Step 2. Open Windows File Explorer, locate and right-click on your external hard drive, choose 'Properties'.
Step 3. On the Hardware tab, click 'Properties', and choose 'Change Settings' on the General tab.
Step 4. https://susoft.mystrikingly.com/blog/open-source-office-suite-for-mac. Click the 'Policies' tab, choose 'Better performance', and click 'OK' to confirm all the changes.
Player unknown battlegrounds price on steam. Then, you can check if your external hard drive has become fast in speed.
Tip 2. Convert USB 3.0 External Hard Drive to NTFS to Speed It Up
The file system type affects the external hard drive transfer speed deeply. Storage devices with NTFS work faster and more efficiently for file copy and file transfer. Thus, the most useful way to increase USB 3.0 external hard drive speed is to convert the USB 3.0 external hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
Professional partition magic software - EaseUS Partition Master can help. It enables you to convert the external hard drive to the NTFS file system within three simple steps. This disk management tool has many other highlights:
- Migrate OS to SSD or HDD
- Resize partition size to increase C drive space
- Format a hard drive or partition for free
Download this software and convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data:
Cheap External Hd
Step 1: Install and launch EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Sloppy seconds destroyed rar.
Step 2: Select a FAT32 partition, right-click on it and select 'Convert to NTFS'. If you need to convert a storage device such as SD card or USB flash drive to NTFS, insert it into your PC first and repeat the previous operation.
Step 3: Click 'OK' on the pop-up dialog box to continue.
Step 4: Go to the upper left corner, click the 'Execute 1 Operation' button and you will see the operation details. Click 'Apply' and 'Finish' when the process completes.
Tip 3. Fix Corrupted System Files to Increase External HDD Speed
If the USB 3.0 external hard drive contains corrupted system files, the file copying or data transferring speed will slow down naturally. SFC command line can efficiently help find and repair the corrupted system files on your external hard drive. Here are the steps to run SFC/SCANNOW.
Step 1. Press Win + X to bring up the Power User menu and select 'Command Prompt'.
Step 2. Type: sfc /scannow and hit 'Enter'.
Also read SFC finds corrupted files but unable to fix if anything goes wrong.
Tip 4. Increase Transfer Speed of External Hard Drive by Cleanup
You can clear and remove useless junk files on PC that make your USB 3.0 slow for file transferring. After using the computer for a long time, many useless junk files are taking space on the hard drive. And the best way is to apply a simple free way to clean and remove useless junk files that slow down your USB 3.0 external hard drive for transfer files and data.
To make things easy for you, we'd like to recommend you try EaseUS Tools M for help. You can free download it here and follow the steps below to clean up junk files in Windows 10/8/7 now:
Step 1. DOWNLOAD EaseUS Tools M for free and install it on your computer.
Step 2. Launch EaseUS Tools M in Windows PC. Select 'Large File Cleanup' on the main screen.
Step 3. Select the drive and click 'Scan' to let the program locate, find all large files on your disk.
Step 4. Identify and select useless large files and click 'Delete' to remove those files from your PC or laptop. A message pops up and tells you this process will permanently delete the files. Click 'Yes' to start the process.
Tip 5. Format USB 3.0 External Hard Drive to Speed It Up
Another efficient way to quickly fix the slow external hard drive issue on Windows PC is to format the USB 3.0 external hard drive to NTFS. Format a partition could cause data loss. If you have essential data on the device, copy, and extract crucial data to another hard drive first.
To format the external hard drive to NTFS File System:
Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to a Windows 10 PC.
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Step 2. Open File Explorer, locate and right-click on the drive, select 'Format'.
Step 3. Set the NTFS as the target file system, tick 'Quick Format' and click 'Start' to start the formatting.
Additional Tip - How to Back Up External Hard Drive Files
Although these methods can help you fix the slow USB 3.0 external hard drive issue, some may also cause unnecessary data loss errors on your drive. To avoid unnecessary data loss issue, you should copy and extract important data on your USB 3.0 external hard drive to your PC or another secure storage device in advance.
You can either choose to copy and paste existing files from your slow external hard drive to a new device at a very slow speed or prefer a more efficient and fast alternative tool to back up and extract all your files from the external hard drive to a new device at one time at high speed.
If you choose the latter option, you may turn to EaseUS Todo Backup Free for help. It is easy and risk-free to back up files from your external hard drive with a small space occupation on your target device.
Step 1: Open EaseUS Todo Backup and select 'File' as the backup mode.
You may have a large amount of vital data to be protected as time goes on, such as documents, pictures, music, and videos, etc. It is always a good habit to have a backup on a regular basis. File Backup is one of the best choices for you to get over unexpected data loss.
Step 2: Select the files that you want to back up.
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Tick the option at the top left corner named User Defined, you can browse to back up one or some specific file types on your computer or external storage device.
Step 3: Select a destination to save your backup file.
You'd better create the backup file in some other storage media or in some other drive. If not, there may be a risk of the backup file getting corrupted or destroyed.
Step 4: Click 'Proceed' to execute your operation.
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Conclusion
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Whenever you are faced with external hard drive slow transfer speed, you can try these solutions above. These tips should help you increase your transfer speeds. EaseUS Partition Master plays a vital role in solving your slow issue. Besides, this software can help you with disk management, partition clone, and system migration. You can always try this product to enjoy extra features.