With so many external hard drives available, it can be mystifying attempting to find the one for you. Do you want portability, much storage capacity, or a both?

Instructions

1. Step 1

Decide what you want the external hard drive for. Will you be using it for backups? Sending large amounts of files Or just extra storage for PC.

2. Step 2

After you have decided what you will be using the drive for, you can choose which kind of drive you want i.e. Desktop or portable. Desktop drives utilize standard 3.5" hard drives like find in a desktop PC and want to be plugged into AC power to be utilized.

Portable drives utilize 2.5" hard drives like you get in a laptop and do not generally want an external power source. They are little enough to simply fit in a pocket, but generally have a higher price tag.

3. Step 3

Now you know the hard drive that you want then choose storage capacity. External hard drives range in capacity from about 80GB to 2TB. Portable-style hard drives are restricted in capacity to 500GB.