Having a little extra storage is always a great thing to have. You might have 1TB or 2TB or more storage internally in your computer device.  You will always expect for more storage for the ease of storage and portability. Lately, external hard drives have been so popular that innovations in this sector are all ready to beat the internal storage in all the sense possible. Besides popularity, there are still external hard drive pros and cons that you need to consider before getting one.

Previously you had a very little option in terms of the portable storage devices like pen drive, CDs and DVDs, etc. but as the technology advanced, more devices came into existence. A similar invention was for the external hard drive. At first, internal hard disks were converted to external hard disks via conversion cables. Then, external hard disks started to come with standard USB head. External hard drives are now capable of connecting to your system via USB, eSATA or firewire. With the advent of USB 3, all modern PCs, servers, and laptops provide the simplified interface of plug play any external storages.

External Hard Drive Pros and Cons

But of course, every technology comes with its own set of challenges. We just cannot expect to get benefit from any technology thinking about neglecting the cons it comes with. Some of the pros and cons of such External Hard Drives are as below.

Pros of External Hard Drive

• Cheapest cost per GB: It is no doubt that external drives provide the lowest cost per GB of storage you have in your drive.
• Space: You get a very limited storage limit with other storage media. But with External Hard Drives, you talk in TB of storage, not just a few MBs.
• Portability: With the plug and play functionality, it is very much easier to carry your hard disk around. You can use it whenever you require. You can just copy your files to your drives and you are ready to go miles with it.
• Speed: Speed is something that should be watched in the external hard drives. With the advent of Type-C thunderbolt connectors, you can reach the read and write speed up to 2800MB/s read and 2300MB/s write. Trust me, it’s insane.
• Isolation: You can just make a backup of all your important documents on to a USB External Hard Disk and keep it in safe, nothing’s going to happen to the drive for years. Even your PC crashes, at least you will have your data back up secure.
• Formatted as internal drives: External drives can also be formatted and used as an internal drive. The external drive is easier to use compared to the network setup for the file transfer in an environment.

Cons of External Hard Drive

• Speed: Speed is also a major disadvantage if you don’t have the correct tools to take on the speed feature of external hard drives. You might get 50 MB/s speed on USB 3 Port, but if all you have is just the USB 2 port then, the high-speed data transfer feature is just a gimmick.
• More Fragile: External hard drives are fragile and more likely to get damaged if not handled properly. The internal hard drives are kept secure mounted in the CPU casing whereas external drive doesn’t have much to protect from drops and damages.
• Heating issue: Internal drives are properly mount to get proper cooling from the CPU cooling system, but the external hard drives require a proper cooling solution to keep it cool and running.
• Theft: External hard drives are easier to lose and steal. All you need to do is grab the drive and vanish from the place, whereas internal drive is under the casing and not easy to grab and go.
• Exterior cables: There is a need for external data cable and power cable for the data synchronization and powering the drive. Previous models used to have two USB attachments, one for data and other for power. If you have multiple drives to connect to the system, its an issue for the USB ports.
• Accidental interruption: Accidental interruption to the drive might corrupt the whole drive. The interruption might be from disconnecting of the USB cable, dropping the hard disk, etc. Your data is in huge risk if the cable gets loose.

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Conclusion for External Hard Drive Pros and Cons

Hence, these are few of the pros and cons of External Hard Drive.There is no issue, in fact, it is a great thing to have your important data backed up in the external drives for future references. But External Hard Drives require much more caring than the internal drives. You need to constantly be aware of the cables being used, the heating of the drive, be aware that you don’t drop the device, else it is the great thing to have as a backup device. Some of the Hard drives are cheaper to buy whereas some are expensive enough. Our suggestion would be to get a Hard Drive that best suits your need and your budget.