A photographers camera equipment would be incomplete without an external portable hard drive. SD cards and PC hard drives quickly fill up when capturing hundreds of photographs at each photoshoot.
Whether photography is your profession, or your a hobby you’ll need a external photo storage solution that can keep up with a busy photographer’s demands.
In this article you will find a list of the top portable external hard drives for photographers.
You’ve come to the right post if you’re looking for the best external hard drives for photo storage!
The type of portable external hard drive you require will be determined by the amount of photo storage you require and the location where you solely intend to use it.
If you need digital storage at home, a backup hard drive will suffice. An SSD or a portable external drive is excellent if you need anything on the job.
Best photography external hard drives at a glance:
- Seagate Portable – Best overall portable hard drive for photography
- SanDisk Extreme Portable Hard Drive – Best portable hard drive for travel photographers
- WD 5TB Elements – Best high capacity hard drive for photographers
- LaCie Rugged Mini – Best portable hard drive for clumsy photographers
- G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE – Best small hard drive for photographers
To help you find the best camera hard drives for your cameras, check out this list of the best portable hard drives for photographers.
Let’s begin!
1. Seagate Portable – Best overall portable hard drive for photography
The Seagate portable is a great external hard drive for photographers. It has a woven outside plate and a beautiful outer body.
This Seagate device also has a lot of storage space while being small and portable. There are two sizes of Seagate portable.
The standard comes with 1TB inbuilt memory, which is quite impressive for a drive of this weight and size.
However, if you require a larger storage capacity, the 2TB option is available.
This Seagate Portable hard drive also shows uniqueness due to its security features. It has hardware encryption that is triggered by a password.
It safeguards your data, so you don’t have to be concerned about data loss.
- The metal body is small and light
- Transferring files quickly
- Seagate are known for making the best external hard drives for photo storage
- Initially, there were challenges with the software used to set up fingerprint recognition
2. SanDisk Extreme Portable Hard Drive – Best portable hard drive for travel photographers
This portable hard drive stands true to its title. It’s compact and lightweight, so it won’t take up much space in your camera bag. The hard drive body design is also smooth and sleek.
It stands out from other kinds of portable hard drives because of its speed. You get rapid write and read speeds with this SSD external drive.
For data protection, the SanDisk Extreme Portable Hard Drive offers a password-protected kind of encryption.
It’s also shock-resistant, water-resistant, and dust-proof for further security. It uses a variety of USB-C ports to connect to smartphones and computers.
The storage capacities range from 450GB to 4TB, with a 1TB model being the most preferred choice. You’ll be disappointed with the 500GB, and the 4TB kind is a bit costly.
While the SanDisk Portable SSD external hard drive may tempt many people, this “Extreme” version still remains the superior alternative.
Note that although the Pro variant has better write and read speeds, it is not compatible with all PCs. Therefore, its not worthwhile unless you possess a very high-end PC.
- Metal enclosure and a slim design
- Read speeds of up to 1050MB/s are possible
- A high-quality USB-C cable and a USB-A adaptor are included
- During use, it gets hot
- The cable is really short
3. WD 5TB Elements – Best high capacity hard drive for photographers
WD has made some great solid-state kinds of drives, and this WD 5TB element portable storage device is a solid proof.
Photographers tend to appreciate the Passport SSD alternatives of this external hard drive.
The hard drive’s data transfer rate is significantly faster than a HDD device. However, this only matters if you’re utilizing a great high-end machine.
It’s versatile because it’s compatible with USB-C and USB 3.2 Gen 2.
For security, the WD 5TB Elements possesses 256-bit AES hardware kind of encryption. It’s also shock and vibration resistant, giving you peace of mind even when out and on the move.
It’s yet another great portable photo storage device for photographers on the go.
- Slim enough to stow in a purse
- Read speeds of up to 550MB/s are possible.
- A high-quality USB-C cable and a USB-A adaptor are included.
- During use, it gets a little hot.
4. LaCie Rugged Mini – Best portable hard drive for clumsy photographers
The LaCie Rugged Mini is unlike any other external hard drive for photographers in terms of durability and photo storage capacity.
It’s built to last long enough, and it’s capable of holding up tens of thousands of photo files.
If the body is dropped, the hardware is protected by a tough exterior case. It’s also resistant to dust and water.
The LaCie Rugged Mini hard drive is built to last a lifetime of use, making it ideal for professional photographers.
For an HDD device, the write/read rates are impressive. It’s also simple to set up on both Mac and Windows computers.
It contains a USB-C port as well as an SD card, which is a nice feature.
Many photographers prefer to utilize the LaCie Rugged Mini because of its versatility.
- Quick transfer rates
- Rugged Large Capacity
- Get hot during use
5. G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE – Best small hard drive for photographers
Another excellent hard drive for backing up data and software at home is the G-Technology G-Drive.
G-Drive Technology’s has two Thunderbolt 3 connectors and a USB-C kind of port. USB 3.1 is also supported.
Data transport isn’t the fastest on HDD devices. G-Drive, on the other hand, is dependable.
The G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE features a sturdy aluminium body despite the hard drive being a desktop kind of hard drive.
It will withstand a few blows without issue. For photographers, it’s a reliable backup portable photo storage device.
- Compact design
- Type-C (Universal Serial Bus)
- Well-constructed
- 400 Mbps is only appropriate for 4K, while 512 GB is insufficient for video.
Conclusion
Modern photography relies heavily on digital photo storage. There is no point having a top memory card for photography without having somewhere to back up your files!
You’ll need storage space for all of your digital photography images. You’ll also require a lot of space if you’re working with RAW files.
Fortunately, there are several great portable hard drives available for photographers.
In this list, we’ve covered portable SSD and HDD choices.
These are some of the best kinds of portable hard drives available in the market, and they should be your go-to options if you need to back up your home data.
Get backed up!
Don’t forget, it’s always a good idea to be backed up with cloud storage for photographers!
DISCLOSURE: I may earn a small commission from some of the links above. For the benefit of the doubt, please assume all links might be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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