

If you’re unsure which external hard drive to buy, answering these questions can help narrow your search considerably: For more information, search the web for different ways to encrypt your files.
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC REVIEWS PORTABLE#
If you buy a portable external hard drive, make sure to password protect any sensitive files on it in case the drive is ever stolen or lost. Read on for everything you need to know to find your ideal external hard drive, and then check out a few of our favorites before you buy. Most external hard drives look the same, but there are some big differences when it comes to capacity, stability, and speed, so it pays to know what to look for ahead of time. While they may not look like much, they can be essential tools for keeping your files backed up, and they’re ideal for transporting files that are too large to transfer over the internet. If your computer is running out of storage space, you can always add more with an external hard drive.Įxternal hard drives are small, nondescript boxes with extra storage that connect to your computer via one or more USB cables. In some circumstances, this can be panic-inducing because a lack of space can prevent you from creating or saving new files. We’ve all been there: that moment your laptop or desktop computer tells you it’s running out of hard drive space.

At least one.Buying guide for best external hard drives And the final piece of the puzzle is the literal insurance policy the backup drive. Effectively, the computer is trying to read and write data from the same place, at the same time. If you've ever tried to run a sample library directly from within the main laptop drive, you'll know the problems this can cause. Thirdly, you'll want somewhere to store all those space-intensive sample libraries. The second disc is the writing disc, where the computer 'writes' new data to the disc for musicians, this means all those multitrack sessions, sounds and parameter changes. The operating disc sits within the computer and essentially manages the thing, opening and running applications, making sure everything works as it should. There are four main discs you'll want to involve when it comes to computer audio production. If at one end of the scale, you are using a basic laptop and running everything from within said laptop, then you're in for a treat when it comes to external drives.

Most notably, you'll want to ask yourself what kind of setup you have in your home studio already. When choosing the best external hard drive for your system or studio setup, you'll want to ask yourself a few questions. (Image credit: Getty/Andrew Balcombe/EyeEm) Which external hard drive is right for you? In the Samsung T5 range, you’ll find the perfect drive to ensure external storage offers a potential performance boost as well as an insurance policy. By freeing up the computer to do its thing, and not constantly be trekking back and forth to access files, you're taking the load off it to focus on all the other important tasks. In our experience, it can be something as simple as a separate hard drive, rather than a maxed-out beast of a new computer, that can have the biggest impact on your musical workflow. The drive is small enough that it can be tucked away from view, yet its solid-state technology is both quick and reliable. For us, the portable drive that best fits the bill for musicians is the Samsung T5 range. So it makes sense – even if just for your own peace of mind – to have the safety net of one of the best external hard drives for music production on your side. And, as anyone who has suffered at the hands of a faulty disc drive will testify, when they go wrong the results can be absolutely devastating. Or stay put with the best PCs for music productionīest external hard drives for music production: Our top picksĮxternal hard drives can be thought of like good football referees you only notice them if something goes wrong.These are the best laptops for music production.There are solutions and safety nets however, with the reliable external hard drives we’re showing here. This could be down to poor transfer speeds getting in the way of our production workflows, or it could mean the nightmare of losing valuable files or information altogether.
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC REVIEWS PC#
Whether you're recording huge multitrack DAW sessions, pulling from a sample library running into multiple digits in gigabytes or editing masses of 4K video footage for YouTube, a reliable external hard drive for your Mac or PC is worth its weight in gold.Īt some point, we've no doubt all experienced the problems that come with storing – or accessing – our precious files and data.
