The 10 Best Archive Hard Drive, Tested And Researched

Harlan Ellison By, Harlan Ellison
Updated
Best Archive Hard Drive
Best Archive Hard Drive

The Rundown

1. Best Overall: LaCie d2 Professional 20TB External Hard Drive Desktop HDD

LaCie d2 Professional is the go-to external desktop hard drive for creatives using SSD-based laptops or all-in-one computers with limited storage capacity, massive capacity, and speeds of up to 290MB/s. This external hard drive lets you work faster and smarter, making your workflow more efficient. Read Review

2. Runner Up: Western Digital 2TB WD Blue PC Internal Hard Drive

The WD Blue 2TB Internal Hard Drive is the ideal storage solution for home and office. The design of this drive is optimized for low power consumption, allowing it to function without any problems, even with daily use. This reliable hard drive offers optimal performance for everyday computing. Read Review

3. Best Technology: Seagate Game Drive for Playstation Consoles 4TB External Hard Drive

With the Seagate Game Drive for PlayStation 4, you can safely store and transport your games in a high-speed, lightweight design that's easy to carry. This sleek design is perfect for taking the whole library on the go. It's also easy to plug-and-play setup with a quick connection. Read Review

4. Best Quality: MDD 2TB PS4 Hard Drive Upgrade Kit Bundle

The MDD 2TB PS4 Hard Drive Upgrade Kit Bundle is the ultimate upgrade for serious gamers. With improved boot times, application loads, and overall system responsiveness, this hard drive is designed to take your gaming experience to the next level. Read Review

5. Best Design: SanDisk Professional 12TB G-DRIVE PRO - Hard Drive

G-DRIVE PRO is the new standard for enterprise-class desktop hard drives. This rugged, high-performance drive with up to 230MB/s read, and 230MB/s write is ideal for storage-intensive applications like audio/video editing or digital photography. Read Review

A hard drive, or storage device, is basically a place for your files to live. These files can be photos, videos, music, documents, and much more. The great thing about having a storage device like this is that you can have as many as you like.

However, the bad news is that as more files we have in our lives, the harder it becomes for us to find what we’re looking for. This is called attaining organizational skills, and if we don’t practice them over time, it can become a real struggle. That’s where an archive hard drive comes in. These drives aren’t just used by people who are trying to get organized; they can also help anyone who doesn’t want to deal with an overflowing digital life but still needs easy access to their favorite memories and files. Here's everything you need to know about using an archive hard drive.

We think the best archive hard drive is the LaCie d2 Professional 20TB External Hard Drive Desktop HDD. LaCie d2 Professional is the go-to external desktop hard drive for creatives using SSD-based laptops or all-in-one computers with limited storage capacity, massive capacity, and speeds of up to 290MB/s. This external hard drive lets you work faster and smarter, making your workflow more efficient. However, in order to provide the reader with a wider variety of alternatives, we recommend adding a Western Digital 2TB WD Blue PC Internal Hard Drive if you are interested in purchasing another appealing one.

Here are the buying guides that we specially made for you guys. Follow all the words below for successful shopping!

Our Top Picks

CROSS PLATFORM: The LaCie d2 Professional is the go-to external desktop hard drive for creatives using Mac/PC SSD-based laptops or all-in-one-computers with limited storage capacity

RECOVERY INCLUDED: Enjoy long-term peace of mind with the included five-year limited warranty including Rescue Data Recovery Services

BOUNDLESS CREATIVITY: Includes one-month membership to Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps Plan

FAST DATA: Easily edit and archive projects with massive massive capacity and speeds of up to 290MB/s

FUTURE PROOF: Seamlessly connect to USB-C USB 3.1 Gen 2 computers, enjoy reduced noise and vibration thanks to an aluminum form factor, and get ultimate reliability and performance with BarraCuda Pro enterprise-class drives

TOP Choice #2 Western Digital 2TB WD Blue PC Internal Hard Drive
Our Score:
9.7
Western Digital

Free Acronis True Image WD Edition cloning software

Western Digital quality and reliability

Reliable everyday computing

Massive capacity up to 8TB

2-year limited warranty

PS5 READY Store your PS5 games and transfer them to the console when it’s time to play.

NO TOOLS REQUIRED Launch into action in under two minutes with easy plug-and-play setup.

OFFICIALLY LICENSED Built with matching firmware to seamlessly work with all models of PS5 and PS4.

BUILD YOUR GAME VAULT 4TB of capacity means no more sacrificing, deleting, or redownloading games.

WORKS WITH PS4 Store and play all your PS4 games directly from the external hard drive.

4 MDD 2TB PS4 Hard Drive Upgrade Kit Bundle
Our Score:
9.3
MDD MAXDIGITALDATA

PS4 HDD Installation Manual & PS4 Firmware Download Link Instruction Included

Massive 2TB capacity can store up to 160 × 25GB games.

Works for PlayStation gaming systems (PS4 Original, PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro)

2.5inch SATA Gaming HDD, 9.5mm Height, 2TB Capacity, 5400RPM, 8MB Cache, SATA 6.0Gb/s

2 Years Warranty from Reseller

5 SanDisk Professional 12TB G-DRIVE PRO - Hard Drive
Our Score:
9.1
SanDisk Professional

Powerful performance with up to 230MB/s read and 230MB/s write (1 MB/s = 1 million bytes per second. Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon host device, usage conditions, drive capacity, and other factors.)

5-Year limited warranty

Daisy chaining for up to 5 additional devices

Enterprise-class 7200RPM Ultrastar drive inside

Ready to go with Mac (HFS+). Works with Windows via reformat.

Dual Thunderbolt 3 (20Gbps) ports and a single USB-C (5Gbps) port

NASware firmware for compatibility

Supports up to 180 TB/yr workload rate | Workload Rate is defined as the amount of user data transferred to or from the hard drive. Workload Rate is annualized (TB transferred ✕ (8760 / recorded power-on hours)). Workload Rate will vary depending on your hardware and software components and configurations.

Available in capacities ranging from 1-14TB with support for up to 8 bays | As used for storage capacity, 1GB = 1 billion bytes and 1TB = 1 trillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less depending on operating environment.

3-year limited warranty | See official Western Digital website for regional specific warranty details.

Small or medium business NAS systems in a 24x7 environment

Stackable, anodized aluminum enclosure offers premium durability

Mac Ready, Apple Time Machine compatible; easily reformatted for Windows

Three modes of brightness to adjust the LED lights

USB-C (10Gbps) drive for fast backup with up to 270MB/s read and 270MB/s write (1 MB/s = 1 million bytes per second. Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon host device, usage conditions, drive capacity, and other factors.)

High-capacity, enterprise-class Ultrastar 7200RPM drive inside

2-year limited warranty

Reliable everyday computing

Free Acronis True Image WD Edition cloning software

Massive capacity up to 8TB* | *1TB = one trillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less depending on operating environment.

Western Digital quality and reliability

Compatible with Xbox Series X/S (play and store Xbox One games, archive Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S games) and PlayStation 5 (play and store PS4 games, archive PS5 games) consoles

Available in capacities up to 5TB that can hold up to 125 games, so that you can save old favorites and still have room for new titles (As used for storage capacity, one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. Number of games based on a 36GB average per game. The number of games will vary based on file size, formatting, other programs, and factors.)

Comes with an 18-inch (457mm) USB Type-A to Micro-B cable with SuperSpeed interface up to 5Gbps (Cable length may vary.)

Portable form factor with sleek metal top covering that provides fast access to your growing game library

Premium HDD with 3-year limited warranty, purpose-built for gamers based on WD_BLACK quality and reliability

10 Seagate 16TB Hard Drive
Our Score:
8.3
Seagate

Seagate Secure models provide hardware-based security to help protect data-at-rest. With Instant Secure Erase, drive retirement is safe, affordable, fast and easy.

Industry's lowest power and weight for optimum data center TCO

PowerBalance feature optimizes IOPS/Watt

Proven enterprise-class reliability backed by 2. 5M-hr MTBF rating

Helium sealed-drive design with no porosity and uniform density

Product Images, Product Titles, Product Highlights from Amazon Product Advertising API

What to Look For in a best archive hard drive?

Maybe you should feel overwhelmed by the number of options available to you when it decides to purchase best archive hard drive in 2024? Visitors can't help but question if a better option is available. Well, we have some key items which will produce positive outcomes while also saving you time & expense.

You need to have an objective view of what you are interested in the product you are looking to buy. To choose a satisfactory best archive hard drive, the factors related to the product, you need to consider carefully below points.

External Vs. Internal HDD

The main advantage of external hard disks is their portability. Which also makes them perfect backups in case your PC is compromised. Desktop PCs allow you room to add extra hard disks, but if you are using a laptop or other gaming device, you will have to replace your existing hard drive.

Rotation Speed

Did you know that hard drives store information on spinning magnetic plates? The faster these plates spin, the faster the load and access time. The rotation is measured in RPM (Rotations per Minute), and although we recommend hard disks with 7200RPM, 5400RPM is still a good option.

Speed

HDDs, or hard drives, contain spinning disks that read and write your data. The faster these disks spin—rated in rotations per minute (RPM)—the faster the drive can access data and transfer it to your computer.

Size Of The Disk

I understand that you are buying the hard disk in order to eliminate the need to delete some files when you install a new game or add modifications. Also, at a time when a single game can take up to 100GB, Call of Duty WWII is 90GB; it only makes sense that you select the hard disk that will allow you sufficient storage space.

Reliability

All hard drives eventually die, and there’s no definitive answer on when that day will come. We recommend replacing your backup drives between the third and sixth years of use, if possible. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to get metrics on which hard drive models are more reliable over the long run, and even so, there will always be outliers and failures that occur sooner than expected.

Cache Memory

This is a cache that functions much like Computer RAM Memory. It stores important files temporarily so that it takes less time to access them on the disk. The larger the cache size, the faster the hard disk will be. However, the difference is not major, and as such, this should not be the biggest determiner.

Performance

Transfer speed is the feature that most people notice on a daily basis. We evaluated each drive with tests that replicated different real-world uses, and we focused on the drives that consistently outperformed the other contenders. Drives that did well on some tests but failed others were unreliable and not worth purchasing.

FAQs

What is an archive hard drive?

An archive hard drive is a storage device used to store and preserve data for long-term access. It typically has a larger capacity than a regular hard drive and is more reliable and robust, making it ideal for archiving important data.

What are the benefits of an archive hard drive?

An archive hard drive offers several benefits, including increased storage capacity, greater reliability, enhanced security, and faster data access. It also helps protect your data from environmental hazards such as heat, dust, and moisture, so your data is safe even after years of storage.

How do I store data on an archive hard drive?

Storing data on an archive hard drive is simple and easy. First, you need to format the drive with a compatible file system, such as NTFS or ext4. Once the drive is formatted, you can transfer your data onto the drive using your computer's file manager or a data transfer utility.

How long can I store data on an archive hard drive?

An archive hard drive is designed for long-term storage, so it can store data for several years without any issues. However, it is important to note that data stored on an archive hard drive may become unreadable or corrupted over time due to environmental factors or other causes. As such, it is important to periodically back up your data to ensure its safety.

What is the difference between an archive hard drive and a regular hard drive?

The primary difference between an archive hard drive and a regular hard drive is the mean time between failure (MTBF) rating. An archive hard drive is designed to be more reliable and last longer than a regular hard drive, making it ideal for long-term data storage and archiving purposes. Additionally, archive hard drives usually offer higher capacity than regular hard drives.

Conclusion

The buying guide for best archive hard drive for your requirement is available on the website. It will assist you in determining what to purchase and how much of it to purchase! We hope this article has assisted you in incorporating some neuroscience guidelines into your shopping decision. If you don't find anything in the above list, you can make another purchase with Seagate Desktop 8TB External Hard Drive HDD.

If some of this sounds intimidating, or if you really want more details on the strategies mentioned in this blog post, please contact us.


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About Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison is a writer and audio equipment enthusiast. He's particularly interested in home theater HiFi audio, and he has been the editor of The Audio Insights since its inception. Harlan is known for his sharp wit and scathing critiques, but he also has a great love of music and audio gear. When he's not writing or editing, Harlan can be found listening to music or watching movies with his wife.