External hard drives are a photographer’s spine for protecting important information, and it’s your obligation as a professional to keep everything safe. As a photographer, this implies that having a fast, reliable external hard drive is a must.
When it comes to selecting the best external hard drive for your photography business, there are several factors to consider before settling on the one that best meets your requirements.
I’ve walked the walk for you, which is why In this article, I’ll go over 5 durable and efficient external hard drives for photographers that will help you scale your business while staying within your budget.
Why Do I Need an External Hard Drive for My Photography Business?
As newer technologies become available, you will be able to make greater use of details and colors, resulting in big file sizes due to the high quality. The importance of an external hard drive to any photographer or photography business is evidenced by the fact that photographers can collect up to 150MB every snap.
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What storage size do I need?
As important as picking up a new external hard drive is, Storage size is another factor that has to come into play. There are different storage sizes ranging from 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and so on and this storage size determines how many files you can store and also how fast your files can get transferred.
Below is a quick look at each storage device and how much data it can hold:
- How Many Photos Will 1TB Hold: With a 12MP camera 1TB can store up to 300,000 photos, 250 movies, and 6.5 million document pages, commonly stored as Office files, PDFs, and presentations. It’s also equal to 1,300 physical filing cabinets of paper!
- How Many Photos Will 2TB Hold: On a 2TB external hard drive storage device you can store up to 620,000 photos, 34,000 hours of MP3s, 1,000 high-definition movies, and 400 videos.
- How Many Photos Will 4TB Hold: If you can fit up to 620,000 pictures and more into a 2TB storage device it goes to show you that 4TB will hold nothing less than 1,200,000 photos and other amounts of videos and mp3.
As you can see this goes on to show you why an external hard drive will be very essential for your photography business. In the next section, we will get to the meat of things.
What Is the Best External Hard Drive for Photographers?
Seagate One Touch has to be the external hard drive for photography that any photographer can rely on. It not only transmits a super-high Read Speed of 120 – 540 Megabytes Per Second, but it is also compatible with PC, laptops, and Mac. For $109.99, you can agree that the Seagate One Touch (STKC5000410) is your best pick for an external hard drive for photo storage.
If you are in a hurry, Here is a quick list of the best external hard drive for photo storage:
List Of Best Budget External for Photo Storage
1. Seagate One Touch (STKC5000410)
Color: Black, Blue, Silver.
Capacity: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 5TB.
Style: HDD.
Seagate One Touch HDD comes first on this list of best external hard drives for photography. The HDD is best for photographers but also compatible with PC, Laptop, and Mac. It runs a USB 3.0 technology and transmits a super-high Read Speed of 120 – 540 Megabytes Per Second (Depending on the storage size you purchase).
With a 2.5 inches size, it means you get yourself a storage device that is lightweight and portable plus it comes in various device colors; black silver, and blue. Plus you are not limited to a certain storage size, you can choose between 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB.
The good thing is it comes with a 4 Months Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan and 1 Year MylioCreate to Edit, manage, and share photos. Must redeem within one year of drive registration. Not available in all countries.
List Price: $159.99 | Price: $109.99 | You Save: $50.00 (31%) View on amazon
2. ORICO Chroma Mini SSD (CN300-Purple)
Color: Purple, Green, Pink, White.
Capacity: 1TB.
Style: SSD.
Although a bit pricey, ORICO Chroma Mini Portable SSD is a must-have for all Photographers and Vloggers. With USB3.1 technology, you can tell why the portable SSD has an ultra high speed Read/Write of Up to 540MB/s. Even though it was primarily built for photography, the GEN2 External Solid State Drive can be adapted by Bloggers, Game Enthusiasts, and More.
Orico external portable storage device can be used with a variety of devices including Windows 7/8/10, Mac OS, Linux, Android, etc. sadly iPhone is not supported. You can trust it to effectively safeguard your personal files, videos, music, or any other data, and prevent data loss.
As the most favorite SSD for young adults, The Portable & Light external SSD comes in a compact size of 2.6” x1.5 ” x0.48” and about 27g ultra-lightweight as it is spiced up in six different shapes of square, different colors together. Tiny outlook, durable and rugged ABS, and high quality.Practical and Good-looking!
Listed Price: $139.99 | Current Price: $97.99 | You Save: $42.00 (30%) View On Amazon
3. Seagate STEL6000100
Color: Black.
Capacity: 4TB.
Style: Hub.
With a 4TB Digital Storage Capacity, Seagate STEL6000100 is an ideal HDD for every photography business, It is a go-to HDD for high-level professional photographers who want something more efficient and with enough space.
Running on USB 3.0 technology, you can tell why it gets to run a high transfer Write Speed of 160 megabits_per_second. Can be used seamlessly between Windows and Mac by installing the provided NTFS driver for Mac.
The HDD can also serve as means to charge mobile devices and transfer files from USB cameras and USB thumb drives via its two USB 3.0 ports. Thankfully it comes with a Complimentary two-month membership to the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan’s photo and video editing apps which must be redeemed within 1 year of drive registration.
Current Price: $199.11 View on amazon
4. SSK Portable NAS
Color: Black, Blue.
Capacity: 1TB, 2TB.
Style: HDD.
SSK is a High speed and large capacity 1TB storage capacity(HDD) external hard drive for photographers that can be freely used anywhere since it is compatible with Laptop, Desktop, Tablet, Camera, smartphones, allowing the transmission to ensure data security.
There isn’t much color variety as you have to choose between the blue and black options. The device is available in both HDD and SSD, 1TB and 2TB. Additionally, it runs on a USB3.0 so you should expect a high-speed device of up to 300Mbps high-speed wireless transmission.
Its portable nature means it can be carried around at any time, Built-in 3800Mah lithium-polymer battery, also can be used as a power bank, charge your phones and other USB devices; Plus it comes with its own Wi-Fi Hotspot and Personal Cloud Smart Storage Support Auto-Backup.
Current Price: $95.99 view on amazon
5. HWAYO Portable External HDD
Color: Bright / Matte Black.
Capacity: 1.5TB.
Style:
HWAYO is an Ultra Slim 2.5 budget-friendly Portable External Hard drive for photography but is also compatible with PC, Desktop, Laptop, MacBook, Chromebook, Xbox One. This means it can serve the purpose of business, personal, and gaming.
It comes at various device storage sizes ranging from 120GB to the max size of 1.5TB, coupled with a Connectivity Technology of USB and SATA. The HDD device possesses Ultra-fast Data Transfers which works with USB3.0 and USB2.0 to deliver, up to 5Gbps transfer speed, which is about 10 times as fast as USB 2.0.
The best budget external hard drives for photographer operates on a Plug and Play model, which requires no software to install, just plug-and-play with a USB connection. With a matte and bright black color, there are not many color options to choose from.
All in all, HWAYO is undoubtedly the best budget external hard drive for photographers.
Current Price: $54.99 View on amazon
Conclusion
I hope this list was able to provide you with an external hard drive with good quality and a matching budget. if yes please do let us know using the comment section otherwise tell us why you cant find one and what qualities do you look out for while trying to purchase one.