It is a product range that is characterized by offering large storage capacity, a reasonable price and acceptable performance. Seagate has offered us the Barracuda line of products for internal storage for many years. They are characterized by offering disk spin speeds of up to 5,400 RPM and a cache of up to 256 MB. The models that we can find on the market are the following:
From our point of view, the best option is precisely the Seagate Barracuda drives. In addition, the 8 TB drive has a more than attractive price, being able to store a huge amount of photos, videos and other files.
WD Blue
We are going with another basic internal storage solution that is designed to meet the needs of all users. WD’s Blue range has been on the market for years and is characterized by offering a great relationship between capacity, performance and price. These 3.5-inch drives have a spin speed of 5,400 RPM and a total of 256 MB of cache. We can find the following models on the market:
WD Black
You may be looking for a solution with higher quality and performance. WD also offers us Black drives that are more focused on gaming and transferring large files. These drives are more powerful, offering a spin speed of 7,200 RPM and a total of 256 MB of cache. We currently have these solutions on the market:
External hard drives
You can see that the number of internal storage solutions are quite limited. The same does not happen with external or USB storage, where we find a huge number of solutions. We have chosen the most interesting ones in terms of capacity and features.
Toshiba 4TB Canvio Ready
This first solution is especially interesting for those who require a large-capacity and portable unit. Toshiba offers us Canvio Ready units, which are quite well known in the market, having been available for years. This 4 TB drive is really compact and lightweight, making it very convenient to transport.
It is characterized by having only one USB port that is used for data transfer and power. This storage connector is a USB 3.2 Gen1, designed to offer the best possible transfer speeds. You should know that the speeds are limited by being a 2.5-inch drive and a spin speed of 5,400 RPM.
Western Digital 6TB Elements
You may be looking for a fixed storage solution for the home and we bring you a perfect solution. Western Digital has its range of elegantly designed, high-capacity Elements external storage solutions. Specifically, we have selected this 6 TB drive for its great quality/price ratio.
The Elements range has been on the market for many years and has established itself as an excellent option. This drive offers USB 3.0 connectivity for efficient file transfer. Although we have chosen the 6 TB drive, this product line has drives up to 20 TB. Thus, any user can find the solution that best suits their needs.
Western Digital 6TB Elements
*Prices updated at the time of publishing or reviewing this article. They may vary over time.
Seagate FireCuda Gaming Hub 8TB
We move on to a more striking option that can delight video game fans. Seagate presents the FireCuda Gaming Hub unit, which is characterized by having 8 TB of capacity and RGB lighting. This is unusual, since external units do not usually have this decorative element.
The unit on the back only has a USB micro-B 3.0 connector, where we will have data transfer and power. Additionally, on the front this unit has an additional USB-A and USB-C for adding peripherals, other storage drives or device charges. Come on, it’s not just a storage unit, it integrates a USB HUB to offer greater performance and flexibility.
Seagate FireCuda Gaming Hub 8TB
*Prices updated at the time of publishing or reviewing this article. They may vary over time.
UnionSine 10TB
We move on to a little-known storage brand, but one that has many positive votes on Amazon. We have the elegantly designed UnionSine solution that offers us a storage capacity of 10 TB. It is not only interesting for mass storage, it can be a good complement for new generation consoles.
This storage unit has a USB 3.2 Type-C port that allows for high transfer speeds. According to the brand, this unit can reach 130 MB/s writing and up to 270 MB/s reading. These are pretty good speeds for an external storage drive.
WD_BLACK Game Drive D10 12TB
If you are looking for a great storage solution for consoles, this is the best option you can find. Western Digitan offers you this Game Drive D10 unit specially designed for Xbox, Microsoft’s consoles. It is optimized for games, offering great features and very good performance.
This storage drive relies on a USB 3.2 port to offer high transfer speeds. According to WD, it allows speeds of up to 250 MB/s thanks to being a 3.5-inch HDD unit with a speed of 7,200 RPM. In addition, on the back it has two additional USB Type-A ports for charging devices, such as Xbox wireless controllers.
WD_BLACK Game Drive D10 12TB
*Prices updated at the time of publishing or reviewing this article. They may vary over time.
WD 14TB My Book
Finally, if you are looking for a solution for massive data storage, we bring you a unit with great capacity and features. Western Digital offers us this My Book external hard drive with no less than 14 TB capacity. We are talking about a unit with a large storage capacity that can be perfect for creating a home cloud to upload our files.
The drive features a USB 3.0 port for high-speed file transfer. Something very interesting about this unit is that it plugs in and you can start using it, it does not require further configuration. It has high security encryption technology to protect those valuable files we have.
WD 14TB My Book
*Prices updated at the time of publishing or reviewing this article. They may vary over time.
Hard drives for NAS
These storage units are characterized by having a more robust construction that allows greater amounts of read and write cycles. In addition, they often carry additional technologies to improve durability, performance or data security. You should know that the quantity of these units is limited, but they are all of very good quality.
Synology Plus HAT3300 8TB
The first solution is curious, since it is designed by Synology only for its NAS systems. This is done to ensure the best possible performance and greater stability. Additionally, they have a simplified firmware update system to install the latest security patches.
This HAT3300 unit offers us a capacity of 8 TB with a rotation speed of 7,200 RPM. The unit stands out for offering maximum speeds of up to 260 MB/s on a sustained basis. They support a load of 180 TB written per year with a half-life between failures of 1.2 million hours.
WD Red Plus 14TB
As it could not be otherwise, the Western Digital company offers specialized storage units for NAS. The Red Plus range is characterized by being focused on systems with up to 8 bays. Additionally, they focus on the ZFS file system and other more specialized systems.
We have chosen the 14TB drive, which is the maximum capacity offered by the Red Plus product line. This storage unit offers a spin speed of 7,200 RPM and a cache size of 512 MB. It is characterized by offering transfer speeds of up to 210 MB/s.
WD Red Plus 14TB
*Prices updated at the time of publishing or reviewing this article. They may vary over time.
Seagate IronWolf Pro 16TB
Seagate drives could not be missing from this list, specifically we have chosen the IronWolf Pro. These drives are characterized by being especially focused on advanced RAID configurations with parity. In addition, they offer a write rate of up to 550 TB per year and a mean time between failures of 2.5 million hours.
This chosen unit offers us a capacity of 16 TB, being a fairly large unit. You should know that this unit offers a spin speed of up to 7,200 RPM and has 256 MB of cache. In addition, this unit offers us sustained transfer speeds of up to 255 MB/s.
Seagate IronWolf Pro 16TB
*Prices updated at the time of publishing or reviewing this article. They may vary over time.
Toshiba N300 18TB
Now let’s go with a solution developed by Toshiba, another prominent hard drive manufacturer. The company no longer manufactures commercial units, it focuses on professional and enterprise solutions. These units are limited to supporting systems with up to 8 bays, so they only work for 8-bay NAS systems.
The N300 drive offers us a capacity of 18TB, which is truly impressive. This drive has a spin speed of up to 7,200 RPM with a fault tolerance of 1.2 million hours and writing of up to 180 TB per year. In addition, this unit offers us 512 MB of cache and speeds of up to 280 MB/s.
Western Digital Red Pro 22TB
Finally, we go with the most advanced units on the market, such as these Western Digital from the Red Pro range. These units are characterized by being compatible with NAS systems with up to 24 bays, which allows creating massive storage systems. They focus on interrupted usage, advanced RAID arrays, and complex file systems like ZFS.
This Red Pro unit offers us a capacity of 22 TB, allowing us to create high storage systems. The unit offers us a total of 512 MB of cache and a spin speed of 7,200 RPM. Thanks to these features, it offers no less than up to 265 MB/s transfer speed. As if that were not enough, it supports workloads of up to 550 TB per year and a fault tolerance of 2.5 million hours.
