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How to pick
Two different jobs get confused here. A backup is a second copy that lives somewhere else, and for that a cheap spinning drive on a shelf is fine because speed does not matter. A working drive is one you carry, and there solid state is worth it because it is faster and survives being dropped. On size, look at how much you are using now and buy roughly double. Whatever you get, a drive sitting next to the computer does not protect you from a fire or a theft, so most people want something in the cloud as well.
What I recommend
Backup at home
A backup is a second copy that lives somewhere else. For that a cheap spinning drive on a shelf is fine, because speed does not matter. Buy roughly double what you are using now.
External drive for Windows or Mac backup
Windows has File History and macOS has Time Machine. Both need nothing more than a drive plugged in and the feature turned on. This is the single highest value purchase on this page.
- Both operating systems back up automatically
- Restores single files or a whole machine
- Cheap for the protection it gives
- Only works if it stays plugged in
- Does not protect against fire or theft
- Needs checking occasionally, backups do fail quietly
Western Digital My Passport
A traditional spinning drive. Slower and more fragile than solid state, but far more room for the money. Perfect for a backup that never travels.
- Cheapest way to get a lot of space
- Plenty fast enough for backups
- Password protection built in
- Moving parts, so it dislikes being dropped
- Slow if you use it as a working drive
- Will eventually fail, all spinning drives do
- Type
- Spinning hard drive
- Sizes
- 1 TB up to 6 TB
- Connection
- USB
- Extra
- Password protection built in
Carry with you
For files you actually move about. Solid state is worth the extra here because nothing inside can break.
SanDisk Ultra Flair USB drive
Not a backup, just handy. Metal body so it does not snap in a bag, and quick enough to move a folder of photos without waiting.
- Cheap and pocketable
- Metal body survives a keyring
- Works with almost anything
- Not a backup, do not treat it as one
- Easily lost and rarely encrypted
- Slower than an SSD for large transfers
- Type
- USB-A flash drive
- Speed
- Up to 150 MB/s read
- Sizes
- 32 GB up to 512 GB
- Body
- Metal
Samsung T7 portable SSD
Small enough to live in a drawer, fast, and nothing inside to break if knocked off a desk. One or two terabytes covers most people. The safe pick if you want photos secure and never want to think about it again.
- Very fast, files copy in seconds not minutes
- Nothing inside to break
- Small enough to forget in a bag
- Costs several times more per terabyte
- Easy to lose, being so small
- Needs a USB-C cable, check what your machine has
- Type
- Solid state, nothing moving
- Speed
- Up to 1,050 MB/s
- Sizes
- 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB
- Connection
- USB-C
Related reading
Want it set up so it just runs?
A backup you have to remember to do is a backup that does not happen. I can set yours to run on its own.