A round-up of what external hard drives to buy

Backup choices: External Hard Drives

SeaGate FreeAgent GoFlex drives From £60 external hard drives SeaGate Free
With a swappable dock that allows a USB 3, Firewire or SATA unit to be attached, the FreeAgent GoFlex is able to adjust to a new setup or separate computer. The connector units are interchangeable and a network base station is also available separately for multi-computer access to the drive.

Lexar Echo ZE Backup Drive From £30
A USB stick with 8GB up to
an impressive 32GB capacity, if the physical size of the drive is a
major concern then the Lexar Echo ZE can easily fit into a pocket,
handbag or camera bag. Being compatible with both Mac and PC also means
your images can be swapped between both without issues.

LaCie Rugged Triple USB 3 drive From £105
If you have to take your hard drive on location, the Rugged is at least protected against the majority of bumps and scrapes. Being drop-resistant to over two metres, and with a potential capacity of up to 1TB, there are plenty of reasons to make this the out-and-about drive of choice to accompany a laptop.

Western Digital MyCloud From £129
Western Digital’s MyCloud, unveiled in 2013, is a kind of hybrid betwen cloud storage and an external hard drive. Essentially how it works is you purchase the drive itself for a one-off price of £129 or £159, depending on the capacity you need (2TB or 3TB), and use it as your cloud storage hub, accessing it from anywhere and from any device.

Buffalo Ministation Thunderbolt From £120

The last word in transfer speed, this Solid State Drive from Buffalo uses a Thunderbolt connection to achieve blistering speeds of up to 10GB per second. It also offers a USB 3 connection, for those not equipped to handle Thunderbolt. If you need to transfer large volumes of data quickly then the Buffalo Ministation is a superior option.