2TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim
Portable Hard Drive
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Best Portable Hard Drive For Music Production
2TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim
- Don Makoviney
- Last Updated: September 7, 2020
For a portable external hard drive, the most important features are reliability, build quality, size, and weight. The 2TB Seagate excels on all four points.
What Makes A Good Portable Hard Drive?
For our music production needs, our portable hard drive doesn’t need to be the fastest on the market. We just need to make reliable backups of our recording projects. But of course it shouldn’t be dead slow either.
As a portable drive, it should also be USB-powered so you don’t have to carry around an extra adapter with you.
Our most important factors will be reliability over time, and we can use the numerous review sites as well as gadget site reviews to dial us in to an ideal drive.
Our Pick
According to the reviews on Amazon, the 2TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim has the lowest number of failures and problems than pretty much any other contender in the category.
Sure, other portable hard drives were faster, but none have even come close to the reliability of the Seagate Backup Plus Slim.
More Notable Portables
Western Digital makes a drive that is a little slower and a little bulkier, but it’s a great pick if our main pick is sold out.
Mac Only (Thunderbolt connector)
If you know you’re going to be using a Thunderbolt connector, LaCie’s Rugged USB3 is both Thunderbolt capable, and crazy rugged!
Via Macworld:
After testing countless drives, LaCie’s Rugged USB3 is one of my favorites to date. It’s simple to setup and use, it has Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 interfaces, it’s backwards compatible with USB 2.0, and offers SSD speed without a ridiculously high price tag. Plus, it’s small enough to take anywhere, and durable enough to take a bit of a beating. With all these features for just $200, it’s hard to find a better portable drive.
Conclusion
Make sure you plug the drive directly into your USB 3.0 port on your computer, otherwise you won’t be able to take advantage of the super fast speeds. Avoid plugging it into a hub, unless it’s a powered USB hub. But still, plugging directly into your computer is better.
Sure, there are other portable hard drives which transfer data faster. But the Seagate drive is one of the most consistently reliable drives out there. For this reason, it is our pick for best portable hard drive. All we want in a hard drive is consistency and reliability.
If we’re backing up most or all of our music to this thing, we don’t want to worry about increased chances of catastrophic failure. If it takes a few more seconds to transfer the data over we don’t care, as long as it transfers it and keeps it safe.
Happy recording!
Tell Me If There's A Deal For This
Best Portable Hard Drive For Music Production
2TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim
Important Specs
| Platform | PC & Mac |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Blue, Red |
| Connector | USB 3.0 |
| Size | 4.5 x 3 x 0.5 inches |
| Weight | 4.8 oz |
| Disc Speed | 5400RPM |
| Storage | 2TB |
| Disc Diameter | 2.5" |
| more specs |
Synopsis:
There's not much to a portable external hard drive; plug it in, copy files and folders over and carry your data away - the quicker, the better. It's as simple as that... and if it isn't, don't buy the product. Sure, other drives are faster, but none of the other contenders come close to the reliability and consistency of the 2TB Seagate Backup Slim.
A Solid Runner Up
WD My Passport Ultra
This is also a great hard drive. It will withstand knocking around in your bag and does the job well.
A Rugged Thunderbolt Option
LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt
Very rugged, reliable, but more expensive. It's like twice the price for the same amount of storage. But if you're rough with your gear, or know you are needing a Thunderbolt drive, the LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt is the one to get.
Sources
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Max Page, PC Stats, 20140321
Seagate Backup Plus Slim External USB 3.0 2TB Hard Drive Review“There's not much to a portable external hard drive; plug it in, copy files and folders over and carry your data away - the quicker, the better. It's as simple as that... and if it isn't, don't buy the product.”
-
Kean Bartelman, Macworld, 20121127
Review: LaCie Rugged USB3 Thunderbolt Series portable SSD is fast and affordable“After testing countless drives, LaCie’s Rugged USB3 is one of my favorites to date. It’s simple to setup and use, it has Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 interfaces, it’s backwards compatible with USB 2.0, and offers SSD speed without a ridiculously high price tag. Plus, it’s small enough to take anywhere, and durable enough to take a bit of a beating. With all these features for just $200, it’s hard to find a better portable drive.”
Important Specs
| Platform | PC & Mac |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Blue, Red |
| Connector | USB 3.0 |
| Size | 4.5 x 3 x 0.5 inches |
| Weight | 4.8 oz |
| Disc Speed | 5400RPM |
| Storage | 2TB |
| Disc Diameter | 2.5" |
| more specs |
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