If your hard drive is portable, the hardware should be made of materials durable enough to protect it from shock and damage if you accidentally drop it. This is a great option for storing large amounts of data as they have much larger capacities up to 6 TB.ĭurability: Keeping your files safe is a major part of what hard drives were made for. They are normally designed to stay in one place on a work surface. Unlike desktop drives, these do not require a power adapter and are great for traveling and retrieving data on the go.ĭesktop Hard Drives: These are connected to your laptop or PC via a cable or wirelessly. These come in all sizes up to a maximum capacity of 1.5 TB. They connect to your computer via the USB component that is built into your hardware. Portable External Hard Drives: Also known as notebook external hard drives, these are larger than flash drives but are still small enough to fit in a coat pocket to be carried around. Most flash drives are also compatible with both Mac and PC systems. These are the most convenient if you are always on-the-go and need to transfer or save small amounts of data but normally rely on your main computer for your files. They are small enough to fit on a keychain or in your pocket but offer enough space to fit many documents and multimedia material. USB Flash Drives: These offer storage of up to 64GB and are the most portable external hard drives on the market.