Amazon’s 48-hour summer blowout event has finished and the dust is still settling, but you’ve still got a chance to expand your local storage with a new brand-name external hard drive and save some cash in the process. That said, you’d better act fast before time runs out and all these remaining Prime Day deals are gone for good, because we’re probably not going to see prices like this again before Black Friday.
After buying what you need from the post-Prime Day external hard drive sales that are still going on, check out these offers from Amazon and other retailers for more home office essentials. We’ve also rounded up all the best remaining Prime Day monitor deals, Prime Day printer deals, Prime Day wireless keyboard deals, Prime Day wireless mouse deals, and Prime Day router deals to save you precious time.
While you’re at it, you might even consider buying a new computer from what’s left among these Prime Day laptop deals and Prime Day PC deals. And don’t limit yourself to just Amazon: There are Staples Prime Day sale bargains and Best Buy Prime Day deals still left to enjoy even if Amazon’s sale has officially ended and the Walmart Deals for Days sale is still underway!
Best Prime Day external hard drive deals still available
Should you buy a new external hard drive after Prime Day?
An external hard drive isn’t just for the files that will no longer fit on your computer. You can use an external hard drive to offload large files that you’re not using, freeing up space on your computer or gaming console. You can also use it as a digital safe for important and confidential documents, as it might be risky to leave these files on your computer (or worse, on the cloud) due to the prevalence of hackers. Whatever purpose you think it will serve you, the remaining Prime Day external hard drive deals are your chance to enjoy nice savings on premium models or even to purchase several external hard drives at a time.
Even if your computer or gaming console’s storage isn’t at the limit yet, you should take advantage of what Prime Day discounts are left to buy an external hard drive. It’s hard to predict when your storage will reach full capacity, but if your devices’ storage is already full, then it’s even more of a no-brainer to snap up any remaining Prime Day external hard drive deals while you still can.
There will surely be more deals for external hard drives later this year, especially come Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, you shouldn’t delay purchasing your new storage devices if you’re expecting bigger discounts. While there’s a possibility of a better deal in November or December, it’s not guaranteed that retailers will be offering larger price cuts than what you can enjoy right now. Additionally, if you buy now, you won’t be left waiting for months for your much-needed storage expansion.
How to choose an external hard drive
The top brands for external hard drives are Western Digital, SanDisk, Samsung, and Seagate, although there are several other good ones, too. You should take time to study the different models of external hard drives and the features that they provide, and also be sure to read reviews.
To start the process of choosing an external hard drive to buy in the wake of Prime Day, you’ll need to determine whether you’ll go wired or wireless. Wired external hard drives require a cable to connect the accessory to your computer, while wireless external hard drives are more mobile because you don’t need cables to use them. However, wireless transfer speeds will naturally be much slower, although some wireless HDDs will have the ability to transfer data in wired mode when you want it.
You might want to check out Digital Trends’ best external hard drives and best wireless external hard drives for a better idea of what these accessories offer and the brands and models that we recommend most highly for each type. If you’re planning to use it for a gaming console, however, then you should also take a look at our best external hard drives for the PS4 and best external hard drives for Xbox Series X to help you narrow down your search.
Perhaps the most important factor in choosing an external hard drive is its storage capacity. It will be a waste to buy a 10TB external hard drive if you’ll just be storing your console’s save data. On the other hand, you shouldn’t buy a 1TB external hard drive if you’re planning to store a huge collection of movies or games, as it will fill up quickly.
You should also consider whether the external hard drive will be permanently placed in one location or if you’ll be bringing it along wherever you go. A portable external HDD will require a durability-focused design that will protect the device from accidental damage. You should also check the external hard drive’s physical size. You wouldn’t want to be lugging around a huge brick if you need the extra storage to be available at all times — a pocket-sized SSD might even be a good idea.