What is an external hard drive?

An external hard drive is a storage device attached to a computer using a USB cable or wirelessly. A user typically uses an external hard drive to store media that they need to be portable, for backups, and when their computer‘s internal drive is already at capacity. Compared to flash drives, these gadgets have a larger storage capacity and are typically used for backing up large quantities of computer files or acting as a local disk to store shared folders. 

You can upload files to external hard drives just as you would to any other folder because they are connected to your computer via a USB cable. Like flash drives, your external hard drive can be plugged into any computer and used to transfer files without restriction.  

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Regardless of the operating system, external hard drives are excellent for transferring files between computers. You can quickly transfer an album you have on your PC to a buddy who has a Mac by putting it on your external hard drive, plugging it into their computer, and sending it to them from there.  

Typically external hard drives can store at least one terabyte (1 TB), or 1000 GB or 1,000,000 megabytes, of data (MB). The benefit of using external hard drives is that you can always access your files, even if your internet connection is lost or you forget your account password.  

However, there are risks associated with using external hard drives. Your files could be lost if the external hard disc is damaged. Additionally, if you leave a physical hard disc lying around, note that anyone has access to your data.