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If you don't want to keep all of your data in the cloud, you need to have your own drives to keep it on.

Last updated: February 9, 2024

Too long to read? Get some external solid state drives, but store large amounts of video on traditional hard disk drives because they are cheaper and slower, but fast enough for video. Compare drive prices at your local computer store or https://diskprices.com/.

Internal or an external drives?

Unless you have the time and the skills to open up your computer and install an internal drive, get an external drive, or get both. External drives have the advantage of portability and the ability to easily connect them to other computers.

How many drives?

Two cheap drives are better than one. Keep one that you copy data to frequently, and a second that you keep a backup copy of the most important data on. You could even consider a third drive to keep at a trusted friend or family member's place for your most critical files, just in case.

There are two types of drives: one that has failed and one that hasn't failed yet. You need to have more than one, so get cheap ones if you have to.

Types of Data vs Drive Technology

Most of your personal data consumes very little disk space. You can probably keep all of the documents and images you want on most of the cheapest solid state drives (SSD). The exception is video. If you're storing a lot of video, you'll probably want to store that on a traditional hard disk drive (HDD).

If you don't have a lot of video you need to save, just get a pair of SSD drives. One is your important data that you typically keep unplugged and offline, the other is for everything you want to save, important or not.

How big?

You should start small, unless you know you need more, then upgrade. You can get a 500GB external SSD for under $50. Why pay for storage space you aren't going to use?

What brand?

Buy drives from a reputable brand, and preferably not used ones. I wouldn't really worry too much about what brand, as long as its not a scam product. A certain online bookstore that turned into a Big Tech giant has scammers selling drives that claim to be large capacity when they really aren't.

Some of the major brands are listed in articles like this one by TechRadar.

Separate Your Video Storage

If you're storing a lot of video, you'll want at least one external HDD, and you can put your video files on that, not on an SSD. If you have video files that are very important to you, you might want a second HDD for the most important ones.

Where to buy

I'm not posting affiliate links or recommending specific online stores, even though I could. If you have the time, try and support a local business instead of Big Tech or some mega-corp where you're just a transaction to them.

Conclusion

At a minimum you should have two SSDs and, optionally, one or two HDDs if you want to store video.