Rugged portable USB‑C SSD designed for fast, durable external storage for backups, media, and project files.

The T7 Shield is my go-to portable SSD for hauling video projects and VM images between machines. The rubberized shell shrugs off drops, dust, and the occasional coffee splash, and the drive sustains 900–950 MB/s transfers over USB 3.2 Gen 2 without thermal throttling thanks to Samsung’s heat spreader. I keep one formatted exFAT for cross-platform handoffs and another encrypted with BitLocker for client assets. Magician lets me update firmware and monitor health, and the included C-to-C and C-to-A cables mean no dongles when I’m on site. It does warm up on huge multi-hundred-gig transfers, but never enough to concern me. For fast, rugged external storage you can toss in a bag and trust, the T7 Shield nails it.

Rugged IP65 portable SSD with 2TB capacity and USB-C connectivity. Sustains 1GB/s transfers for backups, media libraries, and project files on the go.

Samsung T7 Shield 2TB Rugged Portable SSD IP65 Rated

Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD 2TB

Desktop USB external hard drive for high‑capacity backups, media libraries, and archive storage.

I keep two of these 8 TB Expansion drives on my desk for Time Machine backups and media archiving. They use Seagate’s Barracuda Compute drives internally, so sustained transfers over USB 3.0 land around 180 MB/s—plenty for incremental backups and Plex libraries. Setup is plug-and-play on macOS and Windows, and the enclosure powers down when the host sleeps, saving wear. The plastic shell isn’t silent, but vibration is minimal if you set it on a foam pad. I shucked one drive for my NAS and the SATA drive inside works great in a hot-swap bay. For cold storage or extra scratch space, these externals remain one of the best $/TB deals around.

8TB desktop external hard drive with USB 3.0 connectivity. Excellent value for backups, media libraries, and archive storage with plug-and-play setup.

Seagate Expansion 8TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB

Seagate Expansion 8TB External HDD

Hand-picked backup drive tools and resources we actually use in production. Each item tested by developers, for developers.

Backup Drive Products

Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD 2TB

Seagate Expansion 8TB External HDD