Need to backup or share data between computers and other storage devices? External hard drives are designed to simplify the process by offering hot-swapability, meaning they can be plugged and unplugged from computers at any time without the hassle of opening a computer case. Newegg offers a wide range of external hard drive products from the manufacturers you know and trust in a variety of capacities and form factors to make sure you find the external hard drive that is a perfect fit for your requirements.

Understanding the External Hard Drive Specifications

IEEE 1394 (also known as Firewire) and USB 2.0 interfaces are widely used on the external hard drives. Both interfaces can provide relatively fast transfer speeds, hot-swappability, and cross-platform compatibility on both the PC and MAC. An external hard drive can contain one or more internal hard drives, whose capacity, rotational speed and cache size often determine the overall capacity and performance of the external hard drive. For more detailed information, please read our External Hard Drive Buying Guide.