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Keep up with the trendĪnd the trend is the USB Type-C (or USB-C) connector. However, if you intend to use your drive for at least a few years, even with new computers, make sure you get one that's future-proof by following the right connection trend. Some portable drives support both Thunderbolt and USB. On the other hand, since most computers have at least one regular USB port, getting a USB-based drive is a safe bet. So if your machine has a Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 port (most popular in pre-2016 Mac computers) then you'll want to get a Thunderbolt drive. Obviously you'll want to get a drive that can work with your computer. Thunderbolt now that other types of connections are largely obsolete. With that in mind, here are five things to consider before you buy a portable drive - followed by my list of recommendations: And because they're "bus powered," meaning they all draw power from the host computer (and, in some cases, even from phones or tablets) through the connecting data cable, there's no need to carry a separate power adapter around. These USB and Thunderbolt drives are physically smaller, more capacious, cheaper and faster than ever before. This guide is for people who need high-capacity storage: multiterabyte hard disks and multigigabyte flash drives. I'm looking beyond generic USB sticks and SD cards here. Whether you're editing a home video, keeping zillions of family photos, storing your killer PowerPoint decks, keeping your MP3 collection at the ready or making quick backups at a critical time, local storage always beats the cloud, especially in terms of performance and accessibility. And, of course, it never hurts to have a backup of the backup. Drawbacks such as intermittent broadband access or frustratingly slow speeds mean local storage is essential. But if you need a serious amount of storage, online backup is never quite enough. Editors' note: This post was originally published on and is periodically updated.
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