Best External Hard Drive in Saudi Arabia

Data is the biggest thing happening all throughout the world. As the data keeps increasing so does our storage space needs. Not only do we need big storage we also need back ups and back up to back ups. External Hard Drives are so prominent currently for this very reason. Storage space, Connectivity, Transfer Speed are all that we look for in an external hard drive. The best external hard disks are here in this article explained in detailed for you.

Quick List

External Hard Drive	Type	Read/Write Speed	Memory	Check Price
WD Elements Portable External Hard Drive	HDD	5 GB/ s	1 TB	Price on Amazon.sa
Seagate External Hard Drive	HDD	4.8 GB/ s	1 TB	Price on Amazon.sa
Toshiba External Hard Disk	HDD	5 GB/ s	2 TB	Price on Amazon.sa
WD My Passport Ultra Portable Hard Drive	HDD	5 GB/s	1 TB	Price on Amazon.sa
Transcend Storejet External Hard Drive	SATA HDD	90 MB/s	1 TB	Price on Amazon.sa

Types of External Hard Drives Available

Before buying a hard drive, you need to know about the product. Let’s look at the different type of hard drives present in the market. 

HDD: Hard Disk Drive

Hard Disk Drives better or HDD has been around for quite some time and so use the earliest methods to store information into the system. The storage of files in this device happens on an electromagnetic disk that spins around and is read by a moving arm because of this method being used the device has become comparatively cheaper. Other than being cheaper, because of the moving arm, the storage method is much slower as compared to the recent hard drives. Additionally, regular use, that is reading of the stored matter on the drive can damage the gadget itself and you can end up losing your data. As you might suspect the use of the older technology will mean the disk is a bit heavier.

SSD: Solid State Drive

These are recent devices which are known as Solid State Drives. These drives have replaced the electromagnetic disks with flash storage which is used in phones, laptops, etc. In flash storage, the use of microchips is prominent and this technology uses no moving parts and so works more efficiently with faster performance rate. The risk to lose any data is lower with this type of hard drive and not to forget the weight which is a major reduction from the HDD type drives. Although the price of this gadget is on the pricy side as compared to the HDD type, you can’t really expect a multi-terabyte storage system without spending a little extra.

There are a number of options available in the market and its easy to get confused among them. So I have listed down the best hard drives in Saudi Arabia.

Rank 1: WD Elements Portable External Hard Drive 

• Lightweight: This is a very compact and handy device weight nothing above than 130 gms.
• Capacity: This device has 1 TB storage space but other variants in similar model can support up to 4 TB of storage space.
• Compatibility: The drive is compatible with Windows 10 or 8.1 and requires reformatting for MAC OS .
• Plug and Play: You can use directly with Windows PCs without any installation. Simply connect via USB port and drag and drop files and free up space in you personal systems.
• WD SmartWare Pro: Free trial version of the WD SmartWare Pro software for automatic and cloud data protection is provided along with this pack.
• USB 3.0/2.0 compatible: The USB 3.0 Connectivity delivers maximum performance and can always be used for USB 2.0 supported devices without any issues.
• Price: This external storage drive costs about SAR 207 which is a pure value for money deal.

Rank 2: Seagate External Hard Drive 

• Quick Installation: Once you plug into the computer system , it automatically recognizes and doesn’t need any installation software as such. You can simply drag and drop files to the drive and from the drive.
• Storage Space: It is capable of handling 1 TB of data that can include Up to 1,000 hours of digital video, up to 250 two-hour DVD films, up to 320,000 digital photos, and up to 16,660 hours of digital music
• USB 3.0 Connectivity: Supported by USB 3.0 port it enable quick transfer of files to and fro. It is backward compatible to USB 2.0 as well.
• Warranty: 2 years warranty for Middle East Regions.
• Price: The price falls in similar range at SAR 285.

Rank 3: Toshiba External Hard Disk  

• Speed & Convenience: The USB 3.0 technology lets you quickly transfer small and large files to and from this Toshiba hard disk. The 5 Gbps transfer speed reduces the overall down time. Also, the compact design enables you to carry it anywhere.
• Plug & Play: Toshiba External Hard drive is a simple plug and play device in your Microsoft Windows Devices and don’t require any kind of software installation.
• Storage: Toshiba Canvio lets you store 2 TB of data in this and up to 4 TB is enabled in other variants in the same model. This is the highest storage space offering in options mentioned in this article .
• Warranty: 2 year warranty is provided by Toshiba
• Price: This is costly as oit offers more storage space than rest of the options. It costs SAR 399 which is reasonable for a 2 TB storage space.

Rank 4: WD My Passport Ultra Portable Hard Drive

• Sophisticated Look: The matte and metallic mix finish gives it ultra sophisticated look to it. I would place this first in ranking of aesthetics.
• WD Discovery Software: My Passports includes Discovery software which connects to popular social media and cloud storage services, like Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox and Google Drive. It can import your photos, videos and docs to the My Passport ultra drive to help preserve your online life.
• File Transfer: USB 3.0 interface offers ultra-fast data transfer speeds of up to 5 GB/second. Backward compatible with USB 2.0, with data transfer speeds of up to 480 MB/second. 
• Password Protection: The WD Security function within WD Discovery™ helps keep your files private with a password you can choose, making it easy to enable password protection and 256-bit AES Hardware Encryption .
• Warranty: This provides up to 3 year warranty which is quite long.
• Price: This costs SAR 269 which is quite affordable for the offerings. This is one of the go to products I would suggest to any.

Rank 5: Transcend Storejet External Hard Drive

• Extremely Durable: Transcend Storejet is a rugged military grade shock resistant device that meets US military’s drop test standards. Protected by a state of the art 3 stage shock protection system , it can survive even in the harshest environments.
• Massive Space: It is capable of storing 1TB space thts covers 16,000 hours of digital music, 168 hours of 1080p High Definition footage, or more than 480,000 high resolution photos.  This is a 2.5 inch SATA HDD drive.
• Auto Back Up: It comes equipped with a handy One Touch auto backup button that automatically backs up data and synchronizes it with your computer when used with Transcend Elite software.
• Connectivity: USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports are supported for your convenience and the transfer speed of 90 MB / second is facilitated.
• Lightweight: It weighs just 216 gm which isnt much and is handy to carry.
• Price: It costs SAR 289 very slightly placed above that is the reason I gave it a later position in ranking.

Factors Influencing the Functioning of External Hard Drives

Read and Write Speed of The Disk

The read and write speed of the disk represents the speed at which the data present on the drive is accessed. The ‘read’ indicates how fast the drive can access and display the contents of the drive, whereas, the ‘write’ is the speed of the drive to save a new file. While buying the best external hard drive in Saudi Arabia, it is advisable to check the speed of the read and write rather than the transfer speed of the product. This measurement of the speed is in bytes per second (ps or /s). Although, the speed can change depending on the type of hard drive you are using. The speed of an HDD depends on the speed at which the internal rotating disk spins, whereas, the SSD uses semiconductors to store data. This in turn enables faster data accessibility, which is also one of the reasons why HDD type drives are cheaper as compared to SSD.

Transfer Speed of Data

The transfer of the data depends on three main sources, which are the computing device from the source of the data, the interface of the data moving and the destination. All these sources contribute to the transfer of the data. The most important of all the above three factors is the connector itself which comes with the drive. In any interface, the USB 2.0 or 3.0 or any other number directly refers to the transfer speed of the connection. In most cases, if you face any problem with this transfer speed, a 90% chance is the computing device, as these systems tend to slow down with the use of background applications. Hence, those were some of the factors which affect the performance of the external hard disk drive.

Before buying an external hard disk drive in Saudi Arabia, it is always better to research thoroughly every aspect of the drive as you don’t want to later regret your choice. To help you make this choice I’ve added some of the features to look into while investing in your very own external hard drive.

Additional Features of External Hard Drives

Connectivity Options in External Hard Drivers

Usually, normal hard drives come with the option of connecting to any computing device with the help of a USB cable and this can be troublesome if you have more than one computing systems. Some of the drives now allow the data on it to be connected to a network. This makes it easier to switch between computers and access files. You can also give any external drive the network features. All you would have to do is connect the drive to your router but before doing so you also have to make sure your router has the supporting port. For a fully functional working, it would need some assistance from a professional.

Size of These Hard Drives

While thinking to purchase the best external hard drive in Saudi Arabia, you must also keep in mind the use and reason behind the purchasing of the product. If you intend to use the external hard drive to store matter which needs to be carried around with you then you need to look into buying a portable one. If not then the best one would be anything that has better storage and transfer speed. Regular HDD ones are a bit on the heavier side, as compared to the SSD type drives. This is because HDD uses a technology that involves a spinning disk. And the SSD uses a flash memory which doesn’t have a lot of mechanisms and physical moving parts involved. Besides all these factors, the main factor which is involved here is the advancements in technology where everything is smaller in size. Hence this is the main reason why SSD is preferred over HDD. The choice is yours to choose the best one to suit your needs.

Security

Some drives recently have arrived in the markets which understand the security aspect of a person as drives are now well equipped with high-security encryption and enabled password protection. This will keep all your sensitive information safe and out of the prying eyes of all those who don’t have your password.

Jargon Buster: All you should Know

With all the research of the best products, I’m sure you have come across some technical jargon which might have to lead you to alternative research about these terms. So, to make that easier and break it down to you, here is the breakup of some of the terms.

Terms	Meanings
Thunderbolt	The fastest speed drive which only works with devices that support the thunderbolt drive.
USB 3.1 Gen 2	Offers the fastest speed for USB devices only. Works best with the same USB ported device.
USB 3.0/3.1 Gen 1	Has acceptably good storage speed as well as capable to handle fast transfer speeds.
USB Type C	New standard transferring data cable, has double the ability to transfer data compared to the other USB types.
USB 2.0	Comparatively slower data transfer.
SATA	Slower to boot up but less expensive. Generally found inside your computing device and is compatible with all systems.
NVMe	Fast way to access flash memory, this is 7x faster than SATA.

I hope this information was helpful in your research. Even if you aren’t as familiar with technology, this is sure to help you purchase the best external hard drive in Saudi Arabia. Keeping all this in mind, you just need to buy. But before you go off adding the best product to your cart, be sure to read on further for some of the most asked questions.

FAQs

Which is more recommended SSD or HDD External Hard Drive?

The best recommendation would be an SSD external drive but considering the price factor in mind, an HDD one will work, unless if you don’t check off even one of the following points SSD is what you need.

• You have a business and you’re looking for an external hard drive for the same.
• If the hard drive is for a gaming purpose as a gaming computer has always demanded more for the working of the best features of the game and a higher need for storage.
• If you are constantly travelling and need to access or need to carry your data along with you as an SSD which requires lower power hence won’t hog all your battery power.

Since they are smaller in size as well, portability is taken care of. Furthermore, if you are upholding servers, as the servers need a lot of storage space to store all the data available and to ensure the people can use it as and when required.

Does an External Hard Drive get corrupt if not used for a long time?

Yes, in some cases this may happen. Your data may not be accessible after a prolonged period of the drive not being used, since the electronic fields have not been powered and it can’t generate enough power to work efficiently. This could be the main reason. But the drive might have other reasons for not functioning as well. Usually, the lifespan of an external hard drive isn’t too long. A minimum of ten years is a good bargain to ask for. Hence, to be on the safer side always make sure you have a copy of the important matter on the drive and if you do face a problem with the drive always make sure to reach out to a person well informed in the field.


What is the power source of External Hard Drives?

Well, this depends on what or which sort of external drive itself is a question as you could categorize this into two: the desktop external drives and the portable external drives.
The desktop external drives use electric currents for which you need to plug it into a power outsource while it is connected to the computing device. Although, in the case of the portable external hard drives, you can connect it directly to the computing device. These drives don’t need to be plugged to an external power source as it works or the power of the computing device itself.

It’s a wrap! With all the frequently asked questions about the best external hard drive in Saudi Arabia.

Be on the Safe Side

At last, an external hard disk drive is a very useful device especially to back-up and store your data. Not having one is also okay but since computers are gadgets you can never be sure when something could go wrong. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst and as a precautionary measure, be on the safe side. Back-up all your important data on drives that are specifical to suit your needs.