Because so many people use laptops with smaller hard drives and storage today, if you have a business that generates a lot of files or many large video and audio files, an external hard drive can help free up some space on your computer’s memory. They are also a great way to compartmentalize your files if you use your laptop for many different things.

Since they first became popular, external hard drives have steadily become more physically smaller with larger storage spaces. Their price has also dropped significantly and with many different types to choose from, buying an external hard drive has become much easier.

This is good since they are especially useful to back up the important data most people keep on their computers. By copying your hard drive to an external one, you have some insurance against losing all your files if your computer gets infected with a virus or crashes. Many external hard drives come with built in encryptions to protect sensitive information even more. Also, if you carry you external hard drive with you, you can access your files from any computer.

Something to remember when dealing with external hard drives is that they can be prone to failure just as much as your normal hard drive. They can also be damaged through other methods if you transport them a lot. It is recommended that you keep your information in three different places. This will ensure that if two of them get infected, then you will still not lose your information.