--- title: Backup Drives: Which Hard Drive Is the Best? description: You should get a backup hard drive to avoid losing all your computer files. Here's the one we recommend. canonical: https://time.com/4657098/backup-hard-drive-external-best/ author: Alex Fitzpatrick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-02T13:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:50:55.802Z og:title: Why You Absolutely Need a Backup Hard Drive og:description: Don't leave your computer files at risk og:url: https://time.com/4657098/backup-hard-drive-external-best/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ae51da6b572dee3/6988b8654dd2157520efd9a7/backup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: Backup Hard Drive og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why You Absolutely Need a Backup Hard Drive twitter:description: Don't leave your computer files at risk twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ae51da6b572dee3/6988b8654dd2157520efd9a7/backup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why You Absolutely Need a Backup Hard Drive > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Feb 2, 2017 1:00 PM UTC  Western Digital Backup Drive Western Digital Backup Drive Suzanne Darcy for TIME  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Feb 2, 2017 1:00 PM UTC Whether due to the slow decay of time or some horrific coffee-spill-related incident, all hard drives eventually die. When that happens, it’s often the case that everything saved on them dies, too. That’s bad news, because your computer’s hard drive stores all the documents, photos, videos and so on that are precious to you. I speak from painful personal experience when I say you really don’t want to lose that stuff. So that’s why it’s vital to have a backup hard drive. What’s the best backup drive to get? Personally, I use and recommend the [Western Digital My Passport Ultra](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LQQHI8I/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timetechafitzgadgets-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01LQQHI8I&linkId=3c49a08839fcfff7299ee2f1ac31d006) lineup. For around $60, you’ll buy yourself the assurance that, should anything happen to your computer or files, you’ll have an extra copy handy. I’ve sworn by Western Digital drives for years and have never had a problem – my years-old drives still work, I’m just nervous about using them instead of newer versions. Make sure to get a backup drive that has more storage than your computer, allowing you to do a full backup. Of course, a backup drive is worthless if you don’t actually back up your computer regularly. Click [here](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17143/windows-10-back-up-your-files) for Windows instructions, and [here](https://www.apple.com/support/backup/) for a Mac step-by-step. If you’re really concerned about data loss, you can also look into offsite cloud backup options, like [iDrive](https://www.idrive.com/) and [CrashPlan](https://www.crashplan.com/en-us/). These services back up your data over the Internet, keeping it safe and secure in their own servers. These are great options if you’re worried about the possibility that your home might be damaged or destroyed in some kind of natural disaster that could ruin both your computer and your backup drives. My personal backup setup looks like this: I back up my entire computer to two different Western Digital drives. Meanwhile, I use both Apple’s iCloud and Amazon’s Prime Photos storage to save full-size backups of all my photos. I back up about once a month. That level of redundancy is probably unnecessary for most people, especially if you use cloud-based services like Google Docs rather than saving lots of documents to your computer itself. But I’m confident I’ll never lose a file again, and that’s a good feeling. 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