Here you can find detailed speed performance tests of external USB-C hard drives. You can also use them with a USB Type A plug via an adapter, but they will only reach a maximum of 5 Gbit/s (~450 MB/s). However, the HDDs tested here achieve 10 Gbit/s (~1000 MB/s) or 20 Gbit/s (~1,900 MB/s). If your USB interface is not fast enough, you can also upgrade it on a stand PC using a PCIe card. The card needs an ASM3242 chipset to deliver USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen 2x2) at 20 Gbit/s, and you also need a 15-PIN SATA connector for the power supply. You can get such a card from the company IO CREST.
The following external hard drives were tested:
Product | Image | Capacity | Read | Write | Score | Price | $/GB | Test | Shop |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ADATA Elite SE880 512GB | ![]() |
512 GB | 2078 MB/s | 1822 MB/s | 1319 | 76 $ | 0,15 $ | ||
Crucial X6 500GB | ![]() |
500 GB | 854 MB/s | 773 MB/s | 795 | 60 $ | 0,12 $ | ||
Crucial X6 2TB | ![]() |
2048 GB | 828 MB/s | 818 MB/s | 959 | 146 $ | 0,07 $ | ||
Kingston XS2000 Portable SSD 500GB | ![]() |
500 GB | 2075 MB/s | 1850 MB/s | 1144 | 77 $ | 0,15 $ | ||
Kingston XS2000 Portable SSD 1TB | ![]() |
1024 GB | 2081 MB/s | 1884 MB/s | 1231 | 118 $ | 0,12 $ | ||
LaCie Portable SSD 500GB | ![]() |
500 GB | 1052 MB/s | 838 MB/s | 826 | 75 $ | 0,15 $ | ||
Lexar SL660 BLAZE Gaming Portable SSD 1TB | ![]() |
1024 GB | 2076 MB/s | 1868 MB/s | 1229 | 176 $ | 0,17 $ | ||
Samsung Portable SSD T7 500GB | ![]() |
500 GB | 1091 MB/s | 918 MB/s | 861 | 79 $ | 0,16 $ | ||
Samsung Portable SSD T7 1TB | ![]() |
1024 GB | 1003 MB/s | 1017 MB/s | 889 | 125 $ | 0,12 $ | ||
Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield 1TB | ![]() |
1024 GB | 1085 MB/s | 1049 MB/s | 943 | 114 $ | 0,11 $ | ||
Western Digital WD_BLACK D30 Game Drive SSD 1TB | ![]() |
1024 GB | 935 MB/s | 841 MB/s | 874 | 111 $ | 0,11 $ | ||
Western Digital WD_BLACK P50 Game Drive SSD 500GB | ![]() |
500 GB | 1954 MB/s | 1991 MB/s | 1631 | 111 $ | 0,22 $ |
We are currently expanding the test of external hard drives, you will find more HDDs here soon.