Today’s list of the best external hard drive brands in the world in 2025 will provide a detailed impression to your mind when deciding to buy a hard disk.
Imagine your laptop hard drive is running out of storage hence you have any data, photos, and videos to back up. What would you do in this situation?
Of course, you will buy the best external hard drive found in the market. But, are all of them worthy enough to buy? Not at all! The best brand makes the best product. You may also check our recent publication on the best laptop brand.
Hence, you have to look for the best brands to make the utmost bang for your money. Thus, for your convenience, we have come up with a list of the best external hard drive brands of the year 2025.
Here is the 20 best external hard drive brands in 2025 with top company ranking
01. Western Digital
Net Worth: $15.41 Billion
Brand Country: United States
Founded: 23 Apr 1970
Founder: Alvin B. Phillips
Present CEO: David Goeckeler
Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States
Products: Hard disk drives, NAND Flash-based storage devices, storage systems
Employees: 65,600 People
Western Digital is the best hard drive producing company in the world in 2025. For manufacturing the top class hard disk, the American company Western Digital Corporation is considered the best external hard drive brand.
The company has been manufacturing and selling data technology products since 1970. The Western Digital My Passport Ultra 4TB is one of the best external hard drives that come with a long warranty and encryption.
It has a large capacity and suite of applications. Also, the Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro is another hard drive of the company. The Western Digital My Book is also a good choice for its affordability. With its software suite and longer battery life, the hard drives of Western Digital are worth buying.
02. Seagate
Net Worth: $8.05 Billion
Brand Country: United States
Founded: 1 Nov 1979
Founder: Alan Shugart, Tom Mitchell, Doug Mahon, Finis Conner, Syed Iftikar
Present CEO: Dave Mosley
Headquarters: 10200 S. DeAnza Blvd, Cupertino, California, United States
Products: Hard disk drives, hybrid drives and solid-state drives
Employees: 40,000 People
After Western Digital, the company Seagate holds the position as one of the best external hard drive companies in the world in 2025. This is also an American data storage brand since 1979.
In 1980, the company first developed its 5megabyte ST-506 HDD of 5.25inches. Being one of the major suppliers till now the brand has manufactured numerous HDD models.
Its Backup Plus Ultra Touch comes with a fabric coated appearance and has strong encryption. It is highly portable and for everyday backup it is great. Again, for the best performance, the Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive 5TB is an excellent choice. With the fast speed of transferring data and Seagate, hard drives are highly reliable.
03. Toshiba
Net Worth: $22.27 Billion
Brand Country: Japan
Founded: 1875
Founder: Tanaka Hisashige
Present CEO: Taro Shimada
Headquarters: Minato City, Tokyo, Japan
Products: Electronics, Semiconductor, Social infrastructure, etc.
Employees: 141,256 People
Toshiba is also a top class external hard drive provider till 2025. It is a well-known company and this Japanese multinational conglomerate has been serving since 1875 with a long history.
The company is also in the first row for manufacturing the best external hard drives. Its Canvio AeroMobile is one of the best creations. It is a solid-state drive of up to 128GB. It also has direct and fast data transfer speed.
Also, its Canvio Slim for MAC and Solid-State Drive Q300 Pro is very demandable because of their leading class performance and great specifications. Toshiba HDDs are compact and portable. With the affordable price range, the Toshiba External hard drives are a great deal.
04. HGST
Net Worth: $15.41 Billion (WD)
Brand Country: United States
Founded: 2003
Founder: Western Digital
Present CEO: Western Digital
Headquarters: San Jose, United States
Products: Hard disk drives, solid-state drives, external storage devices
Employees: 45,000 People
Parent Organization: Western Digital
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is also one of the best brands for manufacturing the best external storage products till 2025. The company was established in 2003, and then it was owned by the company Western Digital in the year 2012. Its MegaScale DC 4000.B is one of the best hard drives till now.
It is reliable and also efficient. The hard drives of the brand are meant for features with Advanced Power Management. Also, the HGST WD Ultrastar Hard Drive is a good choice. With a satisfied warranty card, the brand HGST has numerous external hard drives to offer its customers.
05. SanDisk
Net Worth: $18.51 Billion
Brand Country: United States
Founded: 1988
Founder: Eli Harari, Sanjay Mehrotra, Jack Yuan
Present CEO: Sanjay Mehrotra
Headquarters: Milpitas, California, United States
Products: Memory cards, USB flash drives, DRAM, Portable media players, Solid-state drives.
Employees: 8,790 People
Parent Organization: Western Digital
SanDisk is a brand owned by Western Digital. It was founded in 1988 and from then the brand is manufacturing external hard drives including flash memory products, SSDs, and more.
Till 2025, SanDisk is considered one of the best external hard drive manufacturing brands. Among all of its creations, the SanDisk Extreme Pro 500GB is the best lightweight device.
Delivering up to 1050MBps speed, the device is highly portable. The SanDisk hard drives are also compatible with other devices. Its Extreme 510 is also well protected with integrated data encryption. Overall, SanDisk external hard drives are promising and great.
06. Adata
Net Worth: $1.36 Billion
Brand Country: Taiwan
Founded: Li-Pai (Simon) Chen
Founder: 2001
Present CEO: Simon Chen
Headquarters: New Taipei City, Taiwan
Products: Memory Cards, USB Flash Drives, External Hard Drives, DRAMs, Solid State Drives, etc.
Employees: 1,400 People
With some of the solid external hard drive products, the company Adata is also one of the best companies for external hard drive brands till 2025.
The company may not pop in the first for the best external hard drives, yet it comes among the best products. The Adata SD700 External SSD comes with massive storage. With an IP68 rating, it offers great performance.
With up to 1 terabyte capacity the device also provides faster speed while transferring the file and rugged protection. Again, its HD830 is also a great device with superior protection and an excellent crush-resistant chassis. Overall, selecting an Adata external hard drive is always a great choice.
07. Kingston Technology
Net Worth: $10 Billion
Brand Country: United States
Founded: 1987
Founder: John Tu, David Sun
Present CEO: John Tu
Headquarters: Fountain Valley, California, United States
Products: Flash memory cards, USB flash drives, DIMMs, Digital Audio Players, etc.
Employees: 3,000 People
In the year 1987 Kingston Technology started to produce hard drives. Continuing with great effort this brand came into the position of one of the best multinational American companies.
The market cap of this brand as an external hard drive goes up to billions of dollars. It is the only company that extends its brands worldwide by providing 3000 posts to the employees.
In the case of selling DRAM memory chips, Kingston Technology stood first in the position. In 2017, the company assured 68% status globally. As a private company, Kingston Technology reached a billion-dollar revenue. Later, the company was featured in Forbes for its lavish achievement. You may also check the best RAM manufacturer in the world.
08. Sony
Net Worth: $187.48 Billion
Brand Country: Japan
Founded: May 1946
Founder: Masaru Ibuka, Akio Morita
Present CEO: Kenichiro Yoshida
Headquarters: Sony City, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Employees: 109,700 People
Sony is a commonly known company. You must have a Sony electric product in your home. This Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation is also known for its best external hard drives.
Among all of its external hard drive creations, the Sony 4TB Ruggedized HDD RAID Hard Drive has great features. With the external covering of silicone, the device has a built-in damper inside for shock-resistant property.
With a large capacity of 4TB, it has excellent field backup. Again, the Sony Pro External Hard Disk Drive is also preferable for its USB 3.0 ports and thunderbolt. Overall, the company; Sony has to offer a large number of external hard drives for the convenience of its customers.
09. Transcend
Net Worth: $2.5 Billion
Brand Country: Taiwan
Founded: 1988
Founder: Chung-Won Shu
Present CEO: Chongwan Shu
Headquarters: Taipei, Taiwan
Products: Flash memory cards, USB flash drives, External hard drives, DRAM, Multimedia product, Solid-state drives, etc.
Employees: 2,000 People
Transcend is one of the best brands for producing external hard drives till 2025. It was founded a long time ago in 1988. As a Taiwanese company, transcend expands flawlessly.
From external hard drive development to internal hard drive selling, this company has earned its worth. The company has spread its service to 14 countries already. However, their protection devices are some attractive segments too.
In many capitals of many cities, transcend imprinted its necessity. From Rugged series to Classic series, this company follows a certain strategy to satisfy its consumers. Nevertheless, the company has collaborated with many other companies including Bharti Enterprise, and produced the best external hard drives.
10. Samsung
Net Worth: $500 Billion
Brand Country: South Korea
Founded: 1 March 1938
Founder: Lee Byung-Chul
Present CEO: Kim Ki Nam
Headquarters: Seocho District, Seoul, South Korea
Products: LCD and LED panels, mobile phones, memory chips, NAND flash, solid-state drives, televisions, laptops, monitors, etc.
Employees: 287,439 People
Samsung is also a very well-known South Korean Brand. Many people undoubtedly love Samsung and consider it the best producer of external hard disk drives.
This multinational conglomerate has been delivering products worldwide since 1938 and is considered one of the best brands for external hard drive production. Its T5 SSD is one of the best external SSDs. It is highly compact and incredibly fast.
For its creation like the T5 and T3, Samsung has a great reputation. The T5 comes in an aluminum shell that indicates its solid protection. It comes in a variety of sizes with various storage capacities. Overall, Samsung’s 3d V-NAND technology made external hard drives are a bit pricey yet, worth buying.
11. Hewlett-Packard (HP)
Net Worth: $36.96 Billion
Brand Country: United States
Founded: 1 Jan 1939
Founder: David Packard and Bill Hewlett
Present CEO: Dion Weisler
Headquarters: Palo Alto, California, United States
Products: Printers, HP Software products, Digital Cameras, Tablet computers, Personal desktops, etc.
Employees: 51,000 People
Hewlett-Packard, commonly known as HP is an American multinational information technology company that is serving its customers with tech products for years.
In the case of manufacturing the best external hard drives, the brand HP also comes in a row. The HP External Portable USB 3.0 hard drive is the most compact device with some great features.
It offers 1 terabyte storage space which is a great deal for this tiny drive. It will always keep your data on-the-go. For portability, durability, and all other specifications, the HP external Hard drives are worth giving a shot. Sometimes you may fall into a serious problem in case of disk crushing and data loss. One possible solution can be data recovery and one of the reliable softwares can be Remo Hard Drive Recovery.
12. Lenovo
Net Worth: $34.38 Billion
Brand Country: China
Founded: November 1984
Founder: Liu Chuanzhi
Present CEO: Mr. Yang Yuanqing
Headquarters: Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
Products: Smartphones, desktops, servers, notebooks, tablet computers, netbooks, etc.
Employees: 71,500 People
Lenovo creates very competitive external best hard drives as a Chinese technology company. This company has a fame for the headquarters positioned globally.
From designing the personal laptop to creating high endurance external hard drives, Lenovo slays it all. With greater capacity and affordable price rate, the brand holds the consumers captivating.
For the gamers, Lenovo launched the splendid external hard drive in recent years. It supports cross-platform. And thus, it evokes plenty of consumers, especially gamers. With the massive storage capacity of SSD or HDD Lenovo put a lot in the external hard drive sector.
13. Micron Technology
Net Worth: $14.91 Billion
Brand Country: United States
Founded: October 5, 1978
Founder: Robert E. Switz
Present CEO: Robert E. Switz
Headquarters: Boise, Idaho, United States
Products: DRAM, Flash memory, SSDs
Employees: 43,000 People
Micron Technology provides external hard drives with maximum security. This company is an American production. It has been running its origin for about 42 years now.
The company got into the real business of making high featured external hard drives. First, the company used to design semi-electronic products, and now it is considered as one of the good external hard drive companies.
It took the brand almost five years to reach globally. In 1984, the company was able to implement one of its branches in foreign countries. Later, the company collaborated with Lexar of Micron to expand the segment of creating external hard drives.
14. G-Technology
Net Worth: $15.41 Billion (WD)
Brand Country: United States
Founded: 2004
Owner: Western Digital
Present CEO: Devid Goeckler
Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States
Products: Hard disk drives, NAND Flash-based storage devices, storage systems
Employees: 65,600 People
Parent Organization: Western Digital
G-Technology may seem a new name in the era of external hard drives, but it is growing gradually. Since 2004, the company has been determined to design their products. They also design many products from different famous and infamous technology companies.
By creating digital and electronic content, the company reached a certain position. Within very little time, the brand collaborated with other many multinational companies and continuously got help from them. The brand initially used to sell external hard drives from their vendors to the vicinal area. Later, it successfully adopted the position to sell them worldwide.
15. Silicon Power
Net Worth: $500 Million
Brand Country: Taiwan
Founded: 2003
Founder: Harshad Mehta
Present CEO: Harshad Mehta
Headquarters: Taipei, Taiwan
Products: Solid-state drives, USB flash drives, Flash memory cards, Portable hard drives, DRAM modules, etc.
Employees: 500-1,000 People
Silicon Power is one of those brands that produce products with an affordable price range. You can even have a maximum set up external hard drive within $90.
Their solid feature and function can leave you startled. Even though the inconsistency in the setting may require some development, you can still go through a long phase with Silicon Power external hard drive.
As a new brand, Silicon Power isn’t lagging behind. Rather the high performance is alarming for the other famous brands that produce external hard drives too. However, Silicon Power A55 512GB SSD external hard drive will drive you crazy with its cheaper price rate and high performance.
16. Maxtor
Net Worth: $8.05 Billion (Seagate)
Brand Country: United States
Founded: 1982
Founder: James McCoy, Jack Swartz, Raymond Niedzwiecki
Present CEO: James McCoy
Headquarters: 500 McCarthy Boulevard, Milpitas, California, United States
Products: Hard disk drives
Employees: 500+ People
Parent Organizations: Seagate Technology
Maxtor is another brand that has started its journey not a very long time ago. The brand was mainly famous for providing cheaper USB flashlights, electronic parts, and other designed products. Later, the brand started to provide hard drives.
These hard drives are arguable and their compatibility level is comprehensible enough. The Maxtor Z1 hard drive has a sequential setup. With a spacious SSD, this brand is already getting ready to lead the other companies. The understandable interface and SATA support have made these external hard drives more special.
17. OCZ
Net Worth: $22.27 Billion (Toshiba)
Brand Country: United States
Founded: August 2002
Founder: Art Armagast, Ryan Petersen
Present CEO: Ralph Schmitt
Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States
Products: Solid-state drives
Employees: 550 People
Parent Organization: Toshiba Corporation
OCZ is an external hard drive provider co-brand. It is mainly working under the Toshiba brand. The foundation of this brand was almost 18 years ago. The brand is specially categorized for developing smart settings and instant solutions for the space loading problem.
OCZ offers the lowest price for external hard drives. It starts at $55. The hard drives allow the CPU to have an extreme setting for playing any kind of game. With the Toshiba Canvio Basics with 2TB external space, the hard drives slay in one word.
18. LaCie
Net Worth: $500 Million
Brand Country: France
Founded: Oregon, 1987, Paris, 1989
Founder: Philippe Spruch
Present CEO: Philippe Spruch
Headquarters: Paris, France
Products: Data storage, computer display
Employees: 450 People
Parent Organization: Seagate Technology (2014-)
As a computer hardware company, LaCie is also struggling hard to be on top with its external hard drives, flash drives, computer monitors, and more products.
Hence, the American-French company is also recognized as the best external hard drive brand. The LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB is one of the greatest among all the external hard drives with a USB-C interface. The device comes with a great design.
For the top-notch 4TB option, you cannot get any better than this. The external hard drives from the company LaCie arrives with a very faceted, slick, and classy design. Providing on the mark performance, the software of the devices also handles restore and backup.
19. Freecom
Net Worth: $400 Million
Brand Country: Germany
Founded: 1989
Founder: Dick C. Hoogerdijk
Present CEO: Dick C. Hoogerdijk
Headquarters: Germany
Products: USB hard disks, USB flash drives, USB DVB-T television
Employees: 100-500 People
Parent Organization: Verbatim
Freecom is a German company that manufactures computer peripherals. Since 1989, the company has been struggling, and now it is counted as one of the best external hard drive brands.
Even for mobile use, it has produced numerous designs of external hard drives. Its MHDD Desktop Drive USB 3.0 is one of the best among the desktop external hard drives. Its USB 3.0 provides ultrafast file and data transfer.
With the award-winning external hard drives, Freecom has a lot to offer its buyers. Hence, to protect your valuable data buying a Freecom external hard drive can save you.
20. FANTOM DRIVES
Net Worth: $500 Million
Brand Country: United States
Founded: 1988
Founder: Not Founded
Present CEO: Not Founded
Headquarters: Manhattan Place, Torrance, California, United States
Products: EXTERNAL SSD, EXTERNAL HDD, PORTABLE HDD, ENCRYPTED HDD, GAMING HDD
Employees: Not Founded
To have read speeds and reliable transfer, Fantom Drives External hard drives are a great choice. Hence, the company is also on the list of the best external hard drive brands.
For manufacturing storage solution devices, Fantom Drives is always well-known ever since it is established. The Fantom Drives 2TB 7200RPM External Hard drive is till now its best creation.
With larger capacity options and fast 7200RPM, this device is highly compatible. The Fantom Drives external hard drives arrive with a nature of quick plug-and-play. In total, the hard drives from the company are trustable and reliable.
#Top 10 Best External Hard Drive Brands 2025
- Western Digital – Brand Country: United States
- Seagate – Brand Country: United States
- Toshiba – Brand Country: Japan
- HGST – Brand Country: United States
- SanDisk – Brand Country: United States
- Adata – Brand Country: Taiwan
- Kingston – Brand Country: United States
- Sony – Brand Country: Japan
- Transcend – Brand Country: Taiwan
- Samsung – Brand Country: South Korea