5 Best External Hard Drives Under $100 in the US - March 2021

What External Hard Drive Under $100 to Buy in February 2021?
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Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB | Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb | LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB | LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB | Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A fully featured and bargain price 159g external hard drive. It is USB powered and has a password protection. | A fully featured and extremely light weight USB powered external hard drive, with an affordable price. | A good spec but only average value for money 240g external hard drive. It is USB powered and has a password protection. | A good spec and good value for money 400g external hard drive. It is USB powered and has a password protection. | A fully featured and affordable USB powered external hard drive. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 Reasons For
Password Protection $25 Cheaper More Shops Are Selling It Four Years Newer Better Brand |
4 Reasons For
Lighter Better Kagoo Score More Shops Are Selling It Better Brand |
2 Reasons For
Password Protection More Shops Are Selling It |
2 Reasons For
Password Protection More Shops Are Selling It |
1 Reason For
Password Protection |
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4 Reasons Against
Heavier 1TB Smaller Hard Drive Capacity Does Not Have a Wi-Fi Worse Kagoo Score |
3 Reasons Against
Does Not Have a Wi-Fi $38 More Expensive Over Four Years Older |
6 Reasons Against
100g Heavier Does Not Have a Wi-Fi Worse Kagoo Score More Expensive by $45 Older by Over Five Years Worse Brand |
6 Reasons Against
A Lot Heavier Vastly Smaller Hard Drive Capacity Worse Kagoo Score More Expensive by $25 Older by Over Three Years Worse Brand |
8 Reasons Against
Heavier Smaller Hard Drive Capacity Does Not Have a Wi-Fi Worse Kagoo Score $25 More Expensive Less Retailers Over Three Years Older Worse Brand 2 More Items
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Compare Shortlisted | Compare Shortlisted | Compare Shortlisted | Compare Shortlisted | Compare Shortlisted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full Details |
Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB
$54.99
Adorama
Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB |
Buy Now |

1TB
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159g
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The Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB has a Kagoo Score of 85. With a price tag of $54.99 this external hard drive is good value for money. For further details check out our full review of the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB or read our article on whether you should buy a Seagate external hard drive.
A fully featured and bargain price 159g external hard drive. It is USB powered and has a password protection.
86
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Fully-Featured |
84
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Quite Popular |
85
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Very Good |
85
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Excellent |
5 Reasons For for Choosing the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB has a password protection (as do the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB, the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb), but the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb does not have this feature. More ...
'Password Protection' indicates whether the hard drive has password protection as a security measure against unauthorised entry.
Setting a password on your hard drive stops anyone plugging it in and reading the information stored on it - it's a good mid-level security feature.
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB is $25 cheaper than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB, $45 cheaper than the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB, $38.26 cheaper than the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb and $25 cheaper than the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb.
A greater number of retailers increases the price competition amongst retailers for this external hard drive and also increases the chances of the product remaining in stock.
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB is four years newer than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB, five years newer than the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB, four years newer than the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb and four years newer than the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb
Seagate external hard drives have an average rating of 95%, but LaCie only has an average rating of 91% and Western Digital only has an average rating of 93.2%.
4 Reasons Against for Choosing the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB is a 159g external hard drive. That's 241g lighter than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB (400g), 81g lighter than the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB (240g), 19g heavier than the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb (140g) and 9g heavier than the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb (150g). More ...
'Weight' denotes the weight of the external hard drive, measured in grams (g).
A heavier hard drive will be bulkier, and more annoying to carry around.
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB is a 1GB external hard drive, and so does the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB. That's 1TB smaller than the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB and the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb (2TB) and 500GB bigger than the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb (500GB). More ...
'Hard Drive Capacity' denotes how much data the hard drive can hold, measured in gigabytes (GB).
A bigger hard drive capacity means that it can hold more files and data at once.
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB does not have a Wi-Fi (As do the the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB, the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb), but the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB has this feature. More ...
'Wi-Fi' indicates whether the hard drive can connect to wireless networks or not.
A wi-fi connection on your hard drive means that you can connect directly to it to read/write data without an actual physical connection, meaning you can access your storage from anywhere.
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB has received a Kagoo Score of 85, whereas the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb scored 86.
The cheapest price that we could find for the Backup Plus Slim - 1TB in the US is $54.99 but in total we found only 2 prices for it.
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In stock
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$54.99
Delivery unknown
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Go to Store | |
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2 Year Warranty
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$66.99
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Go to Store |
Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb
$93.25
Overstock
Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb |
Buy Now |

2TB
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5,000 Mbit/s
DATA TRANSFER
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140g
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The Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb has a Kagoo Score of 86. However with a price tag of $93.25 this external hard drive is a bit expensive. For further details check out our full review of the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb or read our article on whether you should buy a Seagate external hard drive.
A fully featured and extremely light weight USB powered external hard drive, with an affordable price.
86
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Fully-Featured |
84
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Quite Popular |
86
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Very Good |
86
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Excellent |
4 Reasons For for Choosing the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb
The Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb is a 140g external hard drive. That's 260g lighter than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB (400g), 100g lighter than the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB (240g), 19g lighter than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB (159g) and 10g lighter than the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb (150g). More ...
'Weight' denotes the weight of the external hard drive, measured in grams (g).
A heavier hard drive will be bulkier, and more annoying to carry around.
The Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb has received a Kagoo Score of 86, however the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB scored only 69, the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB scored only 67, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB scored 85 and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb scored 82.
A greater number of retailers increases the price competition amongst retailers for this external hard drive and also increases the chances of the product remaining in stock.
Seagate external hard drives have an average rating of 95%, whereas LaCie only has an average rating of 91% and Western Digital only has an average rating of 93.2%.
3 Reasons Against for Choosing the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb
The Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb does not have a Wi-Fi (As do the the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb), whereas the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB has this feature. More ...
'Wi-Fi' indicates whether the hard drive can connect to wireless networks or not.
A wi-fi connection on your hard drive means that you can connect directly to it to read/write data without an actual physical connection, meaning you can access your storage from anywhere.
The Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb is more expensive than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB by $13, more expensive than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB by $38 and more expensive than the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb by $13.
The Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb is older than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB by six months, older than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB by four years and older than the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb by three months.
The cheapest price that we could find for the Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb in the US is $93.25 but in total we found only 2 prices for it.
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2 Year Warranty
+1 more price
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$93.25
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Go to Store | |
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2 Year Warranty
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$94.26
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Go to Store | |
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24 Months Warranty
+2 more prices
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$98.99
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Go to Store | |
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24 Months Warranty
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$102.99
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Go to Store | |
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24 Months Warranty
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$102.99
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Go to Store | |
- Show less prices from e-Global Central US |
LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB
$99.99
Adorama
LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB |
Buy Now |

2TB
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5,000 Mbit/s
DATA TRANSFER
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5,400 RPM
HARD DRIVE
ROTATIONAL |
240g
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The LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB has a Kagoo Score of 67. However with a price tag of $99.99 this external hard drive is a bit expensive. For further details check out our full review of the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB or read our article on whether you should buy a LaCie external hard drive.
A good spec but only average value for money 240g external hard drive. It is USB powered and has a password protection.
78
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Good Features |
75
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Quite Popular |
67
|
Good |
67
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Good |
2 Reasons For for Choosing the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB
The LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB has a password protection, and so do the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb, however the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb does not. More ...
'Password Protection' indicates whether the hard drive has password protection as a security measure against unauthorised entry.
Setting a password on your hard drive stops anyone plugging it in and reading the information stored on it - it's a good mid-level security feature.
A greater number of sellers increases the chances of the product remaining in stock and also increases the price competition amongst retailers for this external hard drive.
6 Reasons Against for Choosing the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB
The LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB has a weight of 240g, however the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB is a 400g external hard drive (160g heavier), the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb is a 140g external hard drive (100g lighter), the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB is a 159g external hard drive (81g lighter) and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb is a 150g external hard drive (90g lighter). More ...
'Weight' denotes the weight of the external hard drive, measured in grams (g).
A heavier hard drive will be bulkier, and more annoying to carry around.
The LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB does not have a Wi-Fi (As do the the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb), however the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB does. More ...
'Wi-Fi' indicates whether the hard drive can connect to wireless networks or not.
A wi-fi connection on your hard drive means that you can connect directly to it to read/write data without an actual physical connection, meaning you can access your storage from anywhere.
The LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB has only received a Kagoo Score of 67, but the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB scored 69, the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb scored 86, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB scored 85 and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb scored 82.
The LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB is $20 more expensive than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB, $7 more expensive than the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb, $45 more expensive than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB and $20 more expensive than the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb.
The LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB is 18 months older than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB, one year older than the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb, five years older than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB and 15 months older than the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb.
LaCie external hard drives have an average rating of only 91%, however Seagate has an average rating of 95% and Western Digital has an average rating of 93.2%.
The cheapest price that we could find for the Rugged Mini - 2TB in the US is $99.99 but in total we found only 2 prices for it.
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In stock
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$99.99
Delivery unknown
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Go to Store | |
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2 Year Warranty
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$199.99
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Go to Store |
LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB
$79.99
Adorama
LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB |
Buy Now |

1TB
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5,000 Mbit/s
DATA TRANSFER
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5,400 RPM
HARD DRIVE
ROTATIONAL |
400g
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The LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB has a Kagoo Score of 69. With a price tag of $79.99 this external hard drive is fair value for money. For further details check out our full review of the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB or read our article on whether you should buy a LaCie external hard drive.
A good spec and good value for money 400g external hard drive. It is USB powered and has a password protection.
78
|
Good Features |
76
|
Quite Popular |
72
|
Good |
69
|
Good |
2 Reasons For for Choosing the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB
The LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB has a password protection, and so do the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb, whereas the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb does not. More ...
'Password Protection' indicates whether the hard drive has password protection as a security measure against unauthorised entry.
Setting a password on your hard drive stops anyone plugging it in and reading the information stored on it - it's a good mid-level security feature.
A greater number of shops increases the chances of the product remaining in stock and also increases the price competition amongst retailers for this external hard drive.
6 Reasons Against for Choosing the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB
The LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB has a weight of 400g, whereas the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB is a 240g external hard drive (160g lighter), the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb is a 140g external hard drive (260g lighter), the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB is a 159g external hard drive (241g lighter) and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb is a 150g external hard drive (250g lighter). More ...
'Weight' denotes the weight of the external hard drive, measured in grams (g).
A heavier hard drive will be bulkier, and more annoying to carry around.
The LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB has a hard drive capacity of 1GB (as does the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB), however the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB and the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb are both 2TB external hard drives (1TB bigger) and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb is a 500GB external hard drive (500GB smaller). More ...
'Hard Drive Capacity' denotes how much data the hard drive can hold, measured in gigabytes (GB).
A bigger hard drive capacity means that it can hold more files and data at once.
The LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB has only received a Kagoo Score of 69, however the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb scored 86, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB scored 85 and the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb scored 82.
The LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB is $25 more expensive than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB.
The LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB is four years older than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB.
LaCie external hard drives have an average rating of only 91%, whereas Seagate has an average rating of 95% and Western Digital has an average rating of 93.2%.
The cheapest price that we could find for the Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB in the US is $79.99 but in total we found only 2 prices for it.
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In stock
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$79.99
Delivery unknown
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Go to Store | |
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2 Year Warranty
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$119.99
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Go to Store |
Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb
$79.99
Overstock
Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb |
Buy Now |

500GB
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5,000 Mbit/s
DATA TRANSFER
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150g
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The Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb has a Kagoo Score of 82. With a price tag of $79.99 this external hard drive is fair value for money. For further details check out our full review of the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb or read our article on whether you should buy a Western Digital external hard drive.
A fully featured and affordable USB powered external hard drive.
84
|
Fully-Featured |
83
|
Very Good |
82
|
Excellent |
1 Reason For for Choosing the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb
The Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb has a password protection (as do the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB, the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB and the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB), whereas the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb does not have this feature. More ...
'Password Protection' indicates whether the hard drive has password protection as a security measure against unauthorised entry.
Setting a password on your hard drive stops anyone plugging it in and reading the information stored on it - it's a good mid-level security feature.
8 Reasons Against for Choosing the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb
The Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb is a 150g external hard drive. That's 250g lighter than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB (400g), 90g lighter than the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB (240g), 10g heavier than the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb (140g) and 9g lighter than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB (159g). More ...
'Weight' denotes the weight of the external hard drive, measured in grams (g).
A heavier hard drive will be bulkier, and more annoying to carry around.
The Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb is a 500GB external hard drive. That's 500GB smaller than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB and the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB (1TB) and 1.5TB smaller than the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB and the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb (2TB). More ...
'Hard Drive Capacity' denotes how much data the hard drive can hold, measured in gigabytes (GB).
A bigger hard drive capacity means that it can hold more files and data at once.
The Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb does not have a Wi-Fi (As do the the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB, the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb and the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB), whereas the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB has this feature. More ...
'Wi-Fi' indicates whether the hard drive can connect to wireless networks or not.
A wi-fi connection on your hard drive means that you can connect directly to it to read/write data without an actual physical connection, meaning you can access your storage from anywhere.
The Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb has received a Kagoo Score of 82, however the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb scored 86 and the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB scored 85.
The Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb is more expensive than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB by $25.
Only 1 retailer sell the Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb, whereas 2 retailers sell the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB, 2 retailers sell the LaCie Rugged Mini - 2TB, 2 sellers sell the Seagate Archive HDD Backup Plus Portable - 2Tb and 2 shops sell the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB. More ...
The Western Digital My Passport Ultra - 500Gb is older than the LaCie Expansion Rugged Mini - 1TB by three months and older than the Seagate Backup Plus Slim - 1TB by four years.
Western Digital external hard drives have an average rating of only 93.2%, whereas Seagate has an average rating of 95%.
The cheapest price that we could find for the My Passport Ultra - 500Gb in the US is $79.99 but in total we found only 1 price for it.
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