Hard Drives

You've found your way to the part of our website where you should be if you need a new external hard drive or internal hard drives. Like with all of our categories we're here to find the best external hard drive deals, and help you compare the specifications of the various hard drives currently available. If you want a top quality external hard drive then brands such as Samsung, Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba are eager to provide one for you. The cost of hard drives has come down a lot recently, you can get a one terrabyte (1TB) external hard drive for under £60, 1tb internal hard drives are available for under £50. An external hard drive is handy to keep a backup of important data, as it's much easier to connect an external hard drive up to a computer than internal hard drives are. To help you get the best deal we've also attached any relevant vouchers and coupons to each offer if we have one available. To help your external hard drive hunt further, we have collect vouchers and coupons from around the internet and attached them to relevant offers. ... View more - View less

View the Hard Drives Buyers Guide

6573 Results from 14 retailers

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- Sony Consoles -320 GB Slim PS3 Console + Gran Turismo 5 Platinum + Uncharted 2 Platinum [PS3] 9195894 (In spite of itsultra-compact design, the new PS3 Slim is just as power-packedas the original PS3! Step into the world of next-generation gaming, multime
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- £304.49
- In spite of itsultra-compact design, the new PS3 Slim is just as power-packedas the original PS3! Step into...
- £304.49
  inc P&P - £313.48
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
- Dell LTO3 Tape Cartridge 5-pack
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- £120.99
- Compact and highly reliable, Dell™; LTO-3 Tape Cartridges are an ideal solution to high-volume backup and...
- £120.99
  inc P&P - £127.99
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours
- Dell 146GB SAS 6Gbps 15k 6cm (2.5) Hybrid HD Hot Plug Fully Assembled in 9cm (3.5) Carrier
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- £311.99
- The Dell™; 146 GB Hard Drive offers an ideal data storage solution for your Dell Systems. This hard drive...
- £311.99
  P&P: Free
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours
- Airis HDD 3.5" SATA Hard Disk Player Housing HDMI MP3 MPEG4
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- £132.90
- 3.5" (8.9cm) SATA hard disk player with various multimedia decoders and built-in DVB-T receiver. The...
- £132.90
  P&P: Free
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Ready in 2 days
- LaCie Porsche Desktop Hard Drive, 1TB
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- £109.95
- Bring some sophistication to your desktop with this Porsche Design desktop hard drive from LaCie. The unique...
- £109.95
  P&P: Free
  
  Availability: In stock
- Western Digital WDBACG0010HCH-EESN
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- £144.95
- The Western Digital My Book Live is a NAS (Network Attached Storage) drive and media server which supports...
- £144.95
  P&P: Free
  
  Availability: Check Site • Warranty: 1 Year
- Dell ST9250410AS Seagate 250GB Internal Hard Drive
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- £80
- Dell ST9250410AS Seagate 250GB Internal Hard Drive
- £80
  P&P: Free
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
- Toshiba 500gb Toshiba Usb 3.0 2.5" Canvio Portable External Hard Disk Drive - Black
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- £64.89
- 500GB Toshiba Store Canvio v6 Portable HDD- Black by Toshiba Toshiba STOR.E Canvio 2.5 Inch 500GB external...
- £64.89
  P&P: Free
  
  Availability: In stock
- Tandberg Rdx 160 GB Cartridge (Single)
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- £103.43
- Tandberg Rdx 160 Gb Cartridge (Single)
- £103.43
  inc P&P - £108.22
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: 2-3 Days
- Western Digital WD25EZRS Caviar Green 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - 2.5 TB
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- £150
- If you're looking for a high-performance, reliable back-up solution, your search is over with the...
- £150
  inc P&P - £156.40
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: 1-2 days • Best prices on over 1,300,000 references! IN STOCK! Next day and standard delivery options available.
- CnM Secure 4 Channel CCTV System with DVR & 2 Bullet Cameras
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- £179.98
- CnM Secure 4 Channel H.264 DVR 160GB Hard drive with 2 X 420TVL SONY Bullet CamerasThe Complete home or small...
- £179.98
  P&P: Free
  
  Availability: In stock
- Western Digital Elements External Hard Drive - 1TB, Black
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- £80.32
- The affordable Western Digital Elements External Hard Drive offers a generous 1 TB of storage space. It's...
- £80.32
  P&P: Free
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: 1 to 3 days • Warranty: See Site
- Western Digital Wdbacy5000abk
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- £69.99
- Simple. easy to use and cost effective storage. this portable hard drive is the affordable way to save all...
- £69.99
  P&P: Free
  
  Availability: In stock
- Dell PowerVault™ MD3600f PV MD3600f 8Gb Fibre Channel 12 Bays Array with Single Controller
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- £5,128.32
- Dell PowerVault™ MD3600f PV MD3600f 8Gb Fibre Channel 12 Bays Array with Single Controller Powervault...
- £5,128.32
  inc P&P - £5,188.32
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually ships in 10-15 days
- Dell LTO5 WORM (Write Once Read Many) Tape Media 1-pack - Kit
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- £65.99
- Compact and highly reliable, the Dell™; WORM (Write Once Read Many) Tape Media for LTO-5 Tape Drive is an...
- £65.99
  inc P&P - £72.99
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours
- Dell 2TB SATA 7.2k 9cm (3.5) HD Hot Plug Fully Assembled
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- £281.99
- The Dell™; 2 TB Hard Drive offers an ideal data storage solution for your Dell systems. The hard drive also...
- £281.99
  inc P&P - £288.99
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours
- Dell LTO-3 Media Labels - 61-120 - Kit
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- £41
- The LTO3 Media Labels from Dell™; take complete care of your label-handling needs. The pack includes 60...
- £41
  inc P&P - £48
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours
- Western Digital WD Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS - Hard drive - 320 GB - internal - 3.5 - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 16 MB
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- £30.99
- WD Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS - Hard drive - 320 GB - internal - 3.5 - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 16 MB
- £30.99
  inc P&P - £37.99
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 1-2 Weeks
- Origin Storage - Hard drive - 146 GB - internal - Ultra320 SCSI - 68 pin HD D-Sub - 15000 rpm - for Dell Precision Workstation 350, Workstation 370, Workstation 470, Workstation 670
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- £295.70
- Origin Storage manufactures a full range of Quality Matched Hard Drive Solutions for most major Branded...
  
  Compare Dell Ultra320 Hard drive 146 GB internal SCSI 68 prices
- £295.70
  inc P&P - £302.70
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: Within 24 Hours
- Dell Hard Drive : 2TB 3.5inch Serial ATA (7.200 Rpm) Hard Drive
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- £248.99
- The Dell™; 2 TB Hard Drive offers an ideal data storage solution for your Dell Systems. In addition, this...
- £248.99
  inc P&P - £255.99
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours
- Dell 400GB SAS SSD
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- £4,200
- The 400 GB Solid State hard drive from Dell™; provides an ideal data storage solution for you. The drive...
- £4,200
  inc P&P - £4,207
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours
- Dell Hard Drive : 250GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) (Kit)
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- £68.99
- The Dell 250 GB Hard Drive offers an ideal data storage solution for your Dell Systems. In addition, this...
- £68.99
  inc P&P - £75.99
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours
- Dell 500GB SATA 7.2k 9cm (3.5) HD Cabled Non Assembled
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- £179.99
- The Dell™; 500GB Hard Drive offers an ideal data storage solution for your Dell Systems. In addition, this...
- £179.99
  inc P&P - £186.99
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours
- Dell 146GB SAS 6Gbps 15k 6 cm (2.5) HD Hot Plug Fully Assembled - Kit
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- £259.99
- Increase the storage capacity of your DellTM system with this 146 GB Hard Drive from Dell. It boasts a storage...
- £259.99
  inc P&P - £266.99
  
  Availability: In stock • Delivered: Usually Ships In: 24-48 Hours

Buying Guide - External Drives

Written by Pure Content

Types/sizes

An external drive or external HDD is a convenient back-up system for your data that is generally very easy to use. An external drive can be kept separate from your computer, meaning that the external drive data can be used on any computer if and when this becomes necessary.

couple on laptops

An external drive or external HDD can typically store far more data than most other domestic data storage systems, such as CD-ROM or the older technology floppy disk. Unless you have a particularly large amount of data for storing on your external drive, you will be likely to need only the one external drive on which to periodically back up data from the main hard drive of your computer. You could even use an external drive to back up data from a number of computers, making it a way of combining filing systems before transferring the data to a new computer.

Although there are different varieties of external drive, the most common types of external HDD for a domestic user will be the desktop external drive and the portable external drive. As the names suggest, the difference between these two types of external HDD is essentially one of mobility: one external drive is designed to be kept in one place, attached to a computer via USB connection, while the other external drive is designed to be moved from one location to the next. These can easily be carried in a bag for when you need to take your external HDD with you whilst on the move. For an office situation with a number of interconnected computers, a network external drive is also available, so that the external drive or external HDD can be shared between the different computers on the office network.

Storage explained

The way in which your computer stores most of its data is via an internal hard drive, which is housed within either the desktop or the laptop computer. The internal hard drive is used to store more permanent data, such as the operating system and any applications used regularly. As a result, right from the start a good portion of your available storage space is taken up by your system's minimum requirements. In addition, the system often builds up more and more data as it operates, from updating itself and carrying out antivirus checks, not to mention the growing number of documents that you will be likely create and save throughout the lifetime of the computer.

Modern user applications also use increasingly large amounts of storage space for the data that they produce, whether this is in the form of images, graphics, video, or highly formatted documents and other media. All this means that the hard disk within your computer will fill up quickly, and if you have the same computer for a number of years, the accumulated data can become very substantial.

Solutions such as storage on a CD-ROM or floppy disk have been used for smaller segments of data, such as a selection of files or images, but to conveniently and reliably back up all your data from your computer, a storage space with a larger capacity is needed, and that is where the external drive or external HDD comes into play.

External drive or external HDD models are similar to the hard disk inside your computer, but with an external HDD, none of the operating system software or application files are required, as the external drive is usually run by your computer over a USB or FireWire interface. In short, you are free to copy whatever data you need onto the external drive, and the external drive will not automatically fill up with system data. Furthermore, as technology has advanced, external hard drive models on the market are able to store more and more data, meaning that it is even easier to make a full backup of all your personal data onto your external drive.

Connections

When you decide on the connection type between your computer and your external drive, you are likely to base this on the connection sockets that are already available on your computer. Even so, if you want to use a connection of a specific type for your external drive it is often possible to have a port for this added to the circuit board on your machine.

hard drive

Typically, however, your choice of connection type between your computer and your external drive will be between a USB interface and a FireWire interface. It is likely that a modern computer will be fitted with a number of USB ports, so this choice is the safer option for your external drive or external HDD if you are uncertain of compatibility. Even if you have an older computer with just one or two USB ports, it is possible to buy a USB hub, which is a fairly cheap way of splitting the USB connection, effectively providing you with several USB connections that you can use for your external drive, in the same way that you can purchase electrical extension cables for more than one electrical socket.

FireWire is a more recent type of connection and is convenient for extremely large files, such as long videos or large multimedia files, as the FireWire connection allows for a much faster data transfer rate. Not all computers are necessarily fitted with a FireWire port however, so you should check this before you commit to a FireWire interface for your external drive.

Speed

In terms of the way that your external drive works, the main thing to look for apart from storage volume is rotation speed, as this shows the efficiency of external hard disks in the same way as for internal hard disks. The higher the speed of the rotation of any external hard drive, the faster they can work to transfer data to and from the computer.

In general terms, the internal hard disk of a typical home computer is likely to have a rotation speed in the area of 7,200 rotations per minute (rpm), and that can act as your comparison point when looking at the rotation speed of an external HDD. Other computers may have rotation speeds that are faster or slower, as may the external drive, but you certainly should try not to get an external drive with a rotation speed of less than 5,400 rpm, as this would almost certainly reduce the efficiency of the connection with your computer.

An external drive or external HDD rotation speed of more than 7,200 rpm, such as up to 10,000 rpm, is possible if you have a particular need for fast data transfer, but an external drive with this sort of rotation speed is also likely to have less memory space available for data storage.

With a regular external drive rotation speed, you can usually find a desktop external drive with a storage capacity of up to a terabyte of space (1,000 gigabytes), or a portable external drive with a storage capacity of up to 500 gigabytes. Network external drive hard disks have greater storage capacities still, but domestic users will seldom require such capacity unless they have particularly great storage demands, for example, high definition video files or other media that require extremely large file sizes.

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