When stacked vertically and with plenty of air gap around, the drives should last much longer than internal ones packed close to a hot CPU or stacked horizontally on top of one another. In the guts of the WD Elements you will find a 3.5-inch, desktop SATA drive capable of 6Gbs transfer rates with the added USB 3.0 to SATA interface. This seemingly trivial fact not only saves desk space but also keeps the drive's internals cooler.

WD has designed its Elements drives with an attractive case that stands vertically. Read the full review: Seagate Backup Plus 5TB It has no security or built-in encryption, but there are plenty of more expensive drives that provide that functionality.

Space-thirsty XBOX One X users will love to fill with games. Seagate would like you to install its 'Dashboard' software for Windows and Mac OS, yet the drive works perfectly fine on any OS without it. Its 5Gbps USB 3 interface makes it very fast and compatible with everything. Speaking of 'backups of backups', this drive is available in several colors so you might want to buy it in red if you want it to stand out in a drawer full of black HDDs, or use different colours to separate different projects while keeping track of 'which drive contains what'. How good is your backup if when you're trying to restore it you find the drive is dead? Yes, even your backups should have redundancy if you're serious about it. One differentiating factor is the offer of a 1-Year Data Recovery Warranty, although we should stress that they are not magic if your drive is wrecked. It measures 7.62cm by 11.43cm and is only 1.9cm thick (3 x 4.5 x 0.75 inches) and weighs slightly over 200 grams (about half a pound). For the price that until recently used to get you four, Seagate offers five TB of storage in a small device that fits in your pocket and can be used across many platforms.

External hard drive for pictures only