Skip to main content

The best Cyber Week external hard drive deals for 2020

We’re in the thick of the best online shopping season of the year with plenty Cyber Week deals still on the table, but with the second day of Cyber Week now behind us, time is running out to score a discounted external hard drive before the holidays arrive. If you’re in need of some cheap storage for all your digital photos, videos, work files, and other goodies, then lot of the best brands (from Western Digital and Seagate to Samsung and others) are still on sale right now at the lowest prices you’ll see until 2021.

These extended Cyber Week external hard drive deals are joined by all sorts of other still-ongoing Cyber Week bargains on computers, gaming equipment, and mobile devices. So once you’ve narrowed down which external hard drive you want (our buying guide below can help you with that), be sure to jump on it before these deals dry up for good.

Best Cyber Week external hard drive deals

One of the hottest sales today is a Seagate 2TB hard drive deal going on at Amazon. See more discounts below:

How to choose an external hard drive

There are still a lot of very appealing Cyber Week external hard drive deals to choose from right now — so many, in fact, that the choice can be overwhelming. What you really need to ask yourself is which one best suits your needs. Are you often on the go without fast Wi-Fi and want to bring all your files with you when traveling, even if that trip is just to a nearby café? Will your external hard drive mainly be for gaming? How much space do you need, and will that change over time? External hard drives range from 1TB pocket drives that fit right in your pocket to 12TB backup monuments that are meant to sit under your desk and stay there. To help you decide, we’ve laid out the best external hard drives from which to choose.

Your first decision is the size of storage versus portability. For the latter, we love the Samsung T5 SSD, which packs a huge amount of storage into a tiny, portable design. If you’re dealing with some older machinery, and you want something that can handle USB A and B connections, we prefer the SanDisk Extreme Pro as a top of the line lightweight external drive. And if you’re more professional, and perhaps your needs include lightning-fast video storage, there’s the Western Digital My Book Duo, which can store up to 28TB. Ask yourself if you need to move data around regularly, as in from one computer to another (home to work for example) or if you’re working with one primary machine.

Next, you need to ask yourself what you’ll be using this hard drive for. Is it just for storage? In this case, your decision is pretty simple, and you can go back to figuring out just what size is right for you. But, if you have a job (or hobby) where you are regularly reading and writing to your external drive (many professionals, like architects, engineers, photographers, and video editors are doing this constantly), you have more to consider. For one, you’ll essentially want something with high read and write speeds. Part of this decision is SSD versus HDD (SDD tends to be more reliable, smaller, faster, sturdier, and more expensive). While a contemporary HDD can be pretty fast, with 7,200 rpm being the standard, some are still limping along at 5,400 rpm, so double-check what speed you’re getting. Regardless, SSD drives measure their random access times in microseconds rather than milliseconds, so they tend to be way faster.

Additionally, you’ll want to consider the drive’s connectivity. If it doesn’t have the current USB 3.0 technology, you might want to give it a second look. An older connection can bottleneck speeds of even the faster SSD or HDDs, and you don’t want to cut your read and write speed off at the legs.

Editors' Recommendations

Lucas Coll
Deals and News Writer
Lucas Coll has been a freelance writer for almost a decade and has penned articles on tech, video games, travel, cars, and…
Alienware Cyber Monday deals: Gaming laptops, PCs, monitors
The Alienware Aurora R10 Ryzen Edition Gaming Desktop, placed on a desk.

The final shopping event of the year is here: It's Cyber Week! With some epic Cyber Monday deals still available, this is your last chance to snap up offers if you missed out on the Black Friday sales. You'll find Cyber Monday gaming PC deals and Cyber Monday gaming laptop deals everywhere today, but below we're focusing on the best Cyber Monday Alienware deals. We've rounded up the latest and greatest deals from Alienware, on everything from monitors to computers and accessories. Check out our picks, and remember, deals like these have been selling out fast all weekend, so if you spot something that looks tempting, grab it now, before it's gone. Plus, if you order today, you can be sure your items will arrive in time for the holidays, so get shopping!
Alienware 25 gaming monitor -- $200, was $350

 

Read more
Fitbit Cyber Monday Deals: Save on Sense 2, Charge 5, and Versa 2
Fall 22 Fitbit lineup inlcuding Sense 2, Versa 4, and Inspire 3.

It's Cyber Week! That means we're cataloging all the remaining Cyber Monday deals on Fitbits, so if you're in the market for a new fitness tracker, keep reading. All weekend we've been seeing Cyber Monday smartwatch deals drip in, and these deals have sold out fast, so if you spot something below that you like the look of, make sure to grab it. This is your one and only chance to snap up deals, and since it's the last shopping event of the year, you'll need to order today to make sure your items arrive in time for the holidays. Below we've rounded up our favorite Cyber Monday Fitbit deals, with something on offer to suit all budgets. Get these deals before they sell out!
Fitbit Inspire 2 -- $50, was $80

Want a fitness tracker but on a tight budget? The Fitbit Inspire 2 is the ideal choice. The original Fitbit Inspire made our list of best Fitbits, and the Inspire 2 improves on a good thing. With 10-day battery life and a daily readiness score, you won't be tied to your charger, and you'll always know whether it's time to work out or for a day for rest. The Inspire 2 is an excellent choice for sleep tracking too, as you can see how much light, deep, and REM sleep you're getting, plus improve your sleep with helpful tips. Protect your heart health with 24/7 heart rate and irregular heart rhythm notifications, earn Active Zone Minutes when you reach your target heart rate zones, and enjoy a one-year free trial of Fitbit Premium, plus three free months of Google One 100GB with your new tracker (new subscribers only). This is one of the best Fitbit Cyber Monday deals around, no contest.

Read more
Microsoft Cyber Monday deals: Surface Laptop 5, Xbox Series S
Best Cyber Monday Microsoft Surface Deals

It's Cyber Week, a time of slowly dwindling deals, which means it's your last chance to snap up the Cyber Monday deals below. If you missed out on the Black Friday sales but have your eye on some Microsoft goodies, we've got great news. We've rounded up all the best Microsoft Cyber Monday deals around, including deals on the Surface Pen, Xbox Series S, and more. You'll also find some awesome Cyber Monday laptop deals on the Surface Pro and Surface laptop. Similar deals sold out fast over the weekend, so you'll need to move fast if you want to get in on these offers. It's your last chance this year to grab big savings across a whole range of Microsoft products, and if you order today, your items will be with you in time for the holidays. Sorted!
Surface Pen -- $75, was $100

If you're grabbing a Surface laptop, then the Surface Pen is one of the best Surface Pro accessories to grab. While Microsoft chooses to sell it separately, it's such a core experience of the Surface Pro that it's impossible to go without it. It has over 4,096 pressure points so that you can use both soft and heavy touches in a wide spectrum, and it has a minuscule amount of lag, so what you do shows up nearly immediately. It even has an eraser on the other end to make it feel like a real pencil, a nice added feature.

Read more