Shop for laptop hard drives

• CNET Editor rating:
  3.5 stars Very good

  Overall score: 7.7 (3.5 stars)
• Average user rating: 1.0 stars out of 1 review

The Bottom Line: If you're looking for SSD-like performance at just a fraction of the cost, the Seagate Laptop Thin SSHD offers some gratification. Read review

Specs: 500 GB, Internal hard drive, 2.5", 64 MB, 12 ms, 5400 rpm

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.4 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: The Corsair Neutron GTX is one of the best solid-state drives on the market, especially for those who want top performance from their ultrathin portable computer. Read review

Specs: 240 GB, Internal hard drive, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.1 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 1.0 stars out of 1 review

The Bottom Line: The Silicon Power Armor A80 makes an excellent portable drive for travelers and home offices alike. Read review

Specs: 1 TB, External hard drive, SuperSpeed USB 3.0, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.1 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: Fast and affordable, the shockproof Silicon Power Armor A15 is an excellent buy for mobile users, especially those working in rough environments. Read review

Specs: 1 TB, External hard drive, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.1 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: Fast and compatible with all systems, the Plextor M5 Pro would be a great solid-state drive for anyone who can afford it. Read review

Specs: 512 GB, Internal hard drive, 2.5", 768 MB

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.4 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: The OCZ Vector Series SSD would make a great investment for those moving on from using a hard drive as the main drive of their system. Read review

Specs: 512 GB, Internal hard drive, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  3.5 stars Very good

  Overall score: 7.6 (3.5 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: If you're moving up from a hard drive, the SanDisk Ultra Plus is totally worth its price. Read review

Specs: 64 GB, Internal hard drive, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.1 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: Fast and affordable, the shockproof Silicon Power Armor A15 is an excellent buy for mobile users, especially those working in rough environments. Read review

Specs: 500 GB, External hard drive, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  3.5 stars Very good

  Overall score: 7.2 (3.5 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: The Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro portable drive is a fast and simple mobile storage option for those who want to carry around extra data. Read review

Specs: 750 GB, External hard drive, SuperSpeed USB 3.0, 2.5", 7200 rpm

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.0 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 5 reviews

The Bottom Line: The Clickfree C6 would make an excellent portable storage and backup drive for any Windows user. Read review

Specs: 1 TB, External hard drive, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  0.0 stars

  Overall score: 0.0 (0.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

Specs: 320 GB, Internal hard drive, Serial ATA-300, 2.5", 16 MB, 13 ms, 7200 rpm

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.1 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: Fast and compatible with all systems, the Plextor M5 Pro would be a great solid-state drive for anyone who can afford it. Read review

Specs: 256 GB, Internal hard drive, 2.5", 512 MB

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.4 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 5.0 stars out of 3 reviews

The Bottom Line: Small business and personal users with large amounts of data will appreciate the Clickfree's painless backup drive that practically automates all the work through the embedded software. People running older Windows operating systems are out of luck, but the lightning-fast transfer speeds and excellent performance scores secure the Clickfree a solid recommendation for up-to-date Windows and Mac users. Read review

Specs: 320 GB, External hard drive, Hi-Speed USB, 2.5", 8 MB, 5400 rpm

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.1 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 1.0 stars out of 1 review

The Bottom Line: The Silicon Power Armor A80 makes an excellent portable drive for travelers and home offices alike. Read review

Specs: 500 GB, External hard drive, SuperSpeed USB 3.0, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  0.0 stars

  Overall score: 0.0 (0.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

Specs: 256 GB, Internal hard drive, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.0 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 3 reviews

The Bottom Line: While other external hard drives offer built-in backup software, automatic data encryption, or rugged casing protection, the Transcend StoreJet 25F only promises, and delivers, the fastest data transfers at the lowest price. The missing FireWire prevents us from giving this Transcend an Editors' Choice award, but we still highly recommend this drive to storage hounds who don't mind USB 2.0. Read review

Specs: 500 GB, External hard drive, Hi-Speed USB, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  0.0 stars

  Overall score: 0.0 (0.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

Specs: 320 GB, Internal hard drive, Serial ATA-300, 2.5", 8 MB, 13 ms, 5400 rpm

• CNET Editor rating:
  3.5 stars Very good

  Overall score: 7.0 (3.5 stars)
• Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 2 reviews

The Bottom Line: While Seagate's Replica will seem silly and restricting to those looking for a flexible external storage option, others will welcome the singularity of its mission to back up your entire Windows PC. Read review

Specs: 250 GB, External hard drive, Hi-Speed USB, 2.5", 5400 rpm

• CNET Editor rating:
  3.5 stars Very good

  Overall score: 7.8 (3.5 stars)
• Average user rating: 0.5 stars out of 1 review

The Bottom Line: Although we dinged its predecessor because of its inflated price tag, the Samsung S2 Portable hard drive earns high marks and our recommendation for being reasonably priced, having fast file-transfer speed, and for having a generous three-year warranty. Read review

Specs: 640 GB, External hard drive, Hi-Speed USB, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.1 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 2 reviews

The Bottom Line: With an ultrathin, sturdy design and fast performance, the Seagate GoFlex Slim external hard drive makes a great companion for a laptop that has built-in support for USB 3.0. Read review

Specs: 320 GB, External hard drive, SuperSpeed USB 3.0, 2.5", 7200 rpm

• CNET Editor rating:
  0.0 stars

  Overall score: 0.0 (0.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

Specs: 256 GB, External hard drive, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.5 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 38 reviews

The Bottom Line: The Seagate FreeAgent Go is our favorite portable hard drive to date and takes our award for Editors' Choice. The drive is well designed and fast, and you won't find a better value for the price. Read review

Specs: 320 GB, External hard drive, Hi-Speed USB, 2.5", 5400 rpm

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.4 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: The Corsair Neutron GTX is one of the best solid-state drives on the market, especially for those who want top performance from their ultrathin portable computer. Read review

Specs: 120 GB, Internal hard drive, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  2.5 stars Average

  Overall score: 5.8 (2.5 stars)
• Average user rating: 1.0 stars out of 15 reviews

The Bottom Line: The Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive is an attractive, lightweight drive with a decent price point for a drive of this capacity. Its size makes it great for travel, but the write speeds aren't up to par with other drives we've seen. We can't recommend it due to its lack of performance. Read review

Specs: 320 GB, External hard drive, Hi-Speed USB, 2.5"

• CNET Editor rating:
  4.0 stars Excellent

  Overall score: 8.0 (4.0 stars)
• Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!

The Bottom Line: The Corsair Neutron makes a great entry-level SSD thanks to its above-entry-level performance and relatively friendly pricing. Read review

Specs: 120 GB, Internal hard drive, 2.5"