A good external hard drive for music production is a crucial feature for anyone who creates a lot of music/music videos. A reliable external hard drive for your Mac or PC ensures that you don’t experience issues with regard to storing or accessing your precious files and data.
Good data transfer speeds are also highly important for music production since you don’t want poor transfer rates getting in the way of your production workflows. In extreme cases, it may also lead to the loss of your valuable files altogether. Therefore, getting a highly rated external hard drive is essential for music production.
In this post, you’ll discover some of the top recommended external hard drives for music production.
Let’s take a look.
7 Recommended External Hard Drives for Music Production
Here are the seven top-rated external hard drives for music production:
#1. SanDisk Professional G-RAID 2 HDD
- Dual Thunderbolt 3 (20Gbps) ports and a single USB-C (5Gbps) port
- Enterprise-class 7200RPM Ultrastar drive inside
- Daisy chaining for up to 5 additional devices
A high-capacity external hard drive that offers incredible performance, the SanDisk Professional G-RAID 2 is our top pick when it comes to the top external HDDs for music production. This drive is ideal for home or in-studio use by music producers. It is available in some huge storage capacities, ranging from 8TB up to a whopping 40TB!
The SanDisk Professional G-RAID 2 HDD features Dual Thunderbolt 3 ports and a single USB-C port. It offers super-fast transfer speeds of up to 500 MB/s which is pretty great for musicians as it can handle high-definition audio with ease. However, you must keep in mind that this drive is not suitable for outdoor use since it isn’t weatherproof.
Find another reliable 8TB hard drives>>>
#2. Toshiba Canvio Flex Portable External Hard Drive
- Designed for PC, Mac, and Tablet (check compatibility at Toshiba's Consumer HDD...
- Formatted exFAT for cross-device compatibility (2).
- USB-C ready, USB 3.0 compatible.
Compatible with PC, Mac, and tablets, the Toshiba Canvio Flex is a highly affordable external HDD for music producers available in storage capacities ranging from 1TB to 4TB. This compact and portable drive offers the convenience and flexibility to meet all your audio/video storage needs.
The Canvio Flex offers 150 MB/s transfer speeds. That’s pretty great for an HDD this affordable. However, please note that the speeds slow down as the drive’s cache fills up.
Find another great 4 TB Toshiba HDD: Toshiba 4TB External Hard Drive HDD.
#3. Western Digital Elements Desktop External Hard Drive
- High-capacity add-on storage.Specific uses: Business, personal
- Fast data transfers
- Plug-and-play ready for Windows PCs
Another affordable option for music production, the WD Elements Desktop is a highly reliable, high-capacity external hard drive. It features USB 3.0 connectivity and offers pretty good read/write speeds of up to 120MB/s.
The WD Elements Desktop External Hard Drive has a sleek design with pre-formatted NTFS that makes it compatible with Windows PCs. If you want to use it with Mac, you’ll need to format the drive first. It comes in super high capacity variants – from 8TB up to a whopping 18TB capacity!
#4. LaCie Rugged Mini External Hard Drive
- Shock, drops up to 4 feet, dust and water resistant for all-terrain use.Specific...
- For Mac compatibility this Hard Drive requires reformatting. Refer to Application...
- Password protection built in
If you’re someone who needs who need top-notch transfer speeds for music production in your external hard drive, then the LaCie Rugged Mini External Hard Drive is the perfect choice for you. This drive lets you seamlessly connect to USB 3.0 computers and transfer content with superb speeds of up to 130 MB/s.
The LaCie Rugged Mini External Hard Drive is highly durable and offers all-terrain durability of drop, crush, and water resistance. So, you can practically take it along anywhere you go! What’s more, a two-year limited warranty is included, making the drive ideal for long-term peace of mind.
#5. Western Digital Black P10 External Hard Drive
- Available in capacities up to 5TB that can hold up to 125 games, so that you can save...
- Comes with an 18-inch (457mm) USB Type-A to Micro-B cable with SuperSpeed interface...
- Compatible with Xbox Series X/S (play and store Xbox One games, archive Xbox Series X...
The WD Black P10 external hard drive is available in capacities of up to 5TB, so you’ll have ample space for your precious music data. This drive offers impressive speeds of up to 140MB/s. It comes with an 18-inch USB Type-A to Micro-B cable with a SuperSpeed interface up to 5Gbps.
The WD Black P10 features a sleek metal top covering that makes it highly portable. You can put it in a backpack of any size and travel with it conveniently. What’s more, the drive comes with a 3-year limited warranty. All in all, this one is a wonderful external hard drive to buy!
More 5 TB HDD: 5 TB External Hard Drive: 7 Best HDD & SSD.
#6. LaCie D2 Professional External Hard Drive
- CROSS PLATFORM: The LaCie d2 Professional is the go-to external desktop hard drive...
- FAST DATA: Easily edit and archive projects with massive capacity and speeds of up to...
- FUTURE PROOF: Seamlessly connect to USB-C, enjoy reduced noise and vibration thanks...
Whether you own a PC or Mac, the LaCie D2 Professional is your go-to hard drive for all your extra storage space requirements. This HDD offers superb speeds of up to 260MB/s, so you can easily create, edit and archive your audio projects with its huge 4TB capacity. Thanks to its aluminum body, this external hard drive has very less noise and vibration. It seamlessly connects to the USB 3.1 Gen 2 computers and is equipped with Baracuda Pro for high reliability.
The LaCie D2 Professional HDD lets you have long-term peace of mind with the included five-year limited warranty. What’s more, you also get complimentary Rescue Data Recovery Services and a one-month membership of the Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps Plan.
#7. G-Drive Enterprise-Class External Hard Drive
- USB-C (5Gbps) drive for fast backup (USB 3.2 Gen 1)
- Enterprise-Class Ultrastar drive inside
- USB Power Delivery to charge your compatible laptop
A premium offering by SanDisk, the G-Drive Enterprise-Class external hard drive features a stylish design and delivers highly reliable storage space. It is encased in an all-aluminum enclosure which makes it quieter than other traditional HDDs. Capable of working on the versatile USB-C (5Gbps) interface, the drive is perfect for rapid storage and access to all your content, including videos, photos, and music.
The G-Drive Enterprise-Class External Hard Drive is Apple Time Machine ready. Lastly, the USB Power Delivery that this drive features lets you conveniently charge your compatible MacBook while connected to the drive.
Do you want a hard drive with bigger capacity?
Check out the following article: 7 Top External Hard Drives 12TB Capacity.
Which External Hard Drive To Choose For Music Production
All the above-mentioned external hard drives are great for music production. They found their place on our list after rigorous research and testing. But, the best option for you depends upon your own needs and preferences.
In my opinion, the SanDisk Professional G-RAID 2 HDD is the best option for music producers who want a capacious drive to store their heavy data load. This hard drive is available in storage capacities ranging from 8TB up to a whopping 40TB. Its super-fast transfer speeds of up to 500 MB/s are also pretty great for musicians as the drive can handle high-definition audio with ease.
Thanks for reading!
I hope this guide helped you learn about some of the best external hard drives for music production.
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