Skip to main content

Prime Day external hard drive deals 2021: The best sales you can still shop

All the latest Amazon Prime Day external hard drive deals and sales

External hard drive
Leo Watson/Digital Trends

Amazon’s 48-hour summer blowout event has finished and the dust is still settling, but you’ve still got a chance to expand your local storage with a new brand-name external hard drive and save some cash in the process. That said, you’d better act fast before time runs out and all these remaining Prime Day deals are gone for good, because we’re probably not going to see prices like this again before Black Friday.

After buying what you need from the post-Prime Day external hard drive sales that are still going on, check out these offers from Amazon and other retailers for more home office essentials. We’ve also rounded up all the best remaining Prime Day monitor deals, Prime Day printer deals, Prime Day wireless keyboard deals, Prime Day wireless mouse deals, and Prime Day router deals to save you precious time.

While you’re at it, you might even consider buying a new computer from what’s left among these Prime Day laptop deals and Prime Day PC deals. And don’t limit yourself to just Amazon: There are Staples Prime Day sale bargains and Best Buy Prime Day deals still left to enjoy even if Amazon’s sale has officially ended and the Walmart Deals for Days sale is still underway!

Best Prime Day external hard drive deals still available

Should you buy a new external hard drive after Prime Day?

An external hard drive isn’t just for the files that will no longer fit on your computer. You can use an external hard drive to offload large files that you’re not using, freeing up space on your computer or gaming console. You can also use it as a digital safe for important and confidential documents, as it might be risky to leave these files on your computer (or worse, on the cloud) due to the prevalence of hackers. Whatever purpose you think it will serve you, the remaining Prime Day external hard drive deals are your chance to enjoy nice savings on premium models or even to purchase several external hard drives at a time.

Even if your computer or gaming console’s storage isn’t at the limit yet, you should take advantage of what Prime Day discounts are left to buy an external hard drive. It’s hard to predict when your storage will reach full capacity, but if your devices’ storage is already full, then it’s even more of a no-brainer to snap up any remaining Prime Day external hard drive deals while you still can.

There will surely be more deals for external hard drives later this year, especially come Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, you shouldn’t delay purchasing your new storage devices if you’re expecting bigger discounts. While there’s a possibility of a better deal in November or December, it’s not guaranteed that retailers will be offering larger price cuts than what you can enjoy right now. Additionally, if you buy now, you won’t be left waiting for months for your much-needed storage expansion.

How to choose an external hard drive

The top brands for external hard drives are Western Digital, SanDisk, Samsung, and Seagate, although there are several other good ones, too. You should take time to study the different models of external hard drives and the features that they provide, and also be sure to read reviews.

To start the process of choosing an external hard drive to buy in the wake of Prime Day, you’ll need to determine whether you’ll go wired or wireless. Wired external hard drives require a cable to connect the accessory to your computer, while wireless external hard drives are more mobile because you don’t need cables to use them. However, wireless transfer speeds will naturally be much slower, although some wireless HDDs will have the ability to transfer data in wired mode when you want it.

You might want to check out Digital Trends’ best external hard drives and best wireless external hard drives for a better idea of what these accessories offer and the brands and models that we recommend most highly for each type. If you’re planning to use it for a gaming console, however, then you should also take a look at our best external hard drives for the PS4 and best external hard drives for Xbox Series X to help you narrow down your search.

Perhaps the most important factor in choosing an external hard drive is its storage capacity. It will be a waste to buy a 10TB external hard drive if you’ll just be storing your console’s save data. On the other hand, you shouldn’t buy a 1TB external hard drive if you’re planning to store a huge collection of movies or games, as it will fill up quickly.

You should also consider whether the external hard drive will be permanently placed in one location or if you’ll be bringing it along wherever you go. A portable external HDD will require a durability-focused design that will protect the device from accidental damage. You should also check the external hard drive’s physical size. You wouldn’t want to be lugging around a huge brick if you need the extra storage to be available at all times — a pocket-sized SSD might even be a good idea.

Editors' Recommendations

Jacob Silver
An avid cook, boxer, reader, and binger of Netflix (and Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon and more) Jacob Silver writes deals posts about…
Amazon Echo Show 5 can be yours for $45 thanks to Prime Day
amazon echo pop new show 5 kids

Prime Day deals are always a pretty sweet time to snag Amazon-owned devices at a hefty discount. Right now, you can buy the latest Amazon Echo Show 5 for just $45, saving you $45 off the regular price of $90. One of the best Prime Day Amazon Echo deals we've seen, you only have a few hours left to save so much as the Prime Day event ends later today. There is enough time to take a quick look at why you might want it in your life though.

Why you should buy the Amazon Echo Show 5 (3rd gen)
One of the best smart displays you can buy, the Amazon Echo Show 5 (3rd gen) is a great addition to your kitchen, living room, or home office. It looks good, doesn't take up much room, and offers a lot of functionality for the price.

Read more
Prime Day: Get this Asus laptop with a fingerprint reader for $210
Asus Vivobook S 14 Flip rear view showing lid and logo.

With Prime Day finally upon us, it's the perfect time to pick up a business laptop if you've been eyeing one for a while. Luckily, there's a great Prime Day deal on the Asus VivoBook 14, a lightweight yet versatile laptop for work and school. You can grab one from Amazon for just $210, rather than the usual $270 it goes for, which is a nice $60 discount.

Why you should buy the ASUS VivoBook 14
The ASUS VivoBook 14 has many great productivity chops while also being very budget oriented, mostly due to the Intel Core i3-1115G4 running under the hood. While it's an entry-level CPU, it's still relatively robust and should easily handle most productivity tasks without issue. That said, it may struggle with RAM-heavy tasks, like programming or opening lots of apps and tabs, since it only comes with 4GB of RAM, which isn't much nowadays. It also means that even though it comes with Windows 11, it's running in S-mode, a pared-down version missing a few features here and there, although nothing that would impact your productivity. There are 8GB and 12GB versions you can buy, but they're considerably more expensive.

Read more
This HP Chromebook is discounted from $290 to $180 for Prime Day
The 2022 release of the HP Chromebook 14a, with apps on the screen.

Are this year's Prime Day laptop deals not that exciting for you? If you still need a new device but you're on a tight budget, you may want to look at the HP Chromebook 14a, which is available from Amazon for just $180 following a $110 discount on its original price of $290. It's not going to blow you away with its specifications, but it's a dependable device that will accompany you through each day. You're going to have to make the purchase as soon as you can if you're interested though, as we're not sure if the offer will remain available until the end of Prime Day deals.

Why you should buy the HP Chromebook 14a
Our Chromebook versus laptop comparison says Chromebooks are great for daily use, including functions like checking email, browsing social media, and typing documents. Like the best Chromebooks, these are the kinds of tasks that the HP Chromebook 14a won't have a problem dealing with. The device is powered by the Intel Celeron N4120 processor, ‎Intel UHD Graphics 600, and 4GB of RAM -- it doesn't look like much, but with Google's Chrome OS relying on web-based apps from the Google Play Store instead of installed software, it's more than enough.

Read more