External USB/Thunderbolt drives (aka direct-attached storage, or DAS) are a super-convenient way to quickly back up your important files, as well as store any data that you don’t need on your ...

A hard drive or solid state drive (SSD) that resides outside the computer's case, typically connecting via USB or eSATA. A USB flash drive is also external storage. See portable drive and USB drive.

Looking to expand the storage of your computer? CNET's top picks of the best external hard drives and SSDs are worth your cash. Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's ...

Internal hard drives are used for everyday storage and external ones are suitable for backing up home computer systems. Tapes are commonly used for permanent storage of very large amounts of data.