An external drive is simply a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) that is connected to a computer on the outside rather than the inside. Some external drives draw power through their data cable, which of course comes from the computer itself, while others may require an AC wall jack to get their own power.
What is the best external hard drive?
You can compare an external hard drive to a regular internal hard drive that has been removed, placed in a protective casing, and connected to the outside of your computer.
Internal hard drives can even be converted into external hard drives via a so-called hard drive enclosure.
External hard drives come in a variety of storage capacities, but they can all connect to a computer via USB, FireWire, eSATA, or wirelessly.
