Top 14 Best External Hard Drive For Ableton 2023 Reviews

This is where we can help. Read the article to learn everything you need to know about finding the Best External Hard Drive For Ableton, and then have a look at a few of our favorites before making your purchase. That moment when your computer or desktop PC tells you it’s out of hard disc space: we’ve all been there.

This can be frightening in some cases because a lack of space can prevent you from generating or saving new files. Fortunately, that isn’t the case. If your computer runs out of storage capacity, an External Hard Drive For Ableton can be used to supplement it.

Storage devices are small, unassuming units that connect to your computer by one or more USB cables and provide additional storage. While they may not appear to be much, they can be valuable tools for backing up your files and transmitting files that are too huge to send over the internet.

Although most Ableton External Hard Drives appear to be the same, there are significant variances in capacity, stability, and performance, so knowing what and how to look for ahead of time is beneficial.

If your system is studio-based, you should aim to plug a hard drive in and forget about it. The ideal portable SSD for this is the Samsung T5. You can store entire sample libraries on it because it is a solid-state drive, and despite its diminutive size, it can be tucked away behind a monitor and discreetly perform its magic.

According to Samsung, the T5 can transfer data up to five times faster than a typical HDD. This is quite liberating for sessions with lots of samples and can cut down on time needed to bounce MIDI regions into audio and is highly suggested.

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Our Recommendations

List Of Top 14 Best External Hard Drive For Ableton 2023

Following are the Top 14 Best External Hard Drive For Ableton 2023:

Best SSD External Hard Drive For Music Production – SAMSUNG 980 SSD 1TB PCle

Although it costs about the same, In comparison to prior SATA SSDs, the NVMe Samsung SSD 980 is 5 to six times faster. All our programs and audio files open instantly, and the system is quick enough to run expert photo and video editing programs without a hitch.

The SSD 980 is quick enough for all aspiring music producers not to detect a difference in performance even if they have used an expensive SDD in the past. Hardware encryption makes this a desirable alternative for those seeking a long-term storage option for their music storage requirements: a five-year guarantee and a high durability rating.

Personal Review

The performance is very good. I now see the value of shelling out more money for the Samsung NVMEs. The 980 is reasonably priced. My Windows 10/11 OS becomes unbootable if I try to copy or move it from one NVME to another using any other software.

Software for Samsung migration always functions, period! The 980 performed a speed test on this specific NVME slightly slower than my last 970 plus. I doubt there would be a difference in speed that could be felt physically or visually.

Best Hard Drive For Music Production – SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable SSD

The Extreme Portable SSD dominates the competition in terms of appearance. You can attach the SSD to keys or other objects using the orange plastic loop built into the device’s top right corner. Because of its superb grip and IP55 rating, rubber edges, and textured surface, the SSD drive from SanDisk is a breeze to grasp.

And if you do drop it accidentally, the Extreme Portable SSD should be okay after two meters. In our tests, we successfully transmitted a 100GB file in 294 seconds, resulting in a transfer rate of about 334MBps.

Personal Review

This hard drive is a little (smaller than my iPhone!) and fast (see photo). Using the Lightroom library that is also stored on the hard drive, I can edit photographs quickly by leaving them on the HDD. Additionally, it has 1TB of storage space (and not 9xx Giga, as can be the case when you buy other hard drives).

Best External Hard Drive For Music Production – SAMSUNG T5 Portable SSD 1TB

The Samsung T5 measures 7457.310.5mm (3.02.30.4 inches) and weighs 51 grams, which is almost identical to those of its predecessor, the T3. It is almost the same size as a typical credit or business card, although it is a little thicker.

It can easily fit within your pocket. In CrystalDiskMark v6.0.0, we obtained sequential read speeds of more than 550MBps and sequential writes of 499.9MBps, the former exceeding Samsung’s claims.

We achieved excellent random read and write rates of 150.7MBps and 147.2MBps, respectively, with a queue depth of 32. It also transmitted a 10GB file in real-world testing using Teracopy in 47 seconds, giving it a real-world transfer rate of just over 212MBps.

Personal Review

I use FINAL CUT PRO, a video editing program from Apple Inc. Large “library bundles” sitting in this Solid State Drive, as opposed to my iMac desktop, save storage space, eliminates moving parts, eliminate setup and spin delays, and result in a significantly faster response time during editing.

This served as a temporary “cure” for editing that was constantly “buffering”. It is an excellent purchase. An excellent product will make you stop thinking about it altogether, which is a solid sign of its quality.

Best Ableton External Hard Drive – SAMSUNG 870 QVO SATA III

The Samsung 870 QVO stands out from other 2.5′′ 7mm SATA SSDs since its case is entirely metal rather than plastic. Additionally, it has a deeper grey finish than the 860 QVO, the model before it. The Samsung 870 QVO 2.5-inch drive comes in four different capacities, but we only tried the 2TB model for this review. But it’s anticipated that performance would be relatively constant throughout the range.

Our testing ran flawlessly, and load times were minimal. We’re very sure it has enough storage for all the audio files you have on your laptop or PC. The ease of installation is another element we adored. We could load a disc-based library of more than 20 games, totaling 493.0 GB, in a matter of hours, and there was still room for more.

Personal Review

This SSD card was fantastic. However, I had to send it back because I needed a removable external drive. My computer would need to be configured to accept this Samsung drive. I was against that.

Customer Pick Hard Drive For Ableton : Seagate Backup Plus Portable

Despite its small size (4.5 x 3.2 x 0.8 inches, or about the size of a deck of cards), the HDD-based Seagate Recovery Plus Portable can hold 4TB or 5TB of data. (The former was our review unit).

You can use Toolkit to activate automatic file backups or Mylio to organize your photos after your drive has been registered. (A two-month Adobe CC Photography Plan membership is also included, which contains Lightroom and Photo editing for organizing and editing your photographs).

The drive, though, isn’t attractive, with square corners and an out-of-date two-tone appearance. It also came in last place in all of our efficiency benchmarks. For a decade, that’s been the deal with spinning hard drives (HDDs).

You pay for the cheap storage with all the time you won’t save. However, if you need a large drive but don’t mind it is simple and slow, the Backup Plus Foldable is a good option.

Personal Review

I strongly advise using this disk for mass storage. It has the best quality/price ratio for this storage. And as I’ve said throughout this lengthy review, using a modern MacBook is fine as long as you purchase a small accessory in addition to between 4 and 8 euros.

Editor Choice Ableton External Hard Drive : Seagate Ultra Touch

The Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touching is a portable HDD-based external hard drive designed for consumers who value aesthetics as much as functionality (and maybe more). It combines the typical boxy design of a hard drive with a more current, albeit restrained, aesthetic that includes solid-color sides and backs with a carpeted-feeling front panel.

A color-coordinated 19.3-inch USB Type-A cable and a Type-C adaptor are included for connecting to your computer. The software is identical to that of the Backup Plus Portable, yet in many cases, this drive outperformed the Backup Plus Portable in our tests. The Backup Plus Ultra Touch’s two capacity options are both quite reasonable, allowing you to embrace the drive’s design without breaking the bank.

Personal Review

To free up memory on my Mac, I’m using this to back up photos and video clips. Of course, I have a second one with a different brand and additional backup. I had no formatting issues and could drag and drop files immediately. Compared to the many flash drives of every reputable brand under the sun that have failed, this one is a great deal for 1TB and a good solution.

Top Seller External Hard Drice : Seagate Barracuda Fast

The Seagate BarraCuda Fast SSD, with reading speeds of 540 MBps and write speeds of 500 MBps, is a mid-priced portable SSD that lives up to its name. The results of most of our performance tests were on the high end of the midrange. It also looks cool: a sleek, square block of hard rock with a prominent square in the center and a flash of green beneath it.

When the drive is connected, this glows in a delightful sci-fi manner. In terms of software, it’s relatively bare-bones, although it does come with a two-month registration to the Adobe Creative Cloud Photographic Plan, just like other Seagate drives.

It’s also not the inexpensive USB 3.0 drive available, so if storage space is your only concern, go elsewhere. However, when you consider the amount of storage capacity, speed, and visual appeal, the BarraCuda Fast SSD offers a lot for your money.

Personal Review

I’m astonished by this tiny Barracuda Fast SSD from Seagate! Fast file transfer of my files. It has excellent performance! It is simple to configure, and a green sidereal light will appear when it is operating.

Very small, quiet, and portable for my travels. There are two ways to connect to it. As their storage capacity rises, I eagerly anticipate a price reduction for portable devices using this SSD technology. The future of portable drives is here.

Customer Pick External Music Hard Drive : SAMSUNG T7 Portable

The Samsung Portable SSD T7 has the same rectangular shape as the T5, with rounded sides, but it’s a little bigger and heavier, and the software is the same. Indigo Blue, Titanic Gray, and Metal Red are some of the more intriguing color options available for the 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities.

The major difference would be that Samsung rates the storage at 1,050 MBps, whereas our tests revealed substantially greater speeds. For example, it finished our file copy test 20 seconds faster.

However, at $0.23 per GB, this is one of the priciest drives we’ve encountered (though you may be able to find it online for cheaper). If the Samsung name, drive design, and speed are more important to you than the price, the T7 gives more than enough to admire and justify itself.

Personal Review

I got it to use with a PS5, so I won’t have to use internal console space for all of my old PS4 games. I haven’t had any issues as a result of the performance. Although I would have preferred a longer cable, the compact design is something I enjoy.  

However, I only advise using a cable other than the one supplied by Samsung because doing so could significantly slow down the transfer rate. It was just what I needed and worked well for me.

1TB the portable My Passport SSD although you won’t receive the exact speed mentioned, it is still a fantastic product that outperforms everything I previously had. It doesn’t slow down as it warms up and never gets too hot. But if you can get a decent bargain on it, I might buy it.

Top Rated Music External Hard Drive : WD 1TB My Passport

Although the WD My Panorama SSD with USB 3.2 isn’t as portable as the My Passport Go, it’s ready to go when you are. There are five vibrant hues to select from, including blue, gold, grey, red, and silver, and it’s small and attractive at 3.9x 2.2x 0.4 inches.

Access to My Cloud Long Term storage and other WD utilities is available through the My Passport SSD software. Most importantly, it’s quick: The My Passport sped through all of our performance tests, always appearing somewhere in the winner’s circle.

The 1TB model is among the most costly drives we reviewed, costing $0.19 per gigabyte. It also comes with a 6.5-inch USB Type-C cable, which makes utilizing this drive on either a laptop or a desktop PC a bit of a pain.

The drive comes with a Type-A adapter to ensure compatibility with a wide range of systems. However, these are minor quibbles that do not distract from one of the greatest external hard discs on the market.

Personal Review

I’m very pleased with the product. It’s not going to be as fast as described, however, I am still happy with the performance over what I used to have. In spite of the fact that it gets hot, it doesn’t slow down when it becomes hot. Nevertheless, I would only purchase it if it was a good deal.

Best External Hard Drive For Music Production : Samsung X5 Portable SSD

The Samsung X5 Thunderbolt 3 Portable SSD is indeed the best external hard drive for you if your laptop has a Thunderbolt 3 port and money isn’t an issue. It’s rated for high-speed reading and writing (2,800 MBps read, 2,300 MBps write), and it lived up to expectations in our tests.

With a sleek body, sloping lines, and a fiery-red underbelly, it’s larger and heavier than a conventional external SSD, but sports car-style. What are the drawbacks? The Samsung X5’s performance was hit-or-miss, ranging from mind-blowing to just above ordinary (and it did not top every test).

You won’t be able to see everything Thunderbolt 3 can accomplish unless you have Thunderbolt 3 (which utilizes the same ports as USB-C). The X5 isn’t worth it as with most people because you can save costs on other drives that are still fast. However, if you want to be on the cutting edge and are ready to pay for it, there is no better option.

Personal Review

According to several users, the drive needs to provide the claimed speeds. Yes, it does. The issue is that they might attach it to a connector that isn’t thunderbolt 3. The 500GB drive’s transfer rates on a 2020 MacBook Pro: Read 2.4GB/s and Write 2GB/s.

The 40Gbits channel is almost wholly utilized (during reads) if error correction is considered. That matches the speed of an internal drive (at least in this MacBook). It truly moves that quickly. Use only the supplied cable.

Best Hard Drive For Music Production : ADATA SE800 1TB 

The Adata SE800 External SSD Ultra Fast is small and light, measuring 2.8 x 1.7 x 0.4 inches and weighing 1.4 ounces. It is dust and water-resistant, with a rating of IP68 for 30 minutes of submersion in 4.9 feet (1.5 meters) of water.

When dropped from 4 feet, it meets the MIL-STD-810G 516.6 standard for impact resistance (1.22 meters). To attach this Type-C drive to your computer, you either use a USB Type-A or Type-C connector. In our tests, we didn’t quite observe the drive’s 1,000MBps-rated rates, but it was still fast.

It’s also reasonably priced, although there are only two capacities available and no pre-installed software, the SE800 is an excellent value that lives up to its name when compared to the substantially slower Adata SC685 and many other smaller drives just on market.

Personal Review

This SSD has been in my possession for more than a year and is still functioning well. I have mainly been using it intermittently for gaming, and the games don’t have any latency issues or download slowly. I like how lightweight and compact it is best. It works immediately away and you can take it with you wherever you go. The only drawback I can see is the price, but it’s still worth it.

Best External Hard Drive For Ableton : SanDisk 1TB Extreme PRO

The SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD meets all of your needs when it comes to the greatest external hard drive. Is it a practical design? It’s compact enough to carry in your hands but not so small that it gets misplaced in your pocket or backpack. Looks suave? Its rounded corners, black-and-red coloring, delicately pockmarked front, and soft-touch back give it a fully modern yet refreshingly vintage appearance and feel.

Let’s talk about speed now. The USB 3.1 edition of the Extreme Pro Portable SSD is touted for sequential reads of 1,050MBps, and it is consistently placed towards the top of our performance testing. General encryption is also used by the SanDisk Secure Access application.

The drive is a little pricey, and the built-in hanging loop is too large to fit on a typical keychain. Aside from that, this is a great storage device for intensive everyday use. SanDisk has introduced a second version of the Extreme Pro Portable SSD after we examined it.

Which has USB 3.2 for speeds in excess of 2,000Mbps but looks identical to the first. (We’ll be putting it to the test soon) The latest version is twice as expensive but if super-fast reading is your thing goes for it.

Personal Review

So far, I’m pleased to have this. It is quick, easy to use, and has good build quality and size. I was startled (and pleased) to see the 950 MB/s results rather than the 1050 MB/s findings. Based on file size and transfer time, actual file transfer speeds increased appropriately.

Best Storage Drive For Music : G-Technology 4TB 

The G-Technology ArmorATD external hard drive (HDD, not SSD) is designed to be tough, with three-tier shock resistance, internal shock mounts, an aluminum shell, and a removable rubber bumper for extra drop protection; it’s also resistant to rain, dust, and breaking (up to 1,000 pounds).

The 2TB and 4TB variants are both small enough to be carried around and they come with a USB Type-A adaptor to connect with the USB Type-C interface, so they should function with almost any computer.

We examined the 2TB and 4TB capabilities; neither was very fast (though the 2TB is advertised for somewhat faster speeds), and there is no document management software included. However, when you consider the price, a few of these drives can be a good option if you’re taking your data into an uncharted area.

Personal Review

I like this external hard drive because it is incredibly well-crafted, calm, and speedy. An excellent rubber-protecting edge that is resistant to impacts.

Top External Hard Drive For Music Production : WD 4TB My Book Desktop 

Our tests revealed that the WD My Book is the greatest external hard drive again for money, despite its monolithic design from 2001: A Space Odyssey. For around $100, it comes with electronics 256-bit AES encryption and WD Backup software, as well as 4TB of HDD space.

Furthermore, storage sizes of up to 18TB are accessible. The My Book may not be the most cutting-edge drive technology on the market, but it makes the most of tried-and-true techniques at a fraction of the cost per gigabyte.

Sure, it’s a little on the big side, and it needs to be plugged in. But even if speed and portability aren’t critical, you can’t afford to be without this storage piece of mind.

Personal Review

It is Simple to use and quick to transfer. I love its performance. Quality is also good. Therefore, I recommend it!

Personal Comparison

In contrast, we had the chance to try out the gray version of the Samsung T7 today. Before we held a Samsung T7 SSD in our hands, it wasn’t easy to appreciate how little it was. Its dimensions are merely 3.37′′x 2.24′′x 0.31′′, and its weight has only increased by 58 grams (or 0.13 pounds).

In our tests, we set up the entire procedure in a flash and swiftly moved 5GB of data from a Windows PC to the Samsung T7 SSD using USB 3.2 Gen 2 connections. This is a quick drive, so you won’t have to wait long to transfer your files. Another benefit is that it never got warm during our tests, thanks to advanced technology.

Suppose you need to take all of your data while working while on the go; plug it in and forget about it. Up to 50TB of files can be stored in the 2+3 RAID storage systems offered by the TerraMaster D5 series. You may achieve the highest levels of performance, security, and capacity with RAID systems since they essentially combine the abilities of several drives.

The TerraMaster needs to have accurate drives; you must purchase them separately. However, as a device built to store enormous amounts of data, they are unrivaled. This path gives the newest storage technologies to business owners of professional studios. It’s not sexual, but it is practical.

For various reasons, including their tiny size, silent operation (ideal for smaller studios), and abundance of connectivity options, such as USB 3.0, eSATA, and FireWire 800, the Glyph Studio Desktop Hard Drives are great for studios.

Additionally, they are simple to set up on a bookshelf or desktop because of their vertical shape. Additionally, they have a three-year warranty. If you own a 12-inch MacBook or one of the new MacBook Pros, the Atom solid-state drive from Glyph has everything you could need in a portable drive.

It moves pretty quickly. With real-world read rates of approximately 420MBps and 270MBps with USB 3.1 Gen 2 connectivity, it is one of the speediest non-RAID portable drives.

Its durable aluminum design and removable rubber protective cover, which enable it to withstand a 6-foot drop to the carpet without suffering harm, won our admiration. It is a USB-C drive with both a USB-C and a USB-C to USB-A cable, which is helpful. You can therefore use it with any computer that has a USB port.

Product Testing

One of the essential choke spots in a PC is reading and writing files to and from a hard drive. A new external drive might cut minutes off your next routine backup or the transfer of your sizable collection of images and movies while investing in a new internal hard drive could speed up program loading and reduce system bootup times.

Based on your usage habits and a hard drive’s theoretical top transfer speeds, its speed can vary dramatically. Therefore, we have developed our drive-testing techniques at PC Labs to match the speeds you can anticipate while completing a wide range of everyday tasks, reflecting both best-case scenarios and real-world use.

Using an Intel X299-based testbed with all the bells and whistles, including a USB 3.1 Gen 2 USB Type-C connection, we test external SSDs. We also use the Type-C/Thunderbolt 3 connectors on a 2016 MacBook Pro for some of our experiments.

The PCMark 7 Secondary Storage benchmark is the most comprehensive of our tests. It’s from UL (formerly, FutureMark). Drive and PC manufacturers and publications like PCMag use the company’s benchmarking tools.

The Secondary Storage test analyzes how quickly software commands are executed during typical workloads that you would subject your PC to. It is a trace-based test. A Windows Defender virus scan, an image import job, a video editing session, and application launches are among the simulated workloads.

The drive’s throughput is measured in bits per second in our following test. We employ the Mac-only Disk Speed Test tool from the reputable media software company DaVinci for this test. This tool is often used to determine whether a specific disk has sufficient throughput to smoothly playback particular video formats.

But it also provides some useful throughput statistics. The read-and-write scores that BlackMagic provides are compared to those of other comparable drives. The potential top speed at which a driver can travel can be determined using these scores.

Folder Transfer Test: A drag-and-drop test is the last test for external drives. It copies a 1.23GB test folder containing a variety of file kinds from the testbed’s internal drive to the external hard drive that is being tested using Windows Explorer or the macOS Finder. We manually time the results (in seconds).

All of the interfaces the drive supports are used for each of these tests. That means we nearly always run one round of tests using USB 3.0 for most modern SSDs (via the quickest type of connectors the drive supports, such as Type-A or Type-C for USB 3.1 Gen 1 or Gen 2, respectively). We also test using Thunderbolt 3 to see if the drive is Thunderbolt 3 compatible.

Best External Hard Drive For Ableton Buyer’s Guide

The amount of storage on an external drive is the most significant aspect, therefore prioritize capacity and acquire the largest drive you can buy. Understand that your real storage would be lower than the stated amount on the box (due to the current files it requires to work), so subtract roughly 20% from the claimed capacity to determine how much storage you actually have.

Another important differentiator is the speed with which a disc can transport files back and forth. The speed of your transfer is determined by various factors, including the performance of your pc, but the connection options are the most important. Look for an external hard drive that can connect through USB-C if you require the fastest speed possible (if you have a spare USB-C port).

If you need to operate with an older physical USB standard, use external hard drives that enable USB 3.0, which is faster than USB 2.0 devices and backward compatible. Because taking data with you is important, you’ll want to narrow your search to portable storage solutions if you’re seeking a mobile storage solution.

Removable external hard drives are pricier than their desktop, plug-in counterparts, but they may fit in your pocket and transmit data just as quickly in some circumstances. Consider your individual requirements, and if you need to transport your data from one location to another, invest in a transportable external hard drive.

A Portable Hard Drive

It might be difficult to use an external hard drive with a game PC or video game console since games require quick access to a large amount of data, and it can be difficult to find one that is adequate to the task.

If you’re purchasing an external hard drive for video games, look for ones that are designed specifically for your setup. Hard drives that are compatible with the Xbox One, for example, are frequently branded or have clear works with Xbox One text in the product name or description.

Storage

When it comes to external hard drives, the key question is always how big to go, and we think that bigger is better. Take inventory of just how much storage you presently have or need before you begin shopping to ensure you acquire a drive with suitable space. When in doubt, acquire the largest hard disc you can.

Storage That Is Transportable

Portable drives are convenient for carrying your files with you wherever you go, but they’re more expensive and sometimes have less storage capacity than their non-portable counterparts. You can save money by eliminating portable choices if you anticipate putting your external hard drive somewhere.

If you need portable storage, on the other hand, you may need to change your cost assumptions (could make a compromise by purchasing a less powerful drive).

Conclusion

Finally, we look at the Best External Hard Drive For Ableton, features, aesthetics, connections, adapters, and other features of the drives to get a better idea of what they have to offer. Other tests on the drives’ unique characteristics are done as needed to see how effectively they worked in real-world situations and whether they’re likely to help you.

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Frequently Asked Questions