Last update on 2024-11-12 / As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more about us.
If you own a Razer laptop, you own one of the world’s most powerful gaming laptops yet. Since AAA-title games can consume massive amounts of space on your local drive, you may opt to expand your memory.
Here’s a guide on what to look for and some devices we recommend you get for your laptop.
Can You Use An External Hard Drive on a Razer Laptop?
Yes. you can use an external hard drive on a Razer laptop.
Your Razer laptop has high-speed USB and Thunderbolt ports that support many peripheral devices, including external hard drives.
Most of them are compatible with your laptop and won’t require any extra software to work. All you’ll do is plug and play.
So, why purchase an external hard drive for your Razer laptop? Let’s look at why you may get one:
Portability
If you ever need to travel to a new location without carrying your laptop, an external hard drive is the way to go. It doesn’t just store plenty of information, its handy size also makes it easy to carry around.
You can throw it into your backpack alongside other essential equipment and forget about it until you need it
Cost Effectiveness
External hard drives are cheaper in the long run than other options. When you purchase an external drive, you only pay for the actual hardware. Thereafter, you can use your hard drive anyway you wish.
No need to pay a third-party service hundreds of dollars every year to store and secure your data in the cloud. No contracts and no subscriptions.
Data Safety
Storing your data offline in an external hard drive is often a secure way to protect your data from loss, damage or hacking. Consider all the risks that come with cloud storage.
You may lose your logins to keyloggers, spyware and malware which can corrupt or destroy your data. Although offline storage also carries its own risks, they’re fewer and lesser in severity.
How To Use An External Hard Drive With Razer?
Are you already at a point where you need an external hard drive for your Razer laptop? Here’s how to use it:
Gaming
Modern games come with massive program files and storage requirements. For this reason, your favorite AAA game will take up plenty of space on your local SSD. Once full, your laptop speeds slow down, running your games and programs less efficiently.
For excellent results, choose drives that use either a USB-C or Thunderbolt connector. These high-speed options reduce lag and help improve the performance of your peripheral SSD when playing games.
Data Transfer
Many external hard drives act like flash drives with massive storage capabilities. You can use them to transfer huge amounts of data from one computer to another.
With an external hard drive, you can move office files and documents from your old Razer laptop to a new one.
You can also carry essential data around in a neat and lightweight package. Besides that, you can access this data from the hard drive similar to a flash drive.
Portable Data Storage
Modern Razer laptops are lightweight. But that doesn’t mean you’ll want to carry your laptop everywhere you go. If you need to work from home, you can carry all your office work on your external SSD.
You can also use it to store images and videos you take while on vacation to keep them in high-quality formats.
Backups
Nothing is as essential as protecting the data on your local hard drive. A second copy of all your information can come in handy in case you lose or damage your Razer laptop.
Theft, water, hard falls and computer malware can cause untold damage to your local drive, and you might lose your life’s work in the process.
Video and Photo Editing
All professional digital creators understand how important it is to own an external hard drive. If you use your Razer laptop to edit videos and images for your professional projects, an external hard drive is a must-have.
While the GPU and CPU of your computer will do the heavy lifting, a blazing-fast external hard drive makes your work easier too. Your laptop will read data and write edits to your chosen files fast, making the editing process lag-free.
4 Best External Hard Drives for Razer Laptop
We did some research and found some outstanding hard drives, so you wouldn’t have to. Here are four top external drives you can get today for your Razer laptop:
Western Digital P50 Game Drive 1 TB
Last update on 2024-11-12 / As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more about us.
Your Razer laptop needs an NVMe drive that runs just as fast or faster, and that’s where the P50 Game Drive comes in.
You’re looking at a drive that connects to your laptop using a USB Type-C connector capable of read and write speeds that top 2GB/s with the right interface.
Also available in 500GB and 2TB options, you can store your games, videos and photos in this drive and access them in a flash whenever needed.
If you have other gaming devices like the PlayStation 4 Pro or Xbox One, this drive will work with them too.
Inside the box is the drive itself, a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, a matching USB Type-C to Type-A cable and a guide to get you started.
Pros
- Works with laptops and modern gaming consoles
- Ultra-fast read-and-write speeds of up to 2GB/s
- Comes with both USB-C to USB-A and USB-C to USB-C cables
- Faster load times for games
- Comes with a 5-year warranty
Cons
- May run hot on certain occasions
- High speeds only when using USB-C to USB-C interface
What Do The Reviewers Say?
We checked out three different stores:
- Walmart
- Best Buy
- Amazon
On Amazon, the WD P50 game drive had 691 reviews on Amazon and 20 reviews on Walmart. On average, users gave this external hard drive 4.8/5 stars.
As this is one of the best gaming drives in the market currently, we expected nothing less
Samsung T5 SSD
Last update on 2024-11-12 / As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more about us.
This neat little package fits in your pocket and can pass for your wallet, yet still deliver unmatched performance.
The Samsung T5 SSD drive comes in sizes that range from 250GB to 2TB, enough for all your games and creative videos.
You can pick a color that matches your Razer laptop or your personal style from four options available. With Samsung’s V-NAND flash memory and a USB 3.1 Gen 2 interface, you’ll experience read and write speeds of up to 540MB/s.
Besides that, its metal body construction makes it sturdy enough to withstand accidental falls without taking much damage.
You can also secure this drive from hacking using an inbuilt 256-bit encryption and a password.
Pros:
- Ultra-compact and portable
- Shock resistant
- Ultra-fast read-and-write speeds
- Uses a fast USB-C interface
- Available in 4 different colors
Cons
- May not work well with Macs
- May overheat
What Do The Reviewers Say?
We checked out the T5 SSD at Walmart and Amazon.
Out of over 15,000 reviews on Amazon and 77 reviews on Walmart, this SSD received a 4.8-star rating. Samsung makes excellent hard drives, and this one wasn’t an exception either.
Crucial X6 1TB
Last update on 2024-11-12 / As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more about us.
If you’re looking for an external SSD that can withstand a bashing, then this is it. Despite the sturdy construction of its casing, the Crucial X6 1TB still is both lightweight and tiny enough to fit in your pocket or backpack.
You can get your hands on one with up to 4TB, which is more than enough capacity for all your photos, videos, documents and games.
It’s not just compatible with your Razer laptop, it can handle your gaming consoles, mac, iPad, and Android devices.
You’ll access your data in a flash as this SSD supports USB 3.2 Type-C connectivity. You’ll enjoy read speeds that top off at about 540MB/s, which is decent enough for consistent gaming performance on your Razer laptop.
Pros
- Can withstand falls of up to 5.5 feet
- Compatible with different consoles and devices
- Weighs less than 40 grams
- Shock and vibration resistant
Cons
- Read and write speeds may slow down after a certain capacity is reached
What Do The Reviewers Say?
We checked out reviews on Best Buy and Amazon, and here’s what we found. Out of 22 reviews on Best Buy and over 1200 reviews on Amazon, this drive had a 4.5/5-star rating.
Although excellent, this rating is much lower than other worthy competitors.
Crucial X8 1TB
Last update on 2024-11-12 / As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more about us.
The X6 has a big brother, capable of both massive storage capacity and monster read-and-write speeds.
It also comes with a durable construction that protects your drive from damage in case you bang it around.
It’s also resistant to shock and vibration, so you won’t lose your data unless you lose the drive.
The X8 1TB works seamlessly with your Razer, PS4, Xbox One, Android and iPad Pro devices. You’ll get the best out of this drive with a USB-C to USB-C cable, although you’ll do fine with a USB-C to USB-A cable, anyway.
It can top read speeds of up to 1GB/s eliminating lags during gameplay and video editing. Its tiny construction makes it as handy to carry around as your phone.
Pros
- Drop, shock and vibration resistant
- Fast read and write speeds (up to 1GB/s)
- Compatible with many devices and consoles
- 3-year warranty
Cons
- May run hot
- Speeds may suddenly drop
- May not work well with macs.
What Do The Reviewers Say?
We check out reviews from Best Buy and Amazon for the X8 SSD. Out of over 3200 reviews on Amazon and 45 on Best Buy, this drive got a respectable 4.6/5-star rating. Not bad for an SSD, but a long way off from other manufacturers.
Final Thoughts and Best Pick
Our best pick is the WD P50 Game Drive. It’s on the pricey end of things but well worth it, especially if you’re an avid PC gamer.
You’ll enjoy blazing-fast read-and-write speeds, cutting any lag you’d experience to near zero.