Last week I wrote Tips to Protect Yourself From a Ransomware Attack and one of the best tips is to have a backup that is not connected to your computer. Since it had been more than two years since I looked at an external backup drive, it’s time to look again. I’ll include Amazon links and this is covered in our Disclosure Policy.

There is little change in our recommended drive other than Western Digital has released an updated version that is even smaller in size and price. All of that data fits in a 4.22 x 2.95 x .75 inch package weighing 7.41 ounces. This makes it very easy to take your data with you or even to put the drive in a safe place in case a backup is needed. It might even be worth having two drives you can rotate on a weekly basis so one is always in a different (and safe) location away from the computer.

The drive connects to your computer via USB 3.0 (or 2.0 at a slower speed) and there are capacities as big as 5 TB. This should handle the backup needs of most users. While they are great for backup, they can also be used to take large amounts of data wherever you go. Each of the sizes is listed below.

• WD 1TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive HDD
• WD 1TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive HDD
• WD 4TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive HDD
• WD 4TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive HDD

The red and blue versions are attractive, but I found they were priced a bit higher than the black drives. So if you want the best deal, go with black.