In many cases it can be difficult to share files amongst members of your family or your housemates. Many people have external hard drives these days which work to hold massive amounts of files and videos all in one place, rather than having to constantly move it around and plug it into multiple computers a recent solution has been to create an external wireless hard drive.
While a 2 TB version may be a little more expensive than a typical wired external drive, it does make it much easier to create a business server or to create your own home server to store all of your files and media in one place. We have tested and put together reviews on the best wireless hard drives currently on the market, allowing you to make an informed decision before you purchase.
What you need to think about before purchasing a wireless hard drive, is what you plan to use it for. Whilst the Kingston wireless hard and the Transcend StoreJet Cloud are excellent option for connecting to your tablet devices, you might want to look at the Seagate STAM3000200 if you plan to setup a central location for the whole family to store there data. Wireless hard drive prices vary wildly dependent on the size and make of the drive. As a rough guide a standard 1 tb hard drive will set you back between £150 – £300 dependent on the drive make.
Some of the options available for cheap external wireless hard drives include:
Kingston 32 GB Wi-drive: this is an extremely slim hard drive that allows you to transfer files directly from your storage wirelessly to any android, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, kindle fire, or PC. Files can simply be accessed through apps available from apple and android and easily transferred onto each one of these devices across any wireless network. Simply syncing up the drive to your network and then connecting to the same wireless network with the device you will be able to quite easily share data with up to three users simultaneously.
Seagate STAM3000200 3TB FreeAgent GoFlex Home NAS: this device features up to 3 TB of storage making it one of the largest on the market. Currently the go flex is only able to sync up with PC and Mac computers in the home and does not feature the same support as the Kingston portable storage drive. Up to three PCs can connect and transfer files across any network using this device. With 3 TB of storage each computer can be backed up and large files can be stored and transferred across your network.
Transcend StoreJet Cloud 32GB Multimedia Drive (Portable): This device is portable allowing you to fit it directly in your pocket for traveling. Syncing the device up with a wireless network will allow you to transfer your files directly to an iPad/iPhone/ iPod product as well as android mobile devise or Amazon Kindle, to transfer e-books movies files and more. The device can sync with up to five devices and provide a fair amount of support to hold a large number of files. The battery life is also quite good and allows you to easily transfer any files to device multiple times over.
Keeping these devices in mind will help you to potentially expand your home network and create your own media Center within the home. Rather than have to fight with wires constantly you’ll be able to stream to all of your favorite devices seamlessly and share files amongst many different computers without ever having to move the external hard drive.
