| A portable hard drive refers to what is sometimes | | | | flash memory. Some people do prefer solid state |
| known as an external hard drive. Simply put, it is one | | | | technology for their data storage and transfer, |
| that can be attached to a computer externally, by | | | | particularly for external uses. For instance, a solid state |
| means of ports and cables. People have this type of | | | | drive, known as SSD for short, can be used in ways |
| device for uses such as data storage, like backups or | | | | similar to a standard drive, but does not have any |
| simply as a second hard disk. Another potential use is | | | | moving parts. |
| for data transfers, such as taking information from a | | | | For people who want an even smaller device that also |
| computer and moving it to another. | | | | uses flash memory, a USB memory stick is an |
| Unless stated differently, a portable hard drive will | | | | alternative to a portable hard drive. Ones publicly |
| generally have a "traditional" hard disk inside of it. This | | | | available do not yet hold terabytes (TB) of data, |
| means it is the kind that is running inside many PCs and | | | | however, as of the time of writing, up to 128GB is a |
| laptops -- those who know the technicalities may | | | | commonly available amount, although at rates per GB |
| understand that it has platters and an arm. In this | | | | somewhat higher than lower-capacity models such as |
| sense, it has moving parts, and is not a solid state | | | | an 8GB or 16GB flash drive might cost. |
| drive, which would be based upon something such as | | | | |