The best external hard drive for plex media server is a must to have for storing entire digital data. Like other servers, plex provides similar functionality to store and access content to authorize users. The Plex media server is an excellent solution for making a collection of movies, songs, videos, pictures, or digital media files in a single place.
It is also compatible with NAS Synology devices that allow installation with LAN or Wi-Fi interfaces. It provides a great way to access organized multimedia content on different devices like laptops, PC, Tablets, and Mobile phones.
But to store massive data and make a faster steaming experience, hard drives play the most significant role. Therefore it must buy the best external hard drive for plex media server. After considering different factors like storage space, data reading and writing speed, compatibility with Plex server, warranty, price, reliability, and durability, we have listed the best hard drive for plex And all reviewed external hard drives and internal drives are fully compatible with the Plex server.
| Image | Title | Brand | Offer Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Top | WD 16TB My Cloud EX2 | Western Digital | View on Amazon | |
 Top | Fantom Drives External Hard Drive | Fantom Drives | View on Amazon | |
 Top | BUFFALO LinkStation 720 | BUFFALO | View on Amazon | |
 Top | Seagate IronWolf Internal Hard Drive | Seagate | View on Amazon | |
 Top | Seagate Desktop External Hard Drive | Seagate | View on Amazon |
5 Best External Hard Drive for Plex Media Server – You should buy for your Digital Data in 2021
1 WD Ultra EX2 Cloud NAS Storage Drive
- High-performance
- 1GB of RAM for multi-tasking
- Access from anywhere
- Automatic file syncing
- Simple files and folder stracture
WD is a top manufacturer of storage devices; that has already delivered high-performance external drives in the market, and Ultra EX2 is one of them. This product is specifically built for NAS devices to provide high-performance digital media streaming without any disturbance 24/7. My Ultra EX2 is packed with a dual-core processor powered by Marvell Armada plus 1GB of DDR3 RAM, making multimedia streaming much faster and reliable.
It enhances multitasking like multiple users can access data simultaneously without having any performance issues. The real-time syncing feature automatically updates media files across all devices. So all users equally enjoy updated data.
WD has a different range of storage capacity, including 4TB, 8TB,12TB,16TB and 24TB. So it is easier to decide a suitable size for your requirements. Files sharing is more fun-able with my Ultra EX2; it allows sharing public and private links.
Private link sharing gives you full authority to set up URLs for specific users with password protection. Due to its excellent features, Ultra EX2 is the best choice for the content creator and editor to quickly share a creation with others.
Furthermore, this NAS storage device is built with solid security to keep your backup data highly secure. Windows users can use SmartWare Pro software for data cloning, and there is support for Mac Apple Time Machine for Mac users to easily customize backup. Also, it is compatible with 3rd party cloud services like AWS S3 and ElephantDrive(The best solution provider for NAS storage).
When you transfer data, it first encrypts files using 256 AES bit encryption techniques then shares them on a cloud to ensure data transfer securely. Furthemroe, My Ultra EX2 provides an excellent interface to organize all digital media files in one location and make it possible to use them from anywhere in all devices.
Products include 2.0 USB and 3.0 USB ports that do faster data reading and writing speed. Using Milestone ARCUS software, you have more easy control over the EX2 drive; with this tool, you can view a live feed, imported camera record videos and more that support up to 3,700 cameras plus two free licenses cameras.
2 Fantom GFORCE Pro Drives 7200RPM
- Supper fast and easy to use, just plug and play
- With USB 3. 0 connection: 10x transfer than USB 2. 0
- Best for Macbook Pro, PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
- 1 Year Manufactur
GFORCE Pro Drives offer many solid real-world features that makes it best hard drive for plex server like a wide range of storage capacity, 7200RPM data transfer speed, cross-feature compatibility with significant devices and fully adjustable in the workplace. This drive is an excellent solution for gaming PlayStation and storing your entire videos, audios and pictures in one place. Design is perfect, durable for a longer time and easy to fit in your workplace (vertically or horizontally); also available in silver and black colour.
GFORCE Pro’s cross features; allow you to connect this drive with Plex server, PS4, Xbox and other devices too, fully compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems, even with Linux OS. You have to just format the drive for OS you want to use. The good news is that free utility software is available for this. It supports USB 3.0 that transfers 10times faster data than USB 2.0.
GEFORCE 7200 RPM gives a good range of storage capacity like 1TB to 16TB, a more customized solution for every type of budget. The product is built with quality aluminium that works as a double heat sink to keep the drive cool in extreme workload.
3 Buffalo Linkstation 720
- Upgrade and future-proof your home NAS/Data backup.
- USB 3.2 ports for transfers
- Capability to connect multitpl devices at time
- Hybrid Cloud to connect all major cloud services
- Build your own free cloud
- Easy to set up
- Automatic Backup
- Take backup of multiple devices, supported for all major operating system
- 24/7 US-based support.
- Hex-core processo
- Supper fast super up to 234 MB/s, Write up to 188 MB/s.
Buffalo 720 is the top storage choice for a Plex server that offers a wide range of features like generous storage space, easy to set up, faster gigabit speed, security, compatibility with cloud storage and a highly reliable backup solution. This hard drive is very reliable and easy to set up.
It is an all in one solution for your entire multimedia digital data for remote streaming from anywhere. In other words, Buffalo 720 is more than enough to store all of your videos, songs, movies and pictures in a single location. It can be easily accessible on DLNA devices without any interruption. And also a complete solution for backup of PC, Mac computer and Mobile devices; fully compatible with primary desktop and mobile operating systems.
Buffalo storage also allows sharing locally stored content with other users publicly with the hybrid cloud in a secure way. 700 has pre-configured RAID technology that stores duplicate data in a hard drive. You can take backup faster with up to 2.5GbE blazing speed plus 1GbE backwards speed, a fully versatile way to upgrade existing network storage without cabling hassle.
What is more, the product comes with native support for major cloud storage, including Microsoft Azure, Onedrive and Dropbox. So you can access your centralized data remotely with an internet connection from anywhere with real-time syncing from your own private cloud account without paying anything.
The product comes in a wide range of storage capacities like 2TB,4TB, 6TB, 8TB, 12TB and 16TB at affordable prices that allow you to choose according to your need and budget. Linkstation 720 has pre-installed compatible hard drives that save you tons of time installing; just plug and play, enjoy the rest of the things.
4 Seagate IronWolf Internal HDD Drive
- Powerhouse performance for NAS devices and Plex Server
- Store more and work faster with IronWolf
- Offercial Ironwolf software to monitor drives health
- Less wear and tear
- No lags or down time
Seagate IronWolf is a solid performance solution for NAS storage and Plex server. That is the highly reliable drive to work in a heavy workload, especially built with AgileArray firmware to provide quick and reliable data access to multiple users simultaneously without knocking any performance issues. IronWolf is available in a wide range of storage sizes (240GB to 18TB) with 256MB cache memory.
Data protection is a unique feature that comes with IronWolf; if you accidentally lose data, you can get back with Rescue Data Recovery plus 5years of manufactor warranty for drive. This 3.50 inches drive supports SATA 6.0 Gb/s hardware interface that provides double speed than previous-generation SATA III. If you need the best hard drive for plex serve and NAS storage then Seagate IronWolf is a solid choice with a lot of powerful features.
5 Seagate Portable HDD External Drive
Seagate Portable is the best hard drive for plex drive at a cheap price with outclass features. It offers three different versions like Desktop HDD, Portable HDD and SSD. More significantly, it is a portable drive, so you can easily carry it even in a pocket. It is the cheapest drive-in list; for example, its 4TB price is much less than other top competitors’ like Fantom GFORCE Pro, Buffalo Linkstation 720 and even more affordable than Seagate Backup Plus.
Like other rivals, Seagate also offers this drive in different storage sizes like 500GB to 18TB, a more affordable solution for customers to buy a best plex server drive in their budget range. The Installation process is so simple, like a matter of seconds, and there is no need to install any 3rd party software, Just plug and plug, and it will start working. The only drawback with this drive is speed; its data transfer rate is not what others external drives is offering.
