Anyone of a certain age remembers being absolutely blown away when the first 100GB hard drives hit the market in the early 2000s. So much space — how could we possibly fill it? Today you would need several of those 100GB hard drives — 1,400 of them, to be precise — to equal the immense capacity of this Western Digital Elements 14TB external hard drive that’s selling on Amazon right now for just $170 in a killer Prime Day deal.
Care for a little more future shock? Those first 100GB external hard drives sold for around $275 when they were released in 2002. So the 14TB of storage space in this $170 Western Digital desktop drive would have cost you roughly $385,000 not all that long ago. Still wondering how good of a deal this one is?
Huge, Fast, Safe
All of that vast space on this WD Elements drive would be only minimally useful if the drive was slow — imagine how many days it would take to move 14 terabytes of data on or off of a pokey drive. But this one has a USB 3.0 interface (also works with USB 2.0) for speedy data transfers. It’s plug-and-play for Windows computers, and getting it ready for a Mac requires only a quick and simple formatting.
The drive itself isn’t pocket-sized like so many of the external hard drives we see today — it’s fourteen terabytes — so expectations should be modulated. But it’s a sleek-looking black device that resembles a book when standing on your desk at a modest 6.53 inches tall, 1.89 inches wide, and 5.31 inches deep. It does require an AC power source, but beyond that, the included USB cable is all you need.
Who’s This For?
Better question: Who isn’t this for? Reliable backup storage is a critical need for anyone who has sensitive or valuable files on their laptop or desktop, and that’s basically everyone who owns a computer. It’s beyond inadvisable to not have some form of backup system in place, and the WD Elements drive is almost certainly big enough to back up every single computer in your home. It’s especially valuable if you’ve converted irreplaceable files like family photos or home movies to video format and need to have a safe place to keep them.
When everything else seems to skyrocket in price over time thanks to inflation, it’s good to see something as valuable as digital storage go in the opposite direction. Even so, this Amazon Prime Day deal on the 14TB Western Digital Elements USB 3.0 external hard drive is borderline ridiculous. At 39% off, it’s just $170 for more space than you’ll probably ever need.
