New Delhi, Aug. 2 -- Most of us have an old external hard drive lying around. It stores years of photos, videos, work files and other important data, so we rarely stop to think about it. That changes the moment it stops working. Maybe it starts making a strange clicking sound. Maybe your computer takes forever to recognise it. Or maybe it simply refuses to open your files. Traditional hard drives have moving parts that wear out over time. A single drop or accidental bump can sometimes be enough to cause serious damage.

That is one reason portable SSDs are becoming a popular replacement. They promise more than just faster file transfers, but are they really worth upgrading to? Before you keep trusting your old hard drive with your most im...