WD My Book external hard drive 16 TB, USB 3.2 Gen 1, 256-bit AES

Sixteen terabytes is enough to keep years of photos and videos, a music collection and documents on one drive, plus backups of several computers. Raw files from a photographer or projects from a video maker, which quickly fill a laptop's internal drive, get a permanent home here. The archive stays organised in one place rather than spread across a pile of small drives.

The drive is formatted as exFAT at the factory. That means the same drive can be read and written on a Windows PC and on a Mac without extra software or reformatting. Unlike the older FAT32, exFAT has no small cap on the size of a single file, so long video recordings and large backup files are stored in one piece.

According to the manufacturer, Windows users get WD Backup software for scheduled backups, and on a Mac the drive works with Apple Time Machine. WD Discovery helps bring files over from Dropbox, Google Drive and Facebook, so pictures kept in the cloud and on social media also exist on a drive you own. WD Drive Utilities lets you check the drive's health and manage it.

The 256-bit AES encryption is handled by the drive's own controller rather than your computer's processor. Password protection is switched on with the WD Security tool, and after that the files cannot be read without the password. If the drive is lost or stolen, the data stays out of reach for strangers. Keep the password safe, though: without it the owner cannot get in either.

WD My Book 16 TB suits families who want every photo and video on one drive, small offices that back up several computers on a regular schedule, and creative professionals whose project archive grows every month. Because it runs from a separate power adapter and is built for the desk, it works best as a permanent backup and archive drive rather than something carried in a bag every day.