Can any brand of external hard drive be used with any laptop?

[jpelizzari]

I know this may sound stupid but I'm clueless with this stuff,

If I have a dell laptop, can I use any brand of external hard drive to back it up?

 

[sminlal]

Yep, any drive that has the appropriate connection type. For example, if you plan to connect the drive to one of your USB ports, then you need to buy a drive with a USB connection (but it doesn't matter which brand).

Pay attention to the specifics of the type of port on your computer. For example, if you have a USB 3.0 port on your computer then you'll want to make sure you get a USB 3.0 drive so that you can take advantage of the higher transfer rates that USB 3.0 offers.

 

[jpelizzari]

Thank you!!