Rank #4 in Best 5TB External Hard Drive 2026: 10 Ranked, Three Spec Sheets That Contradict Themselves
Seagate Basic 5TB Portable External Hard Drive, USB 3.0
Price and rating as shown on Amazon when we collected them. Both change.
The Seagate Basic is a 5 TB portable external hard drive in a 2.5-inch black plastic shell, listed at £171.90 with a 4.6 average from 15,379 ratings. It sits at number four in this guide — not because there is anything obviously wrong with the drive, but because its own specification table cannot agree on how fast it is.
The listing gives a Read Speed of 120 Megabytes Per Second and, a few lines further down, a Data Transfer Rate of 120 Megabits Per Second. Those two figures describe the same job with a difference of eight times: 120 MB/s against roughly 15 MB/s. The same table also states a Cache Memory Installed Size of 5 with no unit attached, and lists the Hardware Platform as Mac while the bullets describe a drive for Windows that has to be reformatted for a Mac. Everything on this page comes from the Amazon listing for the Seagate Basic STJL5000400 — we have not benchmarked the drive ourselves.
How those 15,379 ratings break down
An average hides its own shape. This is the spread behind the 4.6 stars.
Specification
Exactly as published on the Amazon listing, field for field.
| Price | £171.90 |
|---|---|
| Rating | 4.6 out of 5, from 15,379 ratings |
| Declared capacity | 5 TB |
| Read speed (as listed) | 120 Megabytes Per Second |
| Data transfer rate (as listed) | 120 Megabits Per Second |
| Cache memory installed size (as listed) | 5, no unit given |
| Rotational speed | 5,400 RPM |
| Hardware platform (as listed) | Mac |
What buyers actually say
Quoted from customer reviews on Amazon
Verified purchase“This no-frills 5TB external hard drive delivers exactly what it promises. The setup was effortless. I simply plugged it in, and the drive appeared instantly. Transferring nearly 600GB of data was a breeze, with consistent speeds of 130-140 MB/s that never dipped. For optimal performance, ensure you're using a USB 3 slot or faster. It's incredibly portable, easy to use, and offers fantastic value for money. Highly recommended – I'm already considering buying another.”
Verified purchase“Stopped using a NAS these are more cost effective for Win 11 PCS with fast USB ports, Seagate are IMO the best.”
What it is up against
The rivals it was ranked against in Best 5TB External Hard Drive 2026: 10 Ranked, Three Spec Sheets That Contradict Themselves.
Questions people ask
How fast is the Seagate Basic?
The listing gives 120 Megabytes Per Second for Read Speed and 120 Megabits Per Second for Data Transfer Rate, which is a difference of eight times between two lines of the same spec table.
Do I need to reformat the Seagate Basic for a Mac?
The bullets describe it as an external hard drive for Windows with a plug-and-play USB 3.0 cable and say to reformat for Mac, while the spec table lists Hardware Platform as Mac. The two parts of the listing do not say the same thing.
What is the cache size on the Seagate Basic?
The spec table states a Cache Memory Installed Size of 5, with no unit attached, so the listing does not make clear whether that means 5 MB or 5 GB.
What is included with the Seagate Basic?
The listing describes a portable drive with a plug-and-play USB 3.0 cable and drag-and-drop file transfer; no separate power supply is mentioned, and the drive is listed as 2.5 inches.
What do buyers say about the Seagate Basic?
It has 4.6 out of 5 from 15,379 ratings, and 79 of the 100 entries in the rating breakdown are five-star.
Does the Seagate Basic work with a games console?
The spec table lists compatibility with Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, Wii U, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, alongside portable use for Windows PCs.
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