External Storage Market Size and Share Outlook - Forecast Trends and Growth Analysis Report (2025-2034)

The external storage market was valued at USD 45.70 Billion in 2024. The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.80% during the forecast period of 2025-2034. Demand for external storage is driven by rapid rate of digital transformation, the need for portable solutions and the incessant need for data storage. In turn, all these factors have resulted in the market likely attaining a valuation of USD 106.22 Billion by 2034.

Global External Storage Market Report Summary

Description

Value

Base Year

USD Billion

2024

Historical period

USD Billion

2018-2024

Forecast Period

USD Billion

2025-2034

Market Size 2024

USD Billion

45.70

Market Size 2034

USD Billion

106.22

CAGR 2018-2024

Percentage

XX%

CAGR 2025-2034

Percentage

8.80%

CAGR 2025-2034 - Market by Region

Asia Pacific

10.6%

CAGR 2025-2034 - Market by Country

China

13.2%

CAGR 2025-2034 - Market by Country

India

12.1%

CAGR 2025-2034 - Market by Technique

Solid State Storage

9.7%

CAGR 2025-2034 - Market by Application

Consumer Electronics

9.9%

External Storage Market Overview

The external storage market development is driven by surging concerns over data security. Of late, the demand for storage management is growing as it ensures that the data is available to users whenever they need it. With technology becoming more sophisticated, the requirement for large file transfers and backups is continuing to grow, further driving the need for high-speed external storage devices. The rise in the number of data centers and the subsequent need for data storage HDDs and platforms in enterprises to store, optimize, and monetize data will favor the market. According to industry reports, there were nearly 11,800 data centers across the globe in March 2024.

External Storage Market Growth

The strong commitment towards offering reliable and cost-effective storage solutions will increase the external storage market share. In March 2025, Taiwan-based Silicon Power launched its Endura series for a new SSD lineup comprising four models, E55, E60, ED90, and ES75. Deployed with advanced 3D TLC NAND technologies, these SSDs offer storage solutions to cater to diverse user needs. The rapid surge in the number of IoT sensors and edge devices across the globe has led to the increasing data volumes. The higher demand for advanced electronic devices led by the growing preference for miniaturized components will define the industry growth.

Key Trends and Recent Developments

The demand of the external storage market can be attributed to the strong emphasis on sustainable storage solutions, need for portable storage, growing technological innovations, and the increasing prominence of cloud computing.

December 2024

Leading electronic access solutions firm Onity expanded its partnership with the largest self-storage company Extra Space Storage for advancing the storage unit access in the United States with gen-next mobile access technology. This allowed customers to quickly and safely enter storage units without a traditional lock and key.

July 2024

Western Digital launched its new 6TB portable HDDs (hard disk drives) across its WD, WD BLACK, and SanDisk Professional product ranges in India for offering the worldwide highest storage capacity in a 2.5" form factor. This also helped the WD as well as the SanDisk Professional series in addressing the growing demand for larger storage solutions.

May 2024

Hybrid multicloud computing firm Nutanix collaborated with Dell Technologies for accelerating the digital transformation journeys of customers via infrastructure modernization as well as modern application development. With this, customers can streamline private and hybrid multicloud deployments using Dell’s leading server and storage offerings.

February 2024

Cutting-edge storage product manufacturer MiPhi launched a joint venture between India’s Micromax and Taiwan-based company Phison to unveil the Storm 1100X external SSD, its first consumer product in India targeting creators, gamers, and professionals.

Focus on sustainable solutions

The transition towards sustainable and energy-efficient storage solutions will also favor the external storage market trends. In March 2025, industrial flash storage solutions provider Advantech launched the SQFlash EDSFF and EU-2 PCIe Gen.5 x4 SSDs to deliver high capacity with energy efficiency whilst meeting the needs of modern data centers as well as enterprise applications.

Popularity of portable storage

The external storage industry will also be driven by the emerging trend of portable storage devices due to their assistance in seeking solutions for challenges like data management, transfer of large files, along with durability and performance issues. In October 2023, Samsung rolled out its flagship Portable SSD T9 to render exceptional performance and data reliability to professionals.

Rise in technological advancements

The thriving technological enhancements for achieving new levels of reliability and performance for external storage solutions will favor the industry expansion. For instance, in February 2025, Asus introduced Asus Cobble SSD Enclosure, the latest innovation in its external storage solutions portfolio to offer super-fast data transfer speeds up to 10Gbps, emerging ideal for professionals, gamers, and content creators.

Cloud computing integration

The rising adoption of cloud computing solutions for enabling hybrid deployments and data mobility will influence the growth of the external storage market. In April 2024, Pure Storage introduced the first-ever generally available external block storage, Pure Cloud Block Store™ for Microsoft’s Azure VMware Solution to improve the total cost of ownership for VMware workloads in Azure.

External Storage Market Trends

The rising technological integration in the automotive sector is likely to prove favorable for the external storage industry development. In April 2024, Micron Technology, Inc. revealed that it was sampling the Micron 4150AT SSD, the world’s first automotive-grade quad-port SSD, 1 with an ability of interfacing with up to four SoCs for centralizing storage for software-defined intelligent vehicles. The growing rate of digital content creation is also driving the demand for external storage devices as they offer fast data transfer speeds. The significant boom in professional photography and the consequent need for high-capacity storage for backing up and managing large RAW image files will enhance the market development in coming years.

External Storage Market Opportunities

The increasing rate of AI integration along with the rising innovations in storage device technology will favor the growth of the external storage market. In April 2025, memory and flash storage solutions provider ADATA Technology Co., Ltd. marked its entry into the enterprise storage market for addressing the growing challenges of data processing brought driven by the onset of AI and high-performance computing. The influx of cutting-edge storage solutions, such as hybrid drives as well as advanced NVMe protocols are pushing the limits of data storage technology. The strong need for providing ample space for storage needs, spanning extensive media collections and critical backups will favor the market growth.

External Storage Market Restraints

The external storage market expansion is likely to be hindered due to their non compatibility with devices, including older computers and certain types of gaming consoles. Due to their small size and portability, these devices are easy to misplace and can be stolen. The risk of vibration, wear-and-tear, virus damage, and power surge will also hinder the product acceptance to some extent.

External Storage Industry Segmentation

The EMR’s report titled “External Storage Market Report and Forecast 2025-2034” offers a detailed analysis of the market based on the following segments:

Breakup by Technique

• Police Optical Storage
• Solid State Storage
• Flash Memory Devices
• External Hard Drives

Breakup by Application

• Consumer Electronics
• Healthcare Devices
• External Storage Mill Products
• External Storage Chemicals

Breakup by Region

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East and Africa

External Storage Market Share

Market Analysis by Technique

Solid state storage (SSD) will gain immense traction in the external storage market due to their rising cost-effectiveness and assistance to end users in resolving issues quicker while achieving greater productivity. SSD’s also witness a large presence in logistics and transportation as they are used to manage data storage, streamline data management and transform workflows. While flash memory devices are favored as they render lower power consumption, faster access times, and greater durability, driving innovations in technology. In February 2025, Kioxia partnered with Sandisk to launch its gen-next 3D flash memory technology for achieving 4.8Gb/s NAND interface speed. The demand for external hard drives will grow in the external storage industry with the emerging trend of work-from-home and remote working. The rapid innovations in data security and speed are boosting the consumer interest in cutting-edge external hard drives.

Market Analysis by Application

The consumer electronics segment is poised for expansion due to the rising penetration of SSDs in tablets, and smartphones to provide quicker application launches, faster boot times, and enhanced system performance for faster data access. According to industry reports, SSDs have taken over HDD within laptops, now contributing to 95% of the total laptop sales.

The demand for external storage in healthcare devices is rising with the incessant need to process, analyze and store patient data. SSDs also offer essential storage performance common to medical and drug research companies for data-intensive workloads. The external storage mill products segment will record significant growth driven by the expansion of warehouses and construction projects. This can be attributed to the rising adoption of external storage devices for streamlining data, managing data storage, and transforming workflows.

External Storage Market Regional Analysis

CAGR 2025-2034 - Market by

Country

China

13.2%

India

12.1%

Japan

11.6%

Canada

11.2%

USA

9.7%

Australia

9.5%

UK

XX%

Germany

XX%

France

XX%

Italy

XX%

Saudi Arabia

XX%

Brazil

XX%

Mexico

XX%

North America External Storage Market Trends

The external storage demand forecast in North America will likely expand with the rapid digital transformation and the strong presence of leading industry participants, mainly in the United States and Canada. As per industry reports, 7% of businesses in Canada with five or more employees deployed software or hardware with AI in 2023. Several defense bodies, government agencies and commercial enterprises across the region are largely using portable storage devices that can survive exposure to dust, water and chemical submersion, and extreme temperatures and conditions. The soaring advancements in storage technologies along with the increasing data storage demands will drive the regional market growth.

Europe External Storage Market Insights

Europe external storage market growth is likely to be driven by the rising demand for renewable energy, the strong emphasis on sustainable storage solutions and the surge in popularity of advanced solar power storage solutions. The increasing need for long-term storage solutions has propelled the rise in the number of warehouse storage facilities as well as the expansion of rental self-storage units. In October 2024, the government in the United Kingdom unveiled an investment support scheme for bolstering the long duration energy storage (LDES) infrastructure in the country. Such thriving government intervention will positively influence the market growth in Europe.

Asia Pacific External Storage Market Opportunities

The thriving government support and the increasing acceptance of cloud technologies will act as significant boosters for the external storage market in Asia Pacific. For instance, in November 2024, the Reserve Bank of India revealed its plans of launching a local cloud storage pilot in 2025 to support smaller financial firms with affordable solutions while challenging global providers like AWS and Google. The presence a booming electronic manufacturing industry in China has surged the popularity of portable external drives, cloud storage services, and NAS devices in the country. According to industry reports, the value of data storage device production reached 78M units in 2024 in China, rising by 4.7% compared to the 2023 figures.

Latin America External Storage Market Drivers

The growing activities by both local and international players aimed at introducing innovations in storage devices and expanding their footprint will increase the external storage market revenue in Latin America. In July 2024, lobal storage and memory solutions provider KingSpec Electronics participated in the Brazil Eletrolar Show 2024, which was Latin America’s biggest B2B consumer electronics show to exhibit its consumer-grade storage and memory solutions. The strong presence of data centers in the region and the rise in government-driven regulations for data protection, such as Mexico's Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data will add impetus to the regional market growth.

Middle East and Africa External Storage Market Factors

The external storage market outlook will be enhanced in the Middle East and Africa driven by the strong need for computer storage devices owing to the surge in digital transformation initiatives and expansion of e-commerce. According to industry reports, the UAE is the 43rd largest eCommerce market with a predicted revenue of USD 5,969.2 million by 2025. Several businesses, including small enterprises and large corporations mainly in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are increasingly relying on external hard drives for data security. The booming tourism industry along with the rise in smart city initiatives will also favor the regional market growth.

Competitive Landscape

Leading players in the external storage market are placing significant emphasis on technological innovations to cater to a broader customer base. These firms are also working on partnerships, investments and capacity expansion strategies to widen their global presence.

IBM Corp.

-Founded in 1911 and headquartered in New York, the United States, IBM is an American multinational technology company. IBM’s mainframe storage solutions deliver scalability, unparalleled reliability, and security for the most demanding workloads while the IBM i Power External Storage Support Matrix Summary provides a quick summary of all IBM supported external storage.

HP Enterprise Development LP

Founded in 1939 and headquartered in Texas, the United States, HPE is the global edge-to-cloud firm built to transform businesses. HPE’s enterprise storage solutions help to simplify data management across hybrid cloud through an intelligent data platform and unified AI-driven experience.

Seagate Technology LLC

Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Seagate is major data storage company. Emerging as a leader in mass-capacity data storage, the company has delivered more than four billion terabytes of capacity over the past four decades.

Huawei Technology Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Huawei Technology is a multinational corporation and technology company. Huawei's data storage systems offer low-latency, high-capacity, active-active data duplication, and converged storage for cloud computing.

Other key players in the external storage market report are Pure Storage, Inc., Toshiba Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Western Digital Corporation, ADATA Technology Co., Ltd., and Micron Technology, Inc., among others.