External hard drives feel painfully slow, but a $5 cable might be the real culprit

Let’s face it: hard drives are never that fast to begin with, but if yours is an external drive, it might be slower for a particular reason. While it’s true that a mechanical HDD is never going to beat one of the most expensive SSDs (or any SSDs, period), it can still be a great option for bulk storage — provided you give it the right tools to work with.