Recent events have convinced me to get a large external drive so I have physical control of the games I own.

Does anyone have a valid rec? (i.e. Seagate, Western Digital, SanDisk?)

Getting myself offline won't be easy or fun, oh well.

It's gotta be done, I'm not smart...but I refuse to be anyone's bitch,
switch

Just recently I bought myself an external HDD: WD Black D10 Game Drive for Xbox 12TB. I got it because it contains a helium filled, enterprise level, Ultrastar DC HC530. I extracted it(shucked it) from the external enclusure and added it as an internal drive in my computer. Unfortunately my desktop case sits on my desk, and I can feel the vibrations from the new hdd, which is quite distracting.

As an internal drive, this turned out not being an ideal solution, but as an external drive it should be perfect.

EDIT: Ultrastar was the gold standard for a long time, since they were an IBM division, until they were bought by Western Digital. Now, you can't really buy hdds from them since they are sold exclusively to enterprises, but for whatever reason, WD uses these drives for the 12TB external hdds.

EDIT2: It's usualy much cheaper to get an external hdd, and shucking out the hdd to use as an internal drive, rather than buying an internal hdd directly. But you do need to do some research to make sure the included hdd can be use as an internal hdd, because some hdds(especially the smaller 2.5 inch ones) lack the sata interface.

As far as brands are concerned I'd go with Seagate.
VERY reliable and long-lasting (if handled correctly and with care of course), in my experience at least.

I use the Western Digital Black hard-drives, and they have been perfect for me, had them for many years and not a problem.

It’s a tricky one. WD passport externals are my favourites for most transport use. But for backup I now use raid boxes filled with 4tb or 6tb drives (mostly wd red). I use terramaster d3-500 (note not the 3+2 ones they are not much use). Provides a bit of fail over if one drive fails, and can use smaller drives. I have multiple of these as raid is not a full backup system, only multiple copies work (preferable have a lot of distance between them).
So to summarise, I would go with smaller drives (f one fails you lose a part, if a big one fails you lose all). And have multiple backups.

I basically only use Western Digital drives (internal + external MyBook) since more than a decade and not a single one failed so far.
So they're quite great.

However, lately the company suffered some scandals about undisclosed SMR HDDs, cheap components in SSDs, vulnerable NAS drives.. so it's not a good sign.

I recommend Western Digital, specifically their WD Black brand. I always use them and I have found them to be long-lasting and reliable (although all HDDs that are used will fail eventually, in the long term, regardless of what brand or model it is, so best to have more than one backup).

Also, buy a drive that is intended to be installed directly into a PC, and then buy an external enclosure for it from a third party company that is not the manufacturer of the HDD.

The hard drives that come bundled in enclosures by the hard drive makers themselves tend to be crap, and they also have issues like if the software embedded in the enclosure's microchips get damaged, then it can erase your data.

But third party enclosures that you install the hard drive into yourself don't have that problem.

Except when they're not, see above. Research what you're buying and you'll rarely be disappointed.

I have a good number of mostly WD, Seagate and Toshiba drives.

I went off Seagate for a while when they had crappy connectors on their USB 3 cables .. far too flimsy.

Toshiba I've only been using for a few years now, but I like their more rugged cases, and they have performed well thus far and tend to be slightly cheaper in my neck of the woods.

I do have a policy of backing up to more than one drive and using different brands as well as types. For example I have small portables drives as well as the larger mains powered portable drives.

Spread the data I always say. :)

Personally, I'd get a Western Digital NAS with two WD Red enterprise quality drives in them, in RAID 1 formation. Not the fastest drives about but pretty reliable. Basically use it for storage only and then transfer things to your active SSD drives (internal) to run them.

Agree with the other points though - do your research before buying.

If you see a particularly good deal on a hard drive you could purchase one and get an enclosure separately and build your own. Enclosures are good also for recycling old drives just laying around because you haven't had a use for them yet as well...

One drive isn't a backup, especially if it is connected to power/the internet all the time. Id get at least two, ideally stored at different locations.

I've been using two Seagate IronWolf 8TB drives in my NAS for a while (in mirror mode) and a third one as an offline-backup drive that i connect about once per month. Plus a 2.5" 5TB WD MyPassport (or something) for all the essential stuff...
My computers are set up to do daily/weekly syncs of selected folders to the NAS plus TimeMachine backups for my main computer... i feel somewhat safe now with at least 3 copies of everything important. Don't backup games yet though.

So far i'm pretty happy with this setup (and having data scrubbing and integrity checks with the NAS is somewhat encouraging, compared to a normal enclosure). But these things are loud, i previously used two WD Blue 4TB drives and could barely hear them. So far i'd easily recommend them though, I'd just get bigger ones next time. Somehow i always end up telling myself that after buying new HDs ;)

TY, all!
I very much appreciate the feedback. Seems consensus leans the direction I was already pointed. I've got a 2T Western Digital "My Passport" portable HDD ordered. Should be here in a few days.

WD was a bit more expensive, but if I'm storing $2000 worth of games, saving $20 on the drive seems silly.

Now downloading 2T over a weekend will probably piss my ISP right the hell off. I'm deeply dismayed. Bend over Comcast, it's time to get my money's worth!

Mine will be for primarily offline backup. Even the fastest external is slow compared to my internal SSD. For now, if I can get even my top 100 games on a 2T portable, that's a huge chunk of peace of mind for $60 USD.

I'm getting too damn old for the indigestion that accompanies having my 700 game library inaccessible for a week. A quality 2T portable will ease some of that pain.
PS, my non-game essentials already stored on an encrypted USB drive. :)

I got a 12 TB WD too. Not too expensive and big enough to backup my whole library.