Physical drives aren’t worth it compared to the redundant backups iCloud offers. Plus I would never remember to backup my phone to a physical drive. It’s not convenient.

Just grab OTG, you are done, or If you in Apple Eco System, just airdrop your files to your macbook or imac.

Try a nas device, it will get more budget friendly in the long run

Back up all of your images and videos on an external ssd drive. Connect external ssd with the router and create a NAS. You are sorted thereafter.

I have iCloud and private storage My Cloud 12TB (one time purchase 380€)

Iphone 15 onwards have prores recording option. Buy a ssd case and you are good to plug n play By the way have you thought of using NAS?

You can get use Google and Amazon photos or you can backup your phone to a PC.

I am using for my iphone 15 a sandisk extreme portable ssd 2 TB

They are rogues! No matter how much you delete it’s only a matter of time before you start getting the message that your iCloud is full. I have deleted so much data/photos but it’s never been enough even though I don’t backup to it anymore. It’s a massive scam by Apple and people need to stand up to them. ☹️😡

Check out the LaCie drives, easy compatibility for Apple products.