Help to store hi-rez on external hard drive.

Hello. I am an old time audiophile and not to digital savy. I was wondering if anyone might share how to store downloaded hi-rez digital on external hard drive and configure it to be the source and deliver its content to the dac?, from there I think I got it. I don't think I want a computer over by my system so I thought just a hard drive would nice and small and neat, but I don't know if it is possible to do that. Thanks for any input. Have a great day.