The Best External Hard Drives for Mac. Which makes them a better choice if you're looking for a portable external drive that you'll be carrying with you frequently. The Best External Hard. Possibly the best solution to using a hard drive with both Windows and Mac without the use of third-party software is creating two partitions on the drive, one for Windows and one for Mac.
$499.00 MSRP Editors' Rating Type External External External External External External External External External External Storage Capacity (as Tested) 2 TB 8 TB 500 GB 2 TB 2 TB 512 GB 3 TB 12 TB 1 TB 1 TB Rotation Speed 5400 rpm 7200 rpm SSD SSD SSD SSD 7200 rpm 7200 rpm SSD SSD Ports USB 3.0, USB-C USB 3.0 USB 3.0, USB-C USB-C, Thunderbolt 3 USB-C Ethernet, SD Card Slot, USB 3.0, USB-C, Thunderbolt 3 USB 3.0, USB-C, Thunderbolt 3 Thunderbolt 3 Thunderbolt 3 USB 2.0, SD Card Slot, USB 3.0 Read Review. Tom Brant The Best External Hard Drives for Mac Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your Mac?
Here's what you need to know, along with our top-rated Apple-friendly drives. We've tested SSDs and platter-based drives alike. The Right Connections Buying an external hard drive for your Mac is not all that different from buying one for your Windows PC, except for one very important complication: Newer and only come with Thunderbolt 3 ports, but the arrival of Thunderbolt 3-equipped drives has been a trickle, rather than a flood. Most of the current models are designed for photographers and video editors who need to store mountains of footage and access it very quickly.
As a result, they are typically SSDs or arrays, which means they're also very expensive. So what's a Mac user who just wants to back up his or her files using Time Machine to do? Read on as we answer that question, and solve your other Mac external-storage quandaries. A New File System Thunderbolt 3 and USB Type-C are the latest innovations in the external storage market, but before we get to them, we need to address a basic building block of hard drives that has always affected compatibility, and probably always will: the file system.
An external drive's file system is the most important factor that determines whether or not it's readable by Macs, PCs, or both. Since the late 1990s, Apple has used the Mac OS Extended file system, commonly abbreviated as HFS+, to power its laptop and desktop computers. But with the release of the operating system, Cupertino switched to an entirely new file format.
It's simply called the, and it's the first format to be used on Apple computers as well as the iOS ecosystem of, iPods, the Apple TV, and the Apple Watch. There are many benefits to switching from HFS+ to the Apple File System, including better security thanks to native encryption, but the most important thing to note for external drive shoppers is backward-compatibility. Any drive formatted with HFS+ (which includes most Mac-specific drives on the market today) will work just fine with a Mac that's running macOS High Sierra. Neither Apple File System nor HFS+ works with Windows, however. If you plan to use your external drive with computers that run both operating systems, you should consider a drive formatted with the exFAT file system.
Microsoft introduced exFAT about a decade ago, which means that it's still relatively young, as far as file systems go. You won't get the security and efficiency of Apple File System, but you will get the convenience of being able to transfer files back and forth between Windows and macOS simply by plugging in and unplugging your drive. Of course, you can easily reformat almost any drive you buy, so you're not limited to buying only those intended for use with Macs. If you really fancy a drive formatted for Windows (which will usually come preformatted in the NTFS format), you can use the Disk Utility in macOS to reformat it after you bring it home from the store. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but they're rare.
The only drive we've tested recently that isn't Mac-compatible even if it's formatted is the pro-oriented, which uses a lightning-quick Intel SSD inside. It relies on firmware that requires motherboard-level support that isn't found in any Macs.
SSD Versus Spinning Drive Once you've settled on a file system, you then have to determine which storage medium you want:. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and—unlike the file system—the type you buy is the type you're stuck with for the life of the drive. A solid-state drive (SSD) offers quick access to your data because it stores your bits in a type of flash memory rather than on spinning platters. SSDs are often smaller and lighter than spinning external drives, as well, which is also thanks to the lack of moving parts. Their small size means they can often fit into a jacket or pants pocket, which makes them a better choice if you're looking for a portable external drive that you'll be carrying with you frequently. One major downside, however, is that they're much more expensive. You could pay more than 30 cents per gigabyte for an SSD, while spinning drives can be had for less than 10 cents per gigabyte—and often much less.
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External SSDs also have much less capacity, with most drives topping out at 2TB. Compare that with spinning drives; portable hard drives top out at 5TB, and desktop ones are easy to find in capacities in excess of 8TB. For professional videographers who edit lots of footage and gamers or movie buffs who have large libraries of multi-gigabyte titles, an external RAID array is worth considering, since it combines the speed of an SSD with the gargantuan capacities of a spinning drive. An array typically contains as few as two or as many as eight spinning drives, which all work together to speed up throughput, or guard your precious files against corruption via drive redundancy if one of the drives fail. (Or both; it depends on how the array is set up.) The result is that you can get SSD-like speeds, with data throughput of more than 400MBps, and capacities that top out close to 50TB. You'll pay handsomely, of course.
The Mac-specific, for one, can cost as much as $5,000. On the other hand, if you're looking to buy an external drive mainly to back up your files and it will rarely leave your home office, an inexpensive spinning drive will work just fine. Searching for Thunderbolt 3. So, to recap: Faster, smaller (both physically and in terms of gigabytes) solid-state drives come at a premium, while spinning drives offer a much better value while sacrificing speed.
But what happens when you throw yet another variable into the mix: the connection between your drive and your Mac? As you might have guessed, the answer is more tradeoffs.
Every Mac laptop sold today comes with ports that support Thunderbolt 3, but other than a headphone jack, they are the only connectivity options available, which means you'll need an adapter to plug in any device that doesn't have a USB Type-C cable. Fortunately, Thunderbolt 3 via USB Type-C supports a blazing maximum potential throughput of 40Gbps, double the speed of the old Thunderbolt 2 standard and many times the 5GBps that USB 3.0 offers. Unfortunately, you won't find many Thunderbolt 3-compatible drives on the market currently. Even some Mac-specific drives are still sold with USB 3.0 connectors. Moreover, the Thunderbolt 3 drives you can buy are constrained by the maximum throughput of the drive itself, rather than the Thunderbolt 3 interface.
The speediest SSDs we've tested recently top out at around 600MBps, for instance. This means that for now, it's best to include Thunderbolt 3 support in your buying decision only if you're concerned about futureproofing. While it's nice of manufacturers to include a USB Type-C cable for people who own a USB Type-C-only MacBook, you can pick up a converter for a few dollars online if the drive you're eyeing doesn't offer one. Meanwhile, iMacs, Mac Pros, and Mac Minis all still come with USB 3.0 ports, so they won't require adapters, for now.
Other Considerations Drives intended for PCs sometimes come bundled with software that will automatically back up your files to the drive when it's connected, but such software isn't really a consideration for Mac users, who already have an excellent built-in backup option in the form of Time Machine. The first time you plug in an external drive, Time Machine will ask if you want to use it as a backup drive. While you can customize backup options in System Preferences, such as asking Time Machine to exclude certain folders, there's no action required on your part if you're happy with the default settings. The next time you plug in your drive, Time Machine will automatically set to work creating a backup.
Unless your drive is never going to leave your home or office, you should also consider its physical durability. Rugged, waterproof drives are a good option not just for surfers and BMX riders, as their marketing seems to suggest, but also for people who are carrying their drives to and from school or work, where they might occasionally get spilled on or dropped on the floor. (Check out.) Finally, you might want to consider how the drive will look when it's plugged into your Mac. Some drives, like the WD My Book, come in a variety of colors. Many others feature copious amounts of aluminum and industrial-chic styling to match the design cues of your MacBook or iMac. Ready for Our Recommendations?
We've selected a few of our favorite drives for Macs below; for more, check out our. You can also read our full list of, as well as our.
Advertisement External hard drives make more sense than internal drives these days. You can connect it to any device, hook it up to your router for access on any gadget, and always carry your data with you. There’s a small distinction between external or desktop hard drives and portable hard drives. It’s mainly about the size and the need for a power supply. Portable hard drives use 2.5-inch hard disk drives and run off the power of the USB cable. External hard drives use 3.5-inch Buying a hard drive is easy if you know some basic tips. Here's a guide to understanding the most important hard drive features.
And require a separate power supply. Generally speaking, a portable hard drive makes much more sense than an external hard drive, unless you need massive amounts of storage (8TB and more).
So what’s the best portable hard drive you can buy right now? Well, it depends on a few factors, so we have answers for each. Best Budget and Overall: If you want to buy the best portable hard drive without thinking about it, then the is the unanimous choice. Several tech publications picked it as the best value for your money, after detailed reviews and comparisons.
And if CNET’s Dong Ngo loves it, that’s a good enough certification for anyone. Best Rugged: Rugged portable drives are designed to take some hits and drops. Not all are waterproof, but the two we picked are. The is a portable SSD like the Samsung T3. SSDs don’t have moving parts, so even if they drop, the drive inside isn’t damaged. Nonetheless, the SE730 has a military-grade shockproof certification, and is A lot of devices are marketed as waterproof, but that can be severely misleading.
Most are actually water-resistant. What's the difference? Here's everything you need to know about it. $79.79 The houses a hard disk drive, but has a silicone case as armor to protect it. It has been tested by dropping it from 1.8 meters, and submerging it in 2 meters of water for two hours. If you want more capacity than the SE730 for an affordable price, this is available in 1TB and 2TB versions.
Best Wireless: $137.99 In case you didn’t know, you can now get Wireless hard drives are the future of external storage, but which features and specifications are the most important when shopping for one? To access data without a cord.
And the is perhaps the best of the lot. The MPWP offers up to 10 hours of usage on a single charge, and connects wirelessly to your Wi-Fi router.
It can also act as an extender for the router, and the built-in battery can double up as a power bank for your phone. There’s even an SD card reader where you can pop in a card and have all its contents copied to the hard drive without ever opening any computer or phone app. If you’re looking for a drive that acts as your personal media center, then the MPWP is perfect. It comes preloaded with If you have a lot of locally-saved movies and TV shows, you need to install Plex.
And this is the only guide to getting started with Plex you'll ever need to read. Load up your media on the drive and access it through any device. High Capacity: Like we said earlier, portable drives don’t offer as much storage as external hard drives. The most you will get is 5TB, and the Seagate Backup Plus is a reliable option for that. There is nothing special about this drive, and if you find another portable drive with similar capacity, it should be comparable.
These 5TB drives are difficult to find, so look around if you want. Seagate does the small things right, like With the next software update, PS4 owners will be able to download, install, and access games on an external hard drive. And about time too. And supporting both Windows and Mac computers.
It’s a reliable brand with reliable after-sales support. Convenient and Secure: $105.89 The is the hard drive for anyone who wants a portable drive that they don’t need to worry about.
It is loaded with convenient features. The most convenient of them all is the integrated USB cable. The Buffalo Ministation Extreme’s cable snaps into the case when not in use, so you never forget it when you’re in a hurry. The drive also has military-spec rugged features, and is water and dust resistant. The Ministation Extreme is one of the few drives to come with If you thought NFC was nothing more than a gimmick, think again.
It can do a LOT of cool stuff that you probably didn't know was even possible. The drive is locked unless you swipe over it with the custom smart card. Since only you have this card, only you can access the contents of the drive. Mac / Thunderbolt: $159.94 The Thunderbolt 3 may just be the only device cable you need to know about anymore. It's so awesome that it's making everything else obsolete. Here's what you need to know., and if you use Macs exclusively, then it makes sense to get a portable drive with Thunderbolt.
The LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt is everyone’s favorite choice. Like the Buffalo Ministation Extreme, the LaCie Rugged has an integrated cable for the Thunderbolt connector. It’s a single cable though, so this means the LaCie will only work at the end of Not many people know what daisy chaining is, why it's useful, or why Thunderbolt is so important for it. There’s a USB 3.0 port as well to connect it to computers via a regular USB cable. As advertised, this is a rugged drive that survives drops up to 5 feet, and has basic dust and water resistance. USB-C Ready: The Ah, the USB plug. It is as ubiquitous now as it is notorious for never being able to be plugged in right the first time.
Cable and port is the future (and present) of how mobile devices will talk with each other. So if you want to be future-proof, grab a USB-C portable drive.
And if Dong Ngo says this is the best USB-C portable drive, who are we to argue? It has an all-aluminum chassis, rugged rubber bumpers for extra protection from drops, and passive cooling so the drive doesn’t get too hot while in use.
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It’s also one of the few USB Type-C drives that comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable along with a USB-C to USB 3.0 cable. Ngo warns that the 2TB version of this model uses a slower hard drive. Which Portable Drive Do You Use?
This isn’t an exhaustive list of portable drives — not by a long shot. And even experienced tech journalists can only review a limited number of devices. So it’s always good to hear from users of drives about their experiences. Tell us, which portable drive do you use, and how long have you had it? Would you recommend it to others? Updated June 2017. Originally published in November of 2013.
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