• How To Format External Hard Drive For Mac
• Best External Hard Drive For Mac 2018 Thunderbolt 3

Your guide

• Justin Krajeski

After 20 hours of new research and testing, we found that the best external desktop hard drive for most people is Western Digital’s 4 TB My Book. The My Book is reliable, fast, and less expensive than the other desktop drives we tested, plus it has enough space for your future storage needs and a long, three-year warranty.

Our pick

Users can use RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD configurations. Amazing data transfer rates up to 233 Mb/s. Product dimensions: 5,6 x 3,5 x 1,7 inches and weight is 1,6 pounds. Shipping weight is 2,4 pounds. This is the best external hard drive for any Thunderbold enabled Mac, like MacBook Air and Pro.

Another best external hard drive for Mac, you can get this one is 1TB, 2TB, or 3TB options. The distinct orange-colored rubber sleeve makes it easily identifiable. The distinct orange-colored rubber sleeve makes it easily identifiable. Xbox One X one users, as well, would be wise to invest in an external drive as a way of augmenting the console’s measly 1TB hard drive (the external drive needs to be USB 3.0-compatible and will.

The 8 best external hard drives and SSDs for Mac and PC users in 2018 By Matt Hanson 2018-11-08T16:27:58Z Graphic design If you have lots of creative work to store, making sure you have the best external hard drive or SSD for your Mac or PC is essential. Buying an external hard drive for your Mac is not all that. The LaCie 5big Thunderbolt 2 is a powerful external hard drive system capable of holding up to 40TB of data individually, and more. The 8 best external hard drives and SSDs for Mac and PC users in 2018 By Matt Hanson 2018-11-08T16:27:58Z Graphic design If you have lots of creative work to store, making sure you have the best external hard drive or SSD for your Mac or PC is essential. The 4TB Seagate Backup Plus Portable Drive hard drive has more features and double the storage for $50 more, but if portability is your main concern, this drive is a straightforward and affordable.

4 TB Western Digital My Book

The 4 TB My Book is reliable, fast, and cheaper than the competition.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $95.

But all of the desktop drives we tested this year were good. We found the speed differences between them to be small: All but one of our finalists performed within about 20 seconds of one another when transferring a Blu-ray movie, and all completed a Time Machine backup within 4 minutes of one another. Because they perform so similarly, we recommend getting the cheapest desktop hard drive you can find from a trustworthy maker. Right now, that means the 4 TB WD My Book.

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Runner-up

WD Elements (4 TB)

Western Digital’s 4 TB Elements is about as fast as our top pick, but its warranty doesn’t last as long.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $95.

If the 4 TB My Book is out of stock or the price goes up, Western Digital’s 4 TB Elements is a great and dependable alternative. The Elements is about as fast as our top pick: In our tests, its average write speed was 7.7 MB/s slower, and it took about 5 seconds longer to transfer a Blu-ray film, but those differences were within the margin of error. At this writing, it costs only 46¢ more per terabyte, but prices fluctuate; if you find the Elements for less than the My Book, it’s a better buy. This model lacks backup software, though, and it has a shorter, two-year warranty.

Also great

WD My Book (8 TB)

The 8 TB version of the Western Digital My Book offers reliability, fast transfer speeds, and more storage than our other picks.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $170.

If you need more storage, we recommend the Western Digital 8 TB My Book. The 8 TB My Book is just as reliable as our top pick, and it was about as fast in our Blu-ray and HD Tune tests, but about 4 minutes slower in our Time Machine testing. It’s cheaper per terabyte than the other My Book models, but it still costs around $170 at this writing, so we recommend it only if you know you need that much space.

Everything we recommend

Our pick

4 TB Western Digital My Book

The 4 TB My Book is reliable, fast, and cheaper than the competition.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $95.

Runner-up

WD Elements (4 TB)

Western Digital’s 4 TB Elements is about as fast as our top pick, but its warranty doesn’t last as long.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $95.

Also great

WD My Book (8 TB)

The 8 TB version of the Western Digital My Book offers reliability, fast transfer speeds, and more storage than our other picks.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $170.

The research

Why you should trust us

Wirecutter has researched and recommended hard drives since early 2012, and our PC team has over eight years of combined experience testing hard drives and solid-state drives—as your guide, I’ve spent the past two years reviewing hard drives and portable SSDs, too. We’ve collectively put in hundreds of hours researching and testing hard drives over the past few years.

Who this is for

If you’re not backing up the important documents and photos on your computer, you should start. Your computer’s internal drive will stop working someday, and unless your data is backed up, it’ll be gone forever. Fortunately, backing up your data is easy, and getting started takes only a few minutes: Read our advice and set up a system that will back up your files automatically both to an external hard drive and the cloud. Just backing up to one or the other isn’t enough; having both on-site and cloud backups ensures that your data stays safe from localized threats such as fire, theft, or natural disaster, as well as Internet outages or disruptions to the cloud backup provider. A desktop external hard drive is a great local backup for a computer that mostly stays parked on a desk.

You should consider replacing your backup drives between the third and sixth year of use. If your drive dies and you have a cloud backup, you won’t lose data, but restoring from the cloud will take a very long time. According to statistics from cloud backup service Backblaze, hard drives are most likely to fail either within the first 18 months of use or after three years. About 5 percent of drives fail in the first 18 months of use, with the failure rate dipping to about 1.5 percent for another 18 months. At three years of service, the failure rate jumps to almost 12 percent. At four years, the failure rate is 20 percent. Judging from five years of data, Backblaze estimates that more than half of hard drives will last six years.

If you spend most of your time working at one desk, you should get a desktop external drive. But if you frequently move between locations, a portable external drive is the better choice. They’re more expensive per terabyte than bigger desktop models, and they’re a bit slower, but portable hard drives are smaller and lighter than desktop drives and don’t need an additional power adapter. They’re also designed to withstand a little more abuse (although one bump can still lead to failure).

How we picked

Ideally, an external hard drive is something you don’t notice much. It should sit on your desk, quietly spinning away, storing and backing up your data without a lot of setup or ongoing maintenance. These are the features you should look for in a desktop hard drive, in rough order of importance:

• Reliability: Although reliability is the most important factor for any storage device, solid information on drive reliability can be hard to come by. Only three companies still manufacture hard drives—Western Digital (which also makes HGST drives), Seagate, and Toshiba—and all of them make reliable drives. But all hard drives die. The vast majority of drives from these major manufacturers will be fine, but it’s still possible to buy a bad egg that will die too soon.
• Speed: Most of the drives we’ve tested in 2018 are about the same speed, and we haven’t seen major speed increases in desktop hard drives over the past few years. This round, we considered only those drives with USB 3.0 connections. Anything faster isn’t necessary for hard drives, because they’re limited by disk speed, not the USB interface.
• Price: We found that most people buy 4 TB and 8 TB drives by looking at Amazon reviews for our top picks. Although a higher-capacity drive is more cost-effective per terabyte, 8 TB external desktop hard drives are nearly twice as expensive as 4 TB drives, for more storage than most people need. Since many desktop drives nowadays offer similar performance, the less expensive they are, the better.
• Capacity: We focused on 4 TB hard drives because of their balance of value and total cost. We also have an 8 TB pick for people who need more storage.
• Warranty and customer service: A good warranty is important in case you get a lemon. Most of the external hard drives we tested have two-year warranties, but some have three-year warranties. Responsive customer service is important too, in case you have trouble backing up your data.
• Useful software: Backup software is a nice perk, but you can find lots of free alternatives and other great options for online backup services. If you don’t need the extra features such software provides, setting it up on every computer you use isn’t worth the time and effort. Dragging and dropping files works just fine for manual backups, and your OS’s built-in backup utility suffices for automatic ones.

We also made note of drive noise and extra USB ports as we tested the external desktop hard drives. These factors aren’t dealbreakers, but they are good to keep in mind.

How we tested

After narrowing our list of finalists by price and capacity, we tested four 4 TB desktop hard drives and three 8 TB models. For each one, we ran HD Tune Pro, a benchmarking program that tests transfer speeds and access time across the entire disk. You can read a more in-depth explanation of the program at the HD Tune website. We also timed the file transfer of a 45.5 GB rip of a Blu-ray movie from start to finish, running each transfer three times and determining the average to rule out performance hiccups. Finally, we timed how long each external hard drive took to back up with Time Machine on a 2016 MacBook Pro.

To spot any widespread reliability issues, we read through Amazon reviews for each of the drives we tested, and we counted the number of reported drive failures. This method has shortcomings: For one, people are more likely to post a review when they have a problem. Also, because of the limited information available in some reviews, it can be hard to differentiate between hardware failures and software issues or user errors that could cause problems with a drive. About half the drives we tested for this update are new, so they didn’t have many Amazon reviews. But this approach is the best we have for now.

We also looked at Backblaze’s hard drive reliability ratings from 2017, which are based on more than 90,000 drives the company uses in its cloud backup servers. Backup servers are a very different environment than a box on your desk: Bare drives in servers are accessed more often and are subject to more vibrations and more heat, whereas drives in desktop enclosures have more potential points of failure between the power connector, the USB connector, and the USB-to-SATA logic board. Even so, the Backblaze study is the largest, most recent sample of hard drive failures we have access to, and it’s always a fascinating read.

Our pick: WD My Book (4 TB)

Our pick

4 TB Western Digital My Book

The 4 TB My Book is reliable, fast, and cheaper than the competition.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $95.

How To Format External Hard Drive For Mac

Western Digital’s 4 TB My Book is the best desktop hard drive for most people because it’s reliable and it offers the best balance of speed and price. It was about as fast as the competition in all of our tests, it’s the least expensive drive we tested at this writing, and it has a longer warranty (three years) than the other contenders.

Although no hard drive is immune from failure, the WD My Book has proven reliable. We found just 21 reported failures out of 358 Amazon reviews of the 4 TB model, or 6 percent. Backblaze’s 2017 report notes that WD’s 4 TB drives had a low, 2.2 percent annualized failure rate. Neither of these research methods is a perfect indicator of the My Book’s reliability, but they are the best we have.

Most of the drives we tested performed similarly, with the 4 TB WD My Book having a slight edge in most of our tests. In our Blu-ray transfer test, all of the 4 TB drives we tested were within the margin of error of one another, but the 5 TB Toshiba Canvio was about 30 seconds faster than the competition. (That drive, however, costs considerably more.)

In HD Tune testing, the 4 TB WD My Book had a read speed of 143.8 megabytes per second and a write speed of 138.4 MB/s, operating a little faster than most of the competition. And it had the fastest Time Machine backup score of all the 4 TB drives we tested. Most of the drives performed similarly in these tests, except for the 4 TB Seagate Backup Plus Hub, which was notably slower.

The 4 TB My Book is the most cost-effective drive we found at the time of our research and writing. Although prices on hard drives fluctuate frequently, our pick was the least expensive in its competitive field: At the time, it cost around $96, or $24 per terabyte, while the majority of the drives we tested cost more than $100. Because all of the drives we tested are good, though, we recommend you buy the cheapest option available if prices change.

WD backs the 4 TB My Book with a three-year warranty, longer coverage than the competition offers. The drive did not get hot during our testing, and although this My Book occasionally made a low humming noise while we moved files around, we don’t think that’s cause for concern; all of the drives we tested make some noise.

Using the included WD Discovery app, you can import your data from a cloud storage or social media account to your drive. You can also use WD Drive Utilities to check for potential drive failures, major performance problems, and bad sectors on the My Book. (In addition, you can use it to permanently erase all the data on your drive.) You can activate 256-AES encryption by downloading WD’s Security software, enabling it, and setting a password.

Wirecutter staffers have used the WD My Book (in varying capacities) with no issue. Senior editor Nathan Edwards has owned the 6 TB version of the drive for about a year: “It's quieter than my old backup drive and relatively good-looking,” he said. “I don't bother it and it doesn't bother me, and my computer is backed up, so that seems good.”

Runner-up: WD Elements (4 TB)

Runner-up

WD Elements (4 TB)

Western Digital’s 4 TB Elements is about as fast as our top pick, but its warranty doesn’t last as long.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $95.

If the 4 TB My Book is unavailable, or if its price goes up, WD’s 4 TB Elements desktop drive is a great second choice. It’s a reliable drive, although it isn’t quite as fast as our top pick. The difference in transfer time wasn’t substantial in any of our tests, though, and it costs about the same as the My Book per terabyte. It has the same software as our top pick too, but its warranty is only two years—one year less than the My Book’s coverage.

The Elements is about as reliable as the 4 TB My Book. We found just five reported failures out of 168 Amazon reviews for the Elements 4 TB option, giving this external hard drive a 3 percent failure rate. That’s a lower failure rate than our top pick has, but the Elements has roughly half as many reviews at this writing, so the reported failure rate may not be comparable.

In our testing, the Elements was about as quick as the 4 TB My Book, falling behind in our Blu-ray transfer test by only 5 seconds. In HD Tune tests, the Elements had a slightly slower write speed compared with our top pick, but the two models’ read speeds were even. And when we backed up to the Elements with Time Machine, it was the second-fastest drive we tested, falling just behind our top pick.

The WD Elements has a two-year warranty, one year less than our top pick, and it doesn’t come with any backup software. But that omission isn’t a dealbreaker because dragging and dropping files or using some other free backup program is an equally good option. Like our top pick, this drive did not get hot during testing, although it did make a little humming noise from time to time.

If you need more storage: WD My Book (8 TB)

Also great

WD My Book (8 TB)

The 8 TB version of the Western Digital My Book offers reliability, fast transfer speeds, and more storage than our other picks.

Best External Hard Drive For Mac 2018 Thunderbolt 3

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $170.

If you want more space—say, you have a ton of large photos or videos or an existing media library and need room to expand in the future—Western Digital’s 8 TB My Book is the best option. Like our top pick, the higher-capacity WD My Book has a low, 6 percent reported failure rate (judging from Amazon reviews), and it performed the best of the three 8 TB options we tested. It’s also less expensive than the other 8 TB drives we tested, and it has the longest warranty. Currently the 8 TB My Book costs about $70 more than our top pick, though, so we recommend it only if you want the extra storage.

(We recommend the similarly performing WD 8 TB Easystore if it’s the same price as—or cheaper than—the 8 TB My Book. Because the Easystore is usually more expensive, we think the My Book is the better 8 TB choice for most people’s needs.)

While reading through 326 Amazon reviews of the 8 TB My Book, we found only 20 reviews—or 6 percent—that mentioned drive failure. This result was better than that for the 8 TB Seagate we tested, which had an 11 percent reported failure rate, or 62 noted failures out of 570 reviews on Amazon. The 8 TB Easystore had a mere 1.25 percent reported failure rate on Best Buy’s site—34 noted failures out of 2,708 reviews—but these results aren’t directly comparable because they’re from different retailers with different demographics and customer review systems.

In our Blu-ray transfer tests, the 8 TB WD My Book was quick—it read a large Blu-ray video file in 4 minutes, 28 seconds and wrote that file in 4 minutes, 27 seconds. Although it was technically the slowest of the three 8 TB models we tested in this regard, all three performed within 15 seconds of one another in this test.

The 8 TB My Book performed well in our HD Tune read and write tests, with results of 134 MB/s and 139.9 MB/s, respectively. It was significantly faster than the Seagate model in this test, but a little slower than the WD Easystore, falling short by 12.3 MB/s on reads and 5 MB/s on writes. The My Book also landed in the middle of the pack when backing up via Time Machine, storing 37.8 GB in 25 minutes, 49 seconds. The Easystore was about 2 minutes faster in this test.

The 8 TB My Book is cheaper, as of this writing, and available at more retailers than the 8 TB WD Easystore. If you see the price on the Easystore come down, though, it’s worth buying.

The 8 TB My Book includes the same backup software as our top pick. It also comes with a longer warranty than the other 8 TB options we tested, three years of coverage.

The competition

Every hard drive we tested is adequate for the task of backing up your computer; only minor differences in speed, price, warranty, and included software differentiate them.

Running SQL Server natively on a Mac or on Linux was always a huge April fool. But with the introduction of Docker, and the SQL Server support for it, it’s now real. You can now run natively SQL Server on the Mac, and with the help of Azure Data Studio you can even access SQL Server with a native MacOS application. Prior to SQL Server 2017, if you wanted to run SQL Server on your Mac, you first had to create a virtual machine (using VirtualBox, Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or Bootcamp), then install Windows onto that VM, then finally SQL Server. When I need to build or deliver SQL Server demos – I fire up a VM with SQL Server 2017 or 2019 running. My training classes generally involve performance tuning servers, indexes, and queries. My training classes generally involve performance tuning servers, indexes, and queries. Feb 14, 2018  OK, yes, restore, but I can't find in SQL OS where to start a restore on a database I'm connected to. I have a.bak and a connection to a Db but I cannot see. Sql server 2018 for mac. Apr 24, 2018  When I connect to this SQL Server I will use port 1401. The result of this command looks like this. When this completes SQL Server is now up and running in a Docker container. Docker on Mac is a native Mac application. Note: There is an issue with Docker on Mac and SQL Server using Host Volume Mapping. You can use data volume containers instead.

The WD Easystore is available in both 4 TB and 8 TB capacities; it’s also available only at Best Buy. While the 4 TB version’s price is often double that of our top picks (around $200), the 8 TB model’s price appears to fluctuate: The 8 TB Easystore cost around $140 while we were researching for this guide, but it costs $300 as of this writing. If you can find it for less than our current 8 TB pick, we encourage you to buy it; this model was the fastest 8 TB external hard drive in our HD Tune tests and Time Machine testing. If not, the small speed difference isn’t worth spending $15 to $130 more than what you would for the 8 TB My Book.

Although Toshiba’s 4 TB Canvio for Desktop is a great desktop hard drive, it’s quite expensive. It outperformed the WD My Book in most of our tests, but it costs nearly $20 more as of this writing. We don’t think the jump in speed is worth spending that much more money for most people, because it didn’t offer a noticeable improvement.

Seagate discontinued our previous top pick, the 4 TB Backup Plus Desktop, in favor of the new Backup Plus Hub.

Seagate’s 4 TB Backup Plus Hub fell behind our top pick in HD Tune testing by 15.8 MB/s on reads and 7 MB/s on writes. Although other external hard drives we tested (such as our runner-up pick) were similarly slow when writing files, none of them were as slow as the Seagate at reading them. The Seagate fell behind our top pick by 3 minutes in our Time Machine testing, and it was around 2.5 minutes slower than our runner-up in that regard. This model is a fine external drive, but because it costs about the same as our main pick and runner-up for slower performance, our picks are a better value.

The 8 TB Seagate Backup Plus Hub faced problems similar to those of the 4 TB model. It performed well in Blu-ray testing against our other 8 TB options and did fine in Time Machine tests, but it was notably slow during the HD Tune test. Compared with our 8 TB pick, it was 17.4 MB/s slower in the HD Tune read test, and 31.2 MB/s slower in the write test.

At the time of our research, the Seagate Backup Plus Hub for Mac was around $30 more expensive than the regular Seagate Backup Plus Hub we tested (and $40 more than our top pick). Because the two drives appeared to be the same otherwise, we dismissed them.

The Seagate Expansion Desktop was significantly slower than our top picks when we tested it in late 2016. It also has a shorter, one-year warranty and lacks backup software.

Other drives from G-Tech, LaCie, OWC, and Transcend were too expensive, ranging from $170 to $420 for 4 TB models—1.7 to 4.3 times as much as our top pick. Many suffered from limited availability, too.

Sources

1. Brian Beach, How long do disk drives last?, Backblaze, November 12, 2013

2. Andy Klein, Backblaze Hard Drive Stats for 2017, Backblaze, February 1, 2018

3. How to buy storage, CNET

4. Lyle Smith, WD My Book Review, StorageReview.com, October 11, 2016

5. Dong Ngo, WD My Book (Fall 2016) review, CNET, October 11, 2016

Are you running short of storage on your Mac and looking for the best hard drive? Mac OS is the powerful operating system in which everything from playing games, watching movies to all types official job is done effortlessly. So it is not strange that you might be short of memory at any time and will be in need of extra storage space. Apple has introduced so many external hard drives for MAC to expand the memory. The options are huge which can make anyone perplexed to decide what to get and what not. We are discussing here the best external hard drives for Mac along with their features and performance.

Ever since computers have hit the consumer market, they have taken the world by storm. Today they are present in almost every household all over the world. As the years passed and technology grew, computers got better and better. Eventually, new operating systems arose but only two prevailed, namely Windows and iOS. While the majority of the consumers opted for Windows desktop machines, the iOS or Mac users have steadily remained extremely loyal due to the exceptional quality and innovation presented by the latter. For decades, the battle between Windows users and Mac users have raged on and there doesn’t seem to be an end to their fight.

A Mac computer is very different from a Windows desktop because it is more surgical in its features and application. It provides features that greatly organizes and enhances the way one can experience working on a computer. Over the years, they have kept on innovating and bringing new features to better streamline a Mac user’s experience. Unlike a Windows desktop, however, you can’t customize the physical parts of a Mac machine. What you buy is what you end up with.

While in a Windows desktop you can increase storage space by simply adding an additional internal hard drive, you can’t do that with a Mac. Hence, if you need extra storage capacity, you need to get an external hard drive. At the beginning, the capacity of most external hard drives ranged from 120 GB to 250 GB but today the basic ones start with 1 TB at least. Mac and Windows also use different file systems so you can’t just buy any device. Some external drives can be used on Mac but in others, you have to reformat them accordingly.

See also: Top 10 Tools For MAC

List of the best external hard drives for Mac

We have looked at some of the most affordable yet high value external hard drives in the market today for Mac and have come up with the below list.

One of the Best External Hard Drives for Mac

Western Digital My Passport 4TB

Western Digital My Passport comes with WD auto-backup software, password protection via hardware encryption, 4 TB capacity, and USB 3.0 / 2.0 compatible and in a variety of vibrant colors. As far as OS compatibility is concerned you can use the Western Digital My Passport for Man OSX, Windows 10, 8 and 7. The WD backup software allows you to automatically backup your personal files such as pictures, documents, videos and music according to a schedule set according to your specific needs. All you have to do is choose the time and frequency and the software will do the rest.

The built-in 256 bit AES hardware encryption that comes with the bundled software, allows you to keep your personal information and files private and secure. You can even add a “return-if-found” message and have it pop up as a password prompt if the hard drive ever gets lost. While there is no way to say if this feature is effective in the real world, it does provide a way for you to get it back if lost.

One thing that really sets this product apart from the rest is the unique ridged design. The body looks stylish and sleek as hell. It comes in both a standard finish as well as a metallic finish. We all love to customize our gadgets and My Passport does not disappoint us, as it comes in a variety of dazzling colors such as black, blue, white, black-gray, orange, red, white gold and yellow. It also only weighs about 8.6 ounces making it pretty light to carry around.

With 4 TB of storage capacity, you can store hundreds of movies, songs, thousands of pictures and other files easily for better portability. No matter where you go, you can now take all your favorite content with you and enjoy them by just plugging the device in. Moreover, you also get a 3-year limited warranty with this device making it one of the best options to buy if you are looking for an external hard drive for your Mac.

What makes it the best?

• Automatic backup through the software allows you to schedule the backup process according to the time and frequency you prefer.
• The design looks absolutely stunning with a combination of a smooth surface at the top and an aggressive looking ridge based design at the bottom.
• Comes in a variety of vibrant colors so that you can get the one that best matches your system or laptop.
• It comes at a very attractive price making it a great value product.
• It also comes with a limited 3-year warranty for added protection.

One of the Classiest Looking Hard Drives for Mac

G-Technology G-Drive Mobile 4 TB

The G-Technology G-Drive external hard drive comes with 4 TB storage capacity, USB-C compatible and USB-A cable and a USB 3 port. The design looks very traditional yet classy with a sweet metallic silver finish on the aluminum body. The case looks and feels durable ensuring safety for all the stored precious files in the device. The last thing you need is a flimsy external hard drive for all your personal file storage. The stylish, aluminum body goes exceptionally well with Mac computers due to their elegant but simple design. As far as visual compatibility is concerned, the G-Drive is one of the best looking ones out there on the market for Apple computers.

The G-Drive comes with both USB-C and USB-A cables for universal compatibility on Mac computers. The device supports Apple Time Machine as well as Apple File Vault, so you can back up your files more conveniently and faster than ever. The added layers of protection from passwords and encryption also provide more security for your precious stored data.

It is really lightweight at 8.2 ounces with dimensions of 4.33 x 3.23 x 0.75 inches, making it a breeze to carry around. All in all, this is one great external hard drive to have if you want a device that matches the design of your Mac computer.

What makes it the best?

• The aluminum case not only looks exceptionally great with Mac computers but at the same time, it also helps to keep the hard drive cool under heavy usage.
• The design looks slim and stylish making it not only highly attractive but also very portable.
• The body looks and feels durable and can withstand a limited amount of force after falling down.
• It comes with a limited 3-year warranty for added protection and safety of your precious files.

One of the Best External Hard Drives from Samsung for Mac

Samsung T5 Portable SSD

The Samsung T5 Portable SSD comes with 500 / 1 TB / 2 TB GB storage capacity, an impressive write speed of 540 MB/s, metallic body, optional password protection and AES 256-bit hardware encryption, USB Type C to C and USB Type C to A cables and dimensions of 2.3 x 0.4 x 3 inches. The drive comes with a top to bottom metal design and a rounded unibody that will easily fit in your hand. You get to choose from a blue aluminum finish for the 250 GB / 500 GB version or a black finish for the 1 TB / 2 TB models. It also weighs only 2 ounces making it extremely lightweight.

What’s pretty awesome about the T5 portable SSD is that it comes with quite a sturdy metal body and can handle drops of up to 2 meters in height. This does not guarantee prevention of any damage but it does have a small buffer for protection. You also get to choose from an optional password protection option if you want. That level of protection along with the AES 256-bit hardware encryption will help you to keep all your files secure.

Since it is an SSD drive you get a higher read/write speed of 540 MB/s which is substantially faster than a traditional external hard drive. The T5 with Samsung V-NAND flash memory and a USB 3.1 gen 2 interface allow you to have a seamless and quick data transfer experience no matter where you are. All you need to do is plug it in and you’re good to go. With the added data read/write speed you can transfer 4k videos and high-resolution pictures in a matter of seconds. However, it is important to note that you get the maximum speed of 540 MB/s only if the host device and connection cables support USB 3.1 Gen 2 with the UASP mode enabled.

What makes it the best?

• The blue and black aluminum body looks simple yet stylish for better customization with your laptop or computer.
• The hard drive has a data read/write speed of 540 MB/s which is about 4.9x times the speed of a traditional 500 GB Samsung HDD.
• The shock-resistant metal build of the device allows it to handle drops from up to a maximum of 2 meters.
• It weighs less than 2 ounces, making it one of the most lightweight and smallest external hard drives in the market.

One of the Best Value and Durable External Hard Drives for Mac

ADATA HD710A

The ADATA HD710A comes with a waterproof/ dustproof/ shock-resistant body, 2 TB storage capacity, USB 3.1 port and a groove for keeping the cable. Your external hard drive is a precious device where people keep their most private and useful files. It is extremely important that it is very durable as you don’t want to lose all your data from a single accident. It weighs about 7.8 ounces, which is a little more than some of its competitors, but considering the extra durability you get, it’s a very insignificant price to pay.

The ADATA HD710A is unique from the rest, as it comes with a waterproof, dustproof and shock resistant body that have military grade toughness that can absorb the damage from falls up to 1.5m. It is designed for people who want a rugged and robust device that won’t just break from a small fall. After all, accidents do happen sometimes no matter how careful you are. The device looks stunning with a variety of color options and aggressive ridge designs on the sides. You can choose from a red, blue, black or yellow case according to your personal tastes. The body is treated with triple layers of silicone and plastic to give it extra durability and grip.

The manufacturer has also claimed to have done waterproofing tests by submerging it in 2 meters of water for 60 minutes with the USB port firmly closed which is pretty impressive. The device also comes with G shock vibration technology that instantly stops all activities when it senses a shock. You also get a really cool feature with the groove on the side where you can neatly keep your cable attached when you don’t want to use it. All in all, the ADATA HD710A is an amazing, durable external hard drive for your Mac, which will safely and securely protect your precious data.

What makes it the best?

• It has an incredibly durable body that is waterproof, dust proof and shock resistant to properly secure your important data.
• You can choose from different storage options such as 1 TB, 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB for Windows, but only 2 TB is available for Mac.
• It comes with a triple-layered protection for its body to add extra durability and comes in a variety of colorful options.
• You also get a convenient groove for keeping your cable neatly attached to the device when you are not using it.

One of the Best Gaming External Hard Drives For Mac

Silicon Power Armor A60

The Silicon Power Armor A60 is a rugged and portable external hard drive that comes with 3 TB storage capacity, military-grade shock-proof body, cable carry design, USB 3.0 and is compatible with Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim. It’s the ultimate external hard drive for your gaming needs. Mac may not be the premier platform on which games are played, but this device is perfect if you own both a Mac and a gaming console. It also weighs only 0.7 pounds making it extremely lightweight to carry around.

The Armor A60 allows you to free up storage space in your consoles and save up to 50 plus Xbox or PS games with the average game size being 35 GB to 50 GB. The hard drive comes with a rugged rubber casing and an internal suspension system that will safeguard your data from crashes and accidental drops. The textured surface not only helps against drops but also to provide an exceptional grip that will prevent the device from slipping. You also don’t have to worry about leaving ugly fingerprints on your hard drive. It is also water resistant offering complete protection from water spraying.

With the USB 3.0 (USB 3.1 Gen 1), you can experience incredible read/write speeds to transfer files quickly and with ease. The 3 TB storage space really helps you save lots of data too from your Mac. The Armor A60 comes preformatted with FAT32, but when you are transferring a single file (larger than 4 GB); you need to reformat it to exFAT. However, you need to back up your drive before doing that.

What makes it the best?

• It comes with a textured rubber cased body that can absorb damage from accidental drops and offer great grip.
• It comes with a cable carry design that allows you to neatly manage your cable.
• The body is also made up of military grade, shockproof and water resistant material for incredible durability.
• The SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface allows you to transfer large files such as HD videos, and high-resolution pictures insanely quick.

One of the Best Feature Filled External Hard Drives for Mac

LaCie Rugged Mini 1 TB

The LaCie Rugged Mini comes with 1 TB storage capacity, USB 3.0 / USB 2.0, shock, rain and pressure resistant body, built-in password protection and a 1-month complimentary Adobe Creative Cloud membership. Design wise, the LaCie Rugged Mini is perhaps one of the cuter looking external hard drives on the market today. It looks like a traditional rounded rectangular external hard drive with a puffy life jacket on it. Weighing at 0.5 lbs. and with dimensions of 3.5 x 0.98 x 5.5 inches, it is one of the smallest hard drives available for purchase.

The rugged rubber case makes the drive shock and drop resistant, as well as rain and pressure resistant which is a great aspect of this device. According to the manufacturer, you can run it over with a 1-ton car and it still will work. Although it wouldn’t be wise to test such a scenario, it does speak volumes about how confident they are about their product. The rain-resistant nature of this device is a really important part because it is something that most of us may have to deal with a lot. Sometimes you go out thinking it won’t rain only to find out later that you were very wrong.

The LaCie Rugged Mini is also one of the smallest devices in the rugged family making it very compact and easy to travel with. As far as usability goes, it comes with backward compatibility with USB 2.0 allowing you to use it on different machines. You also get a 1-month membership to Adobe Creative Cloud, giving you access to all their apps. This will allow you to create some amazing content for film, TV or web and share them with the world. Once the 1 month period is over, you can choose to retain the membership by subscribing to your preferred plan.

Feature-wise, the LaCie Rugged Mini comes with automatic backup so that you can set the schedule for backing up your precious data. You can also protect your data by using the inbuilt password protection software. So it provides you external security from its rugged and durable case while providing internal security through the Lacie Private-Public software program. All in all, this is a great product to have if you are looking for a compact but highly durable external hard drive for your Mac.

What makes it the best?

• The rubber case along with the highly durable case allows you to protect your data from rain and accidental drops (up to 1.2m).
• It looks absolutely gorgeous and very different from all the other devices on the market.
• With the LaCie Private-Public software, you can protect your sensitive files from being accessed by unwanted intruders.
• It is also incredibly affordable at a great price considering all the excellent features you get.

Other models worth buying

Hard Drive With Best Security

Time capsule

If you are planning to get the best external hard drive for MAC, Time Capsule is the most reliable, and it comes with 3TB and 2TB storage space. Those who are in need of more MAC hard drive can consider having the 3TB one. Packed with so many interesting features, this Time Capsule is not comparable with any other storage devices. With high-speed wireless connectivity of dual-band 802.11ac wi-fi, this hard drive can make many things done in just 1 minute. The high connectivity allows the users to connect with all types of Apple products and almost 50 users can use it simultaneously. Also, when it comes to security, Time Capsule is the best of all.

Best Cheap Hard Drive For Mac

Seagate Backup Plus SLIM

If you are looking for MAC external hard drive that is portable and very light in weight, Backup Plus Slim is among the best. It comes in 9.6 mm thickness and weighs about 150 gm. This storage solution is available in 3 options: 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB so you can get the one according to your storage needs. But the sizes and weight are the same for all the versions. The dashboard is the software that is packed with this storage device. This Dashboard is used for downloading photos from various websites. Also, if you need to have additional copies of the downloaded photos, Backup Plus SLIM is the perfect option for that as a backup is very easy on this hard drive.

Best Performing External Hard Drive

Passport Pro

This is the best option for all those who require the drive to be portable. It comes with 500GB and 1TB storage, but it is also available in other storage options. Thunderbolt port is responsible for faster performance. RAID 0 and RAID 1 are other features supported by it to provide maximum performance and greater backup of all files.

Best Sturdy External Hard Drive

G-Tech G-Drive ev ATC

This hard drive has a powerful design. What made us put it on our list is its superb resiliency. The ATC which stands for ‘All Terrain Case’. It can withstand half a ton in pressure and can survive a fall from two meters. The water and dust resistant case can also be dunked in water for 30 seconds without the hard drive giving in. In fact with the case on, the hard drive will simply float back up to the surface. It has 1TB of storage and a USB 3.0. If you buy it from the Apple Store, it comes with the Thunderbolt interface so that it can be used with the Macs, but if you intend to buy this online, you will get the ordinary USB 3.0 version.

Best Cheap And Robust External Hard Drive For Mac

ioSafe Solo G3

The G3 is one of the heaviest hard drives that I have come across. It comes with layers and layers of protection to ensure that the hard drive can survive extreme conditions without any problems. When I say extreme conditions I am talking about surviving up to 1550 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes and being submerged in up to 10 feet water for 3 days.

The Solo G3 is a quiet strong device so you will not have to deal with a lot of noise or humming in the background while using this hard drive. But where the company has spent a lot on protecting the hard drive from external damage, there isn’t much that has been done to protect it from internal failure. Meaning, if the Solo G3 fails because of mechanical defects or general wear and tear then there isn’t much that you may be able to do about the data that is lost.

The Bottom Line

In the above list, you can see a wide variety of options available to you as a consumer in the external hard drive market today. Choosing the right hard drive for your Mac requires a number of different key aspects such as ease of use, affordability, durability and functionality. One of the most important factors when looking for an external hard drive for a Mac is durability. Your hard drive is a place where you store all your important data and you do not want it to get wiped away just because it fell down once.

There are a lot of devices on the market today that comes with a low-quality case. Do not by any means purchase them. They might be very cheap, but it won’t be worth it when you lose all your important data in the blink of an eye. Get one that is dust, water and shockproof to ensure the longevity of your device. They won’t be able to protect your data from a two storey fall but they can sufficiently save your files in cases of small drops. Most of the durable ones offer protection for drops up to 1.2 m.

The next crucial factor you need to look for is functionality which includes features. It would be wiser to go for an external hard drive that has password protection so you can get both external as well as internal security for your files. Last but not the least is the cost of the device. Some offer tons of cool features but are expensive whereas others offer fewer features for a lower cost. With a little bit of research online, you can find the right storage device for you in no time at all.