Finding the best external hard drive for your Mac can breathe new life into your workflow. Especially if you have a MacBook, iMac or Mac Mini, you may have limited internal upgrade options. Adding an external hard drive can increase your storage by orders of magnitude, giving you ample room for backups, movie collections, music libraries, ongoing projects and more.
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. Looking to share an external hard drive between a Mac and PC? The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as FAT32. Formatting From a Mac. To format a drive as FAT32 from a Mac, follow. If you’re looking for a rugged, Mac-friendly, super fast external hard drive that can handle plenty of bumps, dust, rain, and bounces, take a look at LaCie’s Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C portable hard drive. Here are the best Mac hard drives and external storage options for your Mac in 2018. Find out which Mac hard drive can help you increase your Mac's storage or safely back up your Mac. If you have a favorite hard drive to use with your Mac, be sure to tell us all about it in the comments below! Updated September 2018: These are still our favorite external hard drives for your Mac. This post may contain affiliate links.
Regardless of whether you will be storing personal memories or files from work, choosing the right Mac external hard drive is vital to protecting your digital valuables. With that in mind, what features are most important in an external hard drive? What are some of the hard drives currently available for your Mac?
Contents
Top 6 External Hard Drives for Mac
![]() #1 Pick WD My Book 3TB
WD My Book Duo Hard Drive, a top hard drive for mac.
The Western Digital My Book (model: WDBFJK0030HBK) for Mac 3TB hard drive offers a good balance of storage, features and speed. With 3TB of storage, the drive is HFS+ formatted out-of-the-box, ensuring compatibility with OS X. It is fully compatible with Time Machine and uses USB 3.0 for its connectivity, ensuring fairly fast I/O. Unfortunately, Western Digital does not advertise the speed at which the drive spins. It can be found as cheap as $109.
#2 Pick Seagate 2TB USB 3.0 Backup Plus Slim Portable Hard Drive
Seagate Backup Plus Slim Hard Drive, is portable and a top pick for your Mac.
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim (model: STDR2000102) is designed for users on the go. Its slim profile can easily be fit in virtually any computer bag. Like the My Book, the Backup Plus Slim uses USB 3.0, but also has wireless syncing for mobile devices. iOS and Android devices can sync via WiFi with the accompanying backup app. Users even receive 200GB of free Microsoft OneDrive storage for two years. In spite of having 2TB, rather than the My Book’s 3TB, the Backup Plus Slim retails for $119. Users will need to determine if the extra features are worth the reduced storage and higher price.
#3 Pick LaCie Porsche Design P’9233 3TB Hard Drive
LaCie Porsche Design P’9233 3TB, a beautifully designed hard drive to complement your Mac.
In 2003 LaCie and Porsche teamed up to create a hard drive. The P’9233 (model: 9000302) continues that tradition, offering a combination of performance, portability and sleek looks. The case is made from sleek, rugged aluminum, ensuring it matches with your MacBook or MacBook Pro. Like the other top contenders, the P’9233 comes formatted for OS X and is fully compatible with Time Machine. The 3TB model is available for $139, with more expensive models reaching up to 8TB of storage.
#4 Pick WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo w/TB Cable 8TB Hard Drive
The WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo provide massive storage and exceptional looks.
When it comes to top-of-the-line performance and storage, it’s hard to beat the WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo. Unlike the other drives, this external drive relies on Thunderbolt to handle I/O. While this restricts its usage to the last couple of generations of Macs, those machines that have Thunderbolt ports will see significant speed improvements over USB 3 or competing technologies. The Thunderbolt interface also allows the drive to be daisy-chained with other devices, while the 8TB of storage should satisfy even the most data-hungry user. All this comes at a price, however, with the My Book Thunderbolt Duo coming in at $576.
#5 Pick Silicon Power Armor A60 External Hard Drive
The Silicon Power Armor A60 Shockproof Hard Drive is tough and practical.
The Silicon Power Armor A60 is an extremely rugged external hard drive that offers military-grade shockproof and waterproof performance. This USB 3.0 hard drive is ideal for on-the-go and outdoor use, and is available in both 1TB and 2TB configurations. The drive can be found for $58 and $97 respectively. We think this as one of the best portable external hard drives for macs.
#6 Pick Transcend 1TB Thunderbolt SSD
A bit pricey, but fast and realiable, the Transcend 1TB Thunderbolt Solid State Drive makes our list of top hard drives for Mac.
The Transcend 1TB Thunderbolt offers the very best in performance, combining an SSD with Thunderbolt connectivity. It also includes USB 3.0 for machines that may not have Thunderbolt, and comes pre-formatted for HFS+. The performance comes at a premium, however, with the Transcend 1TB listed at $1,199, although it can be found for $590.
Format Hard Drive For Mac 2018 CollectionsThings to Look for in Top Hard Drive
Ruggedness is less important for a hard drive that will stay on your desk and rarely, if ever, leave the home or office. If, on the other hand, your hard drive will accompany you wherever you go, then ruggedness becomes a critical factor in your decision.
Speed is another factor to consider. The speed you require will depend largely on what you will be using the hard drive for. If you’ll be using it primarily for backups, a slower 5,400RPM drive should suffice. If you will be using it for more intensive tasks, such as editing video or audio files, a 7,200RPM or solid-state drive (SSD) would be a better choice.
Warranty: While virtually all hard drive manufacturers offer a warranty, not all warranties are created equal. Lengths, terms and what is covered vary from one manufacturer to another. Hopefully you will not have any issues with your new drive. If you do, however, a longer, more comprehensive warranty may be worth an additional upfront cost.
Features to Look For
Connectivity
Network Support
Portability
Time Machine Compatibility
Drive Architecture
Drive Performance
Which External Mac Hard Drive Should You Choose
As with many tech decisions, the choice of hard drive ultimately comes down to your needs. That and information. That’s why we’ve done the hard work and Mac external hard drive reviews. For home and home office users, the WD My Book for Mac 3TB offers one of the best balances of performance, storage and price. Given that current iMacs are shipping with 1TB drives, this option provides plenty of room for backups and future growth.
The most demanding of users will be best served by the WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo. With its Thunderbolt connectivity, 8TB of storage and ability to be daisy-chained with other drives or devices, this external hard drive is ideal for professionals, such as videographers, whose livelihood depends on being able to work with large files as quickly as possible.
Those who work in rugged environments, or who simply don’t want to worry about their external hard drive, would do well to consider the Silicon Power Armor A60.
BestExternal Hard DrivesWindows Central2019
Having an external hard drive around can come in handy if you need to add a little (or a lot) of extra storage space to your PC setup with little hassle. Navigating the sea of external drives can, however, be quite daunting. So we've compiled a list of the best picks to get you started.
Light and small: Seagate Backup Plus SlimEditor's choice
The Backup Plus Slim is one of the smallest and lightest hard-disk drives (HDD) out there, available in four different sizes up to 5TB and four different colors. It's just 0.48 inches thick for easy portability in your laptop bag or pocket, and USB-A 3.0 connectivity means relatively fast transfer speeds.
From $60 at Amazon
Solid-state drive: Samsung T5 PortableStaff pick
If an HDD just won't do and you have the cash, Samsung's T5 500GB external solid-state drive (SSD) is the best you can buy right now with up to 540 MB/s read and write speeds. This drive has a single USB-C port on it for fast data transfer, but it includes both USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A 3.1 cables in the box.
$88 at Amazon
Plenty of colors: Western Digital My Passport
Weighing in at around eight ounces, this HDD measures in at about the same size as your average wallet. It also packs plenty of space, with sizes ranging from 1TB to 4TB. USB-A 3.0 connectivity means fairly speedy transfers, and Western Digital includes the option to keep your sensitive files protected with 256-bit AES hardware encryption.
From $50 at Amazon
Made for mobility: SanDisk Extreme SSD
SanDisk's Extreme SSD is available in sizes from 250GB up to 2TB, and it's designed to be easily carried around with you. A cutout in the top corner allows you to clip it to a bag or case, USB-C connectivity allows for transfer speeds up to 550MB/s, and it's water and dust resistant so you can worry less about your data.
From $73 at Amazon
Bulk storage: Western Digital My Book Desktop
If you aren't concerned with portability and simply want a solid, self-powered external HDD for your desktop, look no further than the Western Digital My Book Desktop. Get up to 10TB of storage, protect your files with 256-bit AES encryption, and connect with USB-A 3.0 for file transfers.
From $85 at Amazon
Rugged storage: CalDigit Tuff
If you're hard on your hardware, the Tuff drive from CalDigit offers a four-foot drop rating, water resistance for up to 30 minutes in about three feet of water, and a dust- and shock-resistant coating. Use USB-C or USB-A 3.1 to connect, and choose from five different colors, all with 2TB of storage.
From $120 at Amazon
Thunderbolt 3 speed: Samsung X5 SSD
Want the fastest transfer speeds possible (up to 2,800 MB/s read and 2,300 MB/s write) from your external drive? Samsung's X5 SSD uses Thunderbolt 3 to connect for blistering transfers, and it's all wrapped up in a sleek, compact metal body. If you have a laptop with modern ports and don't want to wait around, this should be a great pick.
From $218 at Amazon
If we're picking an external hard drive ...
All of the drives listed above have their perks and will make a great storage option for the right person, but if we're picking one, we suggest the Seagate Backup Plus Slim. It's small enough to easily tote around with you, there are lots of storage options up to 5TB available, and it uses USB-A 3.0 for wide compatibility and respectable transfer speeds. It's also one of the least expensive options on the list, making it ideal for most people.
If you need something with faster speeds that keeps the same sleek form, we also recommend the Samsung T5 SSD. You'll ultimately pay more, but you'll see read and write speeds up to 540MB/s and compatibility with USB-C and USB-A ports. This drive is also surprisingly small, enough so that you can tuck it away into most pockets without much trouble. If 500GB isn't enough, be sure to have a look at the 1TB model.
Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc 2018
If you're looking for a storage solution that's quite a bit more robust and expandable, you might be looking for Network Attached Storage (NAS). There's always the option of building your own NAS, but for those who'd rather buy a prebuilt, we've rounded up the best options available now.
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