Dec 18, 2018 - We'll help you find the best external hard drive for your PC or Mac. Best for Business: WD 8TB My Book Desktop External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 Buy on Amazon Buy on Best Buy Buy on Bhphotovideo.com If you’re a business owner, chances are you’ll want an external drive with plenty of space for backups, files, and more.
Does this sound similar to you? You thought you had enough disk space when you originally bought your MacBook Pro, but soon you realized that quicker than you can clear old files.
Or maybe you already had an external drive to help extend your MacBook's storage, but now it's either outdated, too slow, or experiencing issues. We may be in the age of cloud computing and remotely stored files, but it's always helpful to have a portable hard drive you can count on both for file backups and to work off as needed.
In this buying guide, we'll help you pick the best external hard drive for your MacBook Pro so you can access all your files without sacrificing speed or performance. Quick Summary Here's a brief overview of our recommendations depending on your specific needs and preferences:. The will give you lightning speed for a traditional drive but comes pre-formatted for Mac only. If you need instant cross-platform compatibility, and an array of color choices, you'll be covered with the. Known for being rough on your electronics?
The is rugged and durable, with water resistance in addition to quick read and write speeds. If you prefer a modern SSD (solid-state drive), the is sure to meet expectations in terms of speed and durability. Who Should (& Should Not) Get This? External drives are a worthwhile investment for more than just power users, but it can be hard to determine if you need one or not. Consider this:. Do you regularly work with large files such as videos and edited images, or run other creative files such as video games?. Is due to being overburdened with files?.
Have you ever wanted to backup your Mac just in case of any data disaster?. Are you using a cloud storage or online backup service but fear of security and reliability issues from the provider?. Are old files being stored on your computer because you occasionally reference them but can't completely delete them? Answering yes to any of the above scenario questions is a fairly good indicator that an external hard drive would benefit you. On the other hand, an external hard drive is probably not the best option for for those of you who only have a small volume of unimportant files to save, which might be better served by using a cloud storage program like Dropbox or Google Drive or by offloading their old files onto. Buying an External Hard Drive: What to Consider? Storage Capacity If you're purchasing an external hard drive, it's because you need the space on your MacBook, so it doesn't make sense to cut corners on how much exterior space you purchase.
However, it's still important to consider exactly how much space you need. Consider how quickly you create large files (such as photo imports) and if you plan on keeping them in a long or short term to decide your actual need. Formatting While many newer drives come formatted to work on both Mac and PC, it's best not to choose one that is single-system compatible as it will limit the drive's versatility (though you could manually format an external drive for both PC and Mac compatibility, it's an extra effort and requires you to be a bit geeky). For added convenience, you should look for drives that come pre-formatted for Mac, which means you don't have to install a special program and do it yourself. HDD or SSD There are several kinds of external drives based on the electronics that make them work. An HDD is the traditional spinning disk of data, whereas an SSD is newer technology that has no moving parts and store information inside the electronic components.
An HHD, or Hybrid Hard Drive, uses a combination of these methods. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to speed, durability, price, and information safety, so make sure you know which you prefer. The Best External Drives for MacBook Pro in 2018: Our Picks Kindly note that the products chosen below are mainly based on our personal preferences and the guidelines as shown above.
They are by no means made in the order below. This speedy HDD drive offers a good chunk of storage at an uncommonly high RPM. It will stand up to daily use in editing and media programs and connects to your computer via USB so you can take full advantage of its specs. Pros: It's a 7200 RPM drive which means you won't be waiting for your files to read or write. Also, it comes with a good amount of storage space. Cons: The disk is pre-formatted for Mac, you won't be able to use your files on a secondary computer such as a Windows PC unless you reformat it to NTFS file system.
An extremely versatile and sturdy drive, this model is compatible with more than just your MacBook. It's water resistant, with read and write speeds at the standard 120 mbps. Pros: It can be used with several gaming consoles and Apple Time Machine in addition to your Mac. It's also durable and available with the modern USB-C which is especially useful if you're using the newest MacBook Pro. Cons: It appears somewhat unprofessional, also the drive is a bit on the heavy side as it weighs around 8 ounces. Available with USB and USB-C connections and pre-formatted for Mac, this SSD from well-known brand Glyph provides extremely fast speeds that will support your casual and power use. It looks clean and functions beautifully.
Pros: It comes pre-formatted for Mac with easy reformats for PC or cross-platform compatibility, significantly faster than comparable drives from Samsung and other brands, available in several colors and two connection types. Cons: It's the heaviest drive on our list at 11 ounces, and a bit on the pricey side as well. Useful Tips & Resources Picking a hard drive can be difficult, especially if you aren't sure whether you need one. One way to help decide is to try a cloud storage platform such as Google Drive or Dropbox before you decide to buy an external drive. Both platforms are free to start with and they offer terabyte storage options for paying customers and using one may help you decide if you need more constant access to your files or simply a place to store them. If you know you want an external drive but aren't sure what storage type you need (HDD or SSD), perhaps will help you decide which best fits your requirements. Also, It's worth noting that some external drives available on the market are formatted for PC only, but you can reformat it to, or for cross-platform compatibility (with NTFS) if you need to use your external drive for your MacBook Pro and a PC as well.
This tutorial video made by David Cox is definitely worth checking out.
Everything we do on our computers and laptops takes up space. Depending on what you’re working on, that content can be minimal or it can be massive. More often than not, you need a storage device at the ready to handle whatever you may need. Thankfully, we have external hard drives which we can use as our own personal “library” systems. Today’s hard drives don’t just act as storage for tax files, photo galleries, and the like. You can use an external hard drive for video and game storage.
You can place downloaded media on your external drive to save space on your computer. You can even use an external hard drive’s extra space to run a program. There’s no denying that an external hard drive comes in handy. But there are so many on the market, it can be a hassle to figure out which one would work best for you. If you’re looking for a great hard drive and you’re ready to buy, please see our top recommendations. We've researched each one indepth. If you’d like to learn more about external hard drives before diving into a purchase, please continue reading this shopping guide.
The Seagate 5TB offers the largest storage capacity on our list at five terabytes. At a cost of $168, it’s the winner of our “Best of the Best” title. A hard drive of this size could potentially hold 2,500 hours of films, 1.5 million photos, 5,000 hours of raw video, or 85,000 hours of music. (Bear in mind that these are only estimates.). The Toshiba Portable clocks in at three terabytes. This hard drive costs $199 and could potentially hold hundreds of hours of films and television shows, thousands of hours of music, and an entire library of books. The other three external hard drives on our list contain one terabyte of space.
You could potentially store about 17,000 hours of music, 1,000 hours of raw video, over 300,000 photos, or 500 hours of films on a hard drive with one terabyte of space. All of that said, having an external drive with the most space isn’t always what’s important. You must also consider what you’ll be storing on the drive.
The figures above are estimates that might apply if you only stored that kind of data. If you use a drive to store multiple items in different file formats, the space changes. No matter what kind of hard drive you purchase, you will run into slow download times. It’s just the nature of technology; as you pass a file from one piece of tech to another, there’s no way to guarantee speed for uploading or downloading. That said, both Seagate models on our list — the Expansion 5TB and the Backup Plus — have been clocked at having some of the best download and upload times available across all forms of media and file transfers. With the exception of the Toshiba Canvio Connect II, the other models on our list are “middle of the road” in terms of speed.
The Toshiba is known to have slow downloading speeds when it comes to bigger files. While the products we recommend each have their own unique plastic casing design and features, only one of them has been designed to truly take a beating, and that’s the Silicon Power Rugged Armor A60. This particular model has been created to be shock-resistant and waterproof, so regardless of where you take it or what kind of problems it may run into, it keeps running. Shy of beating the device with a hammer or drowning it in water for an extended period of time, it should work after bad spills of any kind. External hard drives are designed to run for extended periods of time, but they don’t last forever. If you keep an external hard drive plugged into your computer or laptop continously, the heat and usage will eventually wear down the technology and make the device slow or unresponsive.
In the end, this does you no good, because now you have a “brick” with files you can’t access. The best way to get the most out of your hard drive is to keep it disconnected from your computer when you don’t need to use it. This practice will make the device useful for years to come.
If it ever does become sluggish, then you know it’s time to switch to a new one. When it comes to the price of an external hard drive, your main focus is probably how much space you’re getting for your buck. The Seagate 5TB may look pricey at $168, but keep in mind that one terabyte of space used to cost the same amount just five years ago.
If you’re looking for something more mobile, however, the Silicon Power Rugged Armor A60 (at $B00LN0P5Q0) and the Seagate 1TB (at $57) are your best bets. These cost less than the Seagate 5TB, and you can get a ton of use out of them if you’re on the go or need to send stuff to various places.
Q. How do I know if the external hard drive I select is compatible with my computer? A. Every device has a set of specs on the box that tell you what it is compatible with.
There are some drives that only work with Windows and are not compatible with iOS. The reverse is also true.
There are ways around this through reformatting the device — like using Apple’s Disk Utility option. However, this hack could still fail. Be smart about your purchase, and double check what it can work with before buying. Q. Could a gamer benefit from an external hard drive? A. An external hard drive is great for storage and transportation, but it’s not so great for frequent use. Game systems these days run off of cloud-based systems or internal storage to prevent errors from occurring.
Q. What is the first thing I do after I take it out of the box? A. Plug it into the computer or device you intend to use it on the most.
Make sure it “recognizes” that you’ve hooked it up and that you’re able to transfer files. Q. If a drive ever dies, can I get the information off it and put it on a new one? A. That depends on what caused it to die. Some hard drives save information no matter what, and it would just be a matter of finding a technical expert to retrieve the data files. However, if you cause your drive physical damage or viral damage, it may be harder to pull the files.
If you sense your device is wearing down, get a new one immediately and transfer your files.