In this guide to the best external hard drives for Macs, we look at the top devices for plugging in and expanding the storage space of your Mac or MacBook.
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While there's a lot to love about Macs, iMacs and MacBooks, they are also tricky to manually upgrade, which means if you run out of space, it isn't too easy to open them up and pop in a bigger hard drive. While you can look into taking your Mac to an Apple Store (or an Apple-approved vendor) to perform the upgrade, this can end up being pretty costly.
G-Tech drives come pre-formatted for Mac. If you own an iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro or Mac Book Pro simply plug in your new drive to the thunderbolt port and start using it.
So, one of the more affordable (and easiest) ways to expand the storage space of your Mac or MacBook is to use an external hard drive, and this list of the best external hard drives for Macs will help you choose the best drive for your needs.
An external hard drive is essentially a hard drive that comes enclosed in a case. It plugs into a Mac via a cable.
The other major plus is the portability of an external hard drive means you can take it with you and plug it into another device for instant file swapping – handy if you swap between PCs and Macs regularly.
If you’re a recording novice, or if you don’t tend to use large sample libraries, then Thunderbolt likely isn’t worth the outlay. If however you have a well established studio setup and are looking for ways to either increase the audio quality of your recordings, or you rely heavily on outboard gear but use a computer DAW as your hub, then Thunderbolt could be the right choice for you. ) So if you need a portable hard drive with respectable storage capacity at a reasonable price, you’ll most likely pick a laptop-class drive with a 2.5″ hard drive mechanism inside.
When looking to buy the best external hard drive for Macs for your needs, you should consider how much capacity you need. External hard drives come in all shapes and sizes, and you don't want to pay too much for space you'll never need, but neither do you want to cheap out and run out of space all too quickly.
Speed is also important. SSDs are faster than traditional hard drives, and you should consider what cables they use as well. USB 3.0 is fast, but Thunderbolt is faster. If you want to store lots of large files on your external hard drive, then consider going for the fastest drive you can afford.
Seagate External Hard Drive Setup For Mac
In this guide to the best external laptops for Macs we take that into consideration - as well as ease of use, affordability and dependability. This last consideration is perhaps the most important, as when you're entrusting your important files to an external hard drive, you need to be confident that it won't break and lose your data.
1. Western Digital My Passport 4TB external hard drive
Capacity: 4TB | Interface: USB 3.0
This is the latest generation of the Western Digital My Passport external hard drives comes in capacities from 1TB to 4TB, and features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption, along with WD's own backup software. While transfer speeds aren't the quickest, due to its USB 3.0 connection, it offers a good balance between speed, capacity and price.
2. Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt external hard drive
Capacity: 1TB, 2TB | Interface: Thunderbolt, USB 3.0
If you want to make use of your Mac's Thunderbolt port, then this is a great option, as it provides twice the speeds of standard USB 3.0 drives. It still uses a traditional hard drive, rather than an SSD, and while this means speeds aren't quite as fast as possible, it at least keeps the price down, while offering large capacities. There's also a USB 3.0 port for connecting to computers that don't have a Thunderbolt port.
3. G-Technology G-Drive USB 3.0 4TB external hard drive
Capacity: 4TB | Interface: USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA, FireWire
This is one of the fastest high capacity hard drives you can plug into your Mac, with a huge 4TB of storage space that zips along its USB 3.0, eSATA or FireWire connection. The all-aluminium enclosure gives the drive a premium look and feel, while also protecting your data from knocks and drops, and keeping the drive cool when used.
4. Samsung T3 SSD
Capacity: 1TB | Interface: USB 3.1
If you really want a super-fast external hard drive for your Mac, then the Samsung T3 SSD is easily one of the best. As it uses a solid state drive, the read and write speeds of this drive are much faster than external hard drives that use traditional hard drives. It does mean the price is higher, but if transfer speed is the most important consideration when looking for the best external hard drive for your Mac, then this is the drive to go for.
5. Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC external hard drive
Capacity: 2TB | Interface: USB 3.0
With compatibility for both Mac and Windows machines, the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC is very flexible, and comes with a rugged case that's dust and water resistant, along with a built-in USB 3.0 cable. Not only is your data kept protected from knocks and drops with the rugged shell, but it's also got 256-bit AES security features and NFC (Near Field Communication) features as well. This is a great external hard drive for your Mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure.
6. Western Digital My Passport Ultra external hard drive
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Capacity: 4TB | Interface: USB 3.0
The latest generation of the Western Digital My Passport Ultra range of external hard drives has landed, coming in sizes from 1TB to 4TB. It features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption, along with WD's own software suite.
It is a good performer when it comes to data transfer speeds but doesn't come near the top of the leaderboard. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't reach the top speeds of solid state external drives, but for external hard drives based on traditional HDDs, this is the drive to consider.
7. LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB
USB-C star
Capacity: 4TB | Interface: USB-C
You may have stumbled upon the LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive when perusing the Apple website for USB-C accessories. There’s a reason for that: the Porsche Design ships with both USB Type-C to Type-A and USB Type-C to Type-C connectors, making it a worthy candidate regardless of your setup.
It’s expensive for an external hard drive, don’t get us wrong, especially if you’re in the market for the top-end 4TB option. On the other hand, this is an HDD that could theoretically output speeds of up to 5Gbps, if it weren’t hindered by the limits of SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) technology. With MacBooks coming with USB Type-C connections, this is an excellent - and stylish - external hard drive that makes the most of this speedy new port.
8. iStorage diskAshur 2TB external hard drive
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A brilliant external hard drive for extra security
Capacity: 2TB | Interface: USB 3.0
If you're worried about people getting access to your data if your external hard drive is stolen, than you'll like the iStorage drive here. If someone tries to tamper with your iStorage drive, you can configure it to self-desturct. What's more, the data is encrypted by the 256-bit AES protocol, with multiple forms of protection in place to ensure the bad guys don't get in no matter how persistent. When you consider all that extra security, the prices won't scare you away either. It's more pricey than the other drives of its capacity, but the extra security it offers will be well worth it for many people.
- Check out our list of the best external hard drives in 2019
Over a quarter century ago — when Human League topped the charts, Ronald Reagan was president, the Mac Plus debuted, and Compaq started building computers with blazingly fast 16MHz CPUs — the FireWire interface was conceived. It came into prominence (along with USB) in the mid-90s, is still current, and will continue to serve us well for many years to come.
But in today’s data-hungry world, where hard drives are measured in terabytes instead of megabytes, pro audio recording is trending toward higher resolutions, video is high-definition, and both audio and video streams must flow fluently throughout a system, the need to transfer huge amounts of data among computers and peripherals has become critical.
Intel’s Thunderbolt™ protocol was devised with today’s rapacious data appetite in mind. However, if your first thought is, “I guess all my FireWire, USB, eSATA, Ethernet, and other interface-dependent devices are about to become doorstops — as well as my PCIe cards,” note that all of these can work with Thunderbolt. A basic Thunderbolt-to-FireWire adapter costs under $30 (as does a Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter cable), and there are Thunderbolt-to-PCIe card boxes that accommodate full-length PCIe cards. So while Thunderbolt looks to the future, fortunately it doesn’t forget the past.
Thunderbolt Tech Basics
In general terms, Thunderbolt is all about getting data in and out of your computer and peripherals bi-directionally over two channels (PCI Express for data transfer, and DisplayPort for video) using switched-fabric multiplexing architecture. Both channels can zip along simultaneously at speeds up to 10 Gigabits per second, while also featuring plug-and-play, hot-swappable operation using cables.
PCI Express is the high-speed bus used inside computers and is one reason why internal computer cards have enjoyed a speed and efficiency advantage compared to external devices which communicate through FireWire or USB layers. With Thunderbolt, PCI Express-level performance can be taken outside the computer. DisplayPort handles greater than 1080p resolution displays and up to eight channels of audio simultaneously, making it ideal for audio/video applications. Because Thunderbolt devices look like PCI Express or DisplayPort devices to the computer’s operating system, they can use standard, existing drivers.
And remember those FireWire cautions about not daisy-chaining audio interfaces with a hard drive on the same port? That’s not an issue with 10 Gbps bandwidth. And, as the protocol isn’t bus-based, there’s no bandwidth sharing between ports or in upstream/downstream directions.
Wired cable connections can extend to about three meters (10 feet), and provide around 10 watts of power for bus-powered devices. Optical connections extend that length to tens of meters, although you lose the bus-powering potential of wire. Connections are typically configured as a daisy-chain that accommodates up to seven total devices, of which one or two can be hi-res DisplayPort displays. As Thunderbolt’s 20-pin, Mini DisplayPort (mDP) physical connector can potentially handle both optical and wired connections, there should be no issues with having to use different cables for different devices, or mixing both types of interconnections within the same environment.
Laptops? This Changes Everything
Portability and device independence is becoming increasingly important, as has been proven by the speed with which the audio industry has adopted the iPad for less demanding applications like remote control. Thunderbolt made its debut with Apple laptops and is now starting to appear with Windows-based machines as well. One of Thunderbolt’s most exciting applications is in laptops, as they can now tap into far greater power with peripheral devices.
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Although tablets like the iPad and even the most advanced laptops can’t reach the same level of power as state-of-the-art desktops, a Thunderbolt-equipped laptop can basically serve as a control center for extremely powerful peripherals, thus attaining that sweet spot of performance and portability. More importantly, because Intel had pro audio and video applications in mind for Thunderbolt, there’s an emphasis on the low latency and accurate time synchronization needed in our world. Thunderbolt devices in the same domain can synchronize within 8 nanoseconds of each other, which is far better than other interconnection technologies.
Thunderbolt will also change how laptops are made. For example, my current Windows laptop has connectors for Ethernet, HDMI, VGA, audio in, audio out, three USB ports, and an ExpressCard slot. These all take up space, contribute to the laptop’s size and weight, and add to the cost. With Thunderbolt needing only one small connector to accommodate all kinds of video and audio, laptops can be thinner, lighter, and easier to hook up. And as laptops can now be more like the “brains” of a setup instead of having to be the brawn, Thunderbolt will open up new options for mobile audio creation.
With the decline of the “big studio,” portability has become even more of an issue. Because fewer commercial studios can afford the real estate needed for rooms with excellent acoustics, and often work with clients constrained by tight budgets, it’s becoming more common to do remote recordings in places with superior acoustics (such as concert halls). Desktops are not only bulky and inconvenient for portable recording, but noisy. A laptop with solid-state drives and peripherals driven by Thunderbolt creates a compact, easily transportable, quiet recording setup that can do quality on-location recording — whether providing an audio component for film, or recording string quartets in acoustically-rich spaces. Universal Audio was the first in the audio realm to provide a recording interface to take full advantage of Thunderbolt with their Apollo Audio interface, and has already shown up in the portable rigs of many recording sessions for just this reason.
Audio and Video
With 12 times more bandwidth than FireWire 800 and 20 times more bandwidth than USB 2, Thunderbolt speeds enable a laptop to rival desktop studio performance; where Thunderbolt really shines is for sophisticated ecosystems that blend audio/video, backup, and sharing. Think about a typical post-production situation, where video has to fly back and forth among workstations, and multiple people may be accessing audio and video libraries — Thunderbolt is ideal for that scenario. Considering the time studios spend on data transfer, Thunderbolt can boost productivity, thus saving money.
Thunderbolt also addresses the dirty little secret of digital technology — backup. It’s often been said that “digital data isn’t real until it exists in more than two places,” but anyone who’s tried to back up terabytes of data knows how time-consuming that process can be. For all the people who don’t back up as often as they should because it’s a time sink and a hassle, being able to back up and transfer in a fraction of the time currently needed is highly appealing.
An HD Protocol for an HD World
For years, peripherals have been I/O-bound. No matter how fast calculations were going on inside a computer, printers can print only so fast, modem speeds are at the mercy of the cable or phone company, and peripherals like hard drives are sometimes starving for throughput. Yet data streams keep getting denser. Television has gone from black and white, to color, to widescreen, to high-definition. Movies have evolved from a mono optical soundtrack to multi-channel surround. Music recording is now being done routinely at 24-bit/96 kHz (or even 192 kHz) instead of 16-bit/44.1 kHz. What’s more, all of these streams often work together — and until Thunderbolt, getting all that data from the computer to its peripherals resembled the kind of traffic jams that happen when four lanes of highway have to narrow down to one lane during construction.
Thunderbolt, despite being relatively new, has such obvious potential not just for present data needs but also for the future that it’s already been adopted by a wide variety of companies. Most importantly, there’s no significant penalty for being an “early adopter” because of the way Thunderbolt accommodates older peripherals. If there’s any market to which Thunderbolt speaks, it’s high-definition audio and video. With both consumer and pro gear turning in that direction, Thunderbolt is an idea whose time has come.
— Craig Anderton
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