Do you want to know which are the best external hard drives for Mac, either for an iMac or a Macbook? Keeping our digital files safe or having a good external hard drive to perform the essential data backups of our computers has become a critical point at this time. Who wants to lose all their digital memories? Photos, documents, movies, series … absolutely everything we have in digital format and cloud storage is still not cheap enough to save terabytes and terabytes of information at an affordable price. That said, MacOS, Apple’s operating system is very safe and stable, but it never takes another to take a few precautions.
How many external hard drives do you have to have? They are never few. At the moment I am seeing 3 external hard drives and one NAS in front of my desk.
What capacity is recommended? Well, with the drop in prices in recent years, and taking into account the capacity of the hard drives of computers, 2TB would be the recommended capacity. Both movies and TV series are increasingly in better quality, so at the minimum, you will have 100 or 200GB of this type of files. The same happens with the photos (no comment if you shoot with a DSLR in RAW format). You can also consider buying 4TB.
Connectivity? USB 3.0 or USB 3.1, which has a transmission speed of up to 5 Gbit / s: 10 times faster than USB 2.0 (480 Mbit / s). If they have perfect USB-C.
Do we need the backup function that many of these discs bring with them? Not really. It can be useful, but if you have a Mac, Time Machine works really well, and Windows has put the stacks with Windows Backup in its latest versions.
Price? Always below 100 euros if we are talking about 2TB capacities and in the case of HDD hard drives. The normal thing is that we find them for about 70-80 euros. In the case of external SSD hard drives, the price goes up a bit more. Keep reading- 5 MOBILE ACCESSORIES MORE USEFUL THAN IT MAY SEEM
What are the best external hard drives for Mac?
1. Samsung T5 SSD
With a V-NAND flash memory and a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port
It offers a transfer speed of up to 540 MB / s
Samsung T5 SSD is smaller than a business card, weighing only 51 grams and measuring only 10.5 mm thick.
It is possible that its price is not suitable for everyone, but you may not find anything better in 2018. It has an all-metallic design and tremendous security thanks to its encryption possibilities. You have storage options from 256GB to 2TB with a maximum transfer speed of 540MB / s, a perfect speed to “play” with 4K videos and high-resolution photos. It has USB 3.1 type C and Types A ports. Reading and writing speed? Tremendous, it can reach 540MB / sec. It is one of the best external hard drives for Mac.
2. Lacie Porsche Design – Portable External Hard Disk for Mac and PC 4 TB (USB 3.1 Type-C, 2.5 ‘)
4 TB storage capacity
3 mm solid aluminum housing
USB 3.1 Type-C interface
Compatible with MAC and PC
Automatic backup software
Dimensions: 0.99 x 8.41 x 12.8 centimeters
Weight: 191 grams
Possibly the one with the best design and the one that best fits next to a Mac. Its USB-C connection is a great addition. This is a hard drive that could theoretically generate speeds of up to 5 Gbps. It’s expensive, but it’s really worth it. you have fewer storage versions that are cheaper (1TB and 2TB). It is one of the best external hard drives for Mac.
3. WD My Passport – Portable External Hard Drive 2TB (2.5 “, USB 3.0)
Automatic backup included with WD Backup software
Password protection with hardware encryption
USB 3.0 port (compatible with USB 2.0)
Dimensions: 11 x 8.15 x 2.16 centimeters
The weight of 245 grams
You can buy this hard drive with up to 4TB and it has USB 3.0 connectivity. There are several colors and its design is quite striking. It is not exactly thin with 21.5mm. It offers encryption with WD Security and backup options with WD Backup (with synchronization with Dropbox) as the first model. The speed of reading and writing? It can reach 120MB / sec (pretty good)
4. Western Digital Elements – an External hard drive of 2 TB (USB 3.0 and 2.5 “)
The storage capacity of 2 TB
USB 3.0 connection and USB 2.0 compatibility
Plug-and-play
Compatible with Windows and Mac (you have to format it)
Does not require external power
454 grams of weight
Dimensions: 11.05 x 8.2 x 1.5 centimeters
An excellent album to take anywhere. Its design is very accomplished, the transfer speeds are high and it does not need to be connected to the current (fewer cables). It is quite silent and the only downside that can be put is that it has an LED always on. It is one of the best external hard drives for Mac.
5. Toshiba Canvio Basics – Portable External USB 3.0 2.5 Inch (2 TB) Hard Drive
2.5 “external hard drive
Matte finish
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port
Powered by USB
Dimensions: 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB: 78 x 109 x 14 mm, 3 TB: 119 × 70 × 20.5 mm
Another hard drive designed to take from one place to another. It also does not require software installation for its operation, it is compatible with Mac and Windows, and its design is again quite elegant. It goes into hibernation mode when it is not used (the LED light goes out), something interesting to reduce its wear. The LED light tells you what type of port you have connected (blue: USB 3.0 – white: USB 2.0). This comes back very quickly to work from sleep mode. It is very compact, small, light and silent. It is one of the best external hard drives for Mac.
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