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.

1. Wireless Hard Drive For Mac
2. Best Wireless Backup Hard Drive For Mac

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?

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. 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. 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. Tag: best wifi external hard drive, wifi external hard drive, wifi external hard drive for mac When I begin my work in the morning, I love the clutter free look that my work table sports. Shop for Mac external hard drives at Best Buy. Compare and read customer reviews to purchase the Apple hard drive that fits your needs.

Contents

Top 6 External Hard Drives for Mac

WD My Book 3TB	Seagate 2TB USB 3.0 Backup Plus Slim Portable	LaCie Porsche Design P'9233 3TB	WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo 8TB	Silicon Power Armor A60
Rank	#1 - Editor's Choice	#2	#3	#4	#5
Amazon Rating
Capacity	3 TB	2 TB	3 TB	8 TB	1 TB
Architecture	Magnetic hard drive	Magnetic Hard Drive	Magnetic Hard Drive	Magnetic Hard Drive	Magnetic Hard Drive
Filesystem	HFS+	HFS+	HFS+	HFS+	Unformatted
Connectivity	USB 3.0	USB 3.0	USB 3.0	Thunderbolt	USB 3.0
Weight	2.23 lb	4.8 oz	2.3 lb	5.1 lb	8 oz
Time Machine Support
Special Features	Hardware encryption	Free 200GB OneDrive Storage	Automatic Eco Mode	RAID Support	Shockproof and Waterproof
Price	$109	$119	$139	$576	$58
Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now

#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.

Things 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

• The most important part of any external hard drive is the mechanism by which it connects to your computer. Without the right I/O, the best hard drive in the world is little more than a paperweight.
  • If you have the Retina MacBook, Apple’s newest portable that only has one USB-C port, you’ll need a hard drive that supports USB-C, or a USB-C adapter.
  • Other Macs ship with a combination of USB, Thunderbolt and FireWire ports, giving you the option to choose the interface that’s best for you.
  • For example, Thunderbolt offers transfer speeds in the neighborhood of 10Gbps, while USB 3.0 and FireWire 800 offer speeds of 5Gbps and 800 Mbps respectively. This makes Thunderbolt the obvious choice for data intensive operations where speed is of paramount importance, while USB 3.0 is more widely used with a greater variety of available devices.

Network Support

• Many modern external hard drives offer built-in wireless support.
• This can be a convenient alternative to the various I/O methods, allowing you to access the drive and transfer files over WiFi.
• Still other external hard drives go a step further by providing the ability to create a mobile hotspot, making it easy for connected devices to access files and stream data and videos from the external drive.

Portability

• Another significant factor when considering an external hard drive is the portability of the unit. By their nature, all external hard drives offer a degree of portability. The degree, however, depends on the model.
• Some models offer sleek, slim lines that, while visually appealing, may not offer the rugged mobility you may require. Others, while bulkier, may offer greater padding and shock absorption.
• Will you be using the drive primarily at your desk? Or will the drive travel with you outside of the home or office? Another consideration is whether you need power. How long will you be using the drive on-the-go? If you plan on using it for an extended period, one with an internal battery may be you best option.

Time Machine Compatibility

• Time Machine is Apple’s automatic backup solution, keeping multiple revisions of your files. It “makes hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months. The oldest backups are deleted when your backup drive is full.”
• To get the most of any external hard drive, it needs to be one that supports Time Machine.

Drive Architecture

• The architecture of the drive is another important consideration, one which will have a direct bearing on performance, ruggedness and cost.
• For decades the default hard drive mechanism was a spinning, magnetic platter, or disk. As hard drive capacities increased over time, limitations in the capacity of a single platter led to multiple platters being paired together to act as a single drive.
  • While this allows hard drives to offer terabytes worth of storage, the more platters a hard drive contains the more complicated they become, and the greater the theoretical risk of corruption or failure.
• In recent years, SSDs have come into wider use. Unlike traditional drives, SSDs are based on flash memory, giving them faster performance. Because they have no moving parts, they are more rugged, less prone to shock damage and are generally more reliable.
  • The cost of manufacturing SSDs, however, makes them a more expensive option than traditional hard drives and they currently do not offer the same capacity.

Drive Performance

• Traditional hard drives offer a range of performance, measured in RPMs.
• The most common options are 5,400RPM and 7,200RPM.
  • Drives spinning at 7,200 RPM will be faster at both read and write operations, but may come at a premium price compared to their 5,400RPM counterparts. The higher speed may also come at the cost of power consumption, making 5,400RPM drives a more appealing option for mobile drives that have their own battery power supply.

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.

Mac External Hard Drive Reviews

Best music manager for mac. These days everyone is purchasing external hard drives for their computers, because you never know what’s going to happen. Should you lose your computer, or if something happens to its hard drive, then you have completely lost the data on your computer. That means that owning and using an external drive is a smart way to store your information in a separate location, so that you’re prepared in case the unexpected should happen.

Also, people have more data than ever, when you consider all the photos, videos, music, and so much more that folks keep on their computers. Even MacBooks aren’t designed to store all this information, and that’s why an external hard drive will help you to clear some space on your computer. Lets take a look at the top rated Mac external hard drives so that you can be well on your way to finding the right drive for you and your unique requirements.

Top 10 Mac External Hard Drives

Picture	Hard Drive	HDD Capacity (GB)	Data Transfer Rate (MB/s)
	Western Digital	1,000 - 3,000	480
	Toshiba	500 - 3,000	100
Seagate	500 - 2,000	120
	G-DRIVE	1,000	136
	My Passort	500 - 1,000	640
	Buffalo	500 - 1,000	480
	U32 Shadow	500 - 2,000	450
	Air	1,000	640
	Mac	500 - 2,000	640
	Studio	500 - 2,000	800

1. Western Digital

Best Overall Mac External Hard Drive

This backup drive for your Mac is manufactured by WD and features a secure portable storage capacity of up to 3TB. You also get an optional 256-bit AES hardware encryption if you so choose. This drive is compatible with Apple Time Machine as well, and its stylish design adds an overall creative style to your work desk.

You get a whopping USB 3.0 connectivity, and the drive is formatted for MAC OS X, so reformatting will be required for Windows. With a 3 year limited warranty, you can be sure that this drive is going to stand the test of time, and should anything go wrong, it’s easy to simply return it for a refund.

The chances are there’s not going to be any reason to return this drive because it’s solidly constructed and made from only the best materials. Perfect for all your backup and storage needs, you’re going to see that this drive outperforms the rest, and that’s why it’s one of the top rated models on the market.

– Darius Spieth

2. Toshiba

Best Overall Mac External Hard Drive – Runner Up

With its 1 TB capacity and 5400 RPM speed, this backup drive is a top pick because it provides ample storage and comes in a sleek design. This is a USB 3.0 powered portable device that gives you all the add-on storage that you crave, and at a price that you can afford. With its plug and play operation, it’s easy to use this device with no software to install.

The drive accommodates large digital files with a spacious storage capacity that customers swear by. Also, the body of this drive is compact, and smudge-resistant so that you don’t have to deal with unsightly fingerprints. All in all, this is a top rated external drive for Mac because it offers ample storage space in the perfect sized device.

It’s easy to carry on the go, and you can be confident when you’re using it that you’re getting a safe and effective means of saving your important data, so that you can retrieve it whenever you need it most.

– Darius Spieth

3. Seagate

Best Budget Mac External Hard Drive

This external hard drive from Seagate is the perfect solution for backing up your Mac. You get 200GB of free OneDrive cloud storage for up to 2 years, and this is included with your purchase when you register a new Backup Plus drive. After you have registered the drive on seagate.com, you then get an added 200GB on your new or existing OneDrive account.

You can only redeem one offer with your OneDrive account, but you’re going to see that this is really all the storage that you’re going to need. The program allows you to create customized backup plans that include the signature Seagate dashboard software. You can also backup your mobile device photos and videos anytime using the Lyve App which works automatically.

You experience the fastest file transfer with powerful USB 3.0 connectivity. Also, the USB powered backup drive needs no power supply to operate. All in all, what you’re getting here is a tremendous backup drive that is going to give you all the storage that you so desperately need.

– Darius Spieth

Summary of Our Top Picks
Mac computers are superior in a number of different ways, but they’re not completely perfect. Like all computers, they have a limited amount of storage, and in our data-heavy lives, this storage can run out in no time. Owning an external hard drive for your Mac is a wonderful way to not only have a place for this excess data, but also store it safely in case anything should happen to your computer.

We highlighted the top rated external hard drives on the market, and these are popular because they have an ample amount of storage, are affordable, and constructed from the highest quality materials. These top rated models also have the latest technology that makes them easy to use and reach lightening-fast speeds.

If you’re not yet convinced that one of these drives is right for you, then you can take a look at this buyer’s guide to find some other options that are out there for you. Each drive is so different, so it’s important to know what options are available to you so that you can make an informed decision.

Mac External Hard Drive Comparison

Western Digital View	Toshiba View	Seagate View	G-DRIVE View	My Passport View	Buffalo View	U32 Shadow View	Air View	Mac View	Studio View
Interface Transfer Rate (GB/s)	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	10.00	4.80	5.00	5.00	5.00
HDD Capacity (GB)	1,000 – 3,000	500 – 3,000	500 – 2,000	1,000	500 – 1,000	500 – 1,000	500 – 2,000	1,000	500 – 2,000	500 – 2,000
Disk Speed (RPM)	7,200	5,400	5,400	7,200	5,400	5,400	4,800	7,200	7,200	7,200
Sustained Data Transfer Rate (MB/s)	480	100	120	136	640	480	450	640	640	800
Warranty (Years)	3	1	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

Mac External Hard Drive Buying Guide

When it comes to finding the right external hard drive for your Mac, you have a lot of options out there. When looking for the right solution, you need to consider how much data you have to store, and whether you have multiple computers that are connected to your home network. You also need to take into account backup speed, the sensitivity of our data, how good you are with computers, and the physical size of the drive. This is going to effect the portability.

How Much Storage Do You Need?

It’s possible to spend up to $200 on a 2 terabyte drive, or even $300 for a 4TB model, but having all that space may not be necessary for you. You basically want to get the largest drive that you can afford, because this will allow you to store all your data for years to come. Keep in mind that your storage is going to accumulate, but it’s about knowing how much data you really have on a consistent basis.

You for sure want to get a drive that has at least the same amount of storage as your computer’s hard drive. The physical size of the drive is another consideration, especially if you want it to be portable. Should you need to take your backup with you, then you want to make sure that it’s small enough to carry.

How Fast Should it Be?

Wireless Hard Drive For Mac

The speed of the external hard drive is another consideration that you need to take into account. Some people think that online storage options are a good idea but the problem is that they’re really too slow. Sometimes after your first backup it can take almost days to complete the next one, and that’s why an external hard drive offers you a faster solution. This makes it quick and easy to store music, videos, and images in a flash. Keep in mind that installation of the drive is going to require a little bit of technical know-how. Once you learn the ropes, you’re going to see that an external hard drive is a great alternative to all other forms of storage.

How Many Computers Do You Have?

This is something you definitely need to consider when buying an external hard drive. If you have many computers running on the same network then consider purchasing a network drive that can cover all these devices at once, and helps you to share data that you save. It’s going to take a little more time to figure out the installation, but in the long run it’s the easiest solution. Also, if your computer is placed near a router then connecting it with an Ethernet cable is a smart choice that is going to give you faster speeds. When you have a wired connection it makes it up to 50 times faster than your usual wireless connection.

Are You Good With Computers?

This is going to help determine which drive you purchase. It’s fairly easy to set up a backup, but when you’re not tech savvy it’s important to choose the simplest option. When it comes to going with the handiest choice, and these are thumb drives and optical discs, it’s going to require you to use multiple discs and devices to get the backup done. A good alternative if you know you’re not adept at technology is an external hard drive that runs without software or a drive that does backup at the push of a button.

Supplementing your Software

You can find inexpensive drives that do not require software but they’re a bit short when it comes to features and flexibility. You can even get software that is bundled with other drives, and these have their limitations as well. Often these are not able to back up onto CDs and DVDs. Third-party backup software is going to be quite inexpensive, and sometimes this option is well worth it. Some operating systems come with their own backup software such as Max OS X 10.5, and these will automatically back up everything that you have and they let you restore anything from a single file onto the entire drive.

It’s possible to restore the most recent version of a file that you have modified, and Time Machine in particular makes it easy to do this. The interface of this is quite simple to use, but it does take a little effort to learn the basics of the backup process. Windows 8 also comes with a backup program that has a feature called ‘File History’ that will backup copies of files similar to the way that Mac OS X does it.

Add More Protection

Should your backup and computer live in the same area then your data can be prone to fire, burglary, flood and other problems. If you want your content to be as safe as possible then consider a supplementary backup that is in a different location. This means that your content will always be safe should something happen to your computer.

Types of Backup

There are a number of different backup options, including internal, external, online services, network drives, and thumb devices. You get the fastest backup with an internal drive, but installation of this can be quite complicated. This kind of backup is also susceptible to malware that may infect the primary drive. Optical discs are quite easy to use, but you’re going to need a lot of them, and the discs themselves are prone to wear and tear.

Thumb drives are another good option and they offer higher capacities than optical drives. Keep in mind that it is easy to lose these and they don’t have the same capacity as hard drives. With all the types of backup that you should consider, an external hard drive seems to be the most appealing.

Conclusion

If you’re someone that owns a lot of data then having an external hard drive is a must to ensure that all that data is safe and secure. Most computers just don’t have the storage capacity that people need, and that is why an outside source helps to take the load off your computer while also keeping this data safe in a remote location. There are a lot of external drives out there to choose from, and when you’re looking for a model that is specifically designed for the Mac then you’re going to see that the options almost seem endless. We highlighted the top rated external drives on the market, and these are praised by customers because they deliver solid performance, durability, and are made from the highest quality materials. You can be confident when you purchase one of these models that you’re getting a product that will safely store all your material and will be able to handle ample volume.

The buyer’s guide took it a step further by highlighting the various features that are available to you. When it comes to finding the right drive for you, it’s really about knowing yourself and what you’re looking for. If you’re someone who is not very tech savvy, then it’s smart to go with a simpler option that isn’t going to require as much installation and upkeep. If you’re very good with technology, then you can select one of the more complicated options that is probably going to work faster and more efficiently. No matter what device you choose, you’re going to love the benefit that you get from owning an external hard drive, and the peace of mind that it gives you.

Best Wireless Backup Hard Drive For Mac

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