Greatest exterior arduous drives for Mac 2024

The unique Seagate Extremely Contact was a pocket-size arduous drive with an attractively slim and light-weight design. It was a reasonably outdated design although, restricted to both 1TB or 2TB of storage, and it was nonetheless utilizing an outdated USB 3.0 interface that required an adaptor in an effort to work with extra trendy Macs and PCs with USB-C.

This up to date model of the Extremely Contact updates most points of the drive’s design. It’s barely bigger and heavier, however now begins with a minimal of 2TB storage, with 4TB or 5TB fashions additionally accessible when you want further storage. This new mannequin now has a USB-C interface too, with a prolonged (50cm) USB-C cable included as effectively.

The 2TB mannequin – which is completed in cloud white – remains to be pretty slim, measuring simply 13.2mm thick, 80mm huge and 115mm lengthy, and weighing a modest 168g, so it’s choice when you simply want a light-weight, moveable drive that you may slip into your pocket or a bag. The 4TB and 5TB fashions are completed in a darker pebble gray and are barely bigger and heavier, measuring 23mm thick and weighing 267g.

You may’t purchase the Extremely Contact immediately from Seagate, so that you’ll have to buy round on-line, and costs do appear to fluctuate quite a bit. Seagate pricing is as follows: $164.99/£179.99 for 5TB, $159.99/£154.99 for 4TB, $99.99/£109.99 for 2TB. Nevertheless, the typical costs that we got here throughout throughout testing had been round $79.99/£99.99 for the 2TB mannequin that we examined, whereas the 4TB and 5TB fashions are round $124.99/£139.99 and $207.99/£164.99 respectively.

Efficiency is much like that of the unique Extremely Contact, at 130MB/s for each learn and write speeds, which is round common for a conveyable drive equivalent to this. The Extremely Contact consists of some further options too, equivalent to the flexibility to create mirror folders in your Mac and the Extremely Contact drive which might be robotically synced and up to date everytime you make any adjustments to these folders. The Toolkit app additionally supplies 256-bit encryption and password safety for additional safety, making the Extremely Contact choice for individuals who have to preserve vital recordsdata safe after they’re working away from the workplace. Clients within the US can even use Seagate’s Information Restoration service to rescue recordsdata within the occasion that the drive is broken (though this service isn’t accessible in all areas).–Cliff Joseph

LaCie’s Cellular Drive has been on our record of the most effective arduous drives for Mac customers for some time and this model was launched in 2022. The 2022 Cellular Drive adopts an Apple-style slimline, rectangular design with easy rounded corners with the LaCie emblem proper within the middle.

Costs begin at a aggressive $79.99/£69.99 for a drive with 1TB storage (that’s a worth minimize from the preliminary £79.99 within the U.Ok.), however there are additionally fashions with 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB accessible too. The 1TB and 2TB fashions measure simply 10.4mm thick, 85mm huge, and 118mm lengthy, and weigh 200g, so that they’re simple to select up and carry round together with your laptop computer. The 4TB and 5TB fashions are slightly thicker – at 20.4mm – and weigh 300g, however that’s nonetheless dimension for moveable arduous drives that present such excessive capability. They’re all constructed out of recycled aluminum, and durable sufficient to deal with life on the street.

You should utilize them on your Time Machine backups, however LaCie’s ToolKit app – for macOS 10.14 or later – additionally lets you create a Mirror folder that’s robotically up to date everytime you make any adjustments to the recordsdata or information inside that folder.

The drive has a USB-C interface, with a USB-C cable included within the field, and recorded write and skim speeds of 126MB/s and 130MB/s respectively when operating the BlackMagic Disk Velocity Check. There are quicker arduous drives accessible, however that’s nonetheless a good pace for a compact arduous drive equivalent to this, and the Cellular Drive 2022 stays , inexpensive backup drive for MacBook house owners – and even house owners of desktop Macs who may have the bigger 4TB or 5TB fashions. —Cliff Joseph

The ArmorATD begins at $99.99/£89.99 for 1TB, rising to $229.99/£225.99 for the brand new 6TB mannequin.

It’s an enclosure with a 2.5-inch arduous drive inside that’s shock-mounted, and the rugged aluminum case is surrounded by a silicon sock for additional safety. It’s going to face up to minor abuse, extra when off than on and the disks are spinning, however your finest wager with any arduous drive is to not deal with it like a hockey puck. The connection is USB-C with a pace ranking of 5Gbps (USB 3.1/Gen 1)–lots quick sufficient for any arduous drive. The drive guarantee is for 3 years.

You’ll get round 120MBps writing and 127MBps studying most (with massive recordsdata) from the ArmorATD in your Mac. Great things. The Armor ATD arrives formatted to exFAT so that you’re good to exit of the field underneath each macOS and Home windows. Nevertheless, exFAT will extract a 5 % max penalty, so Mac customers will wish to reformat the drive. –Jon L. Jacobi

The WD My Passport Extremely for Mac is a 2.5-inch exterior USB arduous drive that gives a reasonably respectable storage capability of 6TB for round $200/£200. The 5TB unit presently presents the most effective bang on your buck at $28 per terabyte. 

The drive delivers 110MBps learn and write pace, making it appropriate for media streaming and Time Machine backups operating within the background.

The My Passport Extremely for Mac encompasses a USB-C port. Till lately, exterior 2.5-inch USB arduous drives unanimously used USB micro-B SuperSpeed connectors (for additional energy) on the drive and USB-A on the opposite finish of the cable. WD bundles a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A adapter to accommodate older and present connection eventualities. 

The primary time you connect the drive a.dmg file for putting in WD’s Discovery software seems. Discovery can import your information out of your Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive accounts. You’ll additionally discover hyperlinks for the WD Drive Utilities, WD Safety (encryption, password safety), and a branded model of Acronis’s True Picture backup software program. It’s not a nasty software program bundle, you don’t have to make use of it in fact. 

In our checks the My Passport Extremely for Mac delivered a switch charge of as much as 110MBps, which is quick sufficient for a number of audio or film streams. However in a world turning into accustomed to 3GBps pace on USB4/Thunderbolt exterior SSDs it’s possible you’ll not discover this quick.

It’s nonetheless an incredible storage system for a big multimedia assortment and is appropriate for background backup with Time Machine. The My Passport Extremely for Mac is a good storage system for a big multimedia assortment and may stream throughout the community at 2.5Gbps.

Western Digital has up to date its well-liked moveable arduous drive. The 2024 model of My Passport, accessible in darkish blue, presents the world’s first 2.5-inch 6TB mannequin (claims the corporate). There is no such thing as a longer a 1TB model. As a substitute, the vary begins with 2TB for $84.99/£75.99. There are additionally 4TB and 5TB fashions, whereas the 6TB mannequin prices an affordable $184.99/£165.99.

The 2TB mannequin is slimmer and lighter than the others, measuring 13.5mm thick, 75mm huge, and 107mm lengthy, and weighing simply 140g. The 4TB and 5TB fashions enhance to a thickness of 19.2mm, whereas the 6TB mannequin is 20.6mm thick, weighing 210g.

The My Passport drive nonetheless makes use of an ageing USB Micro-B interface, however Western Digital features a USB-A cable with a separate USB-C adaptor for compatibility with newer Macs with USB-C and older Macs with USB-A. We’ve additionally regarded on the My Passport Extremely for Mac (above), which makes use of USB-A pr USB-C by way of an adaptor.

The My Passport drive additionally consists of Western Digital’s Discovery app for Mac and Home windows, offering password safety and encryption options.

The WD Black P10 supplies a extra moveable different to the WD Black D10, which is geared for desktop use. It’s not as quick because the D10, however it could possibly draw energy from a USB port, so you’ll be able to merely plug it into any Mac, PC, or video games console when you’ll want to again up your recordsdata. It’s comparatively massive for a conveyable drive, measuring a chunky 20mm thick, 88mm huge, and 118mm lengthy, however its bolstered casing is sturdy sufficient to deal with being bumped round in a backpack once you’re touring.

The drive is rated at a comparatively modest 140MB/s for each learn and write efficiency, though our checks truly recorded speeds of 120MB/s and 110MB/s for learn and write efficiency respectively. That’s not going to interrupt any information, however it’s positive for the occasional Time Machine backup or for storing a number of video games, pictures, movies, and different multimedia recordsdata. The P10 can be competitively priced, beginning at simply $89.99/£80.99 for a wholesome 2TB of storage. There are 4TB and 5TB fashions accessible too, so the P10 is an effective choice for Mac customers who’ve actually massive collections of pictures and movies that they will’t match onto their Mac’s inside drive.

The one oddity is that the P10 makes use of an growing older USB 3.2 interface. There’s a USB cable included, however it has a USB-A connector, so that you’ll want to supply an adaptor for Macs that solely have USB-C. —Cliff Joseph

Increasingly more folks are actually utilizing a MacBook as their principal laptop, so the pattern with arduous drives lately has been in the direction of smaller, extra moveable drives that you may simply carry round together with your laptop computer. That’s positive when you solely want 1TB or 2TB of storage, however there are occasions when it’s possible you’ll want a bigger, desktop drive that may retailer a number of terabytes of recordsdata and information.

Western Digital’s My Ebook vary of desktop drives has been round for fairly just a few years, however the vary supplies as much as 24TB of storage (we regarded on the 22TB mannequin) – which needs to be greater than sufficient for photographers, designers and video-editors who work with massive, high-res recordsdata each day. Costs truly begin at $134.99 / £120.99 for a My Ebook drive with 4TB of storage, and there are a number of different fashions alongside the way in which earlier than you attain the 22TB drive that we assessment right here, which prices $499.99 / £502.99, and the 24GB drive that prices $579.99 / £570.99.

Not surprisingly, the My Ebook could be very a lot designed for desktop use. It measures 6.7 x 1.9 x 5.5-inches (170 x 49mm x 139mm), and weighs 2.20 kilos (1kg), and in addition requires a mains energy provide, so it’s not a drive that’s going to go away your own home or workplace fairly often.

It’s a bit odd that the drive nonetheless makes use of an growing older USB 3.0 interface, with a USB-A cable supplied for connecting to a Mac or PC, so it’s possible you’ll want to supply a USB-C adaptor for Macs that not have USB-A ports. Nevertheless, the My Ebook does present good safety and safety for all of your recordsdata, with 256-bit encryption and password safety accessible within the WD Safety app for Mac and Home windows.

The drive itself has a three-year guarantee, {and professional} customers may additionally need to join WD’s Information Restoration plan – from $9.99 / £9.99 for 2 years – which may retrieve misplaced information if the drive does get badly broken.

Efficiency is nice too – regardless of the growing older USB interface – with the My Ebook recording learn and write speeds of 215MB/s. That’s virtually twice as quick as a lot of the smaller, moveable drives that we assessment right here, so the My Ebook will probably be choice for individuals who want quite a lot of storage for his or her vital work recordsdata. And if 22TB isn’t sufficient, there’s additionally a mannequin referred to as the My Ebook Duo, which supplies RAID storage choices utilizing two inside arduous drives for a complete of 44TB of storage for $1,119 / £1,289.99.

Seagate has a spread of particular version Firecuda drives that sport designs taken from Marvel and Star Wars movies. There are drives with Spiderman, Boba Fett and the Mandolorian, however our favourite is the ‘small and highly effective’ Child Yoda drive (sure, we all know his title is Grogu, however he’ll at all times be Child Yoda to us). And, when hooked up to your Mac, the drive is even displayed in your desktop with a Child Yoda icon as effectively.

These particular version drives are solely accessible with 2TB storage. They’re priced at $139.99/£139.99 on Seagate’s web site, which is slightly expensive for a 2TB drive so that you’re paying a bit additional for the Star Wars vibe. Some are actually discounted together with Grogu, who’s now $59.99 within the U.S., and we’ve got seen them at decrease costs elsewhere on-line.

It’s slightly bigger than some moveable drives, measuring 14.5mm thick, 80mm huge, and 122mm lengthy. It’s sturdily constructed although and solely weighs 167g, so it’s nonetheless gentle sufficient to only decide it up and slip it onto a bag together with your laptop computer once you’re touring. The one minor oddity with the design is that it makes use of a USB 3.2 interface with a USB-A cable–to supply compatibility with Xbox consoles, apparently, so that you’ll want a USB-C adaptor in case your Mac solely has USB-C.

The Firecuda drive is formatted within the ExFat format for Home windows PCs, however you’ll be able to reformat it for Macs utilizing Disk Utility, and Seagate’s ToolKit app will run on any Mac with macOS 10.14 or later. The drive will work with Time Machine in your Mac, however the ToolKit app additionally lets you create a particular Mirror folder in your Mac that’s at all times stored in sync with an identical Mirror folder on the Firecuda drive. The app even enables you to customise the coloured lighting results for the standing gentle on the entrance of the drive too.

Seagate doesn’t quote a pace for the drive, however we recorded learn and write speeds of 130MB/s in our checks. Skilled customers may choose a quicker arduous drive or SSD, however that’s a good pace for a conveyable arduous drive equivalent to this, and the Firecuda is a extremely good – to not point out severely cute – choice for day-to-day backups in your Mac. –Cliff Joseph

Because the title suggests, LaCie’s 1big Dock is greater than only a easy arduous drive. It begins at $369/£349.99 for a drive with 4TB storage, going as much as $889/£869.99 for 18TB, and its 7,200rpm IronWolf Professional arduous drive supplies robust efficiency with learn and write speeds of 235MBps by way of its Thunderbolt 3 port. That makes it choice for anybody that wants a quick drive for big video, pictures, and audio recordsdata.

The first Thunderbolt port additionally supplies energy for charging a MacBook laptop computer as effectively. You even have the choice of popping open the entrance panel to swap out the usual arduous drive and insert a brand new drive to supply an instantaneous improve.

However the factor that basically makes the 1big Dock stand out from most of its arduous drive rivals is its built-in hub and connectivity options. There’s a second Thunderbolt port that may permit you to join further Thunderbolt and USB-C units, and a DisplayPort 1.4 interface for an exterior monitor.

The entrance of the drive additionally supplies a regular USB 3.0 port and slots for each SD and CompactFlash (CF) reminiscence playing cards, making it an incredible choice for artistic customers who have to import recordsdata from cameras and different units.

There’s additionally a model of the 1big Dock accessible that makes use of quicker solid-state storage too–in fact, it’s fairly a bit costlier. –Cliff Joseph

Western Digital’s WD Black drives are primarily geared toward players who need a quick drive to spice up loading occasions for his or her video games, which explains why the menacing black design of this D10 desktop drive seems like a bit of heavyweight munitions from the Name Of Responsibility video games. However a quick drive will even enchantment to anybody that has quite a lot of pictures, movies, and audio recordsdata that they wish to retailer on their Mac, and the D10 has different options that may come in useful too.

Some points of the design are slightly odd. There’s just one model accessible, with 8TB storage, though its $240/£199.99 price ticket on Amazon remains to be aggressive for a quick drive equivalent to this. It’s geared up with solely an outdated USB A interface (though it’s USB 3.2) maybe to supply compatibility with older video games consoles, so that you’ll want an adapter in case your Mac solely has USB-C.

Its 7,200-rpm drive supplies superb efficiency, reaching learn and write speeds of 245MBps and 240MBps, respectively. The D10 requires an exterior energy provide, so it’s very a lot designed for desktop use, however it additionally has two further USB 3.2 ports on the again of the drive that may present energy to different units, equivalent to an iPhone or iPad. These ports are just for charging, although, so you’ll be able to’t use the D10 as a dock for connecting peripherals equivalent to a printer or reminiscence stick. –Cliff Joseph