- Best portable external hard drive for mac for mac#
- Best portable external hard drive for mac portable#
- Best portable external hard drive for mac Pc#
- Best portable external hard drive for mac professional#
This Western Digital external drive promises capacities from an already roomy 3 TB all the way up to an absurdly spacious 18 TB in case you’re storing tons of data. It’s one of the best external hard drives for PC. Why it made the cut: WD’s solid reputation and extensive suite of useful utilities make this a simple way to handle storage for most people. The best external hard drives: Reviews & Recommendations Best external hard drive for PC: Western Digital My Book Make sure the drive you choose comes with the correct cable or buy an upgraded cable to get you the connection you need. Most current drives use a mixture of USB-C and USB 3.0. You’ll want to make sure your drive will connect to your computer. Macs are more likely to require formatting the drive. Typically PCs can expect to connect and immediately start using a drive. Some, however, might need reformatting before they’ll connect to one of the platforms.
Best portable external hard drive for mac Pc#
FormattingĪlmost any drive will work on PC or Mac.
Best portable external hard drive for mac portable#
Portable drives typically offer smaller capacities and typically slower transfer speeds, so they aren’t ideal if they’re always going to sit on your desk or you’re trying to back up huge libraries of data. Some drives can draw enough power from their USB ports, while others require an AC adapter connected to the wall. Also, if you don’t need fast transfer speeds or large capacities, you may also be able to opt for a portable drive that doesn’t need external power. Lots of storage is good to have, but you don’t want to pay extra for space that will sit unused for the life of the device. Most drives measure their capacity by terabyte, which represents 1,000 gigabytes. When it comes to capacity, you should have a real idea of how much data you have and how much you’ll have in the future. SSDs are typically faster and smaller, but typically limit the amount of data they can hold. All the entries on this list are hard drives, which means they have spinning platters inside to store their data. It’s worth knowing the difference between SSDs and HDDs. Here are some things you should know before digging into the world of external hard drives. Things to consider before buying an external hard drive
We also gathered input from other professionals and users. We directly compared dozens of drives on criteria such as price, feature set, size, and reliability. In addition to first-hand research, we also scoured online sources and editorial reviews.
During that time, I’ve gone through literally dozens of different hard drives, which has given me valuable personal experience.
Best portable external hard drive for mac professional#
I have also worked as a professional photographer and videographer. I have been writing about gadgets and computer gear for nearly two decades now. Best with encryption: Apricorn Aegis Padlock.