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The best external storage
- Considerations before buying
- Hard drive vs SSD: which is best? - The best external hard drives & SSDs
If you're looking for the best external hard drives for Macs and PCs, then you've come to the right place. No matter if you have an Apple device, or run a Windows 10 PC, the external hard drives on this page will let you quickly and easily expand the storage space of your device.
If you're a creative professional, then buying the best external drive for your Mac or PC is essential, as it's likely you'll need to store large files, such as raw video or photographs.
If you're using a laptop or MacBook for your creative work, then you may find your storage space is quite limited, and can quickly run out if you have a lot of files. Rather than opening up your device and fitting a larger hard drive (which is particularly difficult with Mac devices), an external hard drive can be quickly and easily plugged into your device for extra storage space.
Discover the world of external hard drives for Mac. Compare portable, USB and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. Open Menu Close Menu. Shop for Mac external hard drives at Best Buy. Compare and read customer reviews to purchase the Apple hard drive that fits your needs. When most of us think of where our Macs store data, we are used to saying 'the hard drive'. But the truth is, not all drives are physically spinning HDDs anymore, and the Solid State Drive (or SSD) is becoming an increasingly common upgrade for MacBook Pros of all ages.
While Cloud storage is another option, which allows you to store your files online, enabling you to access them from pretty much any internet-connected device, it takes your work out of your hands, and instead leaves them with other companies. Picking something that's reliably safe and has lots of space, speed and value for money is your best bet.
So what sort of external hard drive is best for your needs? An external hard drive or SSD (Solid State Drive) is a device that can plug into your machine, giving you an instant boost to storage space, without having to go down the road of pricey computer upgrades.
The other major plus is the portability of an SSD, take it with you and plug it into another device for instant file swapping – handy if you swap between PCs and Macs regularly.
Right now, our pick for best external hard drive for Mac and PC is the Western Digital My Passport 4TB. It offers the perfect balance of speed, reliability, portability and price. But there are many options out there – scroll down to see our full list of recommendations, and the best external hard drive prices too.
External hard drive storage considerations
There are a number of things to consider when looking for an external hard drive or SSD for your Mac or PC. First, is storage. You'll want to make sure you buy an external storage device that has enough capacity for your needs – without paying for high capacities you'll never use.
Around 500GB is a good sweet-spot for external storage, though you can buy smaller capacities, as well as larger ones at 1TB or greater.
Hard drive vs SSD: which is best?
Another consideration is whether to get an external storage device that uses a traditional hard drive, or one with an SSD. Usually, external hard drives with traditional drives are more affordable and come in larger capacities. There are external SSDs that come with large capacities – but these can be expensive.
SSDs are much faster than traditional hard drives, and because they don't have any mechanical or moving parts, they're generally more robust and smaller in physical size as well.
So, if you want to store huge amounts of data while keeping prices low, an external hard drive is the way to go. But if speed is your top priority – for example, if you move a lot of large files, or want to run programs off the drive – then choose an SSD.
External hard drive connections
The connection between the external hard drive and your Mac or PC is also important. The first generation rectangular USB-A ports are slowly being superseded by the newer, smaller reversible USB-C ports. These are now found on all modern PCs, and Macs.
Some high end PC and Macs, such as the new iMac and MacBook Pro, come with USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt 3. This is the fastest external storage connection there is, and it provides very fast data transfer speeds, though Thunderbolt storage is considerably more expensive than plain old USB. If you're in the market for a new laptop, don't miss our post on the best laptops for graphic design.
The best external hard drives: today's deals
Fancy getting your hands on the best external hard drive deals? Here's our pick of the very best deals we've found today:
Seagate 8TB External Hard Drive:
Save £40: This brilliant deal sees a decent 23% shaved off the retail price of this powerful Seagate 8TB external hard drive. Perfect for providing extra storage for your ever-growing collection of large files.
Seagate Expansion 4TB External Hard Drive:
Save $53.31: This excellent deal from Walmart knocks over $50 off the asking price for this speedy 4TB external hard drive from the experts at Seagate. Its USB 3.0 port is compatible with pretty much any computer, and 4TB is more than enough room for many people. Best external hard drives and SSDs for Mac and PC01. Western Digital My Passport 4TB
The overall best external hard drive for Mac or PC
Capacity: 4TB | Interface: USB 3.0
Today's best Western Digital My Passport 4TB deals
Large capacity
WD backup software is basic
When it comes to the best external hard drives, look no further than the Western Digital My Passport range. This is the latest model to have launched, coming in sizes from 1TB to 4TB. It features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption, along with WD's own backup software.
It also offers top data transfer speeds. And while it doesn't quite offer a similar speed to solid state drive devices, the Western Digital My Passport range hits a brilliant balance between high storage capacities and quick file transfers without knocking the price way up.
02. Samsung Portable SSD T5
Capacity: 250GB - 2TB | Interface: USB 3.1 (Gen 2)
Very good performance
Expensive
The Samsung T5 SSD is a great performing storage device, reaching speeds up to 550 MB/sec, making the most of the USB 3.1 specification. It plugs directly into PCs and Macs with either a newer USB-C port or USB-A, is roughly the size of a matchbox and being a flash storage device, contains no moving parts, so can survive being dropped.
External SSDs may cost considerably more than hard disks, but the extra money and faster speeds go a long way. You’ll be able to easily load edit and save 4K video directly on the T5, which can be very slow with a USB hard disk, you can install applications onto it, or even run an entire alternative operating system off it at full speed, if you’re so inclined.
The downside is the pricing. SSDs give you less capacity for more money, so we don’t recommend the T5 for backup. It’s better to have a bigger hard disk for that and use the T5 in more specialised situations that need all that lovely performance
03. G-Technology G-RAID with Thunderbolt 3
The fastest and largest external hard drive for modern desktop Macs
Capacity: 8TB - 24TB | Interface: Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1
Easy removal of disks
G-Technology has long been a favourite of Mac creative professionals, and no small part of this is the clever use of silver aluminium that perfectly matches Apple’s iMac casing, keeping desktop areas with a uniform appearance.
The latest incarnation of its G-RAID dual hard disk Thunderbolt product isn’t just a start performer, capable of 440 MB/sec transfer rates in RAID 0, which is pretty incredible for hard disks, but it also gives you a few extras.
There's an HDMI 2.2 port on the back, which routes a video signal for an external display over the G-RAID’s Thunderbolt 3 cable, which has plenty of bandwidth to spare even with the hard disk going at full speed. It also has a USB-C port to connect to Macs or PCs that lack Thunderbolt.
Expect to pay a small fortune for the largest capacities, but thanks to the easy drive removal system, you could always buy a cheaper, lower capacity G-RAID and upgrade it with off-the-shelf hard disks yourself.
04. Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt
The most affordable Thunderbolt external hard drive
Capacity: 1TB, 2TB | Interface: Thunderbolt, USB 3.0
Low price compared to other Thunderbolt drives
If you want to make use of your Thunderbolt port, then this Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt is a great option, as it provides twice the speeds of standard USB 3.0 drives. It's also not especially expensive compared to other Thunderbolt drives. This is mainly down to the fact that it's a traditional hard drive, not an SSD, which means it's not quite as fast as it could be – though it will still give you an upgrade to your transfer speeds.
Helpfully, the Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt also comes with a USB 3.0 port for connecting to computers that don't have a Thunderbolt port.
05. LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB
USB-C star
Capacity: 4TB | Interface: USB-C
Today's best LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB deals
Fast USB-C connection
Expensive
The LaCie Porsche Design is one of the best external hard drives for Macs on sale today, and comes with both USB Type-C to Type-A and USB Type-C to Type-C connectors, making it a versatile way to expand the storage space of your Mac, regardless of what ports it has. This is also one of the most stylishly-designed external hard drives on this list, and it comes with a large 4TB capacity (with other sizes available as well), and it performs brilliantly.
06. Adata SD700 External SSD
The best cheap external SSD
Capacity: 256GB, 512GB or 1TB | Interface: USB 3.0
Great performance
No USB Type-C
The Adata SD700 will suit those looking for a rugged storage device that can provide ample capacity without costing too much. It performs superbly well and remains the only SSD we’ve seen that's IP68 rated.
Thanks to the solid state drive that resides in this external hard drive, it's a lot faster than external drives that use traditional spinning hard drives – so you're getting great transfer speeds as well as rugged protection.
It also comes in capacities up to 1TB, so you don't have to worry about missing out on storage space just because it uses an SSD. This Adata drive really does hit all the right notes.
07. WD My Book Duo
The best high capacity external drive for your Mac or PC
Capacity: 4TB - 20TB | Interface: USB-C (Gen 1)
Huge amounts of space
Expensive
Limited performance compared with Thunderbolt drives
If you're looking for the absolute largest capacity external USB hard drive, then the WD My Book Duo Is the one to get, as it now goes all the way to 20TB.
If you don't mind sacrificing some of the ample storage space you can set the drives up in a RAID 1 array, so you have file backups of your files should one of the drives die. This is an excellent feature if you're going to use this device to back up irreplaceable data, such as your creative work, as it adds a level of protection in case things go wrong.
It provides two additional USB ports on the rear, so you can easily insert flash sticks. The device, which comes with two-year warranty, has 256-bit AES hardware encryption, and automatic backup software (WD SmartWare Pro).
It's also worth noting that the enclosure used is fully serviceable and that WD ships the drive already pre-formatted for Windows users (NTFS), so you'll want to reformat it to work with your Mac.
Read TechRadar's review here.
08. LaCie Rugged USB-C
This rugged design is great for storage on the move
Capacity: 1TB - 5TB | Storage Type: Hard Disk | Connector: Type-C | Interface: USB 3.1
Rugged design
Ugly orange casing
Lacie’s rugged hard disk series is instantly recognisable from its orange casing, which is a rubber enclosure that keeps the disk safe from even medium-height drops up to 1.2m, along with your precious data.
According to Lacie it can apparently withstand the pressure of a one-ton car, and is resistant to rain. That makes it a great choice for content creation when you’re out and about, whether you’re participating in daredevil sports, travelling the world, just a bit paranoid or simply clumsy.
Today's best external hard drives and SSDs
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HomeTop & Best ProductsTop 4 Best Flash Drive for Mac (USB 3.0) Till November 2018
Report Data Collected On: 1/Nov/2018
Nothing is much more versatile than a USB flash drive. In fact, flash drive capabilities go beyond transferring and storing files. A computer Pro uses a flash drive to perform other function apart from data storing and transferring.
For instance, launching and playing portable applications right from the flash drive and restoring a virus-ridden PC. This ultra-portable storage device connects to PC, Laptop, desktop, tablet and other devices through a built-in USB Type-A plug.
As a beginner, using a flash drive is never a hard task, all you need to do is to insert the drive into a free USB port in the PC and you are good to go.
On most computers, you will get to know the installation was successful as an alert message that the drive was inserted will appear.
And the flash drive content will appear on the computer screen. The flash drive and its’ content appearance usually depend on your computer configuration among other factors.
Flash drive storage capacities varies, most flash drives in the market have a storage capacity of about 128GB or just 4GB.
However there are other flash drives with smaller and larger capacity out there, but they are harder to find. The largest flash drive in the market has a capacity of 1024 GB (1 TB).
Floppy drives have been completely replaced by flash drives, and in the near future CD, BD and DVD discs will be replaced completely by flash drives too.
This is due to the fact that Flash drives have become very large and inexpensive, unlike other storage devices.
Although we usually find USB flash drives looking almost the same, the USB flash drives varies in terms of speed, size, levels of water resistance, encryption among others. Below is some of the best USB flash drive for MAC.
So, Let’s See How Many Best Flash Drives Are Available For Mac In The Market, In This Month:Top 4th – Kingston Data Traveler 100 G3Best Hard Drives For Laptops
Short Review: Kingston flash drive is one of the best USB flash drives out there that is very much affordable. Not only is it water resistance but it can also handle accidental drops.
Best External Hard Drives For Mac Pro
The water resistance capability is due to it rubberized casing design. With a speed of about 120 MB/s, transferring data takes the shortest time possible.
Nothing makes a computer user happy like a flash drive that is super fast in transferring data. For years now Kingston data traveler has been regarded as one of the best flash drives in terms of speed. Transfer data with ease and in the shortest time possible with Data Traveler USB flash drive. It is said to transfer data at a speed of 120 MB/s.
Data Travelers features dual compatibility. It comes with USB 3.0 connectivity as well as backward compatibility with USB 2.0 connectivity. Another thing about this flash drive is that it can be customized since there is a Co- logo program available to do so
Data traveler comes with both warranty and technical support. Upon purchase, you provided with 5 years warranty and technical support free of charge.
Best Hard Drives For Macbook Pro
Another remarkable feature of this flash drive is it water resistance capability. Data Traveler features a rubberized casing which enhances its water resistance ability.
It handles 3.3 feet of water as well accidental drops. Nothing provides maximum data security like Data Traveler flash drive. It protects your valuable files from both inside and outside harmful elements. In addition, to waterproof and maximum security, Data traveler is also inexpensive.
Top 3rd – CorsairFlash Voyager GO
Short Review:The easiest way to transfer files is by use of CosairFlash Voyager Go USB flash drive. It is designed in a way that it features both a micro-USB connector and a USB.
Thus copying music files or photos to your notebook PC or desktop computer is very easy. You can share media and music to your Smartphone and PCs with ease.
With USB On-The-Go support, Corsair is also supported Android devices.Flash Voyager GO comes with a USB 3.0 connector for Mac or PC as well as a Micro-USB connector for your tablet or Android phone. It supports an Android phone that supports USB OTG (also known as USB-On-The-Go).
If you are looking for a way to store your precious photos or your favorite videos, Voyage is the solution you need.
Also anytime you want to clear more room in your tablet or android phone by sharing some photos or videos you don’t need to look for a USB cable to do so, just insert the Voyage GO drive, select and copy the files you need to store or backup, and then copy them to your desktop computer or laptop.
Unlike cloud storage where you need to hunt for a USB cable and pay a monthly subscription, Voyager GO lets you transfer and store data any time of the day free of charge.
Voyage GO features USB 3.0 connection with your laptop, PC or desktop computer. However, it is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 connection.
Most tablet and Smartphone out there comes with a 16 GB or 32 GB storage capacity. This might seem like enough space to store everything need, but once you have added a number of apps, you will realize that you still need more space.
Upgrading your Smartphone memory card can be very expensive. This is where Voyage Go comes in as it comes with a Micro-USB port that assists in transferring files from your Android phone to your Mac or PC.
Top 2nd – LaCie XtremKey USB 3.0
Short Review:One of the toughest USB flash drives in the market today is XtremKey. Not only is this flash drive water resistance ( in fact it can be submerged at up to 200 M of water) but it is also heat, shock cold and even up to a whooping of about 10 ton of pressure resistance.
This drives features a super speed, actually it can transfer files at the rate of up to 230 MB/S
XtremKey is the best flash drive in terms of data protection, and security in general. It is made of ZAMAC metal alloy which gives it the ability to withstand dizzying drops, severe shock, chilling and scorching temperatures as well as relentless pressure. It protects your data from harmful outside elements as it features to drop, cold, pressure, heat and shock resistance. It also comes with AES 256-bit software encryption that secures your data from inside.
One of the best water resistance flash drives is XtremKey. In fact, it is watertight up to 656 feet (200 meters). The memory modules are found inside a 2mm casing, and the case is sealed with a screw thread, rubber O-ring and a hermetic that are water resistance, thus shielding it from water destruction.
Most computer users like a flash drive with a super speed to help in transferring large files in the shortest time possible. XtremKey comes with the extremely fast speed of up to 230 MB/s that allows you to transfer high-resolution videos and other large files with no time.
Top 1st – PNY PRO Elite USB 3.0 Flash Drive
Short Review: If are looking for a flash drive that will provide speed and convenience then PNY PRO Elite is your drive. Experience the best USB 3.0 performance and get the most out of your computer USB 3.0 port by purchasing a PNY PRO Elite flash drive.
Looking for a way to transfer your large files or store them? Look no more! Not only can PNY PRO Elite store and transfer data but it transfers even large amount of data.
The good thing is that it comes with the write speed of about 250MB/sec and a read speed of about 400 MB/sec; actually, in terms of performance, it is one of the best flash drives in the market for transferring high-resolution photos, large documents, HD videos, and so on.
This flash drive offers various capabilities such as ease plugin, use and play.
Every computer user dream is to have a USB flash drive with the fastest read and write speed. Over the years PNY PRO has been recognized as one of the best flash drive in terms of speed. PNY PRO Elite comes with a speed up to 400 MB/sec and 250 MB/sec, read and write speed respectively; thus making it the best flash drive for transferring files.
Not only does this flash drive have a super speed but it also features a number of capacities. The amount of storage capacity depends on your needs. There are various PNY flash drives in terms of capacity with the largest flash drive having a capacity of 512 GB.
Best Hard Drive For Macbook Pro 2017
PNY PRO can be used on MAC laptop, PCs and even desktop computers that feature USB 3.0 port. This drive is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 connection.
Download: (Free, subscription available) Organize Projects and Thoughts With Mind Maps for organizing your thoughts in a visual way. These mind map apps make it easy. Best mac apps for medical students. Maybe you have a large team project to collaborate on, an in-depth paper to write, or just need to brainstorm ideas.
This flash drive comes with a 2 years warranty, and technical support is also offered free of charge.
And that’s our list of the Top 4 USB Pen Drives specially for MAC – Stay tuned for more! – So, what will you pick, if you wanted one for yourself? Let me know in the comments below:
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