Greatest exterior laborious drives for Mac 2024-2025

The unique Seagate Extremely Contact was a pocket-size laborious 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 It was a reasonably outdated design although, restricted to both 1TB or 2TB of storage, and it was nonetheless utilizing an outdated USB 3.0 interface that required an adaptor with a purpose to work with extra fashionable Macs and PCs with USB-C.

This up to date model of the Extremely Contact updates most elements 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 out there when you want extra storage. This new mannequin now has a USB-C interface too, with a prolonged (50cm) USB-C cable included as properly.

The 2TB mannequin – which is completed in cloud white – continues to be pretty slim, measuring simply 13.2mm thick, 80mm vast and 115mm lengthy, and weighing a modest 168g, so it’s a superb choice when you simply want a light-weight, moveable drive which you could 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’ll be able to’t purchase the Extremely Contact instantly 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. Nonetheless, 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 similar to this. The Extremely Contact consists of some extra options too, similar to the power 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 modifications to these folders. The Toolkit app additionally offers 256-bit encryption and password safety for additional safety, making the Extremely Contact a superb choice for individuals who must maintain vital information safe after they’re working away from the workplace. Prospects within the US may use Seagate’s Knowledge Restoration service to rescue information within the occasion that the drive is broken (though this service isn’t out there in all areas).–Cliff Joseph

LaCie’s Cellular Drive has been on our record of the very best laborious 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 heart.

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.Okay.), however there are additionally fashions with 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB out there too. The 1TB and 2TB fashions measure simply 10.4mm thick, 85mm vast, and 118mm lengthy, and weigh 200g, in order that they’re simple to choose up and carry round together with your laptop computer. The 4TB and 5TB fashions are just a little thicker – at 20.4mm – and weigh 300g, however that’s nonetheless a superb dimension for moveable laborious 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 need to use them to your Time Machine backups, however LaCie’s ToolKit app – for macOS 10.14 or later – additionally permits you to create a Mirror folder that’s robotically up to date everytime you make any modifications to the information or knowledge 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 Pace Check. There are sooner laborious drives out there, however that’s nonetheless a good pace for a compact laborious drive similar to this, and the Cellular Drive 2022 stays a superb, reasonably priced backup drive for MacBook house owners – and even house owners of desktop Macs who might 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 laborious drive inside that’s shock-mounted, and the rugged aluminum case is surrounded by a silicon sock for additional safety. It is going to stand up to minor abuse, extra when off than on and the disks are spinning, however your finest guess with any laborious 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)–loads quick sufficient for any laborious drive. The drive guarantee is for 3 years.

You’ll get round 120MBps writing and 127MBps studying most (with massive information) from the ArmorATD in your Mac. Good things. The Armor ATD arrives formatted to exFAT so that you’re good to exit of the field below each macOS and Home windows. Nonetheless, 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 laborious drive that provides a fairly respectable storage capability of 6TB for round $200/£200. The 5TB unit at the moment gives the very best bang to 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 incorporates a USB-C port. Till not too long ago, exterior 2.5-inch USB laborious 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 situations. 

The primary time you connect the drive a.dmg file for putting in WD’s Discovery software seems. Discovery can import your knowledge 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 foul 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 price of as much as 110MBps, which is quick sufficient for a number of audio or film streams. However in a world changing into accustomed to 3GBps pace on USB4/Thunderbolt exterior SSDs you could not discover this quick.

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

Western Digital has up to date its in style moveable laborious drive. The 2024 model of My Passport, out there in darkish blue, gives the world’s first 2.5-inch 6TB mannequin (claims the corporate). There is no such thing as a longer a 1TB model. As an alternative, 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 vast, 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 through 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 offers 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 draw energy from a USB port, so you possibly can merely plug it into any Mac, PC, or video games console when it is advisable again up your information. It’s comparatively massive for a conveyable drive, measuring a chunky 20mm thick, 88mm vast, and 118mm lengthy, however its bolstered casing is sturdy sufficient to deal with being bumped round in a backpack whenever you’re touring.

The drive is rated at a comparatively modest 140MB/s for each learn and write efficiency, though our checks really recorded speeds of 120MB/s and 110MB/s for learn and write efficiency respectively. That’s not going to interrupt any data, but it surely’s advantageous for the occasional Time Machine backup or for storing plenty of video games, pictures, movies, and different multimedia information. 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 out there too, so the P10 is an efficient choice for Mac customers who’ve actually massive collections of pictures and movies that they will’t match onto their Mac’s inner drive.

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

You have to to reformat the Mac you will have to reformat the Seagate Enlargement Desktop with a Mac. As soon as full, the drive needs to be detected and it is possible for you to to make use of it as you’ll any laborious drive.

It measures roughly 7-inches lengthy, by 4.9-inches vast, by 1.65-inches thick and weighs round 2.5-pounds and is available in black with loads of air flow grating, and diagonal grooves spicing up considerably what would in any other case be a bland countenance. It’s not dangerous wanting.

The Seagate Enlargement Desktop is out there in a wide range of capacities and might present as much as 24TB in a single unit. You received’t get that a lot storage in an SSD, and even when you might it will price loads lower than the identical allocation in an SSD. After all, the distinction is that an SSD is loads sooner, however our 16TB check unit was loads sooner than you would possibly assume. As an alternative of the standard 120- to 140MBps its smaller 2.5-inch cousins learn and write at, the Enlargement Desktop managed virtually 280MBps.

Whereas it’s not quick in comparison with an SSD, the Enlargement Desktop is workable for streaming and background operations, is much sooner than 2.5-inch exterior HDDs, and also you certain as heck can’t beat the capability.

Increasingly more individuals at the moment are utilizing a MacBook as their predominant pc, so the pattern with laborious drives in recent times has been in direction of smaller, extra moveable drives which you could simply carry round together with your laptop computer. That’s advantageous when you solely want 1TB or 2TB of storage, however there are occasions when you could want a bigger, desktop drive that may retailer a number of terabytes of information and knowledge.

Western Digital’s My E-book vary of desktop drives has been round for fairly just a few years, however the vary offers 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 information daily. Costs really begin at $134.99 / £120.99 for a My E-book 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 evaluation right here, which prices $499.99 / £502.99, and the 24GB drive that prices $579.99 / £570.99.

Not surprisingly, the My E-book may 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 depart your private home or workplace fairly often.

It’s a bit odd that the drive nonetheless makes use of an ageing USB 3.0 interface, with a USB-A cable offered for connecting to a Mac or PC, so you could want to offer a USB-C adaptor for Macs that not have USB-A ports. Nonetheless, the My E-book does present good safety and safety for all of your information, with 256-bit encryption and password safety out there 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 Knowledge Restoration plan – from $9.99 / £9.99 for 2 years – which may retrieve misplaced knowledge if the drive does get badly broken.

Efficiency is nice too – regardless of the ageing USB interface – with the My E-book recording learn and write speeds of 215MB/s. That’s virtually twice as quick as many of the smaller, moveable drives that we evaluation right here, so the My E-book will probably be a superb choice for individuals who want a number of storage for his or her vital work information. And if 22TB isn’t sufficient, there’s additionally a mannequin known as the My E-book Duo, which offers RAID storage choices utilizing two inner laborious drives for a complete of 44TB of storage for $1,119 / £1,289.99.

Seagate has a variety 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 identify 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 properly.

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

It’s just a little bigger than some moveable drives, measuring 14.5mm thick, 80mm vast, and 122mm lengthy. It’s sturdily constructed although and solely weighs 167g, so it’s nonetheless gentle sufficient to simply decide it up and slip it onto a bag together with your laptop computer whenever 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 offer 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 possibly can 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 permits you to 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 allows 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 would possibly choose a sooner laborious drive or SSD, however that’s a good pace for a conveyable laborious drive similar to this, and the Firecuda is a very good – to not point out critically cute – choice for day-to-day backups in your Mac. –Cliff Joseph

Because the identify suggests, LaCie’s 1big Dock is greater than only a simple laborious 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 laborious drive offers sturdy efficiency with learn and write speeds of 235MBps through its Thunderbolt 3 port. That makes it a superb choice for anybody that wants a quick drive for big video, pictures, and audio information.

The first Thunderbolt port additionally offers energy for charging a MacBook laptop computer as properly. You even have the choice of popping open the entrance panel to swap out the usual laborious drive and insert a brand new drive to offer an on the spot improve.

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

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

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

Western Digital’s WD Black drives are primarily geared toward players who desire a quick drive to spice up loading instances for his or her video games, which explains why the menacing black design of this D10 desktop drive appears to be like like a chunk of heavyweight munitions from the Name Of Responsibility video games. However a quick drive can even attraction to anybody that has a number of pictures, movies, and audio information that they wish to retailer on their Mac, and the D10 has different options that may come in useful too.

Some elements of the design are just a little odd. There’s just one model out there, with 8TB storage, though its $240/£199.99 price ticket on Amazon continues to be aggressive for a quick drive similar to this. It’s outfitted with solely an outdated USB A interface (although it’s USB 3.2) maybe to offer 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 offers 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, but it surely additionally has two extra USB 3.2 ports on the again of the drive that may present energy to different units, similar to an iPhone or iPad. These ports are just for charging, although, so you possibly can’t use the D10 as a dock for connecting peripherals similar to a printer or reminiscence stick. –Cliff Joseph