Welcome to our pick of the best external hard drives for Macs. In this guide we'll look at the top external hard drives that offer quick and easy (as well as affordable) ways to expand the storage space of your Mac or MacBook. Macs, iMacs and especially MacBooks are notoriously difficult when it comes to upgrading the internal hard drives, which means if you're running out of storage space it's best to move some of your files onto a external hard drive, and in this list of the best external hard drives for Macs, we look at external drives that have been especially made for Apple MacBooks and Mac computers.
This means they are all compatible with Apple's file system, and many make use of the range of high speed ports that Macs come with, such as Thunderbolt. We've also chosen these hard drives based on their ease of use, affordability and dependability. This last consideration is perhaps the most important, as when you're entrusting your important files to an external hard drive, you need to be confident that it won't break and lose your data. Western Digital My Passport 4TB. Not the fastest drive With compatibility for both Mac and Windows machines, the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC is very flexible, and comes with a rugged case that's dust and water resistant, along with a built-in USB 3.0 cable. Not only is your data kept protected from knocks and drops with the rugged shell, but it's also got 256-bit AES security features and NFC (Near Field Communication) features as well. This is a great external hard drive for your Mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure.
Seagate Innov8 8TB. You need USB-C ports to take advantage of speed You may have stumbled upon the when perusing the Apple website for. There’s a reason for that: the Porsche Design ships with both USB Type-C to Type-A and USB Type-C to Type-C connectors, making it a worthy candidate regardless of your setup. It’s expensive for an external hard drive, don’t get us wrong, especially if you’re in the market for the top-end 4TB option. On the other hand, this is an HDD that could theoretically output speeds of up to 5Gbps, if it weren’t hindered by the limits of SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) technology.
With MacBooks coming with USB Type-C connections, this is an excellent - and stylish - external hard drive that makes the most of this speedy new port. IStorage diskAshur 2TB. Expensive If you're worried about people getting access to your data if your external hard drive is stolen, than you'll like the iStorage drive here. If someone tries to tamper with your iStorage drive, you can configure it to self-desturct. What's more, the data is encrypted by the 256-bit AES protocol, with multiple forms of protection in place to ensure the bad guys don't get in no matter how persistent.
When you consider all that extra security, the prices won't scare you away either. It's more pricey than the other drives of its capacity, but the extra security it offers will be well worth it for many people. Check out our list of the.
Does the drive have a letter assigned to it in Windows? You may have a corrupted file system on the drive. If it has a letter, you can check by doing the following: If you are using Vista or higher, you will first need to open an elevated command prompt. From the Start Menu, under Accesories find Command Prompt and right click. Select Run As Adminstrator and accept the User Account Control prompt.
WD passport is included with an application which is useful to check the disk health, backup and to manage the disk. The reason behind naming it as passport is it is designed with the same dimenctions of a passport which is portable to carry in pocket. WD passport Ultra comes next to WD passport. It is a bit slimmer than normal WD passport.
If you are using XP you can just run the Command Prompt. When the command prompt appears, type CHKDSK driveletter: /F (replacing driveletter with your assigned letter).
It will check the file system and attempt to correct any errors. However, be aware depending on its condition you may still end up with corrupted files. Some times this corruption can occur when unplugging from your TV or not safely removing the device from your computer. If this is a portable drive (no separate power supply), then this may be a power issue. Portable hard drives require a fair bit of power, and while they SHOULD fall within the USB specs (500mA for USB 2.0), some demand a little more. Equally, some hosts (computers, TVs etc) provide just a little below spec, so sometimes you get a bad combination.
To test this theory, try the HD on a number of different USB ports on different computers (not just your PC & Mac) and see if they can be read on any of them. If this is indeed the problem, and none of the ports on your computers provide enough power, then there are two things you can do: 1) get a USB 'Y' cable which will aggregate the power from two different sockets or 2) use an external power supply if your HD has a socket for one (if it does not, you may be able to obtain another HD enclosure, which does have such a connection, and transfer the drive itself to it.