Finding the best external hard drive for your Mac can breathe new life into your workflow. Especially if you have a MacBook, iMac or Mac Mini, you may have limited internal upgrade options.
Your guide
Justin Krajeski
If you frequently move large files between computers and want a fast, small device to do it with, you should get a portable SSD. After researching 17 portable SSDs and testing the five most promising in 2019, we found that the 500 GB Samsung T5 was the best. It’s fast, compact, competitively priced, and reliable, and the one we tested has worked well for the past two years.
Our pick
Samsung T5 Portable SSD (500 GB)
Best External Hard Drive For Mac
The Samsung T5 Portable SSD has the best balance of reliability, speed, and size for about the same price as its competition.
Buying Options
*At the time of publishing, the price was $87.
The 500 GB Samsung T5 Portable SSD is about as expensive per gigabyte as other external SSDs. It’s also very light and compact, so you can easily throw it in your bag (or even tuck it inside your pocket) when you’re on the go. The T5 has one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port that supports USB transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps, and unlike other portable SSDs we tested, it includes cables to connect to both new and old devices, as well as useful AES 256-bit hardware encryption to protect your sensitive data. The T5 had software that was pleasant to navigate, with a clean layout; other portable SSDs we tested didn’t include software, or their software was bloated and less intuitive. With the T5, it’s a breeze to set up encryption or check for updates. Plus it has an indicator that lights up when it’s connected and blinks while it’s actively transferring (a minor perk, but one that makes life easier), and it comes with a three-year warranty.
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Also great
Samsung T5 Portable SSD (1 TB)
The 1 TB version of our top pick provides twice the space for about twice the price.
Buying Options
If you want more storage and you’re willing to pay for it, we recommend the 1 TB Samsung T5 Portable SSD. Since higher-capacity solid-state drives often provide slightly improved performance, we expect the 1 TB version to be a little faster than the 500 GB model, although we weren’t able to test it. It’s otherwise identical to the 500 GB model in size and features, and it costs about the same per gigabyte as the 500 GB version.
Runner-up
Western Digital My Passport SSD (512 GB)
The Western Digital My Passport SSD is as quick, reliable, and compact as the Samsung T5, and it costs about the same. But its software is less convenient, and it lacks an indicator light.
Buying Options
If the Samsung T5 is sold out or unavailable, or if the T5 is significantly more expensive, we recommend the 512 GB Western Digital My Passport SSD. Like the T5, the My Passport SSD supports USB 3.1 Gen 2 transfer speeds, and in our testing it was about 10 MB/s slower than the Samsung T5, a borderline imperceptible difference. The My Passport SSD is longer, thinner, and a bit lighter than the Samsung, but they’re both pretty darn compact—and they’re smaller than everything else we tested that performed comparably. It has one USB-C port and comes with a USB-C–to–USB-C cable, as well as a tiny USB-C–to–USB-A adapter, which seems easy to lose compared with the USB-C–to–USB-A cable that comes with the Samsung T5. Like the Samsung—and unlike its competition—the My Passport SSD has AES 256-bit hardware encryption to reliably protect your sensitive information. And it comes with a solid, three-year warranty. But some Amazon reviewers found its software annoying, and it lacks the Samsung’s helpful activity indicator light.
Everything we recommend
Our pick
Samsung T5 Portable SSD (500 GB)
The Samsung T5 Portable SSD has the best balance of reliability, speed, and size for about the same price as its competition.
Buying Options
*At the time of publishing, the price was $87.
Also great
Samsung T5 Portable SSD (1 TB)
The 1 TB version of our top pick provides twice the space for about twice the price.
Buying Options
Runner-up
Best Portable Hard Drives For Mac
Western Digital My Passport SSD (512 GB)
The Western Digital My Passport SSD is as quick, reliable, and compact as the Samsung T5, and it costs about the same. But its software is less convenient, and it lacks an indicator light.
Buying Options
The research
Why you should trust us
Wirecutter has been researching and recommending solid-state drives since 2013, and our PC team has more than 35 years of combined experience testing solid-state drives and hard drives. As Wirecutter’s storage expert, I’ve evaluated all sorts of storage devices—from portable and desktop hard drives to teensy SD and microSD cards—to find the best ones.
Who this is for
Portable hard drives are great for travel and for people who frequently transfer large amounts of data between computers. If you need a drive just to back up your data and you aren’t worried about having the fastest transfer speeds, a portable hard drive is much less expensive, though it’s also slower, larger, less durable, and potentially less secure.
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Portable SSDs are between 3.5 and 6.2 times faster than portable hard drives or desktop external drives. They’re also more secure and much more compact and durable, and they run cooler on less power. However, all those upsides come with a big downside: price. Although prices have gone way down in the past year or so, a 500 GB portable SSD still costs about $100. For the same money, you could get a 4 TB desktop hard drive or portable hard drive. If you wanted a portable SSD with that kind of space on it, you’d have to pay eight times the price of a desktop or portable hard drive—and our picks aren’t even available in this capacity.
If you spend most of your time working from the same desk or you need more than 4 TB of storage, get an external desktop hard drive. It’s even faster than a portable hard drive, but it’s bulky, so don’t plan to travel with it.
A 500 GB portable SSD costs about $100. For the same money, you could get a 4 TB desktop hard drive or portable hard drive.
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Although you can build your own portable SSD by purchasing an SSD and an enclosure to put it in, we don’t recommend it unless you already have a spare SSD that you want to repurpose. It won’t save you any money compared with the Samsung T5, and the resulting drive will require more time and energy to set up. Plus, it lacks the Samsung T5’s easy-to-use encryption software.
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The Best External Hard Drives
From desktop hard drives to NAS to portable solid-state drives, we’ve spent hundreds of hours finding the best external drives for most people.
The best hard drives won’t be anywhere near as fast as the best SSDs. However, they’re got their advantages as well. For example, the best hard drives are so much more affordable and capacious. Plus, a good hard drive can be useful as an extra drive or even an external measure – especially if you have a lot of data to back up.
When you’re in the market for the best hard drive, you need to consider what you want to get out of it. If you want to expand the storage for your PS4 or Xbox One, a 2.5-inch drive or even an external hard drive is going to be perfect. On the other hand, if you have one of the best gaming PCs, and you need somewhere to store all those games, a 3.5-inch drive rated at 7,200RPM should be your top choice and might be one of the best hard drives for you.
Understandably, that's a lot to take in especially if you don't know the ins and outs of computer components. To lend you a hand in choosing the best hard drives for you, we went ahead and gathered the best hard drives we've found.
Best hard drive: Seagate BarraCuda
Interface: SATA 6Gbps | Capacity: 2 – 3TB | Cache: 64MB | RPM: 7,200
It’s almost impossible to talk about hard drives without mentioning Seagate’s BarraCuda lineup – it’s a force to be reckoned with. And, it’s not hard to see why, Seagate BarraCuda drives offer a great gigabyte-per-dollar ratio and speed benefits to top it off. The 2TB model hits a sweet spot by balancing high performance and affordability. Since this drive combines 7,200rpm platters and high density data, computers outfitted with this drive will be able to read data extraordinarily fast.
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Best high capacity hard drive: Toshiba X300
Interface: SATA 6Gbps | Capacity: 4 – 8TB | Cache: 128MB | RPM: 7,200
Even if its laptops aren’t as popular as they used to be, Toshiba is still a huge name in computing, and has a lot to offer. When it comes to the best hard drives, the Toshiba X300 is a high-capacity, high-performance champ worth taking a look at. The X300 drives boast great gigabyte-to-dollar value without sacrificing on performance. These drives all spin at 7,200 rpm and include 128MB of cache for higher speeds. The only downside is the warranty only lasts two years, which feels short for a drive meant to store so much important data.
Best gaming hard drive: WD VelociRaptor
Interface: SATA 6Gbps | Capacity: 250GB – 1TB | Cache: 64MB | RPM: 10,000
When it comes to PC gaming, it’s better to be fast than capacious. So, if you’ve been resisting the allure of an SSD, and looking to kick it old school with one of the best hard drives, the WD VelociRaptor should be up your alley. Not only does this drive have a whopping 10,000 rpm spin speed, but you’re going to want to pay attention to it. With capacities up to 1TB, the VelociRaptor drives are ready to store large game libraries, and the super fast platters will help your games launch and load quickly.
- This product is only available in the US and UK at the time of this writing. Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Seagate FireCuda
Best budget hard drive: WD Blue Desktop
Heavy on storage, light on price
Interface: SATA 6Gbps | Capacity: 500GB – 6TB | Cache: 64MB | RPM: 5,400 – 7,200
Western Digital offers a solid bargain with its line of WD Blue hard drives. With a wide variety of storage options from a small 500GB to a capacious 6TB, the WD Blue is a viable pick for almost any type of PC build that’s sticking to a budget. The best value comes from the larger drives – they’ll give you much more storage per dollar spent. And, if you’re looking for a bit more speed, there are also 7,200rpm models available that don’t come with too much of a price hike.
Best hybrid hard drive: Seagate Firecuda Desktop
Interface: SATA 6Gbps | Capacity: 1TB – 2TB + 8GB | Cache: 64 MB | RPM: 7,200
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SSDs are incredibly popular, and it’s not hard to see why. But, if you need a lot of fast storage, and you don’t have a vault of cash, hybrid hard drives are a great option. The SeaGate FireCuda is the best hybrid hard drive on the market. It can fit up to 2TB of data, and then its 8GB of solid state cache storage learns which data you use most, so that you can access it quickly. That speed boost is even sweeter when you consider that this drive spins at 7,200rpm. With a 5-year warranty and an approachable price tag, it’s easy to see why this is one of the best hard drives you can buy today.
Best NAS hard drive: Seagate IronWolf NAS
Interface: SATA 6Gbps | Capacity: 6 – 12TB | Cache: 256MB | RPM: 7,200
It’s a little unfortunate that the Seagate IronWolf NAS drives come at a premium, but they aren’t priced much more expensively than a standard hard drive at their capacity. However, their native NAS optimization makes that premium totally worth it. These drives are capable of running at a fast 7,200rpm spin rate 24/7 without having to worry about drive failure. Really, if you have one of the best NAS devices for your business or home, the Seagate IronWolf NAS really is your best bet.
Best laptop hard drive: Seagate FireCuda Mobile
Interface: SATA 6Gbps | Capacity: 500GB – 2TB + 8GB | Cache: 64 MB | RPM: 5,400
Best Mac Compatible External Hard Drive
Upgrading the storage in a laptop can be tough, since the hard drives are much smaller. There aren’t a lot of impressive 2.5-inch hard drives, as anything fast comes with a serious markup, but Seagate’s 2.5-inch FireCuda hybrid drive strikes a nice balance. It offers an easy way to add loads of storage to a laptop while also giving it a speed boost thanks to 8GB of flash storage. A five-year warranty on the drive will also help ensure it lasts a long time.
Best game console hard drive: WD My Book
Interface: USB 3.0 | Capacity: 3 – 20TB
Game consoles hard drives fill up fast with massive libraries. And, like laptops, the upgrade path for 2.5-inch hard drives isn’t all that great, but that’s where an external drive comes in. The WD My Book strikes an amazing balance of storage and price, offering enough room for massive game libraries. Running on USB 3.0, it may not be quite as fast as an internal drive upgrade, but it will run games and offer more storage at a cheaper rate.
Best external hard drive: G-Technology G-Drive
Interface: USB 3.1 (Type-C) | Capacity: 4 – 10TB
Seagate External Hard Drive For Mac
Hard Drive For Macbook
A lot of people seem to think that the best hard drives are ancient and dead technology in 2019. However, with devices like the G-Technology G-Drive, you can show the naysayers in your life that spinning disks have their own place in the future. Not only does this external hard drive offer huge amounts of storage – up to 10 TB – but thanks to Thunderbolt 3 compatibility, it can even charge your laptop while you work. If you have a MacBook Pro, it’s hard to think of a better work companion.
Read the full review:G-Technology G-Drive