Best External Hard Drives for MacBook

I have been doing some research on the External Hard Drives for the MacBook and have been getting mixed advise about the best one for the Macbook. I'm wondering if anyone with actual experience and knowledge with External Hard Drives and the MacBook could offer any advice on one I should look into.

You are going to get a bazillion answers and little agreement so be prepared.
An external drive is two components, case and drive. If you buy a generic no-name you have no clue about what's in the case or what the drive is. Even if you buy a name brand like Western Digital or Seagate you still can't be totally sure. Would WD put a Toshiba drive in their external case? Probably not but you still don't necessarily know which model WD you are getting.
I approach it two ways. For archival backups I build my own buying the case and drive to meet my needs. OWC is my usual source. For expansion and usage I tend to buy name brand externals. At the moment I have several Seagate FreeAgent drives. What I don't do is make drive purchases based on price - that's a great way to buy a drive that will fail just when you need it.

Similar Messages

Best external hard drive for Macbook pro and Aperture

Hi, any recomendations for an external hard drive for the macbook pro and aperture. I was looking for approx 300Gb !
Many thanks
macphi

Personally I have had poor luck with LaCie Big Disk peformance and support and don't recommend LaCie. However I do recognize that my sample of one is statistically insignificant.
The eSATA concept is interesting, but bleeding tech edge at the moment. For a solid solution that works now I recommend FW800 (forget USB) and RAID 0 technology. I have had great success with OWC and just bought their least expensive (in $ per GB) 640 GB FW800 US$370 RAID O drive setup: <http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/ME8R7640GB16/>.
Just this week OWC introduced RAID 0 +1 drives that have RAID 0 speeds but also provide mirror backups. Perhaps the very best solution but pricey.
EDIT: If you bought a 15" MBP instead of the 17" you forever lack FW 800. Go for a FW 800 or an eSATA Express Card solution when available. You could buy an OWC drive now and jusr run it FW 400 until you get an Express Card FW800 port. The OWC drive came with ports and cables for both FW 800 and FW 400.
-Allen Wicks

What is the best external hard drives for macbook pro?

I am looking to buy an external hard drive for my macbook pro urgently.
I was intending to purchase a time capsule but am really concerned with the reliability concerns of the time capsules where they stop working after 6 months to 18 months as posted on various forums.
I was considering purchasing a western digital external hard drive but they also receive a lot of negative feedback.
I have never used firewire previously but am interested in getting feedback as to how useful forum readers find this feature.
In terms of size am looking for 1TB approx.
Thanks in advance for your assistance as i need to purchase one immediately and i do not have time to research fully. Make, model number and approximate cost would be very helpful as well as where i could purchase hard drive in london. I am more concerned with quality rather than cost.

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Best external hard drive for macbook pro 10.5.8?

I have a macbook pro 2008, OSX 10.5.8 (My model number is MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2008) and will be upgrading to Snow Leopard 10.6 soon. I am just about to order an external hard drive and have shortlisted from the link below. Please let me know if it'll run well, I was told to order 500GB and not 1TB. It seems Seagate and WD are more compatible for Windows. Will the Sony hard drive work on 10.6 as well smoothly once I upgrade? Any advice on other hard drives would be very very useful. With thanks.
http://www.flipkart.com/sony-hd-eg5-b-2-5-inch-500-gb-external-hard-drive/p/itmd 5ha5wztctaur?pid=ACCD5HA4VYDAUYYZ&srno=b_6&ref=844cdd6f-5b5e-456c-9d61-80424bec1 0ea
details:
Brand
Sony
Capacity
500 GB
Connectivity
USB 3.0
Dimensions
80 x 16 x 126 mm
Encryption
256-bit AES Data Encryption
Features
Other Requirements: 256 MB RAM, Pentium III 450 MHz Processor, 3x Faster Transfer Speed with Data Transfer Accelerator software, Operating Temperature : 5Deg C - 40Deg C, Storage Temperature : -20Deg C - 60Deg C Read Less
Form Factor
Portable
Model
HD-EG5/S
OS Supported
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X v10.4, Mac OS X v10.5, Mac OS X v10.6, Mac OS X v10.7(Mac OS supports only USB 2.0)
Part Number
HD-EG5/S
External Power Required
No
Size
2.5 inch
Software
Data Transfer Accelerator, Backup Manager, Password Protection Manager, FAT32 Formatter
Transfer Speed
USB 2.0: 480 Mbps, USB 3.0: 5 Gbps
Type
Portable
Weight
220 g

hi there, thanks for your quick reply:)
I checked my disk space in my 6 year old pro and it seems I have used 80-90 GB with around 90 GB free space still. Thus 500GB might be more than enough I hope. If there's not much price difference - I could look at 1 TB.
If any external hard drive should work - please let me know if the WD below would be ok too? As it's little cheaper than the Sony I selected http://www.flipkart.com/wd-elements-2-5-inch-500-gb-external-hard-drive/p/itmdmh dqa7q3rtjq?pid=ACCDMHDQAN9EPTRS&srno=b_1&ref=134a18e1-c6e9-4870-8cff-01087274cdf 2
Form Factor
Portable
Model
WD Elements
OS Supported
Windows: XP, Vista, 7, 8, Mac
Part Number
WDBUZG5000ABK
In The Box
Hard Drive, USB Cable
In OS Supported it just says Mac (Hope that would mean 10.5.8 and above?)
I have limited choices here in India thus have to be careful.
thanks again,I'll go by last word before I type my credit card details!
with thanks,
Surbhi

Best external hard drive for macbook pro

i'm looking to buy a portable hard drive for my laptop because i have a lot of music and whatnot. here's the deal though, i'm a college student and have no money, but i don't want to get something cheap that's going to break.
so to summarize:
relatively cheap, small, easy to use (one touch back up maybe)
if anyone has any suggestions that would be great!
thanks

Though not cheap, it is worth every penny. The G-Drive Mini is one of my best MBP purchases to date. They are small, sleek, reliable and "match" my MBP. I bought the regular sized one a couple of years ago and it's never failed me. I'm traveling for work much more these days and want to be able to take something with me. This is perfect.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000YQR94A/ref=ordcartshr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

What is the best external hard drive for macbook pro I think I want firewire for storage and usb for time machine

I have a macbk pro. I think a usb external drive would be fine for time machine but I'd like a fire wire external drive to store files.
Any recommendations on brand? The last recommendations were dated 2006/7
I have been waiting for a 1TB g-drive. Apparently they are special order. I did not think I needed anything larger than 1 TB to backup the 500GB internal drive.
I thought I'd get something bigger for storage. From what I have read I think its best not to partition the drive for backup and storage.
Also I'd like to have a bootable copy of my internal hard drive is that possible?

Don't know about the Best... But I have been using these without any issues...
LaCie quadra D2 for Manual Backup and Clone Backup
LaCie Rikki for USB Time Machine
For Bootable Backups See
SuperDuper http://www.shirt-pocket.com/
CCC http://www.bombich.com/

I have a 2007 macbook and I am wondering what is the best external hard drive for my Mac?

What is the best external hard drive for a 2007 Macbook?

The Apple USB superdrive would be a great choice for you, ( http://store.apple.com/ca/product/MD564ZM/A/apple-usb-superdrive?fnode=5f ) I am not certain but I am pretty sure that it has the same form factor as the MacMini (Not thickness but all the other dimenetions) so it fits just under and looks like an extension of your mac.

What is the best External Hard Drive for a Macbook Leopard 10.5.8? I need more memory for documents, pictures, videos, and music. Thanks!

What is the best External Hard Drive for a Macbook Leopard 10.5.8? I need more memory for documents, pictures, videos, and music. Thanks!

Hi, does your MacBook have Firewire, or just USB?
FW is far faster if you have that.
Avoid Bus powered ones.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
USB only...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/eliteclassic

What is the best external hard drive for the MAC Book Pro with Retina?

What is the best external hard drive for the MAC Book Pro with Retina?
I was looking at WD MY PASSPORT FOR MAC and Toshiba. I want something that will work best with time capsule! Suggestions on the best external hard drive would be greatly appreciated!!!

A Time Machine backup drive should be substantially larger than the system drive. If you have a 128 or 256 GB SSD then a 1 TB drive will suffice. If you have a 512 GB SSD then a 2 TB drive will suffice. As leroydouglas indicated any brand other than WD will do.
For 1 TB drives PlotinusVeritas gives some great suggestions here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5602141?tstart=0
A 2 TB drive sold by Apple:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/H9378ZM/A/lacie-2tb-usb-30-porsche-design-p923 3-desktop-hard-drive
$130
A 2 TB drive just as good for only $92.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-3-0-USB-2-TB-Portable-Hard-Drive-M odel-HDTB220XK3CA-/231162655273

What is the best external hard drive with MacBook Pro

What is the best external hard drive with MacBook Pro?

I agree with Allan, and that link is also called OWC, their hard drives are great. Have three of their Mercury Pro Elite 2 TB quad interface drives. They will connect eSATA, Firewire 800 & 400, USB2, so broad reange of options. Drives seem to come Mac HFS formatted, but I always reformat and partition the drives. Service and quarantees are top notch.
They offer a wide range of drives/drive systems so like Allan said, spend some time seeing what the have.

Advice on external hard drives for Macbook pro

I am looking to buy an external hard drive for my macbook pro urgently.
I was intending to purchase a time capsule but am really concerned with the reliability concerns of the time capsules where they stop working after 6 months to 18 months as posted on various forums.
I was considering purchasing a western digital external hard drive but they also receive a lot of negative feedback.
I have never used firewire previously but am interested in getting feedback as to how useful forum readers find this feature.
In terms of size am looking for 1TB approx.
Thanks in advance for your assistance as i need to purchase one immediately and i do not have time to research fully. Make, model number and approximate cost would be very helpful as well as where i could purchase hard drive in london. I am more concerned with quality rather than cost.

Opinions vary and people have different experiences ...
I'd recommend the LaCie 1TB Quadra drive at £134 it has eSATA, USB2 and FW400 and FW800 Interfaces (it comes with all four cables) and I've found them reliable and rugged.
http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=11158
http://www.lacie.com/uk/wheretobuy/index.htm

What's the best external hard drive for iMac?

I'm very close to purchasing a 21" iMac. I've read about the 27" model problems, but nothing negative about the 21" model. Frankly, in the space I have, the 21" model will work just fine. I'll be replacing my MacBookPro laptop, which I will move to my work station at work, replacing my PC laptop (making totally Mac driven).
So anyway, I'm going to take the external hard drive I currently have at home and bring it to work also, leaving me with a need to purchase a new external hard drive for the new iMac. My question is: which external hard drive do you think is best to get. I'm getting at least 1T, and perhaps as much as 1.5T.
I've been reading about the Western Digital My Book for Mac, but there appears to be some new issues with the software and Snow Leopard. Anyone know anythign about this?
Also, some of the online descriptions indicate some hard drives need to be reformatted to work with Macs. Anyone know have any input on that? What about Seagate? Anyone have any experience with those?
Any input is greatly appreciated.

Most any drive will work with Macs, and Time Machine.
Most drives come formatted for Windoze, but most of them can be re-formatted on your Mac to work with it. See item #5 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
Also note item #1 there for size considerations; and items #3 and/or 4 for using with other data and/or other Macs.
If you think you ever might want to put a "bootable clone" on it, be sure it's a bootable drive. Most PPC Macs can boot only from FireWire; most Intels can boot from F/W or USB. But some Western Digitals won't boot a Mac. Their list of which ones should and +should not+ boot: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1787. But note the disclaimer that they don't support it +*at all.+*.
In addition, many of them have a built-in sleep mode that cannot be disabled, and sometimes interferes with Time Machine backups: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1376
Depending on what ports you have, FireWire 800 is by far the fastest; FireWire 400 next, and USB slowest (F/W 400 and USB 2.0 are rated about the same for short bursts, but F/W is faster for sustained transfers. Also, your Mac's CPU has to do more of the work with USB, so actual throughput is usually less).
Many folks think USB is less reliable than FireWire. If you do get USB, be sure to connect it to a port on your Mac, not a keyboard (that may be only USB 1.0). Try to avoid hubs, too.
If you're using USB, it's usually best to get a drive with it's own power supply, as taking power from your Mac can be a marginal proposition. Portable FireWire drives without separate power supplies don't seem to have this problem.
Take any advice for or against particular makes or models with a grain of salt: all makers (of just about anything) can have a "run" of bad components, or a relatively few early failures. Plus, by the time any really good trends are noted, the model has probably been revised or replaced anyway!

What's the best external hard drive for back-ups?

I have a Powerbook G4 and would like to buy an external hard drive for back-up purposes. It seems impossible to choose one because drives made by every company occasionally fail and only then do people write reviews on them. Every time I hear that LaCie, Maxtor and Seagate make the best hard drives, an equal amount of people say they suck and fail on a regular basis.
My question is:
Who makes a good, most consistently reliable hard drive that I can easily do back-ups with?

The problem with review sites is that your average Joe buys a drive, it dies, so he throws mud at the company without giving any thought to the fact that no factory can attain perfection. And of course this average joe wants the best possible price (in other words cheap as dirt) so the company's tech support is staffed by under payed workers in Bangalore.
Where I work part time we are selling a lot of Maxtor One Touch and Western Digital My Book drives and haven't had a single complaint. Its the kind of store where we get to know our customers (you know, the one where the prices aren't dirt cheap but the service is fantastic) so we'd hear about it if our customers weren't happy. I've had several Maxtor One Touch drives running 24/7 for about 2 years without any failures and I have no complaints about the WD drive either although I've had it for just a couple months.
I've also been very pleased with the items I've gotten from macsales.com. They also aren't dirt cheap (though good) and they have super support. No, make that stellar support.

Best external hard drive for backing up iMac?

I have a 20" Intel iMac with 500 GB hard drive purchased 1/07. I would like to buy an external hard drive for backup purposes and have been researching what to buy.
The best backup program for this purpose appears to be Super Duper, but I am having a difficult time trying to determine which hard drive to buy. In reading user comments I notice that none of the major hard drive manufacturers is exempt from severe criticism by some of their customers. I read many complaints of premature failures, lousy technical support, etc.
Can anybody recommend an externmal hard drive setup that will give satisfactory results? By the way, I am still operating with Tiger OS and have no plans to upgrade to Leopard in the foreseeable future.
Bob

Yes, ignore the software that comes with the drives, SuperDuper! will have to be downloaded from the Shirtpocket site, it costs about $28.00 but is well worth it.
(Actually, my friend fell hiking down the mountain and had to have stitches in her scalp, then got to the base and found that someone had broken into her car and stolen her suitcase, so yes, the mountain had an impact.)

The best external hard drives for macs

Can anyone recommend a good external hard drive for a mac computer; preferably the IMac OS 10.5.6 desktop. Thanks!

Personal Experience with the One Touch Series:
Keep a VERY CLOSE EYE on that Maxtor One Touch!
I had two of the 1TB Firewire 800 models at one point. Hard drives failed on one of them within a month. Warranty replaced the unit but not the data. After a year, the tiny fans died and the drives overheated, resulting in total loss of both enclosures and all the data on them (within a week of each other).
Those things are not meant for continuous use. If you only use them for periodic backup purposes, and then shut them off, they may be fine.
Maxtor's setup software for the Mac was a PITA, too. The version included on the disc was worthless. Disk label indicated one version, actual version on the disc was an older, incompatible version. Maxtor sent a replacement disc. It was the same disc with the same problem. Finally located the correct installer on their website. That was a few years ago.
I'll never touch the touch series again as a result.
On the other hand, I've had a SmartDisk FireLite 60 GB (FireWire model) for my Powerbook for 5 years now with excellent performance. I have no problem recommending SmartDisk drives.
-mt

Best External Hard Drives for MacBook

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