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Oct 05, 2018 The 4TB Seagate Backup Plus Portable Drive hard drive has more features and double the storage for $50 more, but if portability is your main concern, this drive is a. If you have a favorite hard drive to use with your Mac, be sure to tell us all about it in the comments below! Updated September 2018: These are still our favorite external hard drives for your Mac. This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for more details. Bottom Line: The Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim is an external hard drive that provides 2TB of storage space, quick data transfer speeds, and a sharp, super-slim design for just $100.
Here at the Strategist, we like to think of ourselves as crazy (in the good way) about the stuff we buy, but as much as we’d like to, we can’t try everything. Which is why we have People’s Choice, in which we find the best-reviewed products and single out the most convincing ones. (You can learn more about our rating system and how we pick each item here.)
And while we’ve written about lots of computer accessories — including the best laptop backpacks, the best laptop cases, and the best brush to clean your laptop — here we’ve rounded up the best external hard drives, as praised by the most enthusiastic reviewers on Amazon.
Best-rated external hard drive
Seagate Expansion Portable 2TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop
Reviewers love how reliable this external hard drive is, with many calling it easy to use and easy to set. One reviewer, who describes themselves as “NOT tech-savvy,” says “the plug-in-go-to-it ease of use is unbeatable” and that it is “by far the best external hard drive I have ever purchased.” Many are impressed with the hard drive’s storage capacity. One who was working as an educational consultant overseas, who bought the hard drive for work, couldn’t believe the storage space they still had when the contract was over. “When I left China, I gave the 2TB portable hard drive with all of my files and videos to the school that I had been working with for over four months … There was still over 1TB of space remaining on the drive when I arrived back in the U.S.” Reviewers have used this drive to store everything from Photoshop files to videos and have tested out its compatibility with computers and gaming systems. “I plugged it in, and at first the Xbox wouldn’t detect it, so I did a full restart and voila!” one reviewer writes. “After installing deleted games onto the external hard drive, I was back to playing video games that I missed.”
Best-rated (less expensive) external hard drive
Toshiba HDTB410XK3AA Canvio Basics 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0
Small but mighty seems to be the consensus among reviewers of this external hard drive. One reviewer says it is smaller than a deck of cards, “but it holds the memory of bigger size external hard drives,” with the added bonus of it being easy to use. “I plugged it into my computer and within seconds was moving pictures, videos, and downloaded items into the Toshiba drive and my computer is running faster and no more error messages of running out of storage,” one reviewer writes. Others raved about its compatibility with everything from PCs to Macs to gaming systems and even phones. A new mom who already took a lot of photos wanted a place to safely store photos of her daughter. “I found this product that had good reviews, was price effective, and had enough space that I could put all of my photos. It wasn’t hard to use, basically just a plug and play situation. It did take a while to get my photos moved over since I had so many but I had no problem getting them saved over and there’s still plenty of room for many more.”
And now for some micro-picks for every type of external hard drive you might be looking for.
Best compact external hard drive
Western Digital 2TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBU6Y0020BBK-WESN
Reviewers are consistently impressed with the small physical size of this external hard drive, especially those who have to travel with their files. “I feel confident that I can pick this up and go without worrying where to put it,” one reviewer, who lives in a hurricane zone, says, referencing how easy this drive is to pack up and go when a natural disaster strikes. “The Elements drive can fit in my go bag, wrapped in a sheet of bubble wrap and I’m feeling okay about that.” Others say that it can easily fit into a purse and one mentions it “can almost fit in a pants pocket.” Even though it takes an extra step, reviewers also like that this external hard drive can be compatible with a Mac once you reformat it. Other than that, reviewers say this requires very little setup or savvy. “It’s extremely simple to use, there’s no software to install, you simply plug it into your computer’s USB port, and voila!” one writes. “A new drive option appears. With it plugged in, you can save things to that drive, or copy and paste items using File Explorer.”
Best external hard drive for PS4
Seagate Game Drive for PS4 Systems 2TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD – USB 3.0
The wait is over for one user who admittedly had “been lurking in the shadows for a while to catch [an external hard drive] that is specifically marketed as PS4 compatible.” They were happy to find this one, which they believe “will give me plenty of space for my game library throughout the remaining lifespan of the gaming console.” Another gamer calls this a “must have for those who have a large game library.” One user reports having six large games on the drive and still having one terabyte of free space left, but dozens of reviewers have been able to store much more. “BEST INVESTMENT I have ever made for my PS4,” one writes. “I have over 50 games in it and it [still] has loads of space. You can travel with it and use it on friends’ PS4s, which is nice.” Another says this “effectively quadrupled my storage on my 500-gigabyte PS4.” For many this also means they don’t have to choose between their precious games. As one puts it, this external hard drive equals “no more agonized decisions over what to delete off the drive when I get a new game.”
Best external hard drive for Xbox
Seagate Game Drive for Xbox 4TB External Hard Drive Portable
“Dude, say goodbye to deleting apps and games to make room for updates and game DLCs,” writes one reviewer, who now has enough storage for all their games. Another says this is great “if you are like me and have a Xbox One X and enjoy having all of your games installed so there isn’t this need to delete and re-install a game you want to play and have to wait an hour or more for update and the install every time you want to play a different or new game.” This four-terabyte external drive helped one user who has “over 100 games, 30 which are One X enhanced” store them all with room left over. “After installing every game I own I still have 50 percent free hard drive space,” they write, adding, “I have to buy a lot more games before storage is ever an issue again.” For one user, this offers peace of mind. “I feel like I can rest easy knowing that I have plenty more room for more games.”
According to a repeat customer, “Samsung took an already fast drive and made it even faster.” Hundreds of reviewers were shocked at how quickly this external hard drive transferred their files. A music producer who thought this would provide “a tiny boost in loading times” said their mind was blown by the speed. “When they say it’s fast, they mean it’s fast,” they write. “Worth the money.” Another reviewer helped quantify exactly how fast is fast. After claiming this has a “faster write speed than any external HD I’ve used before,” they said it moves at about 400MBps, and says “it was a breeze to backup 150 gigabytes of photos, music, and video projects.”
Best external hard drive for travel
SanDisk 500GB Extreme Portable External SSD - USB-C, USB 3.1
Over 80 percent of reviewers give this portable hard drive a five-star rating, which many chalk up to the speed and size. “I cannot believe you can get such a perfect drive with so much memory packed into such a tiny package that works so well for such a low price,” one reviewer writes, adding an apology for the run-on sentence that was a result of her mind being blown. Reviewers have compared the physical size of this drive to a credit card, and one even said it “can fit into the tiny pocket in my jeans.” This feature makes it particularly appealing to reviewers on the go. “I work as a photographer and need to move a ton of files very quickly while on location to hand off to clients,” one writes. “This is the best solution I have found for the price.” Another mentions how they prefer travelling with this more than other drives. “I was always worried about traveling with a spinning platter HD in the past, so once the SSD drives finally got cheap enough I pivoted over to this rock-solid alternative.”
Best external hard drive for a Mac
Toshiba Canvio Advance 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0
“I can say, without a doubt, that it is one of the best purchases I have ever made,” one confident reviewer says, adding that “with its capacity of 1 terabyte, there is just about no limits to how much I can save.” One reviewer put that into context: A cinephile will appreciate noting that the “terabyte size accommodates about a dozen full-length movies and close to 100 hour-long TV shows.” As another reviewer mentions, “the description didn’t say much about being used as a backup for Macs,” but many Mac users have found this external hard drive very easy to use. “I plugged it in and the MacBook automatically formatted it and started the backup process.” Another notes it is “lightweight, quiet, and simple to install, especially on a Mac.”
Best external hard drive for security
Western Digital 1TB Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive
One reviewer who uses this external hard drive as their on-the-go entertainment system couldn’t be happier with this purchase. “I have five episodes of Empire on it, to watch when ever I want,” they say. “How can you beat that.” However, what makes this hard drive stand out are its additional security features, including the ability to password protect your drive, a feature mentioned by more than 70 percent of five-star reviewers. “They are password protected so if plugged into another device it can’t be opened,” one writes. “You also have the option to have it recognize the computer you use/set it up on and won’t require a password if that’s what you choose.” Another adds, “This drive is fast (USB 3.0) and has some security (passcode encryption) which helps you feel like your data is safer if you accidentally lose it.” In addition to being safe, reviewers report it is also sturdy. “After being underwater for eight days during the Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston I figured all my backup data was destroyed,” one reviewer writes. “After purchasing a new iMac I plugged in the external hard drive and it fired right up. I apparently didn’t lose anything and it has been working flawlessly ever since.”
Best desktop external hard drive
Many reviewers buy this external hard drive in hopes of “shucking” it to get a favorable white label or red label internal drive at a better price. “They are extremely easy to shuck, and as others have noted you are left with a beautiful WD white label drive inside, which performs similar to a WD red drive,” one user writes. “At a fraction of the cost of the ‘internal’ version of the same drive, this 8TB external is amazing. About 15 minutes, a couple old gift cards, and a phillips head screw driver will net you a nice internal storage upgrade.”
But even without the additional labor, reviewers are still happy with this purchase. The “family geek” of one household was particularly impressed when they “copied a bunch of files (I think 150GB) and the copy was very, very, fast … I was so impressed by the performance that I ordered the second one.” In addition to speed, dozens of reviews mention the temperature of the drive, and they love how cool this stays. “These are confirmed to be helium filled, which are waaaay cooler than the air-filled versions,” one writes. Many satisfied reviewers are also repeat customers because they trust Western Digital over all other brands. “Glad I bought this and expect the usual Western Digital lifespan of — I have never had a WD drive die on me ever and I have used WD drives for 25+ years. Only time will tell.”
Best durable external hard drive
Silicon Power 1TB Rugged Portable External Hard Drive Armor A30, Shockproof USB 3.0
Even under the ownership of a self-proclaimed klutz, this external hard drive holds up. “When I take my daily tumbles, this little one [is] probably the only thing that survives without scratches or dings,” they write. In addition to falls, this hard drive has even survived water damage, according to one reviewer. “The most terrible thing that this survived was a fall to a puddle of water,” they write, but even then their drive drive sustained “no damage at all.” In addition to durability, hundreds of reviewers are impressed with the ease, speed, and size of this drive. “I was able to download EVERYTHING from my computer or any old CDs that I had,” one writes. “No files were too large to download, and the time in downloading is VERY SHORT … even with a lot of photo albums, it took very little time.”
Best external hard drive for DVR
Seagate Portable 2TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop and Mac
For those who aren’t quite ready to part with traditional TV, this helps them get the most out of their DVR. “This was much less expensive that purchasing a more expensive Tivo with a larger drive,” one reviewer writes. “Tivo is still the best DVR. Sad that I think we will see it go away as streaming is taking over. I currently have satellite TV but am going to use this for OTA for local channels and streaming for the rest then drop satellite.” RV users have used this to connect to Dish TV. “Ok RVs looking for and external hard drive for their Dish TV Wally (THIS IS IT)!” one excited reviewer writes. “This external hard drive does work on your Dish Wally. I purchased this drive just for this purpose. Easy to install, once installed took Dish one minute to activate.” Others have used it for their gaming systems. “Perfect solution for adding tons of storage to my PS4,” another writes. “I literally plugged it in, the PS4 automatically formatted it, and I’ve been downloading games for days and haven’t made a dent.”
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BestExternal Hard Drives for MaciMore2019
When it comes to storing data, personal information, and essential documents, you can never save it in enough places. External hard drives are not only useful for storing data but are an excellent way to transport files from one location to another. When you take into account price, ease of use, and portability, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim is the most reliable hard drive you can carry around with you at all times.
Best Overall: Seagate Backup Plus Slim (2 TB)
If you want a reliable external hard drive that has a decent amount of storage, is super easy to carry around, and has a very affordable price tag, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim is the best option for most people. Formatted for Windows and Mac right out of the box, it's easy to carry all your important documents from desktop to laptop without missing a beat.
The Seagate Dashboard back up system is a fantastic simple tool that can let you schedule backups to ensure you never miss any critical files you need in case something terrible happens to your computer. You can set automatic backups daily, weekly, or monthly, and change the frequency whenever you want.
Seagate also throws in a one-year complimentary subscription to Mylio Create. This can help you wrangle your photo library if you don't already use some sort photo managing tool, and a two-month membership to Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan.
Pros:
Affordable
Great backup software
USB 3.0
Metal enclosure
Best Overall
Seagate Backup Plus Slim (2 TB)
Reliable, portable, and affordable.
Don't worry about lengthy setups or formatting procedures, plug in the Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB which is formatted for Mac right out of the packaging.
Best USB-C hard drive: Samsung T5 Portable SSD (1 TB)
This small compact SSD drive from Samsung comes with both a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A, meaning it's perfect to use with your MacBook or Mac.
Its fast 540 MB/s read and write speeds are more than enough to transfer any file. And should be able to store all your photo and video files with ease thanks to its straightforward software. Plus, if you're worried about encryption, the Samsung T5 Portable SSD has you covered with an optional password to launch the drive, and AES 256-bit hardware encryption on all your files.
Pros:
USB-C
SSD
Super compact
AES 256-bit hardware encryption
Best USB-C
Samsung T5 Portable SSD (1 TB)
Fast and encrypted
With 540 MB/s read and write speeds the Samsung T5 Portable SSD is fast enough for photographers and videographers to transport all their work.
Compatible with Time Machine right out of the box, the 8 TB storage capacity on the Western Digital My Book is perfect for people looking for a lot of stage at a reasonable price. It's USB 3.0 meaning it's easy to take advantage of its storage speed with fast transfer speeds.
While portability is not the Western Digital My Book's strong suit and it needs a separate power source, it does offer 256-AES encryption when you download its easy-to-use security software, ensuring all your important files and documents stay private.
If you're looking for a drive that has lots of space, os you don't have to have multiple as your storage needs grow, look no further.
Pros:
Lots of storage
256-AES encryption
Time Machine compatible
Best Capacity
Western Digital My Book (8TB)
Lots of storage for those who need it
Western Digital offers 256-AES encryption when you download its security software, meaning you can rest easy knowing your private information and personal data is safe.
Best Thunderbolt 3 Drive: LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt
LaCie hard drives have always been good for people on the go because of the rugged design. The LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt can withstand some dust, dirt, and even a tiny bit of water being splashed on it.
It's 7200 RPM Hard drive keeps things running smoothly. And the included USB-C cable — which supports Thunderbolt 3 — makes it perfect for MacBook and Mac users alike!
Cons:
Only 130MB/s
Best Thunderbolt 3 Drive
LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt
Rugged design with Thunderbolt 3
The LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt 3 is a favorite because it can withstand drops, dust, and even the occasional splash of water, making it easy to carry around!
Best for Legacy Hardware : G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 (4TB)
8tb Portable External Hard Drive
While Apple has been going the way of USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 for a while now, some of us still use older hardware and thus don't need hard drives that have USB-C connections. If you're still rocking USB-A or even a Thunderbolt 2 connection from your Mac, the G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 (4TB) is a perfect companion.
Its all-metal design is not only more durable than plastic hard drives, but it also looks stylish! Plus, it's 7200 RPM speed allows the G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 to achieve 195 MB/s read and write speeds. This makes it fast enough to transfer large video files quickly and efficiently.
Cons:
Needs to be reformatted for Windows
Best for legacy hardware
G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 (4TB)
Stylish and fast even on older computers
With 7200 RPM, this hard drive works hard and fast to get your files transferred quickly. Plus, it uses USB 3.0, and it even has a Thunderbolt 2 port.
The CalDigit Tuff does the best it can to live up to its name, giving you a hard drive that isn't as delicate as most. Its official IP rating is IP57, meaning it can be submerged in 3-feet of water for 30 mins and come out the other side functional. That's not all; this Thunderbolt 3 compatible drive can also withstand falling from about 4-feet high. We still don't suggest that you purposely abuse the CalDigit Tuff. Still, it's always good to have peace of mind when you're carrying your hard drive around.
Cons:
Only come in 2TB
Best rugged drive
CalDigit Tuff
Can withstand drops and water
Official rated IP57, the CalDigit Tuff can survive an accidental dip into the water and has a great price tag.
If you're used to dealing with giant file sizes and need a hard drive that can handle transfer data fast, the Samsung X5 is one of the fastest SSD's you'll find. Its read and write speeds are 2,800MB/s and 2,300MB/s respectively, and the entire body is made of metal, making it much hardier than plastic drives. Plus, The internal frame on the inside is shock resistant for drops from 2 meters.
This SSD comes with Thunderbolt 3 technology included. This you can take advantage of the fast speeds on your Mac or MacBook Pro, and it doesn't need any formatting, so it's plug and play!
Pros:
2,800MB/s read speed
Shock resistant
Thunderbolt 3
Best fast drive
Samsung X5
Incredibly fast SSD
If you need blazing fast speeds for giant files, the Samsung X5 is a monster external SSD that can handle any workload.
Bottom line
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim is the most reliable hard drive you can carry around with you at all times. It is formatted for both Mac and Windows right out of the box, and its easy-to-use software can automatically do backups for you as often or as little as you want.
Seagate also throws in a one-year complimentary subscription to Mylio Create. This program can help you wrangle your photo library if you don't already use some photo managing tool. A two-month membership to Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography Plan means it's perfect for budding photographers as well.
Credits — The team that worked on this guide
Luke Filipowicz is an iMore staff writer who has been carrying around his Seagate Backup Plus Slim since his college days.
Best mail programs for mac. Even though it’s built on Mozilla’s aging Thunderbird underpinnings, Postbox handled my email quickly and confidently. Its design hews more closely to the traditional Mac look and feel, rather than adopting a slick iOS-like appearance. Top choice: Postbox 3 ( ) isn’t the newest or sleekest candidate in this roundup. But for $10, it combines reliable performance, smart design, and a wide array of impressive features that make the program feel like what Apple Mail ought to be.
Lory Gil is the Managing Editor of iMore and an avid believer in having as many backups of your important files and documents as possible.
Rene Ritchie is the foremost authority on all things Apple and has insider knowledge about the goings-on at the biggest tech company in the world. When it comes to accessories for Mac, Rene has used them all.
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Just In Case
Keep your Versa 2 protected on-the-go with these great cases
Sometimes when you travel you want to bring your sport/smartwatch in addition to your regular watch, but you don't want your Fitbit getting scratched in your purse or backpack. These are some of the best cases you can get to protect your Fitbit Versa 2 on your travels.