Wd external hard drive tool for mac for mac#
Wd external hard drive tool for mac portable#
Wd external hard drive tool for mac windows#

Wd external hard drive tool for mac windows#

The drive, by default, is formatted for Windows computers, though you can reformat it to work better on Macs if you need it to. While it does connect through USB 3.0, it is backward compatible with USB 2.0, so you won't need to worry if you have a slightly older machine. If you're looking for something with a slightly higher capacity than the 2TB Western Digital Drive, then doubling that with a Seagate drive may be worth it.Īpart from the massive 4TB capacity, the Seagate Expansion offers a USB 3.0 connection, which also powers the drive, so you won't need any external power source. The Seagate Expansion 4TB hard drive is built by a well-known and generally reliable company, and it offers a massive 4TB of data.Īnother major hard drive company is Seagate, which has been making great hard drives for some time. Pros: Excellent value for money, USB 3.0, relatively high storage capacity However, for most people's needs, it's a great option. For that reason, if you're planning on using the drive for video or audio editing, you might have some issues. Those who didn't like it cited things like its write speed, which is 5,400 rotations per minute, as opposed to 7,200. The drive has an average of 4.6 stars on Amazon, which is a pretty excellent score. It'll come in at $75, though if you want, you can pay $55 for a 1TB version. The pricing of the hard drive isn't all that bad either.

Wd external hard drive tool for mac for mac#

While it comes formatted for Windows, it can easily be reformatted for Mac users or for those who use both systems. When it comes to connection speeds, the drive can connect through USB 3.0, and as such, it'll offer speeds of up to 5Gb/s, which really fast. Even those with larger storage needs should be able to get a good amount of use out of this hard drive. The Western Digital Elements 2TB hard drive offers the best bang for your buck.įor starters, this hard drive boasts a hefty 2TB of storage, which should be plenty for almost everyone. The company's hard drives are affordable and generally reliable, provided you take care of them. Western Digital has long been a leading name in the hard drive world, both for internal and external hard drives. The Western Digital Elements 2TB Hard Drive offers a relatively high storage capacity and USB 3.0 connectivity, but it only costs $75.

Wd external hard drive tool for mac portable#

Best portable external hard drive for Mac: Seagate Backup Plus 4TB Hard Drive.Best solid state portable external hard drive: Samsung T5 SSD.Best high-capacity external hard drive: Seagate Expansion 4TB Hard Drive.Best portable external hard drive overall: Western Digital Elements 2TB Hard Drive.Here are the best external hard drives you can buy:

Updated on by Malarie Gokey: Added the Samsung T5 SSD after testing the product. Read on to learn more about our top picks and find which one is best for you. We've included hard drives with a ton of space, smaller ones, affordable options, and more. We've scoured external hard drive reviews on the web from experts and users to find the best hard drives for every use case. Hard drive failures happen to even the most reliable of drives, and you don't want to be stuck losing valuable data. You should always have two copies of your data in different locations.

Make two copies in different locations: A quick note about hard drives: none of these are 100% reliable.

Some, however, are pre-formatted, so you don't have to worry about formatting. Now, most hard drives can be formatted to work with both macOS and Windows, and you'll be able to set that up when you first get the hard drive.

Operating system: Last but not least is operating system-compatibility.

There are also plenty of hard drives that connect through Firewire, and some that even connect through Thunderbolt. The vast majority of external hard drives connect to a computer through USB, and nowadays it's through USB 3.0, but there are still some USB 2.0-capable hard drives.

Connection: Next up, you'll want to think about the kind of connection you want your hard drive to connect through.

If on the other hand, you're simply transferring Microsoft Word documents to and from work, then you won't need as much storage and could save a few bucks by getting a lower storage drive. If you're a videographer or photographer, chances are you could easily fill up a hard drive quickly, so you'll want a higher-capacity drive.

Storage amount: You'll also want to consider how much storage you need.

The tradeoff is that SSDs are a lot more expensive. SSDs, on the other hand, have no moving parts and are thus more reliable as portable hard drives. HHDs store information on a spinning disk and that disk can be a source of hard drive failure. SSD: There are two main types: HHDs, or hard disk drives, and SSDs, or solid-state drives.