- Mac And Pc Compatible External Hard Drive
- Find External Hard Drive Mac
- Which External Hard Drive Is Compatible With Mac And Pc Computers
- Which External Hard Drive Is Compatible With Mac And Pc Games
For those who chose a MacBook over an ordinary laptop must be short for some storage space, right? Well, upgrading storage space through apple is as costly as purchasing a new laptop. In this case, an external hard drive is less expensive and beneficial for storage requirements.
You can switch your external hard drive from a Mac to a pc which makes data transfer for two different OS easier. Furthermore, external hard disks are less likely to get corrupted and are portable in nature.
Right now, our top pick for best external hard drive is the Western Digital My Passport 4TB, which is a mechanical hard drive. We think it offers creatives the perfect balance of speed, reliability, portability and price for both Mac and PC users. May 15, 2020 I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC without reformatting. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. And which you find the easier to use. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for Mac and PC. And without formatting the drive. You can format the external drive to exFAT both on a PC or a Mac. The instructions below are conducted on a Mac running macOS Mojave. Step 1: Connect the external drive to the Mac. Step 2: Go to Finder Applications Utilities Disk Utility. Step 3: Select the external drive at the left sidebar. Step 4: Choose Erase at the top tool bar.
Macbooks generally have SSDs which are capable of loading a program quickly but more likely to low on storage.
Furthermore, SSDs are quite costly and upgrading an SSD on a Macbook is definitely costlier than you could even imagine. An external hard drive is best for storing data such as photos, videos, movies, rendered projects and more.
Contents
- 1 Best External Hard Drives for MacBook in 2021
- 1.3 3. Seagate Backup Plus Slim (2 TB)
- 1.4 4. Western Digital My Book (8 TB)
- 1.5 5. Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt
- 1.6 6. G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 (4TB)
- 1.7 7. Adata SD700 External SSD
- 1.8 8. LaCie Rugged USB-C
- 1.9 9. Samsung X5 (1TB)
- 1.10 10. Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC external hard drive
- 2 What things to consider while buying External Hard Drive For Mac?
- 3 External Hard Drive Vs SSD: Which one is good for MacBook Pro?
Best External Hard Drives for MacBook in 2021
Although choosing an external hard drive is a complicated process but we have made a list of 10 best external hard drives for Mac that you should consider before your final decision.
1. Samsung Portable SSD T5
Starting off Samsung Portable SSD T5 which is an outstanding storage device, it can reach up to a speed of 550 MB per second for data transfer which is amazing. You can directly plug it into a USB-C port or USB-A port.
It contains no moving parts therefore chances of getting damaged due to mishandling are less. Even though SSD is costlier than a hard drive, the speed it offers is commendable. You will notice a significant boost in the overall performance while doing stuff that requires you to load large files and programs.
Overall, the SSD is fantastic but only if you can spare a few more bucks than your actual budget. You can get the SSD ranging from 250 GB to 2 TB from Amazon with some additional discounts.
2. Western Digital My Passport 4TB external hard drive
Western Digital My Passport 4TB external hard drive is the newest generation of external hard disks and is available in capacities from 1 TB to up to 4 TB. It offers cloud storage and 256-AES encryption alongside WD’s software for backups.
The data transfer speeds won’t disappoint you and the drive offers speed similar to what an SSD provides. If you are looking for a drive with good data transfer rate and maximum storage, consider Western Digital My Passport 4TB as a choice.
3. Seagate Backup Plus Slim (2 TB)
If you are looking for a reliable, portable, and affordable hard disk, Seagate backup plus slim is the thing you should have a look at. It supports Windows and Mac both and perfect for storing your essential data right away.
With the Seagate dashboard backup system, you can schedule backups and never lose your important files anymore. Backup automation can be set for daily, monthly, weekly or your desired time-frequency.
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Alongside, Seagate also provides a two-month membership for adobe creative cloud photography plan and a one-year subscription to Mylio create to manage your photo library.
- Affordable price
- Metal body
- Supports USB 3.0
- Comes with an automation backup software
- Doesn’t support USB 3.0 cables
4. Western Digital My Book (8 TB)
This Hard disk is probably for creators and organizations that require a lot of storage for various purposes. Faster data transmission rate will let you transfer data in the meantime, all thanks to USB 3.0 support.
It also offers 256 AES encryption for securing your data and makes sure your personal data is secured in the storage device. Even though it meets the requirements of a regular user, the only thing where Western Digital My Book (8 TB) lacks is portability.
Therefore, if you are looking for a hard disk for work purposes and if portability is not an issue, Western Digital My Book (8 TB) is definitely the right choice.
- High storage
- Data encryption
- Compatible with the time machine
- Requires power source to work
- Not portable
5. Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt
Buffalo MiniStation thunderbolt offers data transmission at a speed of twice of what USB 3.0 offers. You can enjoy this feature if your device has a thunderbolt port. Another good thing about Buffalo MiniStation thunderbolt is its price. It is affordable and portable.
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However, it is a hard drive, not a solid-state, therefore, the data transmission will definitely be high but the overall performance of your pc will remain unchanged. Lastly, if you don’t have a thunderbolt port in your pc, you can use the traditional USB 3.0 port.
- USB 3.0 port
- Affordable
- Formatted for Mac
- Not a Solid State drive
6. G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 (4TB)
With the new products, Apple is on its way to completely shift to USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports but there are still some people who are using old hardware and for them, G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 (4TB) is going to work like a charm.
The body of the HDD is made up of metal which makes it durable and strong against accidents such as dropping off the drive on the floor or whatnot. It runs at a speed of 7200 RPM and can transfer data at a rate of 195 MB/s which is efficient for transferring music, videos and software.
- Metallic body for durability
- High data transmission rate
- USB 3.0
- Should be reformatted for Windows OS
7. Adata SD700 External SSD
Adata SD700 is an affordable External SSD which is IP68 rated which certainly makes it a water-resistant storage device. The overall performance of this SSD is commendable and as per our research, Adata SD700 External SSD is the only SSD with an IP68 rating.
You can expect faster transfer rates and better booting speed if you are planning to install an OS on the SSD. Don’t worry about the storage space as it is available in 1 TB capacity also. The maximum read and write speed is up to 440 MB/S, all thanks to the USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface.
- Lightweight and portable
- Shock resistant
- Supports Android, Mac, and Windows
- 3 years of Warranty
- Mac users must format it to FAT32 to use this product
8. LaCie Rugged USB-C
Lacie rugged USB-C hard disk can be distinguished easily because of its unique rubber casing that makes sure your hard drive doesn’t get damaged when it drops from up to 1.3 m height. It can withstand rain, dust and can even survive 1-ton pressure. This is certainly the best choice for content creators.
Alongside hard disk, you will also get access to a one-month subscription to Adobe creative cloud all apps plan. The company also provides 3 years of warranty for the device and will also help you to restore the data if lost.
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In terms of speed, Lacie rugged USB-C hard disk is not very fast as it provides only 120 MB/s which is comparatively lesser than the HDDs mentioned in this listicle. However, there are various variants available for this hard disk on Amazon.
- Durability
- Affordable
- Resistant to water
- Lesser data transmission speed
9. Samsung X5 (1TB)
Samsung never disappoints with its amazing hardware capabilities. With Samsung X5, you can transfer data at a rate of 2,300 MB/s which is the fastest speed an SSD can provide you. The build quality is super amazing as it is made up of metal, making it stronger than storage disks that are made up of plastic bodies.
The shock-resistant capability can save up your drive from a fall of 2 meters. Alongside this, it comes with Thunderbolt 3 technology that is ideal for faster data transfer of up to 40 GB per second which is unbelievable. You can take full advantage of this SSD on your MacBook or Macbook pro without having to format anything.
- High data transmission rate
- Supports thunderbolt 3
- Shock-resistant up to 2 meters
- Heats up really quick
- Comparatively expensive than the other disks
10. Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC external hard drive
In terms of flexibility, Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC external hard drive is really good as it supports both Mac and windows out of the box. The disk doesn’t get damaged due to dust and water which is again a positive point.
It encrypts the user data at 256 bit AES security which additionally makes everything on the drive, secure. Overall, it is a great drive for Mac owners as well as windows owners too.
- Secure for handling user data
- Protects from water and dust
- Low-speed data transfer
What things to consider while buying External Hard Drive For Mac?
So those were some of the best external hard disk drive solutions for Mac. However, you must be confused about which external HDD to choose. But not to worry, let me just point some of the key factors that you need to consider while buying an external hard drive:
1. Storage
One of the first and the most important thing that you need to consider is the storage space of your external HDD. As you already know that Macbook does not come with a huge space. Hence, you better choose something which offers you enough space to store all your files.
For many users, 1 TB of space should be good enough. But if you need to store a huge number of files and save them for a longer period of time, then getting 2TB of HDD would be an ideal choice.
Apart from 1TB and 2TB of storage options, you can also consider getting huge storage options like 4TB. But for a day to day work, 4TB of HDD does not help much. Also, they are quite expensive.
2. Transfer speed
After the storing capacity, transfer speed is the second most important thing that you have to consider. You don’t want to get an external hard disk drive for Mac, which takes too long to copy files. Instead, you need something that can get the job done as quickly as possible.
So the first thing that you must do is avoid USB 2.0 powered external HDD. As they are outdated and not fast enough. Instead, you should get an external HDD with USB 3.0, 3.1 Gen 1 or USB 3.2 Gen 1. All of these are capable of offering an exceptional transfer speed. On the other hand, I would like to recoomend you to buy the best external SSD for Mac that offers good transfer speed.
3. Compatibility
The next thing you need to check its compatibility. External HDD formatted for Windows 10 may have connectivity issues with Mac OS and vise versa. So since you are using a Mac powered machine, I would recommend you to get an external HDD with Mac OS compatibility.
Although there is no need to focus on the compatibility part way too much. Since you can always format your external HDD using a Windows Computer with exFat Format. So you can easily use the HDD with your Macbook. But yes, if you get a pre compatible external hard disk drive then it saves you from extra work and headaches that you have to face.
4. Security
If you are someone who takes security really seriously, then you must look for security features. Most of the manufacturers do ship security software and backup software. So you can easily encrypt your drive or take a backup of it. Even, if you don’t consider the encryption feature, the backup feature is something that you must and should consider.
Even to make sure your HDD stays safe, they use strong casing from physical damage. So you can consider getting such external hard disk drives that save you from every side.
External Hard Drive Vs SSD: Which one is good for MacBook Pro?
Whenever it comes to a primary storage solution for computers, HDD and SSD’s are the only solutions we have. However, in the last couple of years, the usage of HDD has dropped drastically, and people are not moving to SSD’s for better performance.
But there are quite a lot of users who are still unaware of the difference between a hard disk drive and a solid state drive or SSD.
However, not to worry, let me just draw a quick difference between both and help you to understand better.
Mac And Pc Compatible External Hard Drive
1. Storage Capacity
HDD’s are a great option if you want something for storage. HDD’s are available in a wide range of storage capacities from 500GB to 12 TB. Even, for enterprise uses, you will find a large capacity of HDDs.
SSDs are also available with large capacities. However, when it comes to the costs of an SSD and an HDD, SSDs are quite expensive. Hence, if your main goal is to store a huge amount of data, HDD is an ideal choice.
2. Speed
Whenever it comes to speed, SSDs are a better option. Since a hard disk drive uses a round plate with a layer of magnetic material. And the data is stored on this magnetic layer only. So the disk spins and the magnetic head is used for reading and writing data.
Also, the speed that the disk spins is measured in RPM. And on average, an HDD has about 5,400 RPM, and it will have a read/write speeds of around 100 MB/s.
However, when it comes to SSD’s, there are no moving parts. As a result, it offers you a much faster data transfer rate. On average, it offers you around 550 MB/s and 520 MB/s of data transfer rate.
3. Reliability & Durability
There are quite a lot of factors that determine the lifespan of drivers. However, you should know that an SSD can sustain a limited number of write cycles compared to HDD which has no read/write limits.
But you should know that SSD has a write cycle limit between 3000 and 10,000 which is a high number. So it would not be a problem for you.
Also, SSD’s are lesser affected by any sort of damages compared to HDD. Since there are no moving parts in SSD, they tend to survive more. While HDD’s might stop working if it encounters any physical damage.
3. Cost
Finally, let’s talk about pricing. Well, if you look at the cost of both HDD and SSD, you would happily pick up an HDD. Why? Because SSD’s are expensive. When you choose an HDD, you will get a large amount of capacity for a lesser price. But on the other hand, if you choose an SSD, it would cost you 3-5x of an HDD price.
In the end, the conclusion is HDD’s are a better option when it comes to storing data. Of course, SSD’s are faster and more reliable. But they do come with a high price. But on the other hand, if you take care of your HDD in a good manner, it will offer you great performance for years.
Wrapping it up:
So, these were the 10 best external hard drives for Macbook Air and Pro. Every disk mentioned in this article has its own pros and cons, we have tried our best to list out the good and bad in every product. For Mac users, external SSD can be really helpful for storing content and transferring it to a different place.
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Dec 21, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
An external hard drive is just a storage device that is connected to your computer on the outside. Standard Hard drives draw power from their data source cable, which comes from the system itself. Some advanced disks may require an AC connection to derive power on their own. These storage devices come in varying storage capacities, but they all connect to a computer either by USB, eSATA, or wirelessly.
Find External Hard Drive Mac
Plug and play functionality offers system compatibility and offers extensive storage options and portable design for the consumer. Ubuntu bootable usb mac. These memory devices are compatible with both Mac and Windows PC. These disks provide capacities ranged from 250 GB to 10 TB.
Compatibility issues between Windows and MacOS may have reduced over the years, but that doesn't mean they've been completely wiped out. Sharing files from Windows to Mac is a demoralizing task, but in this article, we will discuss how to overcome such issues as there are various methods to do such that. Also, the external hard drive file recovery will be mentioned.
Part 1. Situations Where to Share External Drive Between Mac and Windows
Many MacOS and Windows users today find themselves in mixed platform offices, where they need to share files and work on them. Sharing stuff between PCs and Macs is not as nearly simple as it should be. There are different ways for your computer systems to talk to each other and share files. The main problem occurs because each operating system supports a different set of data sharing protocol, think of them as different computer languages. We will discuss some of them in this section:
- FTP (File Transfer Protocol): It is one of the well-known data sharing systems. If you've ever spent any time on the internet, then you know that FTP is one of the most convenient options for sharing stuff between your Mac and PC.
- NFS (Network File System): It is a file-sharing protocol that the Unix-based systems like to use for sharing files, which both Windows and Macs can understand. It is more popular on the Windows PC side of the fence.
- AFP (Apple Filing Protocol): It is only designed for MacOS. Windows do not understand it. But from Mac-to-Mac, it's what makes sharing extremely easy. The problem occurs when you intend to use an AFP disk drive on a Windows PC.
Fortunately, there are many methods to fix such a problem. One of it is that you can perform 'partition' on your computer's primary hard drive. You can divide the HDD of your Windows PC into different sections with different rules, storage space, and functions.
You can also perform a partition on the main drive of Mac so that part of it works during the file-sharing process. Both Windows and Mac have the essential tools to help in performing partition for your External hard drives. Here we will discuss how to do disk partition on Mac and Windows computers.
Part 2. Formatting an External Hard Disk Drive From a Mac:
Which External Hard Drive Is Compatible With Mac And Pc Computers
To put in simple words, if you want to share the external hard drive between Macintosh and Windows PC, you need to format an external hard drive for the respective system.
Hard drives for Windows PC are formatted with NTFS by default, while hard disks for Mac are formatted with HFS+. However, when we connect an NTFS formatted disk to Mac, Mac OS X doesn't support it and would not allow you to write files to the drive. It also disables the ability to edit the pre-existing data in the drive. MacOS offers the user to read an NTFS drive. Windows OS will similarly ask you to format the HFS+ formatted drive when you connect such a disk to its PC. Creating a partition on the disk is the best option. Follow the step-by-step guide to partition the drive on a Mac.
- Open Disk Utility on your Mac. Select the icon of Disk Utility by searching for it in Search in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
- Locate and select the hard drive you want to partition.
- Select the Partition option.
- If you intend to format the entire drive, then you can perform the procedure by clicking on Erase.
- Select the Erase Free Space option to format the disk.
- Specify the number of partitions on the external hard drive you want to create by entering the information in the partition column.
- Enter the name and size of each newly formed partition of the drive. Please specify the details to proceed further.
- It is recommended that you set the drive into two parts, one partition dedicated to the Mac and other for the Windows PC.
- Select the format for the Mac portion as MacOS Extended (Journaled).
- Select the Windows part as ExFAT. This format allows the drive to store a large amount of data.
It is recommended that you select the default option of GUID Partition. It is usually optimal with an external hard drive, as long as you don't intend to create a bootable drive out of it to install an operating system.
- Once you are done with all of the methods mentioned above, click on Apply.
- A warning pop-up will appear, click on Partition.
The partition process of your external hard disk drive on the Mac will finish. You will able to check exFAT format by plugging the drive onto a Windows PC nearby.
Part 3. Formatting an External Hard Disk Drive From a Windows PC:
Partitioning is an act of splitting a drive into pieces, and it is important to set at least one partition to store data and a pre-set-up folder.
There are many reasons why one would want to create a partition on their external drive. You should save some of the space for general file storage; data that you might need later, and the other to store backups of your most important files. You also may want an encrypted portion of a drive for private files. You may even want to put your media files like videos in one partition and photos and documents in another to speed up searches.
You can also create a bootable portion of the drive to install a different operating system on computers; you'll need to partition part of a drive for the OS. Formatting and creating a partition on an external hard drive is complicated in the Windows operating system. In this section, we will learn how to format an external HDD from a Windows computer.
- Click on the Start menu to open Windows Disk Management.
- Type diskmgmt.msc in the search bar.
- Click on Create and Format Hard disk partitions.
- Disk Management window will appear.
- Click on Disk 1.
- Format the drive if you haven't already. Formatting the disk is essential before partitioning it.
- Right-click on Disk 1 option.
- Click on Format.
- Click on Initialize Disk.
- A new window will open, asking you to select a partition style for your disk.
- Select the GPT format; it is supported by all the external hard disk drives.
- Click on OK.
- You will notice a drive listed as unallocated.
- Right-click on the unallocated drive and click on New Simple Volume. It will initiate the New Simple Volume Wizard.
- Click on Next.
- Specify the size and name of the Volume.
- Select exFAT as the file system.
- Create this partition in conjunction with the Mac device you want to use the drive on.
- Click on Next.
- Click on Finish.
- Repeat the process and set the file system for the other volume as NTFS, to use the drive in conjunction with the Windows PC.
By following the methods above, creating partitions on the external hard disk will now seem pretty straightforward. You know how to set up the drive on any operating system, and it will take just a little bit of time.
Which External Hard Drive Is Compatible With Mac And Pc Games
Part 4. How to Recover Data from a Formatted Hard Drive?
The hard drive is a complex piece of storage device, and, commonly, even a slight bit of negligence can lead to loss of essential data. You should not save any new information on the formatted hard drive, or it will be completely overwritten.
- Reasons Why Data get Erased on a Portable Hard Drive:
In this section, we will discuss some of the factors why your data can get deleted. Some of those reasons are mentioned below:
- The Virus can enter the Hard drive when you insert it into some virus infected computer.
- Neglecting any sort warnings after inserting the drive on to the system
- Not properly removing the storage device from the computer.
- Preparations before data recovery:
Before starting the recovery process, you should follow the necessary precautions listed below to avoid any inconvenience:
- You need to Plug your External hard disk drive with the computer.
- Directly Insert the drive in the USB port on your computer.
- Do not remove the external hard disk from the computer, during the recovery scan.
- Maintain the Backup of essential media before the recovery procedure.
You can recover your data by using data recovering software like Recoverit Data Recovery by Wondershare. The tool provides a high recovery rate of 96%. It allows you to connect almost every type of portable devices like the memory card or USB and recovers data from them.
It recovers documents and photos from all type of file formats which includes: Docx, pages, JPEG, PNG, GIF, Avi, MP3, MPEG exFAT, FAT, HFS, NTFS, and much more. Follow our step-by-step guide for the solution to your Data recovery problem.
1. Select the Location of the External Drive:
After launching the Recoverit Mac data recovery software, follow these steps: Where can i download mac os yosemite.
- Select the 'External Drive Location' where data was deleted or lost.
- Click the 'Start' button to initiate the process.
2. Scanning for Lost Data:
- Data scanning will start in Recoverit.
- A scan completion pop up will appear on the screen.
- The scanning time depends a lot on the size of your Hard drive. The larger the file, the longer the time it will take to finish the scan.
3. Recover the Lost Data:
- The recovered files will be sorted by the File Path and File Type on the Recoverit window.
- Select the file you want to view and hit the Preview button
- Click on the 'Recover' button after checking the authenticity of the data.
Part 5. How to Encrypt your External Hard Drive:
In this day and age, data protection is essential. It is necessary to encrypt your portable storage devices to ensure safety. It will prevent individuals to hack into your files. In this section, we will discuss how to protect your drives and folders on both MacOS and Windows PC.
- Encryption on MacOS:
- Press Command + Shift + A to open the Applications folder on your Mac.
- Open Utilities.
- Click on Disk Utility.
- Click on View.
- Click on Show all Devices.
- Select the External Drive that you want to encrypt.
- Click on Erase.
- Choose the GUID Partition Map and Format the drive.
- Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) as the encrypted file format. You can also change to a Windows supported format like exFAT.
- Enter and verify a password.
- Click on Choose.
- Click on OK.
- Your drive will be Encrypted.
- Encryption on Windows PC:
Encrypting a file or drive on a Windows PC is simple. Follow the steps below to enable the option:
- Click on This PC.
- Right-Click on the drive that you want to encrypt.
- Click on Turn on BitLocker.
- Check the option ' Use a Password to Unlock the Drive.'
- Enter and verify your password.
- Click on Next.
- Save the password to your Microsoft Account or a USB.
- Click on Next.
- Choose Encrypt Entire Drive.
- Choose New Encryption Mode and click on Next.
- Click on Start Encrypting
Closing Words:
Having to share and edit different files across several platforms can be unavoidable in some situations. That is the case when you need to open an external hard drive on your Mac or Windows PC. This article will help you in dealing with this kind of issue. It is essential to create a back up for your files and save the data before performing the partition and formatting the external disk. You can freely use the method for both the MacOS and Windows OS. If in any case, your data is formatted or lost, then you can quickly recover the formatted disk data by using Recoverit Recovery Software. It guarantees hassle-free data recovery in no time.
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