The best external hard drives for your Mac

Macworld

It’s never been easy to upgrade the storage in Macs, so it’s always a good idea to buy an external drive to provide extra storage for all your work files, photos, videos, and games. And, of course, you should always have an external drive available for making Time Machine backups in case anything ever goes wrong.

Modern solid-state drives (SSD) are the best option as they’re really fast, reliable, and compact. However, SSDs are still relatively expensive, with 1TB drives costing around $100/£150, whereas that same amount of money can get you a 4TB basic desktop hard drive with a USB interface (drives with high-speed Thunderbolt ports tend to be more expensive).

Hard drives are slower than SSDs, but if you need lots of storage for your important files and back-ups then a good old-fashioned hard drive is still the most affordable option. (If it’s an SSD you are after, read Best external SSD for Mac.)

There are plenty of choices, too, with compact, portable hard drives designed for use with laptops, and desktop drives with larger capacities if you really need a lot of storage. Some hard drives also provide additional features, such as built-in docks with lots of Thunderbolt and USB ports, or perhaps allowing you to open up the casing of the drive and insert a new drive for an instant upgrade.

Below we rank the best hard drives we have reviewed recently, plus you’ll find general buying advice that explains what you should be looking for.






1. Seagate Ultra Touch HDD: Best Mac hard drive














Pros

Competitive price

2TB, 4TB or 5TB storage

Password protection and encryption


Cons

Average performance

Larger and heavier than original model









Price When Reviewed:

Dès 120,77 €






The original Seagate Ultra Touch was a pocket-size hard drive with an attractively slim and lightweight design. It was a fairly old design though, limited to either 1TB or 2TB of storage, and it was still using an old USB 3.0 interface that required an adaptor in order to work with more modern Macs and PCs with USB-C.

This updated version of the Ultra Touch updates most aspects of the drive’s design. It’s slightly larger and heavier, but now starts with a minimum of 2TB storage, with 4TB or 5TB models also available if you need additional storage. This new model now has a USB-C interface too, with a lengthy (50cm) USB-C cable included as well.

The 2TB model – which is finished in cloud white – is still fairly slim, measuring just 13.2mm thick, 80mm wide and 115mm long, and weighing a modest 168g, so it’s a good option if you just need a lightweight, portable drive that you can slip into your pocket or a bag. The 4TB and 5TB models are finished in a darker pebble grey and are slightly larger and heavier, measuring 23mm thick and weighing 267g.

You can’t buy the Ultra Touch directly from Seagate, so you’ll have to shop around online, and prices do seem to vary quite a lot. Seagate pricing is as follows: $164.99/£179.99 for 5TB, $159.99/£154.99 for 4TB, $99.99/£109.99 for 2TB. However, the average prices that we came across during testing were around $79.99/£99.99 for the 2TB model that we tested, while the 4TB and 5TB models are around $124.99/£139.99 and $207.99/£164.99 respectively.

Performance is similar to that of the original Ultra Touch, at 130MB/s for both read and write speeds, which is around average for a portable drive such as this. The Ultra Touch includes some additional features too, such as the ability to create mirror folders on your Mac and the Ultra Touch drive that are automatically synced and updated whenever you make any changes to those folders. The Toolkit app also provides 256-bit encryption and password protection for extra security, making the Ultra Touch a good option for people who need to keep important files secure when they’re working away from the office. Customers in the US can also use Seagate’s Data Recovery service to rescue files in the event that the drive is damaged (although this service isn’t available in all regions).–Cliff Joseph







2. LaCie Mobile Drive: Best value














Pros

Competitive price

LaCie’s ToolKit app


Cons

Not the fastest hard drive available


















LaCie’s Mobile Drive has been on our list of the best hard drives for Mac users for a while and this version was released in 2022. The 2022 Mobile Drive adopts an Apple-style slimline, rectangular design with smooth rounded corners with the LaCie logo right in the center.

Prices start at a competitive $79.99/£69.99 for a drive with 1TB storage (that’s a price cut from the initial £79.99 in the U.K.), but there are also models with 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB available too. The 1TB and 2TB models measure just 10.4mm thick, 85mm wide, and 118mm long, and weigh 200g, so they’re easy to pick up and carry around with your laptop. The 4TB and 5TB models are a little thicker – at 20.4mm – and weigh 300g, but that’s still a good size for portable hard drives that provide such high capacity. They’re all constructed out of recycled aluminum, and sturdy enough to cope with life on the road.

You can use them for your Time Machine backups, but LaCie’s ToolKit app – for macOS 10.14 or later – also allows you to create a Mirror folder that is automatically updated whenever you make any changes to the files or data within that folder.

The drive has a USB-C interface, with a USB-C cable included in the box, and recorded write and read speeds of 126MB/s and 130MB/s respectively when running the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test. There are faster hard drives available, but that’s still a respectable speed for a compact hard drive such as this, and the Mobile Drive 2022 remains a good, affordable backup drive for MacBook owners – and even owners of desktop Macs who may need the larger 4TB or 5TB models. —Cliff Joseph







3. SanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD: Best rugged portable drive














Pros

Cheap for the capacity

Attractive design

USB Type-C


Cons

Formatted to exFAT so you’ll need to reformat it in Disk Utility


















The ArmorATD starts at $99.99/£89.99 for 1TB, rising to $229.99/£225.99 for the new 6TB model.

It’s an enclosure with a 2.5-inch hard drive inside that’s shock-mounted, and the rugged aluminum case is surrounded by a silicon sock for extra protection. It will withstand minor abuse, more when off than on and the disks are spinning, but your best bet with any hard drive is not to treat it like a hockey puck. The connection is USB-C with a speed rating of 5Gbps (USB 3.1/Gen 1)–plenty fast enough for any hard drive. The drive warranty is for three years.

You’ll get around 120MBps writing and 127MBps reading maximum (with large files) from the ArmorATD on your Mac. Good stuff. The Armor ATD arrives formatted to exFAT so you’re good to go out of the box under both macOS and Windows. However, exFAT will extract a 5 percent max penalty, so Mac users will want to reformat the drive. –Jon L. Jacobi

Read our full

G-Drive ArmorATD review






4. Western Digital My Passport Ultra for Mac – Big storage in a small case














Pros

Up to 6TB of storage

Far cheaper per terabyte than SSDs

Type-C connectivity

Attractive design fits in your (large) pocket


Cons

Hard drive-level performance


















The WD My Passport Ultra for Mac is a 2.5-inch external USB hard drive that offers a pretty decent storage capacity of 6TB for around $200/£200. The 5TB unit currently offers the best bang for your buck at $28 per terabyte. 

The drive delivers 110MBps read and write speed, making it suitable for media streaming and Time Machine backups running in the background.

The My Passport Ultra for Mac features a USB-C port. Until recently, external 2.5-inch USB hard drives unanimously used USB micro-B SuperSpeed connectors (for extra power) on the drive and USB-A on the other end of the cable. WD bundles a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A adapter to accommodate older and current connection scenarios. 

The first time you attach the drive a.dmg file for installing WD’s Discovery application appears. Discovery can import your data from your Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive accounts. You’ll also find links for the WD Drive Utilities, WD Security (encryption, password protection), and a branded version of Acronis’s True Image backup software. It’s not a bad software bundle, you don’t have to use it of course. 

In our tests the My Passport Ultra for Mac delivered a transfer rate of up to 110MBps, which is fast enough for several audio or movie streams. But in a world becoming accustomed to 3GBps speed on USB4/Thunderbolt external SSDs you may not find this fast.

It is still a great storage device for a large multimedia collection and is suitable for background backup with Time Machine. The My Passport Ultra for Mac is a great storage device for a large multimedia collection and can stream across the network at 2.5Gbps.

Read our full

My Passport Ultra for Mac review






5. Western Digital My Passport: Best budget drive














Pros

Provides up to 6TB storage

Competitive price

Password protection


Cons

Could be faster

Larger than most portable drives

No USB-C interface









Price When Reviewed:

Dès 67,99 €




Best Prices Today:








Retailer


Price





Western Digital




€67.98



View Deal








€110.99



View Deal



Macway FR




€147.81



View Deal








€148.99



View Deal









€156.02



View Deal








€159.99



View Deal




Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

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Product


Price




Price comparison from Backmarket






€67.98 at Western Digital€110.99 at Cdiscount FR€147.81 at Macway FR


View more prices

from
Fnac FRDarty FRWD Europe



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Best Prices Today:
Western Digital My Passport: Best budget drive







Retailer


Price





Western Digital




€67.98



View Deal








€110.99



View Deal



Macway FR




€147.81



View Deal








€148.99



View Deal









€156.02



View Deal








€159.99



View Deal




Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

View more prices






Product


Price




Price comparison from Backmarket












Western Digital has updated its popular portable hard drive. The 2024 version of My Passport, available in dark blue, offers the world’s first 2.5-inch 6TB model (claims the company). There is no longer a 1TB version. Instead, the range starts with 2TB for $84.99/£75.99. There are also 4TB and 5TB models, while the 6TB model costs a reasonable $184.99/£165.99.The 2TB model is slimmer and lighter than the others, measuring 13.5mm thick, 75mm wide, and 107mm long, and weighing just 140g. The 4TB and 5TB models increase to a thickness of 19.2mm, while the 6TB model is 20.6mm thick, weighing 210g.The My Passport drive still uses an ageing USB Micro-B interface, but Western Digital includes a USB-A cable with a separate USB-C adaptor for compatibility with newer Macs with USB-C and older Macs with USB-A. We’ve also looked at the My Passport Ultra for Mac (above), which uses USB-A pr USB-C via an adaptor.

The My Passport drive also includes Western Digital’s Discovery app for Mac and Windows, providing password protection and encryption features.

Read our full

Western Digital My Passport review






6. WD Black P10: Best for gamers














Pros

Competitively priced


Cons

USB 3.2 with USB-A cable – USB-C adapter not included









Price When Reviewed:

Dès 99,99 €




Best Prices Today:








Retailer


Price





Western Digital




€99.99



View Deal








€120.37



View Deal








€146.18



View Deal








€149.75



View Deal




Macway FR




€156



View Deal








€159.99



View Deal








€186.04



View Deal




Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

View more prices






Product


Price




Price comparison from Backmarket






€99.99 at Western Digital€120.37 at Cdiscount FR€146.18 at RueDuCommerce FR


View more prices

from
Fnac FRMacway FRWD EuropeDarty FR



Close ×


Best Prices Today:
WD Black P10: Best for gamers







Retailer


Price





Western Digital




€99.99



View Deal








€120.37



View Deal








€146.18



View Deal








€149.75



View Deal




Macway FR




€156



View Deal








€159.99



View Deal








€186.04



View Deal




Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

View more prices






Product


Price




Price comparison from Backmarket












The WD Black P10 provides a more portable alternative to the WD Black D10, which is geared for desktop use. It’s not as fast as the D10, but it can draw power f