The best external hard drives for your Mac

Macworld

It’s not possible to upgrade the storage in Macs, so it’s 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.

The best choice for you will depend on how much storage you want and how much you are willing to spend. Solid-state drives (SSDs) are the best option as they’re fast, reliable, and compact. Hard drives on the other hand are slower, but you get a lot more storage for your money. If a SSD sounds like it meets your needs, read Best external SSD for Mac. Otherwise read on to find the best hard drives we have tried with our Macs.

Best Hard Drive for Mac

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 €



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€148.11


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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














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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














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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














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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 €



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€67.98


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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 €



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Western Digital



€99.99


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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 from a USB port, so you can simply plug it into any Mac, PC, or games console when you need to back up your files. It’s relatively large for a portable drive, measuring a chunky 20mm thick, 88mm wide, and 118mm long, but its reinforced casing is sturdy enough to cope with being bumped around in a backpack when you’re traveling.

The drive is rated at a relatively modest 140MB/s for both read and write performance, although our tests actually recorded speeds of 120MB/s and 110MB/s for read and write performance respectively. That’s not going to break any records, but it’s fine for the occasional Time Machine backup or for storing lots of games, photos, videos, and other multimedia files. The P10 is also competitively priced, starting at just $89.99/£80.99 for a healthy 2TB of storage. There are 4TB and 5TB models available too, so the P10 is a good option for Mac users who have really large collections of photos and videos that they can’t fit onto their Mac’s internal drive.

The only oddity is that the P10 uses an aging USB 3.2 interface. There’s a USB cable included, but it has a USB-A connector, so you’ll need to provide an adaptor for Macs that only have USB-C. —Cliff Joseph






7. Seagate Expansion Desktop: Smart and fast















Pros

Low price per terabyte

Up to 24TB


Cons

Requires AC adapter














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Seagate



$119.99


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You will need to reformat the Mac you will need to reformat the Seagate Expansion Desktop with a Mac. Once complete, the drive should be detected and you will be able to use it as you would any hard drive.

It measures approximately 7-inches long, by 4.9-inches wide, by 1.65-inches thick and weighs around 2.5-pounds and comes in black with plenty of ventilation grating, and diagonal grooves spicing up significantly what would otherwise be a bland countenance. It’s not bad looking.

The Seagate Expansion Desktop is available in a variety of capacities and can provide up to 24TB in a single unit. You won’t get that much storage in an SSD, and even if you could this will cost a lot less than the same allocation in an SSD. Of course, the difference is that an SSD is a lot faster, but our 16TB test unit was a lot faster than you might think. Instead of the usual 120- to 140MBps its smaller 2.5-inch cousins read and write at, the Expansion Desktop managed almost 280MBps.

While it’s not fast compared to an SSD, the Expansion Desktop is workable for streaming and background operations, is far faster than 2.5-inch external HDDs, and you sure as heck can’t beat the capacity.






8. Western Digital My Book: Great if you need A LOT of storage















Pros

Up to 22TB storage

Good performance (for a hard drive)

Competitive price


Cons

Uses old USB 3.0 interface

 Requires mains power














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More and more people are now using a MacBook as their main computer, so the trend with hard drives in recent years has been towards smaller, more portable drives that you can easily carry around with your laptop. That’s fine if you only need 1TB or 2TB of storage, but there are times when you may need a larger, desktop drive that can store several terabytes of files and data.

Western Digital’s My Book range of desktop drives has been around for quite a few years, but the range provides up to 24TB of storage (we looked at the 22TB model) – which should be more than enough for photographers, designers and video-editors who work with large, high-res files every day. Prices actually start at $134.99 / £120.99 for a My Book drive with 4TB of storage, and there are several other models along the way before you reach the 22TB drive that we review here, which costs $499.99 / £502.99, and the 24GB drive that costs $579.99 / £570.99.

Not surprisingly, the My Book is very much designed for desktop use. It measures 6.7 x 1.9 x 5.5-inches (170 x 49mm x 139mm), and weighs 2.20 pounds (1kg), and also requires a mains power supply, so it’s not a drive that’s going to leave your home or office very often.

It’s a bit odd that the drive still uses an aging USB 3.0 interface, with a USB-A cable provided for connecting to a Mac or PC, so you may need to provide a USB-C adaptor for Macs that no longer have USB-A ports. However, the My Book does provide good protection and security for all your files, with 256-bit encryption and password protection available in the WD Security app for Mac and Windows.

The drive itself has a three-year warranty, and professional users might also want to sign up for WD’s Data Recovery plan – from $9.99 / £9.99 for two years – which can retrieve lost data if the drive does get badly damaged.

Performance is good too – despite the aging USB interface – with the My Book recording read and write speeds of 215MB/s. That’s almost twice as fast as most of the smaller, portable drives that we review here, so the My Book will be a good option for people who need a lot of storage for their important work files. And if 22TB isn’t enough, there’s also a model called the My Book Duo, which provides RAID storage options using two internal hard drives for a total of 44TB of storage for $1,119 / £1,289.99.






9. Seagate Special Edition Firecuda: Best for collectors















Pros

It’s Baby Yoda!

ToolKit app


Cons

USB-C adapter not included

Formatted for Windows PCs, so you’ll need to reformat it using Disk Utility














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Seagate



$139.99


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Seagate has a range of special edition Firecuda drives that sport designs taken from Marvel and Star Wars films. There are drives with Spiderman, Boba Fett and the Mandolorian, but our favorite is the ‘small and powerful’ Baby Yoda drive (yes, we know his name is Grogu, but he’ll always be Baby Yoda to us). And, when attached to your Mac, the drive is even displayed on your desktop with a Baby Yoda icon as well.

These special edition drives are only available with 2TB storage. They’re priced at $139.99/£139.99 on Seagate’s website, which is a little pricey for a 2TB drive so you’re paying a bit extra for the Star Wars vibe. Some are now discounted including Grogu, who is now $59.99 in the U.S., and we have seen them at lower prices elsewhere online.

It’s a little larger than some portable drives, measuring 14.5mm thick, 80mm wide, and 122mm long. It’s sturdily built though and only weighs 167g, so it’s still light enough to just pick it up and slip it onto a bag with your laptop when you’re traveling. The only minor oddity with the design is that it uses a USB 3.2 interfac