I have an older macbook air that ive have since 2012 or so. From the popular slim drives to the ridiculous capacity and mobility of the portable drives, you can always rely on the backup plus family. Feb 22, 2018 the best external drives for your mac or pc. Feb 08, 2020 with the growing popularity of ssd drives, the average mac has less storage than it used to, making an external drive handier than ever. Another reason for your mac not recognizing external drives is a dirty or loose connection between your cable, usbc multiadapter, thunderbolt 3, or other connecting ports. Theyre useful for storing files you dont need to keep permanently on your computer, for transferring files between computers, and for keeping backups of your macs internal storage. Commonly when you want to connect an external hard drive to laptop or computer all you need to do is just plug and play thats it. These usbc hard drives can back up or beef up your macs storage usbc is the future, and grabbing an external hard drive is a great way to store backups, music, movies, files, and more. Connect your external drive to your iphone or ipad, either directly to its lightning or usbc port for 2018 ipad pros, or through the use of an adapter. While portability is not the western digital my books strong suit and it needs a separate power. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. The best thunderbolt 3 ssd and hard drives for your macbook.
Find out which hard drive can help increase your storage or safely back up your mac. Storage devices such as external hard drives can also be available on your network. External hard drives are handy for adding more storage space to your desktop computer or laptop without needing to know how to install an internal hard drive. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Ive been using external drives since the corvus systems in the 1970s so i have had some experience. The lacie porsche design is one of the best external hard drives for macs on sale today, and comes with both usb typec to typea and usb typec to typec connectors, making it a versatile way to expand the storage space of your mac, regardless of what ports it has. Here are the best external drive enclosures for your new. Apple likes to ensure these are easy to find, so they also appear in the finder in the lefthand column under devices, since macs treat them the same way as. Aug 29, 2018 buying an external hard drive for your mac is not all that different from buying one for your windows pc, except for one very important complication. Amazons choice for external hard drive for macbook air seagate stgx2000400 portable 2tb external hard drive portable hdd usb 3. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. You can get an apple external hard drive in any size ranging from about 60gb to 20tb, depending on your needs.
Hard drive formats are largely linked to the operating system that youre going to be using the hard drive with. Western digital my passport 4tb external hard drive. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. It turns out that most of the time, mac doesnt recognize external hard drives, usb flash drives, pen drives, sd cards, etc. How to find an external drive that is not showing up on mac. Aug 02, 2018 mac doesnt recognize external hard drive anymore and why your mac is not mounting or wont detect specific popular brand drives including seagate, wd, toshiba, iomega, lacie, and exfat. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. I would like to take all of the information off of my computer and put it on a hard drive so that i can update all of my software on my mac to make it. Tips to fix mac doesnt recognize external hard drive on. Since a good connection is a basic condition for secondary hard drives working on the mac, we need to try these things step by step.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Theyre also good for backing up important files, keeping collections music, movies, or photos organized, file sharing, improving your workflow, and so. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. External hard drive macbook air inch, early 2015 2017. Best mac external hard drive we spent over 30 hours researching and testing 20 different external hard drives and found that hdd capacity, warranty, and backup speed were most important.
Well show you everything you need to know about the. Having the best external hard drive or ssd for your mac or pc is. Buy products such as wd 1tb my passport portable external hard drive, black wdbyft0010bbkwesn at walmart and save. It is compatible with macbook,macbook air, macbook pro, imac or mac mini via a single usb cable to help read dvdcd and write to cdr and dvdr discs. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Mar 31, 2020 if you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be.
The 8tb version of the western digital my book is a deep well of affordable storage for your photos, music, videos, and more. Do i really need a macspecific external hard drive. Best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc image credit. The best external hard drives for mac in 2019 forbes. The western digital external hard drive scored high marks in every category and is our top pick.
Its fast 540 mbs read and write speeds are more than enough to transfer any file. Desktop external hard drives usually run at 7200 rpm to offer all the speed they can. Dont worry, apply my task, im sure that you will get rid of on this issue. How to use toshiba external hard drive on mac solved. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Apr 15, 2020 if you want to make use of your mac s thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for macs. Nov 14, 2019 get a free addition to setapp the ultimate mac user book. Dec 31, 2017 i have an older macbook air that ive have since 2012 or so. Connecting external hard drive to an apple computer one of the most common interfaces is nextgeneration usb 3. Here are our favorite usbc hard drives for your mac. Get a free addition to setapp the ultimate mac user book. External hard drives come in a few different formats, though its very easy to reformat a hard drive if you happen to buy the wrong kind. Choose the best external hard drive for your mac or. Mac minis, and the entrylevel macbook air all still come with usb 3.
I should add this is on a mac pro with a usbc to tb2 adapter cable, not a mac mini not that. Mac only drives are just marketing bs although sometimes hard drive companies ship unnecessary software with their drives which may be os specific. If you find your external hard drive is ntfs format, thats what the cause is. Pick your favorite way to eject disk volumes from your mac and put an end to the disk not ejected properly warnings. Here are the best mac hard drives and external storage options in. All backup plus drives are compatible with time machine and come with cool features, including seagate dashboard and windowsmac compatibility.
Mac pro 2019 mac pro late 20 mac mini 2018 and later mac mini late 2014 more mac. May 09, 2019 the best external hard drives for mac in 2020. This small compact ssd drive from samsung comes with both a usbc to usbc cable and a usbc to usba, meaning its perfect to use with your macbook or mac. Traditional hard disks are the most common options of external drives for mac, but you can also use them as laptop internal hard drives. Apr 07, 2020 the best external hard drives for 2020. How to use seagate external hard drive on mac, 16 ways. An external hard drive simply expands macs storage capacity without having to open the machine to fit it and without the need to carry the extra weight wherever you take your mac. There are many options you can choose between, such as hard drive, usb flash drive and many others. Using your toshiba external hard drive to backup to. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Whether you need an external drive to store more data or back up what you already have on the mac, you need to get the best. Best mac external hard drive in 2020 mac external hard. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar.
The higher a disks rpm, the faster its working speed. Right now, our top pick for best external hard drive is the western digital my passport 4tb, which is a mechanical hard drive. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc users. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc. I would like to take all of the information off of my computer and put it on a hard drive so that i can update all of my software on my mac to make it more usable. Drive speed is measured in revolutions per minute rpm, based on how fast the drive can spin. Mar 12, 2015 its easy to pick the right hard drive capacity these days. Mar 21, 2020 right now, our top pick for best external hard drive is the western digital my passport 4tb, which is a mechanical hard drive.
It could be possible that mac successfully recognizes the external drive, but it is not showing on the desktop of mac. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. That being said windows and mac are on different file systems so you will need your drive to be in fat32 or else use a software like paragon ntfs if you want to share between windows and macs. If you want to make use of your macs thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for macs. The best external drives for your mac or pc youtube. Mac doesnt recognize external hard drive, how to fix. When considering external storage for mac, factor in cloud capacities.
How to use external hard drives with your iphone or ipad. Usually, when you plug the external device into your mac, it appears as an icon on the desktop or can be found on the sidebar in finder. But, if you are using macbook air then hard drive must be formatted with a file system your mac can support. Mac hard drives typically spin at rates of 5,400 to 7,200 rpm. Lacie 2tb mobile drive external hard drive usbc usb 3. Its easy to pick the right hard drive capacity these days. So check your cable, your dongle if used, any additional adapters, and the ports on both computers and drive to ensure that they are clear, clean, snug and fit tightly to.
Apples usb superdrive is the mac external hard drive designed to complement macbook proair. Here are the best mac hard drives and external storage options in 2020. So stay on the move and safely take along your documents. Amazons choice for macbook air external hard drive seagate stgx2000400 portable 2tb external hard drive portable hdd usb 3. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. This reduced power draw helps preserve the battery life of the mac you plug the drive into. We think it offers creatives the perfect balance of speed, reliability, portability and price for both mac and pc users. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. Discover the world of portable hard drives for mac. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Buffalo ministation thunderbolt external hard drive.
While drives are sold as plugandplay, formatting prior to use will give you optimal performance and compatibility with your mac. Mar 07, 2020 these usbc hard drives can back up or beef up your mac s storage usbc is the future, and grabbing an external hard drive is a great way to store backups, music, movies, files, and more. Most of the time, when you connect an external hard drive to your macs usb port, you soon see it mount on the desktop. You can use your toshiba canvio drive as a destination for your time machine backups but you can only use drives formatted as mac os extended journaled file system for a time machine backup.
How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. I have used it to backup my phone for a while and now my mac storage is completely full. External drives are perfect tools to store information and protect from various cyber threats. Tap the name of your drive in the list of locations.
Shop for external hard drives in computer accessories. The incompatibility of the file system is the main cause of the errorexternal hard drive read only on mac. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. How to move files from your external drive to your iphone or ipad. How to connect external hard drive to macbook pro wikihow. Wd 4tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive blue. Compare portable models for office or home and shop online. External hard drives, thumb drives, usb drives, flash memory cards, and devices like ipod are examples of storage devices that you can connect to your mac using thunderbolt, usb, or firewire cables, or connect wirelessly using bluetooth. Apr 22, 2019 your internal storage can be very precious and often limited which is why a lot of people, myself included pick up a few external hard drives, more specifically solid state drives or ssds.