Dec 17, 2018 - Here are the best Mac hard drives and external storage options for your. Unless you spend an awful lot of money, though, an SSD will not.

You won't have to worry about lengthy setups or stressful formatting procedures when you plug in the Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB because it's formatted for Mac and Windows right out of the packaging. Not only is this a great budget option, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB still comes with Seagate's great Dashboard software and a two-year subscription to Microsoft OneDrive with 200GB of storage. Whether you need extra space because your hard drive on your Mac is already full, or you're looking for a same external source to store sensitive documents, any of the above listed hard drives is a fantastic option to help you out. I personally use the to store a lot of documents and pictures, and it works great. Plus, it's very reasonably priced. This post may contain affiliate links. See our for more details.

It’s basically what the names suggest. An internal hard drive is the hard drive that comes inside your Mac or store-bought Windows system.

While new internal hard drives have a ton of space compared to older ones (now measured in terabytes instead of gigabytes as in years past), it’s a good idea to have a backup of your work. SOME PEOPLE RELY ON THE CLOUD—AND THAT’S FINE—BUT AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE IS A GREAT OPTION FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KEEP THEIR FILES CLOSER TO HOME WITHOUT RELYING ON A CLOUD SERVICE. External hard drives work on your computer by connecting to it. You can transfer files off of your internal hard drive and put it on your external one. Likewise, you can view and transfer files from your external hard drive and put them back on your internal hard drive. In a day and age when space is measured in terabytes, and file sizes are growing larger with advances in an array of technologies, it’s important to ensure you have the space you need to save your precious work and priceless media library; external hard drives were made for that. How do external hard drives for Mac work?

External hard drives for Mac work pretty much the same as they do for a PC. The best external hard drives for Mac tend to connect to Macs via Thunderbolt or USB 3.0. This allows for the fastest connectivity, generally speaking. Once connected, you can automatically or manually back up your files, depending on your preference.

Many hard drives work for both Mac and Windows operating systems. Some of these require no particular reconfiguration or installation (some are simply plug-and-play), though others require you to reconfigure for Windows usage or vice versa for Mac usage. DRIVES THAT PLAY WELL WITH BOTH OPERATING SYSTEMS ARE CRUCIAL FOR FAMILIES, OFFICES, AND CLASSROOMS WHERE PEOPLE MIGHT BE ON DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS AND CONNECTING TO A SINGLE EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE.

The best external hard drive for Mac even feature automatic backups, so you don’t have to worry about doing something wrong manually. Furthermore, the better external hard drives tend to work with Mac’s Time Machine feature, which further simplifies and streamlines things. How to keep your external hard drive running smoothly. Let’s face it: There’s nothing more terrifying to a computer user than hard drive failure, and that’s why people buy external hard drives—as a backup for “ just in case.” But here’s the thing: If you don’t properly maintain your external hard drive, you could inadvertently cause it to fail and lose everything you worked so hard to save. Here are a few simple steps to keep your external hard drive healthy: • Make sure the device you’re plugging your hard drive into is connected to a surge protector. Even short power surges can have lasting effects on electronics, so this is like computer basics — and super important.

• Always store your external hard drive in the position it was designed to be in: Some external hard drives can be placed either horizontally or vertically. However, many are just meant to be placed either one way or the other. Turning your hard disk the wrong way puts unnecessary strain on it which could ultimately lead to failure. • Don’t expose it to static: This is also a computer 101 thing; while modern devices including hard drives seem so much sturdier than their older counterparts (and are in many ways), it’s always best to be safe rather than sorry. The benefits of buying Mac external hard drive The number one benefit of buying an external hard drive for Mac is that you will have a backup of your files that are trusted and in your care, a backup you always have access to without having to depend on a cloud, a backup you can access when offline. These alone are colossal benefits to buying an external hard drive for your Mac, but there are other considerations. ANYONE WHO HAS A LOT OF HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO FILES ON THEIR COMPUTER KNOWS HOW MUCH SPACE THAT EATS UP ON THEIR HARD DRIVE.

Here are additional tips that can help you manage pop-ups and other unwanted interruptions. Temporarily allow pop ups for site in chrome mac.