
- #Best solid state external hard drive for mac archive#
- #Best solid state external hard drive for mac portable#
10 Gbit/s) are called USB 3.1 or USB 3.1 Gen 2. The faster ones that can achieve up to 1000 MB/s (i.e. 5 Gbit/s) are called USB 3.0 or, more recently, USB 3.1 Gen 1, which is even more complicated. Once again to the distinction of the designations: USB SSDs that can achieve up to 500 MB/s (i.e. However, if you copy a lot of large amounts of data, the even faster USB 3.1 variants, which we list below, might be something for you. This is easily enough for everyday tasks, after all it’s the random accesses to the data medium that make it pleasant to use, and the maximum speed isn’t even the deciding factor. The speed of USB 3.0-connected SSDs is around 500 MB/s and fully exploits the standard. The best known representative of this type is probably the T5 series from Samsung, which has the dimensions of a credit card. The prices are now extremely affordable, they are reliable, small and light.
#Best solid state external hard drive for mac portable#
If you need a portable external drive, SSDs are basically the best choice. The storage technology used is not designed for this and the data rate drops significantly.
#Best solid state external hard drive for mac archive#
This means that although they are good archive disks, they are relatively unsuitable if you want to move huge amounts of data every day.

Pay attention with the 2.5″ models, which promise particularly large capacity (4 and 5 TB) that they work with the Shingled Magnetic Recording method. October 2021 at 17:52 - Image source: Amazon Affiliate Program. The drives are available in various sizes and cost just over under $60 in the 2 TB size. Relatively cheap, simple but attractive design, no experiments. If you want a good small hard drive to store some data away, the WD Elements series is the right choice. In such a case, the speed is hardly important. Mechanical hard drives can also still be a good idea when it comes to making a backup or maybe recording your huge music collection, which is only written once and then only read. However, for mobile use, you can choose a rugged version, a padded version, like the LaCie. Disadvantages are the mechanical vulnerability, especially when you take them with you on the road, and the limited speed compared to SSDs. Currently we recommend these for your data:Ģ.5″ hard disks have the advantage that they are easy and portable – and cheap.

So sooner or later the question of which external hard drive to use on the Mac always comes up. There’s never enough space, and an external hard drive for the Mac is always good when it comes to data backup. 2,5″ Hard Drives 3,5″ Hard Drives SSDs USB 3.0 SSDs USB 3.1 Thunderbolt SSDs RAID Systems
