• Now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with Apple MacOS, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. How to Partition an External Hard Drive on Mac. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive (in fact, you should for better file organization), here’s a step-by-step guide.
• LaCie Rugged Mini 2TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD – USB 3.0 USB 2.0 compatible, Drop Shock Dust Rain Resistant Shuttle Drive, for Mac and PC Computer Desktop Workstation PC Laptop (LAC9000298).
• An external hard drive or SSD (Solid State Drive) is a device that can plug into your machine, giving you an instant boost to storage space, without having to go down the road of pricey computer upgrades.

• Best Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
• Best External Hard Drive For Mac
• Best External Hard Drive For Mac Amazon
• Best External Hard Drive For Mac Amazon

Having one of the best external hard drives or backup hard drive in your setup, especially if your main computer is a laptop, is not only practical – It could also be money-saving as well.

In this article to the best external hard drives for Macs, we focus on the top devices for plugging in and expanding the storage space of your MacBook or even your Mac. Vrchat for mac. While there is a lot of love about Macs, Macbooks, and iMacs, they can be tricky at times to manually upgrade, which indicates supposing that you run of space, it is not so simple to open them up and pop in a larger hard drive.

When you are in search of the best external hard drive for Mac for your needs, you should focus on the capacity you need. External hard drives come in all sizes and shapes and you do not want to pay too much for space you will never need, but neither do you want to run out of space all too quickly.

Best External Hard Drive For Mac 2020

1. Western Digital external hard drive

This device comes in capacities from 1TB to 4TB, and also features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption, as well as WD’s own backup software. While the speeds of transfers are not the fastest, it provides a good balance between speed, price, and capacity. Other specifications include;

• 4TB capacity
• USB 3.0

Sold at 94 dollars at Amazon

PROS

• Large capacity
• Good data transfer speeds

CONS

• WD backup software is basic

2. Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt external hard drive

Supposing that you want to use Mac’s Thunderbolt port, this is a great choice, as it offers double the speeds of standard USB 3.0 drives. It also makes use of a traditional hard drive, instead of an SSD, and while it indicates speeds are not as fast as possible, it at least keeps the price low, while providing large capacities. Other specifications include;

• 1TB and 2TB capacity
• USB 3.0

Sold at 129.88 dollars

PROS

• Low price compared to other Thunderbolt drives
• Mac-formatted

CONS

• Not SSD

3. G-Technology G-Drive external hard drive

This is one of the quickest high capacity hard drives you can plug into your Mac, with a large 4TB of storage space that zips along its USB 3.0, FireWire or eSATA connection. The all-aluminum enclosure enables the drive a premium appearance and feel, while also safeguarding your data from drops and knocks. Other specifications include;

• 4TB capacity
• USB 2.0, USB 3.0, FireWire, eSATA

Sold at 129. 95 dollars at Amazon

PROS

• Slim design
• Sturdy

CONS

• Can be noisy

4. Samsung T3 SSD

Assuming that you really want a super-fast external hard drive for your Mac, then this device is easily one of the best you can choose from. As it makes use of a solid-state drive, the read and writes speeds of this drive are quicker than external hard drives that make use of traditional hard drives. Other specifications include;

Best Hard Drive For Macbook Pro

• 1TB capacity
• USB 3.1

Sold at 165 dollars at Amazon

PROS

• Very good performance
• Very high capacity

CONS

• Expensive

5. Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC external hard drive

With compatibility for both Windows machines and Mac, this device is very flexible and comes with a rugged case that is dust and water-resistant, along with a built-in USB 3.0 cable. Not only does the device have 256-bit AES security features and Near Field Communication features, but it is your data kept protected from knocks and drops with the rugged shell. Other specifications of this device include;

• 2 TB capacity
• USB 3.0

Sold at 108.99 dollars at Amazon

PROS

• NFC security
• Rugged design

CONS

• Not the fastest drive

6. Western Digital external hard drive

This model features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption, along with WD’s own software suite. This model is a good performer when it comes to data transfer speeds and does not come close to the top of the leaderboard. Not surprising at all, it does not get to the top speeds of solid-state external drives but is the drive you should consider today. Other specifications include;

• 4TB capacity
• 0 USB

Sold at 94 dollars at Amazon

PROS

• Large capacity
• Type-C connector
• Suite of applications

CONS

• Average performance

7. LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB

You probably have stumbled upon this device when perusing the Apple website for USB-C accessories. Though it is expensive for an external hard drive, do not get us wrong, particularly assuming that you are in the market for the top-end 4TB option. Other specifications of this device include;

• 4 TB capacity
• USB-C

Sold at 129.95 dollars at Amazon

PROS

• Fast USB-C connection
• Great design

CONS

• Quite expensive
• You need USB-C ports to take advantage of speed

8. iStorage diskAshur 2TB external hard drive

Assuming that you are concerned about individuals getting access to your data if your external hard drive is taken away by a stealer, then you will like his model we are about to discuss. Assuming that someone is trying to tamper with your device, you can configure it to self-destruct. Though it might be pricier than other drives of its capacity, the extra security it provides will be well worth it for many of us. Other specifications of this device include;

• 2TB capacity
• USB 3.0

Sold at 267.88 dollars

PROS

• Physical security
• Rugged design

Best External Hard Drive For Mac

CONS

• Quite expensive

So, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable SSD and wanted to use it on your Mac. But somehow, macOS doesn’t allow you to write data to the drive.

That’s all because it’s been initialized with Windows NT File System (NTFS), which is primarily for PCs. Apple Mac machines support a different file system.

In this post, I’m going to show you how to format your external drive for a Mac compatible file system i.e. Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Just follow this easy step-by-step guide and you’re all set.

Important note: If you have useful files stored on the external drive, be sure to copy or transfer them to another safe place prior to formatting. The operation will erase all data and your files will be gone for good. You could use a recovery program like Data Rescue to retrieve them, but the odds of recovery vary.

Pro tip: If your external drive has a large volume, like mine – a 2TB Seagate Expansion. I highly recommend you also create multiple partitions. I’ll also show you how to do that below.

Most External Hard Drives Are Initiated with NTFS

During the last several years, I’ve used several removable drives, including a 500GB WD My Passport, 32GB Lexar flash drive, and a few others.

Three weeks ago, I bought a brand new 2TB Seagate Expansion to backup my MacBook Pro before I updated to the latest macOS, 10.13 High Sierra (also see those High Sierra issues I encountered).

When I connected the Seagate to my Mac, the drive icon showed up like this.

When I opened it, the default content was all there. Since I wanted to use it on Mac, I clicked the blue logo with the text “Start_Here-Mac”.

It brought me to a webpage on Seagate’s site, where it clearly indicated the drive was initially set up to work with a Windows PC. If I wanted to use it with Mac OS or Time Machine backup (which is my intent), I’ll need to format the drive for my Mac.

I then right-clicked the external drive icon on Mac desktop > Get Info. It showed this format:

Format: Windows NT File System (NTFS)

What is NTFS? I’m not going to explain here; you can read more on Wikipedia. The problem is that on macOS, you can’t work with files saved on an NTFS drive unless you use a paid app Paragon NTFS for Mac.

How to Format an External Drive to Work with Mac (from NTFS to Mac OS Extended)?

Note: The tutorial and screenshots below are based on macOS Sierra 10.12.5. They might be different if your Mac has a different version.

Step 1: Open Disk Utility.

The quickest way to do this is a simple Spotlight search (click the search icon on the upper right corner), or go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.

Step 2: Highlight your external drive and click “Erase”.

Make sure your drive is connected. It should show up on the left panel under “External”. Select that disk and click the “Erase” button, the one highlighted in red in the screenshot below.

Step 3: Select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” in Format.

A new window will pop up asking which file system you’d like to format the external drive to. By default, it’s the Windows NT File System (NTFS). Select the one shown below.

Pro tip: If you want to use the external drive for both Mac and PC, you can also select “ExFAT”. Learn more about the differences between these file systems from this thread.

Best External Hard Drive For Mac Amazon

By the way, you can also rename your external drive.

Step 4: Wait until the erasing process is complete.

For me, it took less than a minute to format my 2TB Seagate Expansion.

You can also check to see if the format was successful. Right-click on the icon for your external drive on Mac desktop, then select “Get Info”. Under “Format”, you should see text like this:

Congratulations! Now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with Apple MacOS, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want.

How to Partition an External Hard Drive on Mac

If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive (in fact, you should for better file organization), here’s a step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Highlight your drive and click “Partition” in Disk Utility.

Open the Disk Utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Make sure you select the disk icon right under “External”. If you select the one below it, the Partition option will be greyed out and become unclickable.

Step 2: Add partitions and allocate volume for each one.

After clicking “Partition”, you’ll see this window. Located on the left is a big blue circle with the name of your external drive together with its volume size. What you need to do next is click the add “+” button to increase the number of partitions on your external disk. Then allocate the desired volume to each partition. You can do that by clicking the small white circle and dragging it around.

After that, you can rename each partition and define a file system for it.

Best External Hard Drive For Mac Amazon

Step 3: Confirm your operation.

Once you hit “Apply”, a new window pops up asking for your confirmation. Take a few seconds to read the text description to make sure it reflects what you intend to do, then click the “Partition” button to continue.

Step 4: Wait until it says “Operation successful.”

To check whether the operation is really successful, go to your Mac desktop. You should see multiple disk icons show up. I chose to create two partitions on my Seagate Expansion — one for backup, the other for personal use. You can find more info in this post: How to Backup Mac to an External Hard Drive.

That wraps up this tutorial article. I hope you find it helpful. As always, let me know if you have any issues during the formatting or partitioning process.