Best External Hard Drives for Mac

Need to store your files? Check out these great hard drives for your Mac!

When it comes to storing data, personal information, and important documents, you can never save it in enough places. External hard drives are not only useful for storing data; they are an excellent way to transport files from one location to another.

There are an insane amount of options when it comes to external hard drives for your Mac, and it can be a pain to look through all of them; we're here to help. Here are our top picks to use with your Mac.

• Seagate Backup Plus 4TB
• 8TB Western Digital My Book
• G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 4TB
• LaCie Rugged RAID
• Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB

Seagate Backup Plus 4TB

If you're looking for a hard drive that not only offers a good chunk of space but also great software to use with it, look no further than the Seagate Backup Plus 4TB.

It comes with an addition 200GB in cloud storage that can be easily accessed by your iPhone or iPad via an iOS app.

The Seagate Backup Plus 4TB held up incredibly well when the good people at The Wirecutter for the drive through testing.

"The Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive is one of the fastest hard drives we tested, with a read speed of 150.7 megabytes per second and a write speed of 135.3 MB/s. It's less expensive per terabyte than most of the competition, and the 4 TB model is a better value than the 3 TB version."

Starting at around $99, the Seagate Backup Plus is pre-formatted for both Windows and Mac, so you won't need to reformat the drive before you can start using it; plug and play at its finest.

See at Amazon

8TB Western Digital My Book

If you're looking for some serious extra space, without compromising performance, the 8TB Western Digital My Book may fit the bill.

The Wirecutter found the Western Digital My Book to be much faster than the other 8TB drives they tested on even some of the lower-capacity drives.

"Its average read and write speeds were much faster than the only other drive we tested with the same amount of storage space, the 8 TB Seagate Backup Plus Hub, and it had better HD Tune speeds and photo and music file transfer times than most lower-capacity drives we tested."

Western Digital offers 256-AES encryption when you download its security software, meaning you can rest assured knowing your private information and personal data is safe. You will pay for the added protection and the sheer amount of space, as this drive stars around $210.

The downside is the hard drive only comes formatted for Windows and will need to be reformatted before you can use it with your Mac. See at Amazon

G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 4TB

Formatted for Mac right out of the box, the G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 4TB is as useful as it is stylish.

With 7200 RPM this hard drive works hard and fast to get your files transferred quickly. Plus, it uses USB 3.0, and it even has a Thunderbolt 2 making it perfect for people who are using Macs that are a couple of years old.

The brushed aluminum finish not only looks gorgeous but from personal experience, I can tell you these drives can survive the odd fall off your desk. I was "suggested" to buy this drive during college for storing and moving around large video files, and ever though it added another $199 onto my tuition, it worked really well for the intended purpose.

Consumers seem to love G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 4TB; it holds a 4.5/5 average rating on Amazon with nearly 400 reviews.

See at Amazon

LaCie Rugged RAID

What the LaCie Rugged RAID lacks in style, it makes up for in practicality.

The LaCie Rugged RAID is a favorite among outdoors photographer friends of mine because it can withstand drops, dust, and even the occasional splash of water, giving you the necessary peace of mind to take it on the road with you.

If you're curious about the numbers, PC Mag put the hard drive through some testing.

"The Rugged RAID performed well on the AJA system test, with a throughput of 252MBps read, and 239MBps write using the Thunderbolt interface, and 218MBps read, and 258MBps write using USB 3.0."

Its built-in Thunderbolt 2 cable is a nice touch for Mac users on-the-go, as it eliminates the need to carry around a cable with you.

The PC Mag folks liked the LaCie Rugged RAID, citing its size and value as top reasons to purchase.

"The LaCie Rugged RAID is a very good choice if you need to carry a lot of data on the (rough) road. It's spacious, fast, and is a decent value."

Of course, with a price tag of $279, it's still a little more than pocket change for most people.

See at Amazon

Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB

The Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB is what I personally use now, and it's perfect for people who don't need a ton of storage and don't want to break the bank.

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.

CNET enjoyed the performance, portability, and price of the Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB in its review.

"Fast and affordable, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim is one of the best deals on the market if you want lots of storage space on the go."

Not only is this a great budget option (starting at around $79), 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.

See at Amazon

Which hard drive do you use?

Let us know in the comments down below!

Updated December 2017: These are still our favorite external hard drives for your Mac.