When it comes to the best external hard drives, there are three things that come to mind – speed, reliability, and portability.
It can be hard to tick all of those boxes, but if you know what functionality you need, our handpicked list of the best options should help. We’ve focused on some good, affordable choices from reliable manufacturers.
All options on our list include details about price, storage size, speed, USB/thunderbolt support, and other features like shock protection or included warranties.
The Most Affordable External Hard Drive – Seagate
Formatting an External Hard Disk Drive From a Mac: To put in simple words, if you want to share the external hard drive between Macintosh and Windows PC, you need to format an external hard drive for the respective system. Hard drives for Windows PC are formatted with NTFS by default, while hard disks for Mac are formatted with HFS+. Hard drives advertised as being compatible with Windows and Mac OS may have misled you into thinking you could actually use one hard drive for both computers. You can, but not out of the box.
If affordability is your concern, consider Seagate’s opening offering in the external hard drive space. Starting at $44.99 for 1TB on Amazon is reasonable, but the real value comes in the larger capacity drives.
For example, the 5TB option costs just $109.99. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better deal at this capacity.
For Mac users, you’ll need to reformat it, and there’s no USB 3.1 or Thunderbolt, just USB 2.0/3.0. For speeds, the real problem is the technology of the drive, though. It’s a standard hard disk drive with an RPM of just 5,400. This means read/write speeds of about 120MB/s.
What’s important here is you won’t be breaking the bank and this drive works as a great backup for all kinds of files. A 1 year limited warranty is included.
Most Affordable External SSD – Samsung T5 SSD
If you need speed but you’re on a budget, the Samsung T5 SSD is a great choice as an affordable external hard drive. Prices fluctuate, but a 500GB drive goes for $90-$120 and a 1TB drive for $150-$250 on Amazon.
The Samsung T5 uses USB 3.1. You can expect speeds of up to 540MB/520MB/s read/write. The drive is compatible with Mac, PC, and even Android.
There’s no shock protection, but so long as you’re careful when travelling, it shouldn’t be a concern. SSD’s do not use moving parts so there is less risk for damage. A 3-year limited warranty is included on purchase.
Most Affordable Thunderbolt External Drive – Buffalo MiniStation
If you absolutely need a Thunderbolt-compatible drive, you should consider the Buffalo MiniStation. The drive itself is only 5,400RPM, so it’ll only reach 120MB/s read/write, but it’s a cheap option for those that can’t go elsewhere. 1TB drives go for $127 and a 2TB option sells for $200 on Amazon.
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The Buffalo MiniStation has Thunderbolt 2 but it’s also compatible with USB. A 3 year limited warranty is included on purchase.
Biggest Storage Size – Seagate Desktop 8TB
If you need storage and lots of it, the Seagate Desktop 8TB External Hard Drive might take your fancy. This thing isn’t portable, but it’s the perfect setup for home or office use. You get 8TB of storage space in a 5,400 RPM drive. USB 3.0 is supported, so expect speeds of about 120MB/s for read/write.
This external hard drive also requires an external power source, which is included, so it’s best for setting up somewhere and leaving it there. Perhaps not the most convenient, but at just $140 on Amazon it’s great value. A one year limited warranty is included.
Best Rugged External Hard Drive – LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C
If you’re an adventurous type, the LaCie rugged external hard drive is for you. This drive is drop, splash, and dust resistant. You can feel confident taking it on an adventure day out or just as a backup drive you can drop into your backpack.
This drive is only a 5,400 RPM HDD, so you can only expect speeds of 120MB/s for read/write, but it’s a reasonable trade-off for decent protection. Prices start at $73.99 for 1TB with mini-USB 3.0, but if you want Thunderbolt and USB-C, you’ll need to get at least 2TB, which costs $169 on Amazon. Storage goes all the way up to 5TB for $249.
Purchasing the LaCie rugged drive will get you a three year limited warranty, 3-year data recovery service, and one month free of Adobe’s Creative Cloud All Apps plan.
Best Rugged External SSD – SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable
If safety is of utmost concern, we would highly recommend the SanDisk extreme portable external SSD over the LaCie rugged hard drive. SSDs are far safer as portable drives because they have no moving parts. The SanDisk extreme portable external SSD is also shock, water, and dust resistant.
As this is an SSD drive, you can get speeds of up to 550MB/500MB/s read/write. This external SSD also features USB 3.1 via USB type C.
Pricing starts at $71.99 for 250GB, with varying pricing tiers up to $269.99 for 2TB. A 3 year limited warranty is included.
Most Data Secure Drive – iStorage diskAshur2 256-bit 1TB
Need to secure your data? Take a look at the iStorage diskAshur2 external hard drive. Your files are protected real time with military grade AES-XTS 256-bit hardware encryption.
To access your files, you need to enter your PIN, which must include 7-15 digits. The drive won’t be recognized until it’s authenticated with the PIN. Once authenticated it will work with both Mac and Windows just like any standard drive.
The storage type used is a standard 5,400RPM HDD, so expect 120MB/s read/write. You are paying for the security here, though, not the speeds. Pricing starts at $200 for the 500GB version, but there are pricing tiers from 1TB ($220) up to 5TB ($583).
The iStorage diskAshur2 features a 3 year warranty. You can also find SSD variants on their website.
Most Portable SSD – KESU 1T
For $147, you’ll get a 1TB capacity SSD with read/write speeds of 540MB/420MB/s. The technology used includes USB 3.1 Type C for faster transfers, and it supports all major platforms including Windows and Mac.
The most important part is the size – it is 30% smaller lengthways and about half the width of an iPhone 11. A 3 year limited warranty is included.
Alternative Portable Drive – Corsair 1TB Flash Voyager GTX
Want something so portable it can fit in your pocket? The Corsair Flash Voyager GTX is a great option. This is actually a flash drive, but it uses 3D NAND memory and USB 3.1.
As a result, the Flash Voyager GTX can achieve speeds up to 440MB/s read/write. Pricing starts at $50.99 for 128GB and increases up to $279 for 1TB. This flash drive features a 5 year limited warranty.
Fastest External SSD – Plugable Thunderbolt 3 External SSD NVMe Drive
The Plugable external hard drive offers the fastest speeds for those with Thunderbolt 3 connections. No USB 3.0 is available. With NVME, you can expect speeds of up to 2,400MB/1,800MB/s read/write. You’ll only hit these speeds on larger files, though. You can read more about how it works here.
For $199 for 480GB, $299 for 1TB, or $499 for 2TB this is a pricy drive, but it’s worth paying if you really need blazing fast external storage. All drives from Plugable feature a 3 year limited warranty.
Aug 28, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
An external hard drive is just a storage device that is connected to your computer on the outside. Standard Hard drives draw power from their data source cable, which comes from the system itself. Some advanced disks may require an AC connection to derive power on their own. These storage devices come in varying storage capacities, but they all connect to a computer either by USB, eSATA, or wirelessly.
Plug and play functionality offers system compatibility and offers extensive storage options and portable design for the consumer. These memory devices are compatible with both Mac and Windows PC. These disks provide capacities ranged from 250 GB to 10 TB.
Compatibility issues between Windows and MacOS may have reduced over the years, but that doesn’t mean they’ve been completely wiped out. Sharing files from Windows to Mac is a demoralizing task, but in this article, we will discuss how to overcome such issues as there are various methods to do such that. Also, the external hard drive file recovery will be mentioned.
Part 1. Situations Where to Share External Drive Between Mac and Windows
Many MacOS and Windows users today find themselves in mixed platform offices, where they need to share files and work on them. Sharing stuff between PCs and Macs is not as nearly simple as it should be. There are different ways for your computer systems to talk to each other and share files. The main problem occurs because each operating system supports a different set of data sharing protocol, think of them as different computer languages. We will discuss some of them in this section:
- FTP (File Transfer Protocol): It is one of the well-known data sharing systems. If you've ever spent any time on the internet, then you know that FTP is one of the most convenient options for sharing stuff between your Mac and PC.
- NFS (Network File System): It is a file-sharing protocol that the Unix-based systems like to use for sharing files, which both Windows and Macs can understand. It is more popular on the Windows PC side of the fence.
- AFP (Apple Filing Protocol): It is only designed for MacOS. Windows do not understand it. But from Mac-to-Mac, it's what makes sharing extremely easy. The problem occurs when you intend to use an AFP disk drive on a Windows PC.
Fortunately, there are many methods to fix such a problem. One of it is that you can perform 'partition' on your computer’s primary hard drive. You can divide the HDD of your Windows PC into different sections with different rules, storage space, and functions.
You can also perform a partition on the main drive of Mac so that part of it works during the file-sharing process. Both Windows and Mac have the essential tools to help in performing partition for your External hard drives. Here we will discuss how to do disk partition on Mac and Windows computers.
Part 2. Formatting an External Hard Disk Drive From a Mac:
To put in simple words, if you want to share the external hard drive between Macintosh and Windows PC, you need to format an external hard drive for the respective system.
Hard drives for Windows PC are formatted with NTFS by default, while hard disks for Mac are formatted with HFS+. However, when we connect an NTFS formatted disk to Mac, Mac OS X doesn't support it and would not allow you to write files to the drive. It also disables the ability to edit the pre-existing data in the drive. MacOS offers the user to read an NTFS drive. Windows OS will similarly ask you to format the HFS+ formatted drive when you connect such a disk to its PC. Creating a partition on the disk is the best option. Follow the step-by-step guide to partition the drive on a Mac.
- Open Disk Utility on your Mac. Select the icon of Disk Utility by searching for it in Search in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
- Locate and select the hard drive you want to partition.
- Select the Partition option.
- If you intend to format the entire drive, then you can perform the procedure by clicking on Erase.
- Select the Erase Free Space option to format the disk.
- Specify the number of partitions on the external hard drive you want to create by entering the information in the partition column.
- Enter the name and size of each newly formed partition of the drive. Please specify the details to proceed further.
- It is recommended that you set the drive into two parts, one partition dedicated to the Mac and other for the Windows PC.
- Select the format for the Mac portion as MacOS Extended (Journaled).
- Select the Windows part as ExFAT. This format allows the drive to store a large amount of data.
It is recommended that you select the default option of GUID Partition. It is usually optimal with an external hard drive, as long as you don’t intend to create a bootable drive out of it to install an operating system.
- Once you are done with all of the methods mentioned above, click on Apply.
- A warning pop-up will appear, click on Partition.
The partition process of your external hard disk drive on the Mac will finish. You will able to check exFAT format by plugging the drive onto a Windows PC nearby.
Part 3. Formatting an External Hard Disk Drive From a Windows PC:
Partitioning is an act of splitting a drive into pieces, and it is important to set at least one partition to store data and a pre-set-up folder.
There are many reasons why one would want to create a partition on their external drive. You should save some of the space for general file storage; data that you might need later, and the other to store backups of your most important files. You also may want an encrypted portion of a drive for private files. You may even want to put your media files like videos in one partition and photos and documents in another to speed up searches.
You can also create a bootable portion of the drive to install a different operating system on computers; you’ll need to partition part of a drive for the OS. Formatting and creating a partition on an external hard drive is complicated in the Windows operating system. In this section, we will learn how to format an external HDD from a Windows computer.
- Click on the Start menu to open Windows Disk Management.
- Type diskmgmt.msc in the search bar.
- Click on Create and Format Hard disk partitions.
- Disk Management window will appear.
- Click on Disk 1.
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- Format the drive if you haven’t already. Formatting the disk is essential before partitioning it.
- Right-click on Disk 1 option.
- Click on Format.
- Click on Initialize Disk.
- A new window will open, asking you to select a partition style for your disk.
- Select the GPT format; it is supported by all the external hard disk drives.
- Click on OK.
- You will notice a drive listed as unallocated.
- Right-click on the unallocated drive and click on New Simple Volume. It will initiate the New Simple Volume Wizard.
- Click on Next.
- Specify the size and name of the Volume.
- Select exFAT as the file system.
- Create this partition in conjunction with the Mac device you want to use the drive on.
- Click on Next.
- Click on Finish.
- Repeat the process and set the file system for the other volume as NTFS, to use the drive in conjunction with the Windows PC.
By following the methods above, creating partitions on the external hard disk will now seem pretty straightforward. You know how to set up the drive on any operating system, and it will take just a little bit of time.
Part 4. How to Recover Data from a Formatted Hard Drive?
The hard drive is a complex piece of storage device, and, commonly, even a slight bit of negligence can lead to loss of essential data. You should not save any new information on the formatted hard drive, or it will be completely overwritten.
- Reasons Why Data get Erased on a Portable Hard Drive:
In this section, we will discuss some of the factors why your data can get deleted. Some of those reasons are mentioned below:
- The Virus can enter the Hard drive when you insert it into some virus infected computer.
- Neglecting any sort warnings after inserting the drive on to the system
- Not properly removing the storage device from the computer.
- Preparations before data recovery:
Before starting the recovery process, you should follow the necessary precautions listed below to avoid any inconvenience:
- You need to Plug your External hard disk drive with the computer.
- Directly Insert the drive in the USB port on your computer.
- Do not remove the external hard disk from the computer, during the recovery scan.
- Maintain the Backup of essential media before the recovery procedure.
You can recover your data by using data recovering software like Recoverit Data Recovery by Wondershare. The tool provides a high recovery rate of 96%. It allows you to connect almost every type of portable devices like the memory card or USB and recovers data from them.
It recovers documents and photos from all type of file formats which includes: Docx, pages, JPEG, PNG, GIF, Avi, MP3, MPEG exFAT, FAT, HFS, NTFS, and much more. Follow our step-by-step guide for the solution to your Data recovery problem.
1. Select the Location of the External Drive:
After launching the Recoverit Mac data recovery software, follow these steps:
- Select the “External Drive Location” where data was deleted or lost.
- Click the 'Start' button to initiate the process.
2. Scanning for Lost Data:
- Data scanning will start in Recoverit.
- A scan completion pop up will appear on the screen.
- The scanning time depends a lot on the size of your Hard drive. The larger the file, the longer the time it will take to finish the scan.
3. Recover the Lost Data:
- The recovered files will be sorted by the File Path and File Type on the Recoverit window.
- Select the file you want to view and hit the Preview button
- Click on the 'Recover' button after checking the authenticity of the data.
Part 5. How to Encrypt your External Hard Drive:
In this day and age, data protection is essential. It is necessary to encrypt your portable storage devices to ensure safety. It will prevent individuals to hack into your files. In this section, we will discuss how to protect your drives and folders on both MacOS and Windows PC.
- Encryption on MacOS:
- Press Command + Shift + A to open the Applications folder on your Mac.
- Open Utilities.
- Click on Disk Utility.
Best Hard Drives For Mac And Pc
- Click on View.
- Click on Show all Devices.
- Select the External Drive that you want to encrypt.
- Click on Erase.
- Choose the GUID Partition Map and Format the drive.
- Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) as the encrypted file format. You can also change to a Windows supported format like exFAT.
- Enter and verify a password.
- Click on Choose.
- Click on OK.
- Your drive will be Encrypted.
- Encryption on Windows PC:
Encrypting a file or drive on a Windows PC is simple. Follow the steps below to enable the option:
- Click on This PC.
- Right-Click on the drive that you want to encrypt.
- Click on Turn on BitLocker.
- Check the option ‘ Use a Password to Unlock the Drive.’
- Enter and verify your password.
- Click on Next.
- Save the password to your Microsoft Account or a USB.
- Click on Next.
- Choose Encrypt Entire Drive.
- Choose New Encryption Mode and click on Next.
- Click on Start Encrypting
Hard Drives That Work For Both Mac And Pc
Closing Words:
Best External Hard Drives For Pc And Mac
Having to share and edit different files across several platforms can be unavoidable in some situations. That is the case when you need to open an external hard drive on your Mac or Windows PC. This article will help you in dealing with this kind of issue. It is essential to create a back up for your files and save the data before performing the partition and formatting the external disk. You can freely use the method for both the MacOS and Windows OS. If in any case, your data is formatted or lost, then you can quickly recover the formatted disk data by using Recoverit Recovery Software. It guarantees hassle-free data recovery in no time.
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