Its expensive for an external hard drive, dont get us wrong, especially if youre in the market for the top-end 4TB option.

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Even if you do have the funds to spend, wouldnt you rather spend the same amount of money for even more storage capacity Simply put, opting for the best external hard drive for Macs is simply the easiest and most cost-effective solution.

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Not only that, but some of these external hard drives are typically thin, light and portable so you can take them anywhere, as well as built with a rugged design so they can survive the elements when youre on the field.

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Whether youre a creative professional who needs a lot of storage space for those high-resolution images and videos or you simply need something to back up all your files on, youll find the perfect solution right here.

Our picks for the best external hard drives for Mac devices are simply the best and most affordable way to fix your storage troubles.

SSD vs HDD: which is best for your needs Best portable SSD: top external solid state drives Best cloud storage: free, paid and business options Western Digital My Passport offers a good balance between speed, capacity and price.

While transfer speeds arent the quickest, due to its USB 3.0 connection, it offers a good balance between speed, capacity and price.

Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt keeps the price down.

Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt external hard drive A brilliant Thunderbolt external hard drive Capacity: 1TB, 2TB Interface: Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 168.53 View at Amazon 171.71 View at Ebuyer 182.64 View at BT Shop 225 Amazon customer reviews Low price compared to other Thunderbolt drives Mac-formatted Not SSD If you want to make use of your Macs Thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for Macs.

It provides twice the speeds of standard USB 3.0 drives.

It still uses a traditional hard drive, rather than an SSD, and while this means speeds arent quite as fast as possible, it at least keeps the price down, while offering large capacities.

Theres also a USB 3.0 port for connecting to computers that dont have a Thunderbolt port.

G-Technology G-Drive USB 3.0 protects your data from knocks and drops.

G-Technology G-Drive USB 3.0 4TB external hard drive Slim and stylish Capacity: 4TB Interface: USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA, FireWire Low Stock 149 View at Wex Photo Video Low Stock 189 View at Wex Photo Video 320 View at Amazon 26 Amazon customer reviews Slim design Sturdy Can be noisy This is one of the fastest high capacity hard drives you can plug into your Mac, with a huge 4TB of storage space that zips along its USB 3.0, eSATA or FireWire connection.

The all-aluminium enclosure gives the drive a premium look and feel, while also protecting your data from knocks and drops, and keeping the drive cool when used.

Samsung T3 SSD is a super-fast external hard drive for your Mac.

Samsung T3 SSD Speedy and large Capacity: 1TB Interface: USB 3.1 No price information Check Amazon 511 Amazon customer reviews Very good performance Very high capacity Expensive If you really want a super-fast external hard drive for your Mac, then the Samsung T3 SSD is easily one of the best.

As it uses a solid state drive, the read and write speeds of this drive are much faster than external hard drives that use traditional hard drives.

It does mean the price is higher, but if transfer speed is the most important consideration when looking for the best external hard drive for your Mac, then this is the drive to go for.

Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC comes with a rugged case.

Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC external hard drive Wireless security Capacity: 2TB Interface: USB 3.0 157 View at Amazon 229.99 View at Amazon 61 Amazon customer reviews NFC security Rugged design Not the fastest drive With compatibility for both Mac and Windows machines, the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC is very flexible, and comes with a rugged case thats dust and water resistant, along with a built-in USB 3.0 cable.

Not only is your data kept protected from knocks and drops with the rugged shell, but its also got 256-bit AES security features and NFC (Near Field Communication) features as well.

This is a great external hard drive for your Mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure.

Western Digital My Passport Ultra features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption.

Western Digital My Passport Ultra external hard drive Comes with Encryption and a long warranty Capacity: 4TB Interface: USB 3.0 89.99 View at Amazon Low Stock 99.99 View at John Lewis 99.99 View at very.co.uk See all prices (35 found) 299 Amazon customer reviews Large capacity Type-C connector Suite of applications Average performance The latest generation of the Western Digital My Passport Ultra range of external hard drives has landed, coming in sizes from 1TB to 4TB.

It features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption, along with WDs own software suite.

It is a good performer when it comes to data transfer speeds but doesnt come near the top of the leaderboard.

Unsurprisingly, it doesnt reach the top speeds of solid state external drives, but for external hard drives based on traditional HDDs, this is the drive to consider.

LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB USB-C star Capacity: 4TB Interface: USB-C No price information Check Amazon 237 Amazon customer reviews Fast USB-C connection Great design Expensive You need USB-C ports to take advantage of speed You may have stumbled upon the LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive when perusing the Apple website for USB-C accessories.

Theres a reason for that: the Porsche Design ships with both USB Type-C to Type-A and USB Type-C to Type-C connectors, making it a worthy candidate regardless of your setup.

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