Hard Drives For Mac Book

BestExternal Hard Drives for MaciMore2019

External hard drives are not only useful for storing data but are an excellent way to transport files from one location to another. When you take into account price, ease of use, and portability, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim is the most reliable hard drive you can carry around with you at all times.

When it comes to storing data, personal information, and essential documents, you can never be too safe. External hard drives are not only useful for storing data but are an excellent way to transport files from one location to another. When you take into account price, ease of use, and portability, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim is the most reliable hard drive you can carry around with you at all times.

Best Overall: Seagate Backup Plus Slim (2 TB)

The Best External Hard Drives for Mac in 2019. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your Mac? Here's what you need to know, along with our top-rated Apple-friendly drives. In-depth reviews of the 5 best external hard drives for MacBook Pro. Portable and desktop models. Performance and portability. Best value to price ratio and a preference for SSD chipsets with analog and digital protections. One of the Best Feature Filled External Hard Drives for Mac LaCie Rugged Mini 1 TB The LaCie Rugged Mini comes with 1 TB storage capacity, USB 3.0 / USB 2.0, shock, rain and pressure resistant body, built-in password protection and a 1-month complimentary Adobe Creative Cloud membership. In the case of an external hard drive, the drive itself is stored inside an enclosure that includes the proper ports for connecting it to your Mac. Most external hard drives connect to a Mac either through the USB port, or through the Mac's Thunderbolt port, and thus will likely come with the appropriate cable. By default, Mac OS X does not display any icon on the desktop. Not even the internal hard disk. In this article, I will be showing how simply you can display Hard Disks on the Mac OS X desktop.

If you want a reliable external hard drive that has a decent amount of storage, is super easy to carry around and has a very affordable price tag, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim is the best option for most people. Formatted for Windows and Mac right out of the box, it's easy to carry all your essential documents from desktop to laptop without missing a beat.

The Seagate Dashboard back up system is a fantastic simple tool that can let you schedule backups to ensure you never miss any critical files you need in case something terrible happens to your computer. You can set automatic backups daily, weekly, or monthly, and change the frequency whenever you want.

Seagate also throws in a one-year complimentary subscription to Mylio Create. This can help you wrangle your photo library if you don't already use some photo managing tool, and a two-month membership to Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan.

Pros:

  • Affordable
  • Great backup software
  • USB 3.0
  • Metal enclosure

Hard Drives For Macbook Pro 2011

Best Overall

Seagate Backup Plus Slim (2 TB)

Reliable, portable, and affordable.

Don't worry about lengthy setups or formatting procedures. Plug in the Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB which is formatted for Mac right out of the packaging.

Best USB-C hard drive: Samsung T5 Portable SSD (1 TB)

This small compact SSD drive from Samsung comes with both a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A, meaning it's perfect to use with your MacBook or Mac.

Its fast 540 MB/s read and write speeds are more than enough to transfer any file. And should be able to store all your photo and video files with ease thanks to its straightforward software. Plus, if you're worried about encryption, the Samsung T5 Portable SSD has you covered with an optional password to launch the drive, and AES 256-bit hardware encryption on all your files.

Pros:

  • USB-C
  • SSD
  • Super compact
  • AES 256-bit hardware encryption

Best USB-C

Samsung T5 Portable SSD (1 TB)

Fast and encrypted

With 540 MB/s read and write speeds the Samsung T5 Portable SSD is fast enough for photographers and videographers to transport all their work.

Compatible with Time Machine right out of the box, the 8 TB storage capacity on the Western Digital My Book is perfect for people looking for a lot of stage at a reasonable price. It's USB 3.0 meaning it's easy to take advantage of its storage speed with fast transfer speeds.

While portability is not the Western Digital My Book's strong suit and it needs a separate power source, it does offer 256-AES encryption when you download its easy-to-use security software. It ensures all your important files and documents stay private.

If you're looking for a drive that has lots of space, os you don't have to have multiple as your storage needs grow, look no further.

Pros:

  • Lots of storage
  • 256-AES encryption
  • Time Machine compatible

Best Capacity

Western Digital My Book (8TB)

Lots of storage for those who need it

Western Digital offers 256-AES encryption when you download its security software, meaning you can rest easy knowing your private information and personal data is safe.

Best Thunderbolt 3 Drive: LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt

LaCie hard drives have always been good for people on the go because of the rugged design. The LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt can withstand some dust, dirt, and even a tiny bit of water being splashed on it.

It's 7200 RPM Hard drive keeps things running smoothly. And the included USB-C cable — which supports Thunderbolt 3 — makes it perfect for MacBook and Mac users alike!

Cons:

  • Only 130MB/s

Best Thunderbolt 3 Drive

LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt

Rugged design with Thunderbolt 3

Ipa keyboard for mac

The LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt 3 is a favorite because it can withstand drops, dust, and even the occasional splash of water, making it easy to carry around!

Best for Legacy Hardware : G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 (4TB)

While Apple has been going the way of USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 for a while now, some of us still use older hardware and thus don't need hard drives that have USB-C connections. If you're still rocking USB-A or even a Thunderbolt 2 connection from your Mac, the G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 (4TB) is a perfect companion.

Its all-metal design is not only more durable than plastic hard drives, but it also looks stylish! Plus, it's 7200 RPM speed allows the G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 to achieve 195 MB/s read and write speeds. This makes it fast enough to transfer large video files quickly and efficiently.

Cons:

  • Needs to be reformatted for Windows

Best for legacy hardware

G-Technology G-DRIVE USB 3.0 (4TB)

Stylish and fast even on older computers

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 port.

The CalDigit Tuff does the best it can to live up to its name, giving you a hard drive that isn't as delicate as most. Its official IP rating is IP57, meaning it can be submerged in 3-feet of water for 30 mins and come out the other side functional. That's not all; this Thunderbolt 3 compatible drive can also withstand falling from about 4-feet high. We still don't suggest that you purposely abuse the CalDigit Tuff. Still, it's always good to have peace of mind when you're carrying your hard drive around.

Cons:

  • Only come in 2TB

Best rugged drive

CalDigit Tuff

Can withstand drops and water

Official rated IP57, the CalDigit Tuff can survive an accidental dip into the water and has a great price tag.

If you're used to dealing with giant file sizes and need a hard drive that can handle transfer data fast, the Samsung X5 is one of the fastest SSD's you'll find. Its read and write speeds are 2,800MB/s and 2,300MB/s respectively, and the entire body is made of metal, making it much harder than plastic drives. Plus, The internal frame on the inside is shock resistant for drops from 2 meters.

This SSD comes with Thunderbolt 3 technology included. This you can take advantage of the fast speeds on your Mac or MacBook Pro, and it doesn't need any formatting, so it's plug and play!

Pros:

  • 2,800MB/s read speed
  • Shock resistant
  • Thunderbolt 3

Best fast drive

Samsung X5

Incredibly fast SSD

If you need blazing fast speeds for giant files, the Samsung X5 is a monster external SSD that can handle any workload.

Bottom line

The Seagate Backup Plus Slim is the most reliable hard drive you can carry around with you at all times. It is formatted for both Mac and Windows right out of the box, and its easy-to-use software can automatically do backups for you as often or as little as you want.

Seagate also throws in a one-year complimentary subscription to Mylio Create. This program can help you wrangle your photo library if you don't already use some photo managing tool. A two-month membership to Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography Plan means it's perfect for budding photographers as well.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide

Luke Filipowicz is an iMore staff writer who has been carrying around his Seagate Backup Plus Slim since his college days.

Lory Gil is the Managing Editor of iMore and an avid believer in having as many backups of your important files and documents as possible.

Rene Ritchie is the foremost authority on all things Apple and has insider knowledge about the goings-on at the biggest tech company in the world. When it comes to accessories for Mac, Rene has used them all.

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An internal hard drive is the most important part of a computer which is used to store data and support computer to work in a normal manner. If your iMac or MacBook does not recognize an internal hard drive and the drive is not showing up or mounting on Mac, not only will the system be unable to boot, but also the whole data stored on the computer will become inaccessible. Fortunately, there are still means of getting the data on the internal hard drive back and fix the internal hard drive not showing up/mounting issue.

Solution 1: Change the Finder settings

If your Mac computer works in a normal state but the internal hard drive is not showing up in Finder or on desktop, this is because the system is not set up to display hard drives in Finder or on desktop. Here is a simple fix for this:

Go to Finder > Preferences > General tab and select 'Hard disks' to make external hard drives show on the desktop.

Solution 2: Check whether the internal hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility

The internal hard drive still not showing up/mounting on Mac? Then you can blame your hard drive. You can make use of Disk Utility to perform any disk volume-related tasks. Normally, if a disk is listed in the left side bar of Disk Utility, you can leave out the hardware problems.

Tips: If your Mac won't boot, you have to boot into Recovery Mode and launch Disk Utility.

Scenario 1: Internal hard drive can be found in Disk Utility

If you find the internal hard drive showing up in Disk Utility, the drive may has some file system corruptions. Thankfully, Macs provide several clues to help you isolate and troubleshoot most logical issues.

Mount the internal hard drive on Mac

Sometimes, aninternal hard drive won't mount on Mac, it's time to force it to. In Disk Utility, right click the hard drive and choose Mount. The internal hard drive should now appear under devices in the Finder.

Run First Aid to repair the internal hard drive

If the internal hard drive is still not mounting on Mac, you can run First Aid to verify and repair various issues related to hard disk problems.

Step 1: Boot your Mac into Recovery Mode. Start your Mac and hold down the Command and R keys simultaneously until you see an Apple logo or spinning globe. Then release the keys.

Step 2: Select Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities menu.

Step 3: Select the corrupted internal hard drive from the left-hand panel.

Step 4: Click First Aid on the top of the window and wait while it verifying and repairing errors.

Data recovery from corrupted internal hard drive

If unfortunately,Disk Utility can't repair the disk, the corruptions on the internal hard drive are so serious. In this situation, all data on the drive is so fragile that any operation will overwrite it. If you don't back up any data, please perform data recovery firstly.

iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery isfree Mac hard drive data recovery software which helps you recover documents, pictures, audios, videos, emails from the unmountable, unreadable, formatted, corrupted Macintosh HD, internal hard drive, external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. Even when yourMac won't boot, the program can regain access to your machine without taking out the internal hard drive. It is compatible with macOS Catalina 10.15/Mojave 10.14/High Sierra 10.13/10.12 and OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.

Solution 1: If you have only one Mac computer

If you have only one Mac computer, please directlyrun iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery in recovery mode and recover lost data from the unbootable Mac computer.

Reboot this Mac and press Command +Option +R keys.

Click Utilities in the top menu and select Terminal from the drop-down menu.

Run the following command:

This will launch iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery through iBoysoft Server.

Select the internal hard drive and recover data with iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery with its wizard.

Solution 2: If you have two Mac computers

Step 1: Download iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery on another Mac computer.

Step 2: Install and launch iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery on the healthy Mac computer.

Step 3: Click iBoysoft Data Recovery on the menu bar and then select 'Create Boot Drive'.

Step 4: Insert a USB drive into the healthy Mac computer.

Step 5: Follow the wizard to create a bootable recovery drive on the USB drive.

Step 6: When the creation process completes, you can insert the USB drive into the unbootable Mac computer, and then press the Power button and Option key (⌥) to start the Mac up.

Step 7: Select iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery from the boot options.

Step 8: Follow the wizard to scan for the lost data on the corrupted internal hard drive.

Step 9: Choose the files you want to get back, and then click Recover button.

Erase the internal hard drive and reinstall macOS

External Hard Drives For Macbook Pro

After retrieving data from the corrupted internal hard drive, you can reformat the disk to make it usable again.

Step 1: Boot your Mac to Recovery Mode.

Step 2: Select Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities menu.

Step 3: Select the corrupted internal hard drive from the side bar.

Step 4: Click on Erase from the top.

Step 5: Setup the required information to reformat the disk and click Done when finished.

Step 6: Go back to macOS Utilities screen and select Reinstall macOS.

Scenario 2: Internal hard drive not showing up in Disk Utility

If your internal hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility, the drive may have hardware problems. In this case, none of software is helpful. You can try steps below to reboot your Mac computer.

Boot up your Mac in Safe Boot

Hard Drives For Macbook Air

Safe Mode checks through your startup drive to make sure there are no problems there. It helps you resolve problems that are stopping your Mac from starting up. To boot up your Mac in Safe Mode, begin with your Mac switched off or restart it. Press and hold the Shift key. Then release the Shift key as soon as the login window appears. If you have FileVault turned on, you need to log in twice.

Reset the PRAM / NVRAM

NVRAM or PRAM stores the information about system settings, including system date and time, screen resolution, etc. If it get corrupted, you Mac won't boot as usual.

Step 1: Press the Power (Eject) button.

Step 2: Immediately press and hold down the Option (Alt) + Command + R + P keys together for 20 seconds (or until the screen goes all black and comes back to gray again, or you hear the startup sound (in some old models).

Step 3: Release the keys simultaneously.

Step 4: Wait while your Mac boots.

Step 5: Get to System Preferences and re-configure the settings as needed.

Send the internal hard drive to a local technician for help

Macbook Pro Hard Drive Replacement

If these solutions above fails to fix internal hard drive not showing up on Mac, Unfortunately, you have to send the internal hard drive to a local technician for help or replace it with a new one.