Best USB-C Hard Drives for Mac
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Looking for the best USB-C hard drive for your Mac? Here are a few of our favorites!
Updated March, 2017: Added the Seagate Innov8
The new MacBook Pro is here and it only has Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports. But that's OK, because USB-C is fast, future-proof, and will eventually (probably) replace standard USB, HDMI, DisplayPort, power, and more. A USB-C hard drive is the perfect way to locally back up all of your most important files, including photos, documents, music, movies, and anything else that's important to you. Save your Mac's hard drive and pick up a USB-C hard drive.
- G-Technology G-Drive
- Samsung T3 SSD
- Glyph Blackbox Plus 2TB
- LaCie Porsche Design
- SanDisk Extreme 900 SSD
- Seagate Innov8
G-Technology G-Drive 1TB
The G-Drive by G-Technology is a great USB-C hard drive for most people. It has 1TB of storage and you can find it for around $120.
It features a quick drive speed of 7200RPM, with transfer rates of up to 136MB/s, thanks to USB 3.1.
The G-Drive comes in silver, as well as Apple-exclusive colors: gold, rose gold, and space gray.
Samsung T3 SSD 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB
Samsung's T3 SSD is a solid state drive that provides way faster transfer rates than physical hard drives. Solid state drives don't have moving parts, so if you happen to drop this one, there's less to break!
SSDs are more expensive, but with this one you get write speeds of up 450MB/s, which is over three times faster than many hard drives. If you're like to store TV shows and movies on your hard drive, consider a solid state drive!
The Samsung T3 starts as low as around $100 for 250GB and goes up to around $730 for 2TB.
Glyph Blackbox Plus 2TB
The Glyph Blackbox Plus is a rugged portable hard drive that can keep up with you wherever you go. It's surrounded in rubber to protect from drops, and has enough capacity for all your backups and then some.
You get write speeds of up to 140MB/s from just 5400RPM, and the Blackbox Plus feature fan-free heat dissipation, so it's nice and quiet, as well as a 3-year warranty.
If you need a lot of storage and a rugged hard drive that can withstand having its jimmies rustled, grab the Blackbox Plus.
LaCie Porsche Design 1TB, 2TB, 4TB
LaCie is widely recommended for Apple users (they even sell LaCie products on Apple's site!), and the Porsche Design external hard drive is a great looking solution to your USB-C needs.
The mobile version comes in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB, while the desktop version is available with 4TB of storage. If you have older devices you'd like to use as well, this hard drive is also compatible with USB 3.0 ports.
These hard drives has a strong, lightweight aluminum enclosure, so they can withstand some jostling and bumping around in your bag. They're by no means rugged, though, so avoid drops as best you can.
SanDisk Extreme 900 SSD 480GB, 960GB, 1.92TB
SanDisk's Extreme 900 SSD is a powerhouse solid state drive that offers up to nine times the transfer speeds of external hard drives.
It's made of durable aluminum and rubber, and the solid state core is shock-proof, so this is far less likely to die on you should you drop it (compared to hard drives).
You get a 3-year warranty with the Extreme 900, as well as SanDisk's encryption, which protects your data and encrypts private files.
SSDs are considerably more expensive than hard drives ($640 for 1.92TB!), but they're incredibly fast, durable, and essentially future-proof.
Seagate Innov8
Seagte's 8TB Innov8 is a strong, sturdy USB-C hard drive that charges and transfers via it's single USB-C port. If you're using the 2015 12-inch MacBook, you'll want to make sure your laptop is fully charged, since this hard drive runs off of its USB-C port.
This isn't exactly a portable drive, since it's pretty heavy (one Amazon reviewer said it's as heavy as a bible), but it's perfect for your desktop, especially as a backup solution, thanks to Seagate's convenient and free backup software.
What drives you?
Are you using an awesome USB-C hard drive or solid state drive with your Mac that we didn't mention? Let us know in the comments below!