Best USB-C Hard Drives for Mac in 2018
- mar
- 28
Looking for the best USB-C hard drive for your Mac? Here are a few of our favorites!
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
- LaCie Rugged 2TB
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 $95.
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 and starts around $95.
Samsung T5 SSD 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB
Samsung's T5 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 540MB/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 T5 starts as low as around $120 for 250GB and goes up to around $740 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. It starts around $150.
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 2TB, 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.
You can get the Porsche Design starting around $90.
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 ($700 for 1.92TB!), but they're incredibly fast, durable, and essentially future-proof. Pricing starts at $440 for 960GB.
LaCie Rugged 2TB
The LaCie Rugged of yesteryear got me through my entire post secondary education, and now that there's a USB-C option, it'll help get you (and maybe even your children!) through school or work with reliability and that fast connection. The body is rubberized to help it stand up to daily wear and tear, and 2TB should be more than enough for all of your files, documents, Final Cut projects, and much more. There's a 2-year warranty on these, which includes data recovery services.
Not bad for about $110.
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!
Updated March 2018: Updated pricing and added LaCie's Rugged 2TB hard drive with USB-C.