I have a Mac mini, and I've been using a WD 2TB Elements portable external hard drive for Time Machine backups. However, this model drive has failed on me twice now. Time Machine backups suddenly start to fail, I hear a weird clicking sound from the hard drive, and when I try to run Disk Utility's first aid on it, I get errors like this:
Space manager is invalid.The volume /dev/rdisk7s2 with UUIDFile system check exit code is 8.Restoring the original state found as unmounted.File system verify or repair failed. : (-69845)
Is there a different external HDD that anyone can recommend that is more reliable as a Time Machine disk? I wonder if that WD model doesn't work well when being plugged in all the time, or for long write cycles, like when used for Time Machine.
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What File System Is Best for a Mac External Hard Drive?
Before we get to Thunderbolt, we need to address a fundamental building block of hard drives that has always affected compatibility and probably always will: the file system.
An external drive's file system is the most critical factor in determining whether it's readable by Macs, PCs, or both. Starting with macOS "High Sierra," Cupertino ditched its venerable Mac OS Extended file system, commonly abbreviated as HFS+, and switched to an entirely new file system. It's simply called the Apple File System (APFS), the first format used across both Macs and iOS devices.
Can I Use Any External Hard Drive for a Mac?
Drives intended for PCs sometimes come bundled with software that isn't compatible with macOS, but that doesn't mean you can't use such drives with Macs as long as you format them correctly, as mentioned above. This essentially means that you can use almost any external hard drive with a Mac, even if it doesn't specifically say that it's Mac-compatible. As for the drive's software, you can often replicate it using features built into macOS. For example, some drives come with software that automatically backs up your files to the drive when connected. Such software isn't as much of a consideration for Mac users, who already have an excellent built-in backup option in the form of Time Machine. (See our guide to using Time Machine for backups.)
Unless your drive is never going to leave your home or office, you should also consider its physical durability. Rugged, waterproof drives are a fine option not just for surfers and BMX riders, as their marketing suggests, but also for people carrying their drives to and from school or work, where they might occasionally get spilled on or dropped on the floor. (Check out our favorite rugged drives.)
Finally, you might want to consider how the drive will look when plugged into your Mac. Some drives come in a variety of colors, and many others feature copious amounts of aluminum and industrial-chic styling to match the design cues of your MacBook or iMac.
Ready to Buy the Right External Hard Drive for Your Mac?
In this guide, we've selected a host of our favorite drives, all of which were tested on both Windows and macOS testbed systems. For more external drive options, check out our main list of best external hard drives, as well as our top picks for external SSDs.
I have a 2023 iMac 24" M3 with the standard USB-C ports that support USB 4 (40Gbps) and USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps). I'm looking for a 4 to 5 Tb backup drive for Time Machine that works with either of those connexions. I also don't know whether SSD is appropriate for that specific purpose since the iMac will be doing regular writes to the drive. I've done a lot of searching without much luck and would really appreciate others who have experience sharing recommendations. Thanks!
I bought a Toshiba External HD (Spinning) to set up for time machine with a partition. When I plugged it in the HD was in ExFAT format and the partition option was greyed out in Disk Utility, but even after doing the high-security wipe and formatted it as Extended Journal the partition option remained greyed out.
I returned that HD and am currently looking for another one that will work for this purpose. Do you all have any recommendations?
Preferably spinning and 2TB for budget reasons but I’m happy to hear about anything.
Hey everyone. I'm upgrading from a MBP mid-2015 to the 2021 M1 Max MBP. In the years I've had my 2015, I've been using a partitioned Seagate portable hard drive that for the most part worked fine until it didn't. Recently, it has been failing to mount half the time and had errors the other half. A lot of it probably had to do with me being a bit careless with it (it did travel a lot, albeit in a protective case). I'd like to not repeat the same mistakes and get a reliable dedicated drive for just backups.
Anyways, I'm aware portable SSDs are a thing, it's just the price tag seems a bit hefty (especially since my mac storage is going from 250 GB to 1 TB). Assuming I don't take it with me everywhere like before and backup files on a different external, would a HDD still be sufficient? Or should I invest in a portable SSD for this? In either case, what models do you recommend? Thanks!
Okay, so I've done some research and basically, I'm going to go with a Western Digital external HDD (old school spinning style). Seems to be the way to go specifically for Time Machine and cost/benefit ratio.
The problem for me comes in choosing the size. I've heard the rule is to basically choose one that's at least double the size of your Mac's drive. I have 2TB on my Mac, so logically that means I need at least 4TB.
Well, I wasn't really prepared for how much less the storage is for a HDD vs. SSD. So then I kept upselling myself. I even broke it down by price per terabyte:
$499 / 22TB = $22.68 per TB
$299 / 18TB = $16.60 per TB
$289/ 16TB = $18.06 per TB
$236/ 12TB = $19.67 per TB
$179/ 8TB = $22.38 per TB
$163/ 6TB = $27.17 per TB
So really, I'm most interested in that 18TB model. But that's absolutely overkill for Time Machine.
My predicament comes in that getting this opens up projects I have been meaning to do for a long time. I'll basically never need to buy storage again. In addition to the 2TB on my Mac, I have two external SSDs each with 2TB. And I have 2TB iCloud storage.
So in summary, I have:
Mac: 2TB
SSD1: 2TB
SSD2: 2TB
iCloud: 2TB
And yes I have data on all these. Each is anywhere from 25-75% full.
I have never done Time Machine before but I want to start now.
I also want that 18TB HDD, just to have it and use forever.
Should I also buy some kind of smaller HDD for Time Machine? I've heard you shouldn't partition Time Machine drives so I don't think I'd want to do that on the 18TB HDD.
Or should I literally just get a 4TB-6TB HDD only for the sake of backing up my 2TB Mac? I don't plan on getting a new one anytime soon, but you never know down the line and it might have more storage.
Any advice!? I know it's a lot, lol. But just unsure.
Does anyone have any recommendation for a 1 Terabyte external storage device that I can use for backup on Time Machine? This is for a 2016 MacBook Pro. Thank you in advance!