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Are external hard drives worth it for Macs? I have been looking into buying one for storing pictures and documents. I am a senior in college and I want to start to clean up my Mac and store my old documents somewhere safe. Is an external hard drive worth it? If so, what one do you recommend? I looked into the LaCie Rugged Mini, as this seems to be the best one. Thank you!
Having external hard drives is essential. You should never trust your files, pics, or anything else to your computer - all hard drives fail at some point - as do SSDs - so unless you have a backup, you may find yourself with the realization that you just lost all of it if you drive fails.
As for which one: buy a good quality one. If you want SSD speed, it is worth it if you will boot from it and/or run your computer from it; if it is just for backups, then a spinning 7200 rpm drive will be fine (and less expensive). Do not get a 5400 rpm drive - it is way too slow.
I prefer the drives they offer at OWC (macsales.com); they are Mac-centric and have quality drives. I've got both some SSD models and sticks as well as 4 of their Mercury Elite Plus drives.
Having external hard drives is essential. You should never trust your files, pics, or anything else to your computer - all hard drives fail at some point - as do SSDs - so unless you have a backup, you may find yourself with the realization that you just lost all of it if you drive fails.
As for which one: buy a good quality one. If you want SSD speed, it is worth it if you will boot from it and/or run your computer from it; if it is just for backups, then a spinning 7200 rpm drive will be fine (and less expensive). Do not get a 5400 rpm drive - it is way too slow.
I prefer the drives they offer at OWC (macsales.com); they are Mac-centric and have quality drives. I've got both some SSD models and sticks as well as 4 of their Mercury Elite Plus drives.
External Hard Drives
