I need recommendations for an external hard-drive for our new Mac desktop, my old one has died! The best for Mac, but easiest to set up and use would be great.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iMac 24″, macOS 14.3
I hold the opinion that the external backup drive for any desktop computer should be a desktop-class drive with an independent power supply. I have enjoyed amazing service with self=powered externals that held quality 3.5-inch drives; not so much with the cheap bus-powered drives that use 2.5 inch laptop drives.
I offer these recommendations for any external used on a Mac based on my Mac use, support or others' Macs, and some misteps in my youth:
1) Use Disk Utility to erase and reformat the new external drive to a pure Apple format. Your 2023 iMac uses APFS.
2) Do NOT install the drive software that comes with many "name-brand" external drives.
3) External SSDs are overkill for backups once the first backup is completed.
I've been through a litany of external drive options—and grief—since we started with Macs nearly 35 years ago. Having been burned by too many cheap drives, today I use only these enclosures:
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-mercury-elite-pro
into which I install SATA 6G 7200 prm Western Digital Black Series drives.
Yes, more money, but I got over that quickly when I asked myself, "How much is your data worth?
You wrote "I'm not worried that OWC is going to pick unreliable drives. However, if I was getting a desktop hard drive, I think I'd have a preference for a mechanism that
On the OWC site, I can't find anything that distinguishes CMR/SMR. All I have seen state "Standard Mechanism".
Once again, thank you for the excellent information and guidance. It is greatly appreciated!
just about any manufacturer's drives will work. one of my external drives is a WD my passport, and it works fine. but please be sure to not use any software from the manufacturer (or install such software yourself) that supposedly makes the drive "Mac ready".
when you use software from just about any manufacturer for their storage device you run the risk of that same software not being compatible with macOS updates / upgrades. it can cause the software to stop working. at best this will cause you a headache. at worst it can render your data inaccessible. it is always best to use disk utility to erase and format a drive before use to remove any preloaded software.
please see Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support.
Tamlouie wrote:
Thanks for both of your comments/suggestions. When I searched for best external hard drive on Wirecutter, this came up for Macs Western Digital My Passport Ultra (5 TB) Mac-compatible version. I don't know anything much on how to gauge what is best, and Wirecutter usually is pretty solid advice (not always). I will look into those suggested but am open to more suggestions and knowledge.
When you say "best" – "best" for what?
I follow mostly or at least get the gist. I am a simple, old school behind the tech times gal, so all of this can be daunting at times. I am definatly wanting a desktop-class drive with an independent power supply as you stated.
Is the mercury elite pro a standalone backup hard-drive, or do I need to install extra as you did? You and MartinB mention WD Black drives, but I am unfamiliar with this series (or what 2.5 or 3.5 drives even mean). Is it a backup to the backup? The data that is most important for me are 5-6 thousand photos/videos, documents, applications that came with Mac, but no gaming to speak of. Pretty basic but important to keep safe.
As an aside, it looks like I may have made a poor choice when I was out of town at the Apple store buying the new Mac. I had asked for recommendations for external storage specifically for my MacAir laptop (since our old desktop hard-drive was working fine at the time) for removing photos in the cloud (and future photos) and was sold on Lacie 2TB as easy peasy. I followed instructions using disk utility, and formatted APSF, but I couldn't do much without downloading the Lacie Tool Kit. I am guessing that is the additional software so many in this string have said NOT to download, bummer. I was able to get my photos from iCloud loaded onto unit, but it will not take let me back up my laptop now or add anything more. There have been Apple updates and I'm thinking if understanding comments correctly that the Lacie is conflicting with it so it no longer works properly. Not sure what to even do with it now. Is there anything I can do to make the Lacie viable to use again and not have wasted $120?
I am extremely grateful for the help and information. I try my best, but would be lost sometimes without some of the help I have found in this forum.
I need recommendations for an external hard-drive for our new iMac
