External drive for MacBook Air M4: Recommendations and cost

Most any name brand external drive will work with the Mac.

Even if a drive says "formatted for PC" or something similar, it will likely work with your Mac. You'll simply have to reformat it before you can use it. Reformatting a drive is simple with the Disk Utility application on the Mac. Reformatting is also generally advised with any new drive before you use it with your Mac.

If you want portability, then you'll be looking for a small drive that gets its power from the computer port when you plug it in. These are usually fine, but some can be finicky about the power and may unexpectedly disconnect from the Mac. Have patience and other may provide more info about the better brands.

If you don't mind a less portable drive, then one that is physically bigger (a desktop-class hard disk drive or HDD) is also usable. These drives typically come with their own wall power adapter and are less likely to suffer from the disconnect issues of some smaller portable drives.

Hard Disk Drives (HDD) are those with spinning platters inside. Generally speaking, they are less expensive per the amount of storage they provide. But they are not as fast to transfer large amounts of data, which may or may not be terribly important to you. They work just fine for every day use with the Mac and for long term storage such as a backup drive.

Solid State Drives (SSD) are faster to transfer data, lighter and physically smaller than HDDs, but they are more expensive, especially in the market today.

Beware of buying an SSD that claims to have vast amounts of storage capacity, 8, 16, 32 TB or more, but cost very little. If the deal seems too good to be true, it's probably a scam. Lately there are those who will sell counterfeit devices. Stick with brand names and buy only from reputable sellers.

For a MacBook Air, you probably want a portable drive that you can carry around.

I don't know about India, but I have a couple of these:

They weigh about 1 oz and are the size of sugar packet. They are powered by the Mac. Mine are 4 TB (a size which doesn't seem to be currently on Amazon) and cost a bit more than $100/ TB. I bought them when they were rather cheaper. I wonder if world events are making these harder to get…

A thought: If you use iCloud Photos, then you should keep the Photos Library on the internal drive. Plugging and unplugging the Library may confuse the synchronization.

There are other drives similar to these, but be sure to use a reputable maker!

D.I. Johnson wrote:…a small drive that gets its power from the computer port when you plug it in. These are usually fine, but some can be finicky about the power and may unexpectedly disconnect from the Mac.

I haven't had any such trouble with modern MacBooks and SSDs, but this was a problem a few years ago, mostly with more power hungry HDDs and CD/DVD drives. And not all ports on laptops offer the same power for data transfer speeds, so I may swap them around. I have had SSDs bite the dust for no apparent reason. That's why we use more than one backup method.

If you don't mind a less portable drive, then one that is physically bigger (a desktop-class hard disk drive or HDD) is also usable. These drives typically come with their own wall power adapter and are less likely to suffer from the disconnect issues of some smaller portable drives.

Powered drives are great for desktop Macs, but with a MacAir, more than likely purchased with moving around in mind, an HDD is a poor choice. They are way slower, so you have to sit and wait for them before getting up to go. And they're heavier and more awkward. However, while I have the little 1 ounce drives for carrying around and using Time Machine away from home, I have a spinning drive that I plug in when I get home to do a TM backup on a different species of drive. I also have spinning drives for archival backups. Diversity is power.

Beware of buying an SSD that claims to have vast amounts of storage capacity, 8, 16, 32 TB or more, but cost very little. If the deal seems too good to be true, it's probably a scam. Lately there are those who will sell counterfeit devices. Stick with brand names and buy only from reputable sellers.

I've always thought that a large, like 10 TB, drive was just a way to lose more data when it crashes. But I'm discovering that if I have 10 one terabyte drives, I can't find anything. So I have both.

I would add that thumb drives or flash drives are very very slow, and they are very very prone to acting up. They're fine for transferring bits of data, but they often advertise way more quality than they actually offer.

gajanan vasant wrote: Nice detailed input. But what to buy, still remains a mystery.!!

Unfortunately, that depends on your exact needs-- where you live, how you use your Mac, and how much money you have to spend. You know that it's really really important to have a backup, even if it's expensive. And you know that it's really important to have a second backup, but if money is a problem, your second one can be slower and lower tech. You know that Apple says your Time Machine backup should be twice the size of your Mac's drive although, really, 1½ times the Mac's size would be OK. Bigger is for more changes made each day and for keeping backups further back in time.

You also know that there are (expensive--over$100/TB) tiny 1 ounce drives that are perfect for MacAirs and MacBooks. But if money is a problem, you can use a slower lower tech drive that stays at home (maybe $70/TB.) And you know you shouldn't spend you money on cheaper, off brands that may be less dependable. Amazon to is a good place to start to get an idea of prices and variety

You also know that there are (expensive--over$100/TB) tiny 1 ounce drives that are perfect for MacAirs and MacBooks.

It is 9533.05 rupees

you can use a slower lower tech drive that stays at home (maybe $70/TB.)

6673.14 rupees

This is a conversion of Richard Taylor's post

Just heading to Amazon selecting a piece of junk from an unknown manufacturer and seller is exactly how not to purchase a storage device. An external drive not only needs to be trusted with your data but also needs to be performant, reliable for years, meet necessary technology standards for connectivity and compatibility, and be free of security risks from unknown chipmakers.

I would highly recommend that the OP instead take the time necessary to determine reliable name brands and models that meet their specific needs. The recommendations from sites like this one where plenty of expertise has been shared over the years are extremely valuable. Even once decided on a specific product, I would advise against ever just heading to an online reseller and picking the cheapest price. That's how you end up with counterfeit and sham products. It's always advisable to purchase directly from the manufacturer unless you really trust a specific seller. After buying thousands of technology products online over my career I personally refuse to ever purchase anything from a----[.]com unless that's my only option and it's "sold by a----[.]com" and "shipped by a----[.]com".

FishingAddict wrote: …After buying thousands of technology products online over my career I personally refuse to ever purchase anything from a----[.]com unless that's my only option and it's "sold by a----[.]com" and "shipped by a----[.]com".

Wow! Nonetheless, "Amazon to is a good place to start to get an idea of prices and variety."

hard drive

1. amazon India
2. flipkart

gajanan vasant wrote:

which external hard drive is good for Macbook air with M4 specs. and what will be its cost in India

First go to amazon dot in then search hard drive ssd or any storage drive and then buy it

Actually, you will want two drives. One for your daily data access and one to back it all up.

Even if you want this drive to be a back up, one backup is no backup at all if it fails.

Not having a backup is an accident waiting to happen.

Any HDD or sdd works with mac os

It is indeed good for that.