What is the best external hard drive to backup my MacBook Pro?

The best is a Hitachi. This is basically the ONLY thing the "HD gurus" agree on.

Toshiba is nearly neck and neck in 2.5" USB external HD to Hitachi.

Here are "best for the money"....at bottom is BEST external USB HD

best options for the price, and high quality HD:

Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"

Perfect 1TB for $68

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba

Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim and perfect

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb

2 Terabytes, 2.5" and only $129

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-Portable-HDTB120XK3CA/dp/B00ARJD56K

updated "design" casing cousin $119

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba

*This one is the BEST external HD available that money can buy:

$75

HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive

http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Touro-Mobile-External-HTOLMX3NA10001ABB/dp/B0062FZ2WS /ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379185002&sr=1-1&keywords=hitachi+extern a l+hard+drive

Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"

I'd say as a joke that the one that u have, but I think that as a brand WD (Western Digital) are the best. It depends of the space that the mac requires.

daniel.florin

but I think that as a brand WD (Western Digital) are the best.

People running 1000s of hard drives at work and/or at home-server farms dont agree on that subjective assumption. 😊

Peace

My suggestion is based on the motive that I have 2 at home and they work perfectly fine. Statistics say that you don't have to be a rookie to observe a good working product. Cheers.

daniel.florin

While I've had numerous Western Digital drives, I've also had high failure rates with the drives themselves and thus I don't recommend WD drives for external or internal use.

I have to agree with PlotinusVeritas - after using Hitachi drives for over a decade, they rate high with me. Second, for me, comes Seagate (I have two LaCie 2big Thunderbolt drives - one a 4TB and one a 8TB - one of the drives on the 4TB is failing, but hasn't failed yet, and I should be getting a new drive from LaCie on Tuesday - just great customer service and you can't beat the three-year warranties on LaCie equipment).

I know that we all ten to favor that which works well for us, but I think that PV and I have some experience with a variety of drives and are speaking on what has worked well for us and for others in the industry.

I think that PV has offered the original poster some fine drives.

Just my 2¢...

Clinton

clintonfrombirmingham Birmingham, AL

- one a 4TB and one a 8TB - one of the drives on the 4TB is failing

The 4TB have a nasty failure rate,.....the WD 4TB almost border on the "lemon" range. Id warn others that want the big drives to consider against it. Seems that the motors to spin up so many large multiple platters is one big problem with them out of many,...that and 'sticking too many eggs in one failure basket' 😊

daniel.florin

Statistics say that you don't have to be a rookie to observe a good working product.

Statistics say that 2, 5, 10,..... drives is an "insufficient statistical sample to give any measure of an accurate analysis of "X" product"

Isnt it sad that consumers dont have data storage even 1/100000th as long-lived as stone carvings and baked clay tablets created 20,000+ years ago.

*The most reliable drive now is the Platinum-Saphire drive, supposed to last a million years, platinum disk is written to by a laser and that is sandwiched in between synthetic saphire (carborundum).

Each drive is something in the $30,000 range.

For some reason (and this is happening more and more) I'm getting the email of your message but cannot 'see' the latest post when I actually go to the boards. Oh, well...

PlotinusVeritas wrote:

The 4TB have a nasty failure rate,.....the WD 4TB almost border on the "lemon" range. Id warn others that want the big drives to consider against it. Seems that the motors to spin up so many large multiple platters is one big problem with them out of many,...that and 'sticking too many eggs in one failure basket' 😊

Oddly enough, I've never had a problem with the two 4TB drives in the 8TB mechanism, but I'm getting tons of I/O errors from one of the 2TB drives in the 4TB enclosure. Thank goodness for LaCie's excellent customer service! They're sending me out a new drive and I'm hoping to rescue my Time Machine data from that drive... no big deal if I can't because I've also a TM backup on one of the 4TB drives.

And more clones than I can count, of course. I always say that I have four, but I'm forgetting the one in my bank vault that rotates every week!

Clinton

yes, the board is faulty the past few days, I cant see your posts either

someone else here, Babowa?, mentioned that seeing posts is hard, just my posts? or everyones posts?

Thats a lot of clones. I keep 18+ backups of data Ive spent 20+ years on, but for HD clones,..I never keep "any" data on any of my Macs, so I keep 2 clones of the primary machine and just one clone of other Macs.

How do I use my same old Hitachi backup drive on my new MacBook Pro (OS X 10.9)? I used my Hitachi on my old MacBook (OS X 10.5.8), and I followed the format/erase instructions at http://www.hgst.com/support/faqs/external-drives-faqs . Now, however, when I right click the backup drive in order to back up the new computer, it does not show the option "back up now" option. Do I need to buy a new drive, or ... ?

Hello Plotinus,

My old LaCie external HD has gone to technology gadget heaven. It is a good thing as it is WAY too small. I came to the forum to see what wisdom I could find in choosing a replacement for both brand and size. My current HD runs on Firewire and I have been glad to have that port taken by the HD. But I am open to all connection options.

I saw your post about Hitatchi HD being highly regarded. I am looking online at pricing and when I saw this thread, I clicked on the links to see what they show now, 3 months later. In the post I am replying to, you say "this one is the BEST.." but I am not sure which one you are referring to. Can you tell me which one you were referring to? Also, if there is anything new since the October post, I am interested in your suggestions.

Thank you!

Michelle

Your Lacie is made by Seagate, and likely is just fine, the SATA card is likely DEAD, not the drive, see here:

Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD

~~~In the post I am replying to, you say "this one is the BEST.."

All HD fail,... but this is the best one money can buy:

http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Touro-Mobile-External-HTOLMX3NA10001ABB/dp/B0062FZ2WS /ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379185002&sr=1-1&keywords=hitachi+extern a l+hard+drive

Hitachi is the winner in hard drive reliability survey:

Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the hundreds of Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors. Adding the highest average lifespans and the best relationship between failures and market share, Hitachi can be regarded as the winner.

Likely the only thing the HD gurus can and will agree on is that 2.5" Hitachi are the most reliable and best made, period.

Yes, THIS is the best for the money, excellent mfg. very small the "tiny giant" :

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1390020791&sr=8-3&keywords=toshiba+2tb

have mountains of HD, that one is tiny, very well made, very quiet, best size, best price, a tiny 2TB drive.

Thank you very much, I'll read about both of these and check out Hitaci drives. I do appreciate your time and help.

Michelle

I have looked into both of the links you sent and appreciate the help. I did read in the reviews that these are 'meant' to be used with laptops, for on the go storage, etc. The con related to this is that the cord is short and it is mentioned this makes it harder to use for a desktop computer.

I am looking to replace my OLD LaCie, which is wildly small, to use with my iMac on my desk. Having a cord long enough to allow me options on where I place it is important. Can you tell me if the kind of cord that comes with these is a style I can easily buy locally if I need a longer one?

Also, they look a bit like large iPhones ;-) with the pretty light on the front. I notice the usb plug port is on the bottom under the light. If I want to have it sit fairly permanantly on shelf above my iMac, I won't be able to see it is on as it will need to lay on its back to be plugged in, correct? The HD I have is a box about 1.75" tall/thick, 9" long and 4.5" wide. It sits on my shelf and I can see the light on the front, which told me it was out. I've plugged and replugged but it won't turn on. Are the newer ex HD mostly desgined to be able to be mobile? If so, I just need to think through how I will set it up so I can see it when I want to make sure it is on.

Obviously it has been awhile since I bought an ex HD ;-)

Thank you again for your help,

Michelle

The cord on the portables is usually around 12", more than long enough for any Imac use.

A seagate desktop cord, at 20" + is in fact too long of the many times Ive set them up for people, I had to tie the loose cabling.

You dont need to see if its on, just have an hard drive Icon placed on your desktop for your HD. Go to FINDER > preferences > general and check external disks and hard disks.

Those 2.5" HD arent designed to be either mobile OR stationary, their build quality is such that theyre designed for best use in any situation, moble or stationary.

All convention HD hate being shocked when running, desktop or laptop HD, ........however the desktop 3.5" HD are more susceptible to such shock.

Again, there is no earthly reason to see its little light blinking. Just put an icon on the desktop, .....ALL HD spin down after a while due to none-use and spin up when you bring stuff TO or FROM the HD.