- #EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MACBOOK AIR DRIVER#
- #EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MACBOOK AIR FULL#
- #EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MACBOOK AIR PORTABLE#
But, you probably bought a Mac because it’s so easy, so just look for HFS+ from the start and save yourself the headache.
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MACBOOK AIR DRIVER#
If you’re totally Mac-focused, don’t mess with FAT32 and just use Disk Utility on your Mac to reformat the external drive before you use it (and then download an HFS+ driver for your Windows machine if you need to access the drive from Windows). If you get a drive that is, say, formatted in FAT32, you can use it with your Mac but you might experience problems with iPhoto or Aperture photo files sometime down the road. and you’ll be good to go - just plug it in and start transferring files or backups. “Mac OS Extended, Journaled.” When you buy, look for HFS+. To get the best performance out of an external drive for a Mac, you’ll want it to be formatted in the Apple HFS+ format, a.k.a. (For most people, though, the sheer value of an HDD drive usually wins out.) Formatting Notes So why choose an SSD external drive? 1) You have the money, and 2) you plan to work with large video and photo files directly from your external drive. For example, a 256GB SSD drive might cost close to $300 while a 1TB HDD drive can offer four times as much storage capacity for only $69. SSD drives are usually more durable, too - but SSDs are much more expensive.
Solid State Drives (SSD) are much faster than spinning Hard Disk Drives (HDD). That way you don’t need an external power cord to worry about. In addition, I very much prefer bus-powered drives, that is, drives that will run off power from your USB 3.0 port or Thunderbolt port connections.
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MACBOOK AIR PORTABLE#
Next, I prefer to choose portable external hard drives over desktop versions because they are just so much easier to pack. Best External Hard Drive for Macs: Go Portable For professional use, you can get excellent flexibility and speed, but for most people, in most situations, USB 3.0 will work great. Thunderbolt is a newer connectivity standard for all Macs, and it’s useful for connecting different kinds of peripherals, including displays - even in a daisy chained way. USB 3.0 is much faster than USB 2.0 (so avoid USB 2.0 drives). USB 3.0 is a widely-used standard that will let you plug your hard drive into most any Mac or PC with a USB port. The hard drive answer starts with two key connectivity options: USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt. With dozens of external drive options, how do you find a good external hard drive for Mac?
#EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MACBOOK AIR FULL#
Better yet, a good external drive will let you create a full system backup copy of your drive. Because Apple is so stingy with storage - you get just 128GB in the entry-level MacBook Air and MacBook Pro - having a good external hard drive for Macs is important for offloading your large video and photo files.