External Hard Drives. The standard way to back up a Mac is to use a hard disk connected via USB. The internal hard drive is a good performer too. It obviously can't compete with the latest solid-state drives, but it achieved consistent speeds of 240MB/s for both read and write performance. AGPTEK Type-C Hub with Hard Drive Enclosure, USB-C Docking Station & Stand for Mac Mini with SATA SSD/HDD Slot, TF/SD Card Readers USB 3.0/2.0 for Mac Mini. The best hard drives are still king in the storage realm, especially for the budget-minded. Sure, the best SSDs may be unbeatable when it comes to speed and build. But, the hard drives still offer.
- Recommended External Hard Drive For Macbook Air
- Good External Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
- Internal Hard Drive For Mac
- Mac Ready Hard Drives
- Mac Hard Drive Cleaner
- Good Hard Drives For Mac
The G DRIVE 4TB USB 3.0 external hard drive is part of a strong product line of high capacity, high performing drives.
Designed to look good on the desktop the G-Technology external hard drive for mac is clearly aimed at the Mac user.
And I'll tell you in the article why.
The question I set out to answer in this review is 'Does this G Drive USB 4TB have it all?'
Starting with a 2TB hard drive the range moves all the way up to its maximum storage size of 10TB.
I think you'll agree G-Technology's G-Drive gives plenty for those of you needing serious amounts of storage.
And I'm thinking of those of you who do photo editing or video editing on your MacBook Pro.
Pre-formatted in HFS+ for Mac and with USB 3.0 connectivity. Simply plug in and your Mac recognises the G DRIVE. Could it be easier?
(For the very latest MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt ports you will require a Thunderbolt/USB C to USB 3.0 adaptor cable to connect the G DRIVE)
This ease of use is an important reason that Mac users consider the G Drive to be among the best external hard drives in its class for a Mac.
The sleek case echo the brushed metallic surface of a MacBook Pro and the wide options for connectivity only adds to its appeal.
Why not see what the drive looks like? I found this YouTube video from G-Technology the manufacturers of the external hard drive.
Have a look.
Benefits Of The G-Technology 4TB G DRIVE
Why did I choose to focus on the 4TB external hard drive when the G DRIVE range goes from 2TB up to 10TB and delivers on good looks, reliability and durability?
Because it is the sweet storage machine for those who want this level of capacity, with performance and a wide range of features.
One potential downside of the USB 3.0 version of this drive is its absence of direct Thunderbolt connectivity. I'll tell you later why there is little need to worry about that.
Who Manufactures The G Drive USB 4TB?
G-Technology a Hitachi subsidiary. Now wholly owned by Western Digital.
Specialises in high end fast hard drives for professional and home users.
They have proven they are more than capable of addressing the wants and needs of its target – consumers of high-performance hard drives.
Attractive Design Of The G Drive USB 4TB
On your office table it will take up 5 inches x 7.7 inches x 1.26 inches (Height) and believe me it'll look good next to your MacBook Pro.
It's small enough to be taken with you yet still feel substantial.
Note though this drive is not designed to be portable or rugged so if you are taking it with you on editing projects be sure to provide it with a robust case. While you should be careful about damaging it by dropping it on hard surfaces, the casing appears to be structurally sound.
And there's more…
The casing is made entirely of strong and sturdy aluminium which also has the added benefit that it is recyclable – something G-Technology points out in its product literature.
With perforations on the sides and front for ventilation purposes, this helps protects the enclosed 7,200 RPM hard drive from overheating.
The ultra smart G on the front makes the G Drive USB 4TB look impressive with the white LED status light located also on the front, that shows when the drive is switched on and operating.
The G drive USB is whisper-quiet in operation –
which is a bonus and this is due to its fan less cooling construction. A benefit especially when unwanted background noises from your computer's accessories are inconvenient if you are recording sound or just simply annoying and add to your stress levels when you are working long hours.
Take a look at the Amazon Reviews on the G-Technology G-drive.
Over 70% have rated the G DRIVE USB 4TB as five star, which is a ringing endorsement of this hard drive.
What Is In The G DRIVE USB 4TB Box
It comes with:
- 1 x USB cable 3.0
- 1 x Esata cable
- 1 x FireWire 800 cable
- AC Adaptor
G-Drive USB External Hard Drive For Mac Connectivity
The ports at the back of the hard drive include a power input, a USB 3.0 port that is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 devices. Two FireWire ports and there is also a power switch next to the power input.
Truly it has it all in terms of flexibility – ways to plug into your Mac.
It has a slim power adapter designed so that it only occupies a single power outlet when plugged in.
That said some users seem to be using the drive successfully by simply plugging in the G Drive USB cable into their USB 3.0 port.
Although I can't recommend this as the G DRIVE's product manual clearly states that it should be connected to an external power socket.
It could be useful to power it from your USB 3.0 port for those projects where you want to take the drive physically with you.
Note that: For the very latest MacBook Pro you will require a Thunderbolt/USB C to USB 3.0 adaptor cable to connect the G DRIVE.
G DRIVE USB 3.0 Hard Drive Capacities
G DRIVE USB 3.0 comes in eight capacities:
2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB and 10TB.
Plenty of storage for HD video's, large photography farms and photo editing.
The industry considers the 4TB sized drive as the sweet spot for most professional users. When tested, we discovered that this model has fast USB 3.0 performance.
The 7,200 RPM hard drive definitely delivers on the promise of high-performance even after several months of use.
The USB 3.0 interface surpasses Firewire 800 in terms of raw performance.
In our test, we achieved a reliable 140MB/second read and write speeds on the 4TB G DRIVE with its 165MB/second peak transfer rate on a MacBook Pro. That's twice as fast as the read and write speeds we can get from a 2TB G DRIVE hard drive using Firewire 800.
4TB G DRIVE Set Up And Use
Pre-formatted in HFS+ for Mac so the G Drive is plug in and play.
When you attach the G DRIVE 4TB hard drive to the MacBook Pro for the first time the Mac detects the hard drive and an icon representing the G Drive appears on your desktop.
The Mac also launches the Time Machine software on the assumption that you would like to use this external hard drive as a Time Machine backup device.
The Time Machine dialogue box comes up and if it is the first time you have used Time Machine the slider button will be set to OFF. To indeed use the G Drive as a Time Machine back up device you can turn the slider to ON; otherwise…
If you would prefer to use your G Drive to store your files or photo's, video's etc And to directly work from and not use for Time Machine backup.
Exit out of Time Machine and you can create folders.
Move files to and from the G Drive in the finder window.
Drag and Drop files, create files as you would on your own internal hard drive.
To Use The G Drive 4TB USB 3.0 With Time Machine
Go to Time Machine preferences while the G Drive is connected and
you simply select the G DRIVE as the Time Machine back up disk. Then by default when the drive is connected Time Machine will take an hourly back up.
The very first back up is a full back up of your entire MacBook Pro internal hard drive (note this could take some time) after that Time Machine does incremental backup's.
If you want more detail on setting up an external hard drive for Time Machine you can check out my article on the site.
When you are ready to disconnect the hard drive do ensure you right click on it on your desktop and eject it first.
This ensures your MacBook writes all it needs to down to the hard drive and shuts it down cleanly before you pull out the G Drive USB cable. This saves you from corrupting your G DRIVE.
Using The G Drive USB 4TB Between A Mac And A Windows PC
The G DRIVE is versatile. If you happen to have Windows computers and you would like to share the drive between your MacBook Pro and a Windows PC you can format the whole drive as ExFAT. That is if you want the complete drive as shareable. or
partition the drive up so that it has a partition for Time Machine and a shared partition for Windows.
I have an article on how to do that here.
The G DRIVE USB 4TB Lack Of Thunderbolt
Your G DRIVE USB 4TB doesn't have a Thunderbolt port.
Drives with Thunderbolt ports do tend to be more expensive. This may be a non-issue for Mac users with USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 ports or Firewire – you just plug straight in.
If you have the Latest MacBook Pro.
Then a Thunderbolt to USB 3.0 adaptor will allow you to take advantage of the cheaper drive for little decrease in performance for most.
Some users report no decrease in hard drive performance due to lack of direct Thunderbolt connectivity.
You can take a look at the extensive G-DRIVE User Manual here.
G DRIVE USB 4TB Pros
- Beautiful and durable housing to fit in with your MacBook Pro
- 7,200 RPM hard drive coupled with USB 3.0 capacity for high-speed data transfers
- Plug-and-play set up making it easy to connect to your MacBook Pro
- Ready set up for easy Time Machine backups
- Wide range of available disk capacities
- Comes with 3-year limited warranty
G DRIVE USB 4TB Cons
- No direct Thunderbolt connectivity (need an USB to Thunderbolt adaptor on the newest MacBook Pro's
G DRIVE USB 4TB In Conclusion
G-Technology's G-drive is a consistent favourite for professionals in fields as diverse as finance to filmmaking and for good reason.
Many of those users were day-one adopters of Apple's MacBook Pro and iMac's. You demand features like plenty of hard disk space, reliable performance, and fast interfaces, which the G-Technology external hard drive for mac delivers in spades.
I think, yes, the G Drive USB 4TB has it all (apart from Thunderbolt connections) and you may not care about that, because this hard drive performs.
The G DRIVE 4TB USB 3.0 is well worth the money.
When you consider its top notch performance, range of storage capacities and the ability to plug and play with your MacBook.
Interested in hearing about other Top External Hard Drives for your Macbook Pro? You can take a look at my selection on the site.
Image Credit Flickr Creative Commons: Travis Isaacs (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tbisaacs/)
Recommended External Hard Drive For Macbook Air
Sep 16, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions
We all treasure our precious data on our Mac. Therefore, we do not need to wait for a disaster to strike so that we can learn ways to backup files. One way to backup data is by copying them to an external hard drive. External hard drives are significant when your Mac has minimal storage since offers more storage. With this mind, you need to get yourself an external hard drive for Mac. Before purchasing an external drive for your mac, there are things you should consider such as compatibility, speed, storage, transfer speed, portability, and price. In this article, we are going to give you the best 5 external hard drives for mac picked by media websites.
- Top 5 Best External Hard Drives for Mac
- How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
Part 1: Top 5 Best External Hard Drives for Mac
1.Seagate Backup Plus
Company: Seagate Technology
Seagate backup plus is an ideal mac external hard drive that is highly recommended by most websites. This external hard drive for mac is well known for its slim and sleek design. Its capacities are 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and latest 4TB. Moreover, it offers 200GB cloud storage that is limited for two years. However, this option may not be available in all countries. This external hard drive for Mac can be used interchangeably with Windows OS. Seagate backup plus is designed with three modes of connectivity namely, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and thunderbolt. Seagate external hard drive for Mac is formatted to HFS+ file making it compatible with your MacBook or MacBook pro without formatting it. This drive has been recommended over 8 times by the chosen media websites.
Review:
Seagate Backup Plus drives make your life simple with its huge capacity storage. These external hard drives for Mac are well integrated with Backup software. It also offers a two-year 200GB cloud storage to Microsoft OneDrive. The only flaw of this software is that it lacks security options to protect data.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Price: $76.99 for 2TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.cnet.com
2. Western Digital My Passport Ultra external hard drive for mac
Good External Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
Company: Western Digital Corporation
Western Digital My Passport is another best external hard drive for mac. It has been recommended over 8 times on the selected 10 media websites. It offers minimal storage as low as 500GB, 1TB, and as high as 3TB. This external hard for Mac comes with a 3-year warranty. Moreover, it offers two connectivity modes that are USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 that enable data transfer faster. This Western digital external hard drive for Mac is compatible with Windows operating after formatting it to a supported file system such as FAT or NTFS format. The good thing about this external head drive for mac is that it allows you to encrypt and protect its hardware with a password.
Review
WD My Passport Ultra is one of the best external hard drives for Mac that offers a high transfer speed with different size capacities. Its price is slightly higher as compared to other external drives.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Price: $74.99 for 2TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.pcmag.com
3. Toshiba Canvio Slim II
Bamboo drivers download. Company: Toshiba Corporation
Another portable external hard drive for your Mac is Toshiba Canvio Slim II. It is compatible with Mac OS x. It comes with 500 GB and 1TB storage making it vital to use to backup data as well as transfer data. This external hard drive mac offers you a 10GB free cloud storage to backup all your videos, photos, music, documents, and important files. It allows you to backup mobile content. It is USB 3.0 connectivity and USB 2.o which worth mentioning. Toshiba external hard drive is well furnished with aluminum. It has been recommended over 6 times by the selected media websites.
Review
Toshiba Canvio Slim is a useful external hard drive that offers a bigger storage capacity besides its large backup storage. It also has a password feature that ensures that your data is protected around the clock. Its USB2.0 connectivity performance is not up to par.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Price: $79.99 for 2TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.thewirecutter.com
4. G-Technology G-Drive Slim
Company: G- Technology.
Just as the name suggests, this external hard drive for mac is slimmer than the other mentioned hard dive. It records a high speed and excellent performance. G-Drive slim which people who are looking for external storage to save pictures photos and music with a maximum storage of 500GB. It uses a USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 cable connectivity. Moreover, its transfer goes up to 125mb/s, which seems a high speed when you are transferring files. This Mac external hard drive is formatted with the HFS+ files system making it compatible with MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air. Furthermore, it comes with a 3-year limited warranty. G-Technology G-Drive Slim has an aluminum casing and a plastic case around the USB port. It is light thus convenient to carry it around. At least 4 media websites from the selected 10 recommended it.
Review
G-Technology G-Drive Slim is a speedy external hard drive for your Mac. It records high transfer and read speed as compared to any USB 3.0mac external hard drive. To add on it is portable and offers enough external storage. One demerit of this external hard drive for mac is that it does not come with any packaged software.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $69.95 for 1TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.pcmag.com
5. Transcend StoreJet
Company: Transcend Information
Internal Hard Drive For Mac
If you are looking for a Mac external hard drive, that lets backup files within a click, then look no more. Transcend StoreJet will exactly do that. This software is well designed and integrated with a military shock resistant. You can quickly transfer your data files from Mac to this external hard drive mac either with UB 2.0 or USB 3.0 connectivity. Transcend Jet external hard drives for mac are available in different capacities, which include 500GB, 750GB, 1TB, and 2TB. From the 10 sources, it has been mentioned at least three times.
Review
It is the best mac external hard drive especially for those people who travel more often. It has a silicone shell with an incredible casing that enables it to resist shock. Its performance is also good. However, this external hard drive for mac is slightly heavier as compared to other Mac external hard drives.
Mac Ready Hard Drives
Rating: 4/5
Price: $69.95 for 1TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.techspot.com
Sources:
- http://www.cnet.com/topics/storage/best-hard-drives-and-storage/portable-drives/
- http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/external-hard-drive-1292181
- http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400958,00.asp
- http://machmachines.com/best-external-hard-drive-mac-top-10/
- http://www.reviews.com/best-external-hard-drive/
- http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-portable-hard-drive/
- http://external-hard-drive-review.toptenreviews.com/
- http://www.macworld.com/product/collection/3326/portableharddrives.html
- http://bootableusb.net/top-10-external-hard-drives/
- http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-external-hard-drives/
- http://www.t3.com/features/best-external-hard-drives-to-buy
Top 5 Best Free Hard Drive Data Recovery Software in 2020
Part 2: How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
With an external hard drive for Mac, people are used to storing their business data or personal data on it. However, the wrong protection will cause the data lost from your external hard drive. As accidentally deleted data, lost or formatted data from the external hard drive. Under these circumstances, you will need an external hard drive data recovery tool to help you retrieve your lost data from the external hard drive.
Your Safe & Reliable External Hard Drive Recovery Software
- Recover lost or deleted files, photos, audio, music, emails from any storage device effectively, safely, and completely.
- Supports data recovery from recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorders.
- Supports to recover data for sudden deletion, formatting, hard drive corruption, virus attack, system crash under different situations.
Mac Hard Drive Cleaner
Recoverit External Hard Drive Data Recovery capable of restoring deleted/lost files or formatted partition from external hard drive, hard drive (HDD and SSD), USB flash drive, memory card, digital camera, camcorder, iPod, Music Player, and many kinds of mobile devices (Nokia, Blackberry phones and Phones with older Android OS than ICS).
How to recover data from external hard drive on Mac
Download and install Recoverit data recovery on your computer, connect your external hard drive to the computer. Follow the next simple steps to retrieve your data back.
Step 1: Launch Recoverit data recovery, please select a data recovery mode. To recover data from external hard drives, you can select the 'External Devices Recovery' mode to start.
Good Hard Drives For Mac
Please make sure your external hard drive has connected to your computer, click the 'Next' button to process.
Step 2: Please select your external hard drive to scan lost data. Click the 'Start' button to finding data.
Step 3: Recoverit data recovery will start a quick scan to search for lost data. You can preview some recoverable files after the scan. If you cannot find your files, you can go to scan again with the 'All-Around Recovery' mode.
Step 4: With the 'All-Around Recovery' mode which can help you deeply search and scan more files from the external hard drive. While it will take more time to complete the scan.
Step 5: After the scan, you can check all the recoverable files. Go to preview some specific recoverable files and click the 'Recover' button to get your data back.
What's Wrong with Drive
- Recover Your Drive
- Fix Your Drive
- Format/Wipe Drive
- Know Your Drive
