Purchasing the best SSD for Mac and external hard drives in 2022 for your Mac is similar to purchasing one for your Windows PC, with one major exception.
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The most recent Mac laptops only have Thunderbolt 3 ports, but the arrival of Thunderbolt 3-equipped drives has been more of a trickle than a flood.
The majority of current models with Apple-friendly interfaces are intended for photographers and video editors who need to store massive amounts of footage and access it quickly. As a result, they are usually external SSDs or multidrive RAID arrays, which makes them very expensive.
So, what should a Mac user do if all they want to do is back up their files with Time Machine or store a large video collection? Continue reading as we address this and all of your other Mac external-storage concerns.
The Best SSD for Mac in 2022
Before we get to Thunderbolt 3, we need to talk about a fundamental component of hard drives that has always affected compatibility and will probably continue to do so: the file system.
The file system of an external drive is the most important factor in determining whether it is readable by Macs, PCs, or both.
With the release of macOS High Sierra, Cupertino abandoned its venerable Mac OS Extended file system, commonly abbreviated as HFS+, in favor of an entirely new file system. It’s known simply as the Apple File System (APFS), and it was the first format to be used on both Macs and iOS devices.
Some of the Best SSD for Mac Deals
Best SSD for Mac: Compatibility
There are numerous advantages to switching from HFS+ to APFS, including improved security due to native encryption, but the most important consideration for external-drive buyers is backward compatibility. Any HFS+-formatted drive will work perfectly with a Mac running macOS High Sierra or later.
However, neither Apple File System nor HFS+ are compatible with Windows. If you intend to use your external drive with computers running both operating systems, you should format it with the exFAT file system.
You won’t have the security and efficiency of APFS, but you will have the convenience of being able to transfer files between Windows and macOS by simply plugging in and unplugging your drive.
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Best SSD for Mac: Formatting
Of course, most external drives can be easily reformatted, so you’re not limited to purchasing only those designed for use with Macs. If you want to reformat a consumer-oriented drive formatted for Windows (which is usually pre-formatted in the NTFS format), you can use the Disk Utility in macOS after you get it home from the store.
Some highly specialized external drives may not work with Macs even if they are properly formatted, but they are unlikely to be encountered by consumers looking for extra space to store backups or large video collections.
External Drives: Spinning Platters vs. Best SSD for Mac
After you’ve decided on a file system, you must choose between solid-state and spinning disk storage. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and unlike file systems, the type you purchase is the type you’ll be stuck with for the life of the drive.
Because it stores your bits in flash memory rather than spinning platters, a solid-state drive (SSD) provides quick access to your data. Because of the lack of moving parts, the best SSD for Mac are often smaller and lighter than spinning external drives.
Because of their small size, they can frequently fit into a jacket or pants pocket, making them a better choice if you’re looking for a portable external drive that you’ll be carrying with you on a regular basis.
The main disadvantage is that they are more expensive. An SSD can cost more than 25 cents per gigabyte, whereas spinning drives can cost less than 10 cents per gigabyte—and often much less.
External SSDs are also limited in capacity, with most drives topping out at 2TB. Compare that to external spinning drives, which are widely available in capacities exceeding 8TB for desktop-style drives and up to 5TB for portable drives.
As a result, you can get the best SSD for Mac-like speeds, with throughput of more than 400MBps and capacities of up to 50TB. Of course, you’ll pay dearly—some Mac-specific arrays cost thousands of dollars.
However, if you’re looking to buy an external drive primarily for backup purposes and it will rarely leave your home office, an inexpensive spinning drive will suffice. These are available in both portable and “desktop” configurations.
The portables are obviously smaller, and they use the same 2.5-inch platter drives that are used in laptops. Desktop-style external hard drives are larger, based on beefier and more capacious 3.5-inch drives found in full-size desktop PCs, and require their own power supply. Portable drives do not have a power plug; they get their power from their data interface.
Is Thunderbolt 3 necessary, or will USB-C suffice?
So, to summarize: Solid-state drives are more expensive than spinning drives because they are faster and smaller (both physically and in terms of gigabytes). But what if you add another variable to the mix: the connection between your drive and your Mac? The answer, as you might expect, is more tradeoffs.
Every current Mac laptop includes oval-shaped USB Type-C ports that support Thunderbolt 3, but they are the only connectivity options available (aside from a headphone jack), which means you’ll need an adapter to plug in any device that doesn’t have a USB Type-C cable.
The silver lining is that Thunderbolt 3 via USB Type-C supports a blistering maximum potential throughput of 40Gbps, which is double the speed of the previous Thunderbolt 2 standard and many times faster than the 5GBps offered by USB 3.0.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many Thunderbolt 3-compatible drives on the market. Even some Mac-only drives are still available with USB 3.0 connectors. Furthermore, the maximum throughput of the Thunderbolt 3 drive, rather than the Thunderbolt 3 interface, limits the Thunderbolt 3 drives available for purchase.
Due to the traditional bus types used by drives inside the chassis, most external SSDs topped out at around 600MBps until recently. That’s more than enough for backups and occasional multi-gigabyte file transfers, but it’s far less than Thunderbolt 3’s maximum throughput.
However, the speed limit is increasing. While older external SSDs were limited by internal electronics, newer drives use different internal components that are based on PCI Express drives that use the NVMe protocol.
These types of components in newer drives enable Thunderbolt 3 to reach its full speed potential. Drives with rated peak read and write speeds ranging from 1,000MBps to 3,500MBps are likely to be one of these newer-technology drives.
If you have a late-model Mac and know you need all the speed you can get, you can insist on Thunderbolt 3 support, but a USB-C drive will be a better choice if you’re more price sensitive or need to use the drive with a PC.
Some manufacturers include a USB Type-C cable with USB-only drives for people who own a USB Type-C-only MacBook, and you can always pick up a converter for a few dollars online if the drive you’re interested in doesn’t. Furthermore, all Mac desktops still include USB 3.0 ports, eliminating the need for adapters.
Best SSD for Mac: Other Factors to Consider
Drives designed for PCs may come with software that will automatically backup your files to the drive when connected, but such software isn’t as important for Mac users, who already have an excellent built-in backup option in the form of Time Machine.
When you plug in an external drive for the first time, Time Machine will ask if you want to use it as a backup drive. While you can customize backup options in System Preferences, such as asking Time Machine to exclude specific folders.
If you’re happy with the default settings, you don’t need to do anything. When you plug in your drive again, Time Machine will begin creating a backup automatically.
Unless your drive will never leave your house or office, you should also think about its physical durability.Rugged, waterproof drives are a good option not only for surfers and BMX riders, as their marketing suggests.
But also for people who carry their drives to and from school or work, where they may be spilled on or dropped on the floor on occasion.
Finally, think about how the drive will appear when plugged into your Mac. Some drives are available in a variety of colors. Many others have plenty of aluminum and industrial-chic styling to match your MacBook or iMac’s design cues.
