Fortunately, pricing has fallen to the point a reliable 4TB disk can typically be purchased for about $150. But if your Mac uses a 1TB drive, consider purchasing a 3TB or 4TB external disk. If your Mac uses a 256GB SSD, a 1TB external drive should work well collecting Time Machine backups. Whereas 1TB used to prove plentiful for collecting a long history of Time Machine backups, some new Macs ship with onboard drives that large.Ī good rule is to purchase an external backup drive that’s at least three times larger than the Mac’s own disk. CapacityĪnother question to resolve is the external hard drive’s storage capacity. Instead, portable offerings such as Western Digital’s My Passport for Mac ( Figure A) and Seagate’s Basic Portable Drive are proving more popular, due in part to their flexibility and ease of transport.įigure A Western Digital’s My Passport for Mac is a cost-effective external hard drive well-suited to collecting Time Machine backups. In my experience, however, external drives requiring their own independent power source are falling out of favor.

An example of such an option, sometimes called a desktop drive, is SanDisk’s G-DRIVE. How to select an external hard drive for macOS Time Machine backups Form factorĪmong the first questions to address is whether you need a full-size external hard drive that requires its own power source. Here’s how to select the best external hard drive for Time Machine backups. I’ve found using a docking station, both at work and at home, solved those problems.īut just what external hard drive should you use to collect the Time Machine backups? While numerous options exist, some will work better than others depending upon your preferences. The only catches are you need a hard drive or two and must remember to physically connect an external drive to your Mac.

Time Machine is a tried-and-true macOS backup solution. But just what hard drives should you pair with macOS' integrated backup app? Here's how to select the best backup disk for your needs. Time Machine backups are a reliable option for backing up your Mac.

How to select an external hard drive for macOS Time Machine backups

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