For faster storage, consider getting an SSD, but that will cost you a little bit more. You might want to keep your external drive only for backups, archives, and home use. But you have to carry it with you, and it's fragile. If you've decided to take this option, here's a head-to-head comparison between HDDs and SSDs to help you make an informed decision.īottom line: An external hard drive is a slow but cost-effective way to add a large amount of storage to your MacBook. It also comes with USB Type C-to-C and Type C-to-A cables for convenience. We recommend getting Samsung's T7 Shield Portable SSD with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface if you need faster storage.

But, whatever you buy, make sure it supports at least USB 3.0.

Something basic like Western Digital's Elements USB 3.0 drive, which ships with at least 1TB of storage and tops out at 5TB, will do the trick for most external storage needs. You might use them to hold large media files that aren't part of your libraries, archived documents and project files, RAW photos, backups, and disk images. Storing data on external drives works well in certain situations.

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