This review is the result of my careful research. I trawled the internet looking for the top picks, studied reviews from users and reputable publications, and compiled lists of specifications. I haven’t yet had the need for faster external SSDs so I’ve been keen to see what’s available. I currently use a small fleet of external hard drives for everything from backup to carrying my data with me to transferring data between computers.

That includes hard drives, CDs, DVDs, Zip drives and Flash drives. My name is Adrian Try, and I’ve been using external computer storage since 1990.

How We Picked These External SSDs for Mac.

Best 2 TB Choice: Samsung Portable SSD T5.

Best Lightweight Choice: SanDisk Extreme Portable.

Best Budget/Rugged Choice: Silicon Power Bolt B75 Pro.

Best External SSD for Mac: Our Top Picks.

Other SSDs may have advantages for you, so read on to learn more. So I recommend the Samsung Portable SSD T5, which is popular and well-reviewed, has an affordable 2 TB option and is the second-lightest drive in this guide.īut these external SSDs won’t be the best choice for everyone. Silicon Power lists a 2 TB drive on their official website, but I don’t seem to be able to buy it anywhere, and SanDisk’s is a little expensive.

If you want a little more storage, neither of these are good choices. If you’ll be carrying the drive in your pocket, you may prefer SanDisk Extreme Portable, which is a little more expensive, but lighter and thinner than the rest of the competition. But one drive is significantly cheaper while maintaining reasonable performance: the Silicon Power Bolt B75 Pro.

They make good financial sense.Īmong the top brands, pricing and performance are similar. But you can buy an external 1 TB SSD drive for just $109.99. For example, when buying a new MacBook Pro, to upgrade from a 128 GB SSD to 1 TB costs a massive $800 extra. But they’re far more expensive, so use them for your working files where speed is critical, rather than backups that can run overnight.īut while these drives are more expensive than traditional spinning hard drives, they are very much cheaper than upgrading your Mac’s internal SSD (if that’s even possible). And they’re more durable than external hard drives because there are no moving parts. External SSDs are a simple and effective way of increasing your storage while maintaining the fast speeds you’re accustomed to.Įxternal SSDs come in small packages that are easy to take with you, offering the best combination of portability and performance. With newer Macs your SSD and RAM may be embedded into the motherboard, making it difficult or impossible to increase when you run out of space.

Solid state drives (SSDs) have made our Macs faster and more responsive than ever, but often at the cost of less internal storage.

Solid state external drive for mac