![]() Just bear in mind that, unlike a conventional external hard drive, NAS drives are generally supplied without hard disks inside, so you'll also need to factor in the extra cost of two hard disks to make the DS218 play operational. The versatile built-in multimedia players - Video Station, Photo Station, and Audio Station, each of which has a companion mobile app - make it effortlessly easy to access and view your media files. While offering typical NAS options, it's also a versatile home media hub that's able to stream images and video to computers and mobile devices, as well as Apple TV. Synology has a reputation for producing top-quality NAS devices, and the DiskStation DS218play is a great option for amateur photographers. NAS drives are also loaded with a simple computer operating system, allowing you to browse their file contents, and view photos and videos, all from a remote location. But unlike a normal external hard drive, a NAS drive adds a network connection, so it can be linked via your internet router to your home network and the web. It allows your entire photo and video collection to be stored in one physical location in your home or studio, just like a conventional external hard drive. It's IP54 water- and dust-resistant, you can drop it from a height of up to 1.2m (providing it's not switched on), and it can be driven over by a one-tonne car.Ī NAS (Network Attached Storage) drive is essentially an external hard drive on steroids. What's more, as the name suggests, this is a rugged hard drive. There's even a built-in SD slot so you can back up images and video directly when on the go no need for a laptop. The device supports RAID 0 for a max transfer speed of 250MB/s, though, for data redundancy, RAID 1 is required, and as such you'll be limited to 125MB/s. However, you'll need to connect to a Thunderbolt 3 or USB 3.1 Gen 2 port for this to work: older USB connections that can't pump this much juice will require the RAID Rugged Pro to be powered by an included AC adapter. This means it can be used without a mains power outlet, with the USB-C connection providing enough power to run both the 5400RPM 2.5-inch hard disk drives housed within the Rugged RAID Pro. The LaCie Rugged RAID Pro is, strictly speaking, a portable hard drive. Raid drives don't have to be bulky boxes confined to your desk. Read our full SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD V2 review However, if you want to use them with Time Machine, they'll need to be reformatted, but it's a simple procedure. It's slower on paper but will operate at similar speeds to the Extreme Pro when connected to a USB 3.2 port.Īlso bear in mind that both these drives will be pre-formatted to work with both Windows and Mac. If you're using an older Intel-powered Mac, then we'd recommend the cheaper SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD V2 (non 'Pro') as a portable option. That means this SSD can still unleash its maximum speed potential of up to 2000MB/s, really putting the 'extreme' in Extreme Pro.Ĭapacities range from 1TB to 4TB, which isn't all that much next to some 10+TB desktop drives, but the payoff is that this is one of the very fastest external hard drives for a modern Mac. But the USB 4 ports on an M1 or M2 Mac are backward compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. This is linked to your Mac via the short-lived USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 connection: the USB generation that directly preceded the current USB 4 standard. Strictly speaking, this is a portable storage solution, rather than a device that lives on your desk, but there's no reason why it can't be used in place of a bigger external desktop hard drive.Īnd while most external drives use older, slower mechanical hard disk drives to store your data, the Extreme Pro Portable SSD V2 is based around a blazing-fast NVMe SSD. On the other hand, if you don't have loads of files and just need a couple of TB, one of the best portable hard drives will probably do the trick. Another advantage if they don't have any moving parts so if you drop them you're less likely to experience data loss. If you find yourself transferring a lot of data frequently, you might be better off with one of the best portable SSDs - they are more expensive but they're more reliable and have much faster transfer rates. This is a simple process, but on this list, we're only featuring hard drives that come pre-formatted to work with both Windows and Mac straight away: no special setup is required. ![]() ![]() ![]() While the best desktop external hard drives will usually work with a Mac, some hard drives come set up for exclusively Windows compatibility out of the box and would need to be reformatted to work with a Mac. Capacities range from 4TB up to 30+TB, giving you plenty of space for high-res RAW files or high bit-rate 4K video. These desktop-mounted hard drives are powered by a mains AC outlet and attach to your Mac via a USB or Thunderbolt connection.
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