Best external HD options...

[Fife321]

My wife needs a new computer, but is a little gun shy about the price point for a new one (aren't we all). She needs 1TB for storage and that essentially doubles the price of the MBP we've been looking at (same for the 1.5tb on MBA).

I wanted to see if anyone has bypassed getting a large storage built in or if anyone has opted to just use an External HD to perhaps save a little money?

She won't be super mobile, and really wants to have access to pictures and documents (have a lot of pics).

any suggestions/ tips are appreciated.

 

[SDColorado]

My wife needs a new computer, but is a little gun shy about the price point for a new one (aren't we all). She needs 1TB for storage and that essentially doubles the price of the MBP we've been looking at (same for the 1.5tb on MBA).

I wanted to see if anyone has bypassed getting a large storage built in or if anyone has opted to just use an External HD to perhaps save a little money?

She won't be super mobile, and really wants to have access to pictures and documents (have a lot of pics).

any suggestions/ tips are appreciated.

I am a big fan of my Samsung T5 external SSD and store a lot of photos, documents, PowerPoint and Publisher files on it.

 

[unglued]

Another vote for the Samsung T5 external SSD, $200 for a 1TB is pretty good. Or you could consider an excellent used condition MBA at OWC they're storage upgrade pricing is good https://eshop.macsales.com/configure-my-mac/macbook-air

 

[RobbieTT]

Network attached storage would probably be the best option - expandable and accessible from anywhere with internet access. Laptop drives should really be a working area rather than a means of mass storage.

 

[unglued]

Network attached storage would probably be the best option - expandable and accessible from anywhere with internet access. Laptop drives should really be a working area rather than a means of mass storage.

I agree, I run a QNAP NAS for camera security and family data storage but was thinking he needs something with cost savings and easy.

 

[jerryk]

Another vote for a NAS, or at least an external drive. If you can handle the slower speed (should not be an issue for achieved, low access, photos), you can get a external 2TB hard drive for $60 at Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Por...=1-2-spons&keywords=external+hard+drive&psc=1
Also notice on this same link you can get a 4TB for $100. This is just one example of what you can buy, there are other vendors that sell the same sized devices in the same price range.

Or get two and use one for offsite backup in case your home floods, catches fire, etc. Just be sure to store the backup offsite some place.

 

[Fife321]

appreciate the replies. It would be mostly used for photos and the question i have is how are they organized in the NAS? Obviously they are not in Photos, are they just bunched together grouped by number of photo?

thanks again, this is helpful.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"She needs 1TB for storage and that essentially doubles the price of the MBP we've been looking at"

I don't want to start a fight with the wife, but does she really, REALLY need "1tb of storage"?

Could a substantial chunk of that be moved to an external drive?

 

[chabig]

appreciate the replies. It would be mostly used for photos and the question i have is how are they organized in the NAS? Obviously they are not in Photos, are they just bunched together grouped by number of photo?

thanks again, this is helpful.

I have my Photos library on my NAS. You can change the location of your Library by holding down the option key while you launch Photos. This only needs to be done once.