Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Best portable HD for MacBook Pro 2016
- Thread starter huxbnw
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That Seagate is just fine. Just grab whatever you can find on sale in the size you need. They are all pretty much the same.
There are some USB-C drives out now, but not many. You can buy a USB-A drive and either use a USB-C adaptor or replace the cable with a USB-C cable.
There are some USB-C drives out now, but not many. You can buy a USB-A drive and either use a USB-C adaptor or replace the cable with a USB-C cable.
If you want to make the most of having the fast ports, the Sandisk Extreme 900 SSD are some of the fastest portable drives out there with read/write speeds of 850 mb/s. You do pay for the speed though...
Have a look at the Sandisk I linked above. Small, portable, fast USB-C SSD. If speed it what you need it vastly outperforms the LaCie (135 MB/s versus 850 MB/s for the Sandisk).
They're good options too - comparing more with the Sandisk Extreme 500 in terms of size and speed. Actually the Extreme 500 is a superb drive, I use two when travelling due to the rubber edges to offer some protection. Though sadly they are not USB-C.
P.S. I don't have any affiliation with SD. I've just used their products forever and find them bulletproof.
Those are impressive transfer rates. But my LaCie is 4TB, and the Sandisk only goes up to 480GB, so I'm giving up speed for capacity.
The Extreme 900 goes up to 1.92tb - the slower Extreme 500 is 480gb. That being said, you'd still need two of the Extreme 900's so taking the hit in speed is probably a wise move over the cheaper outlay!
Samsung T3 SSD all the way, Baby! 
They come in capacities from 256 GB to 2 TB and have the USB-C port on the device itself and the short cable has USB-3.0 on one end and USB-C on the other. Unlike G-Drive, for some reason Samsung doesn't include a second cable with USB-C on each end. I happen to also have the USB-C Drive 1TB and so I use the USB-C cable with my rMB and the cable with USB 3.0 with my older Macs. Works a treat! The T3 is a very speedy SSD external drive and it is also very small and lightweight -- ideal for travel. The G-Drive USB-C is also a very nice external drive but is not SSD. Either would work very nicely.
They come in capacities from 256 GB to 2 TB and have the USB-C port on the device itself and the short cable has USB-3.0 on one end and USB-C on the other. Unlike G-Drive, for some reason Samsung doesn't include a second cable with USB-C on each end. I happen to also have the USB-C Drive 1TB and so I use the USB-C cable with my rMB and the cable with USB 3.0 with my older Macs. Works a treat! The T3 is a very speedy SSD external drive and it is also very small and lightweight -- ideal for travel. The G-Drive USB-C is also a very nice external drive but is not SSD. Either would work very nicely.
Last edited:
I think many in the thread may have missed OP asked for a hard drive not an SSD. No doubt an SSD is faster, but it is also much more expensive.
The G-Drive USB-C 1 TB portable external hard drive would fit the bill very nicely, then, and it is not terribly expensive. I think it is $89.00 at the Apple store. It also comes in the same colors as the rMB and the 2016 rMBP. I have mine in Space Grey to match my rMB! It is a very nice and pretty fast drive (I believe it is 7200 rpm). It is also flexible in that it comes with two cables, as I mentioned, so that if one has older Macs with USB 3.0 it's easy to swap around and use the drive with both types of ports.
That said, if it's major speed and real portability (as in very tiny and very lightweight) that someone is after, then the way to go is with the Samsung T3 SSD (or other brand, there are a couple; I am most familiar with the T1 and the T3, so can't say much about others since I have not used them). True, the external SSD drives are significantly more expensive than a platter/spinner hard drive, but in some situations that extra cost may be well worth it.
That said, if it's major speed and real portability (as in very tiny and very lightweight) that someone is after, then the way to go is with the Samsung T3 SSD (or other brand, there are a couple; I am most familiar with the T1 and the T3, so can't say much about others since I have not used them). True, the external SSD drives are significantly more expensive than a platter/spinner hard drive, but in some situations that extra cost may be well worth it.
Good spot. I find myself putting all portable storage under the abbreviation HD, with SSD and HDD being the way to differentiate between the types, which is probably not the most ideal thing to do.
Some good recommendations for either options though for the OP to research.