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Which external hd to get for MBP?
- Thread starter ronaldcastillo
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Save your money, pick up any old 1TB USB hard drive and a microUSB to USB-C 3.0 cable for $20-30 less than those.
I have a $75 gift card from Apple that I wanted to use up lol. I have a WD atm, so I was gonna use my new external as the main back up then my old hd as a back up, back up.
I personally am a fan of Gtech stuff not so much LaCie. To be honest though buy what you like it will be a WD, a seagate, a Sandisk or hitachi drive inside anyway.
Hey OP, just wanted to drop in & say thanks for considering the LaCie, regardless of which route you decide is right for your needs in the end. Just to make sure you've got the info, here's the product sheet on the Rugged USB-C.
The G-Drive would be my choice; in fact, I've got a couple of them! Initially I had bought one back in 2016 in order to have the two cables, the USB-C to USB-C one plus a USB-C to USB-A one, since I had just bought the 12" MacBook. I liked it immediately because by simply swapping cables I could use the device with my 2015 15" MBP and the 2016 12" MacBook. Also, and this was the bigger reason, I could use the USB-C to USB-C cable with my Samsung T1 external SSD, as that had only come with a USB-a cable. The speedy little T1 worked wonderfully for also swapping files and folders between the machines, much more quickly. I also noticed that the G-Drive, even though not an SSD, seemed to be a bit faster than my colorful My Passport drives, too. I picked up another one a while back and both of them are in use for different purposes.
The G-Drive, at least when purchased at the Apple store, comes already formatted for the Mac -- not that it's all that big of a deal to reformat if need be.
Years ago I did use and still have a couple of the Rugged LaCie drives ( used one the other day and it is still working just fine!) and they are excellent for travel because of their sturdiness. They accompanied me on several photography-oriented trips. Haven't tried one of the more recent USB-C models, though. I would guess that you would not be disappointed with whichever you choose.
I am in the process now of gradually shifting most of my current backup activity to external SSDs, and am using Samsung's T1, T3 and T5 drives for this purpose, putting my archived folders and files on to my older, slower external HDs. However, external SSDs are significantly more expensive and may not be what you need or want right now.
In summary: G-Drive first choice, LaCie Rugged second choice, but both should serve you well.
The G-Drive, at least when purchased at the Apple store, comes already formatted for the Mac -- not that it's all that big of a deal to reformat if need be.
Years ago I did use and still have a couple of the Rugged LaCie drives ( used one the other day and it is still working just fine!) and they are excellent for travel because of their sturdiness. They accompanied me on several photography-oriented trips. Haven't tried one of the more recent USB-C models, though. I would guess that you would not be disappointed with whichever you choose.
I am in the process now of gradually shifting most of my current backup activity to external SSDs, and am using Samsung's T1, T3 and T5 drives for this purpose, putting my archived folders and files on to my older, slower external HDs. However, external SSDs are significantly more expensive and may not be what you need or want right now.
In summary: G-Drive first choice, LaCie Rugged second choice, but both should serve you well.
My approach is to have a Time Machine backup for each machine, and also to copy each machine's user data to a server with a RAID array. Each has advantages and disadvantages for both backup and restore.
Thanks for all the tips/suggestions! Ended up going with the G-tech!
Great! Congratulations! I got to thinking about how I had noticed a difference in speed between my G-Drive and my "My Passport" drive, so looked online at the specs on the G-Tech site and found that yes, my perception was accurate because the G-Drive is a 7200 rpm drive and I am pretty sure that the "My Passport" drive is 5400. I haven't looked to see what the speed of the LaCie Rugged drive is.
Is this the only external drive you will have? At some point in the future you will probably want to consider a second external drive, too, for duplicate backups, unless you use iCloud or some other cloud function as well.
Yeah, the 7200 is what got me. (I noticed most drives are 5400) I have a My Passport right now, but it's turning 5 years old so I figured I clean that hard drive out and use this one as my main and the passport as a back up of the G-drive.
That sounds like a good plan! I suppose when I initially purchased the G-Drive I was aware of the specs but over time had forgotten. It wasn't until recently when I was doing some extensive work with backups and using both the G-Drive and the My Passport that I really noticed the difference in speed, and then this discussion here reminded me of it so I checked things out. The difference IS apparent! Depending upon what one is doing it may or may not make much difference. External SSDs are faster, of course, but the G-Drive holds its own against those far more than the My Passport. Have to admit: one reason I even bought the My Passport drives at all was the wonderful colors and the fact that at the time I could differentiate certain categories of folders that I was stashing on one color from what I was stashing on another.... Fun! Now most of them are pretty much archival material only, rather than being used for my current backups. Over time my needs have changed and my archiving/backup system continues to evolve.