{"id":27806,"date":"2018-05-22T12:56:37","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T16:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/?p=27806"},"modified":"2018-05-21T12:57:36","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T16:57:36","slug":"what-is-the-best-hard-drive-to-use-for-your-backups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/what-is-the-best-hard-drive-to-use-for-your-backups\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Best Hard Drive to Use for Your Backups?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Backing up your Mac is like flossing your teeth: everyone knows they should do it every night, but too many people never get around to it. Unlike flossing, once you set up backups, they don\u2019t require daily attention. And turning on Apple\u2019s Time Machine backup feature is easy\u2014simply open System Preferences > Time Machine, click Select Backup Disk, and pick a hard drive to hold your backups.<\/p>\n

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Ah, but there\u2019s the rub. If you don\u2019t have an appropriate hard drive, you need to get one, and there are tons of options. Here\u2019s our rundown of what to look for, with recommendations.<\/p>\n

How Much Space Do You Need?<\/h3>\n

The first question when looking for a backup drive is how much data it needs to hold. You could put a lot of effort into figuring this out, but for most people, the answer simple. Buy the largest drive you can reasonably afford, as long as it will hold at least two to three times as much data as you have or anticipate creating in the near future.<\/p>\n

Say you use a MacBook Pro with a 512 GB SSD. You could get by with a 1 TB backup drive, which would be twice as large as your internal drive. But if a 1 TB drive costs $100 and a 2 TB drive costs $130, it\u2019s worth the extra $30 to double the available space.<\/p>\n

How Will You Connect It to Your Mac?<\/h3>\n

With external hard drives, you need to match the ports on your Mac with the ports on the drive. That might sound tricky, what with USB 3, FireWire, USB-C, and Thunderbolt. Luckily, for most people, the right choice is simple: a drive that supports USB 3. They\u2019re inexpensive and plenty fast for backups.<\/p>\n

Nearly every Mac sold since 2012 supports USB 3, either via the familiar USB-A port or the newer USB-C\/Thunderbolt 3 port. If your Mac has only USB-C ports\u2014as would be the case if you have either a MacBook or a recent MacBook Pro\u2014you may also need an adapter cable that\u2019s USB-A on one end and USB-C on the other.<\/p>\n

What Type of Drive Should You Buy?<\/h3>\n

Inside the case, an external hard drive contains either a 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drive mechanism.<\/p>\n