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1. External Storage Drives For Mac
2. Best Storage Drives For Mac Pro
3. Storage Drives For Macbook
4. Storage Drives For Mac
5. Storage Drive For Macbook Pro

WDBlack 5TB P10 Game Drive, Portable External Hard Drive Compatible with Playstation, Xbox, PC, & Mac - WDBA3A0050BBK-WESN by Western Digital $123.48 $ 123. Solid state drives for mac Best Buy customers often prefer the following products when searching for Solid State Drives For Mac. Browse the top-ranked list of Solid State Drives For Mac below along with associated reviews and opinions. SanDisk - Extreme 500GB External USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A/Type-C Portable Solid-State Drive.

Make your Mac invincible

If there’s one thing you need to remember when dealing with high-tech devices, such as laptops and desktops, is that you should always have a recent backup on hand. While it’s true that Macs are as dependable as computers go, no one is protected from their processor overheating, battery dying, files being corrupted by malware, or just a spilled cup of coffee.

External hard drives have been around for decades. First they connected to your computer through USB-A ports and could hold just a few dozen gigabytes. Eventually, they learned to transfer files over WiFi and grew up in size to a few terabytes — becoming de facto the best personal cloud storage available to most people.

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External Storage Drives For Mac

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But with the explosion of smartphones and streaming services, the amount of media data being saved on our devices has greatly exceeded what regular hard drives can offer. Today, most of us need a robust and expendable home cloud storage solution that’s able to protect our data seamlessly in the background.

What Is A NAS Hard Drive?

NAS (or network attached storage) in many ways is just the right answer for those who want to upgrade from outdated external hard drives and beginner My Cloud app look-alikes.

A network attached storage device is not only capable of wirelessly storing everything you’ve ever created (they generally start at about 2 TB) but also divide its capacity between a few people (so every family member could have their own drive, for example), stream media to Apple TV or Bluetooth speakers directly, and act as a central hub for all storage, with all your other hard drives connected to it.

So let’s look at the best NAS for Mac on the market in 2020, covering every target audience segment.

Simple: Western Digital My Cloud Home

When you just want to graduate from an external hard drive to a network attached storage for Mac, there’s no better candidate than WD My Cloud Home.

Western Digital doesn’t even call this network storage a NAS drive but rather addresses it as a personal cloud storage device. Still, My Cloud Home encompasses all the attributes of grownup NAS drives without the price tag. It goes from 2 to 8 TB in storage capacity, can save all your information via WiFi automatically, allows remote access through a My Cloud app, features shared folders as well as individual volumes, and is capable of streaming to Sonos, Google Chromecast, and more — all starting at just $159.99.

Powerful: Western Digital My Cloud Expert Series EX2 Ultra

If you want to combine the ease of use we’ve all come to expect from WD devices with a power of true NAS storage, take a look at the WD My Cloud Expert series.

The EX2 Ultra is a real NAS drive that could come unpopulated (without hard drives) so you can install your own storage or take up to 28 TB right from the manufacturer. Unlike My Cloud Home, EX2 Ultra introduces RAID (redundant array of independent disks) options that let its two hard drives clone each other and carry the same information for maximum protection.

In addition, WD My Cloud Expert EX2 Ultra is powered by a dual-core processor for ultra-fast streaming and encrypts your hard drive volumes by default.

Affordable: Buffalo LinkStation 220D

In some cases, you might care less about how intuitive your NAS storage is, what you’re really after is a cheap NAS with good security built in. That’s where you should try Buffalo LinkStation 220D.

While LinkStation 220D might not win any awards for its user-friendliness, it’s a straightforward unpopulated NAS for Mac that starts at $119.99 and includes RAID support (with an additional USB-A on the back) as well as drag-and-drop backups.

You could set up a shared folder through Buffalo’s Navigator app, but it would be more difficult than you think. Same with getting your iTunes streaming server to work. Overall, good enough for straightforward tasks.

Advanced: Synology DiskStation DS218

Stepping into high-end but still consumer-oriented NAS storage solutions, we can find Synology DiskStation DS218. It comes unpopulated to let you combine your own storage devices and features a Gigabit Ethernet port for connecting to your router as well as three USB-As for any other storage volumes you might be using.

DiskStation DS218 is RAID-enabled and can act as a media server with real-time 4K video transcoding to Apple TV or any other player — all running on a quad-core 1.4 GHz processor. Some would say DiskStation might simply be too much for a casual user, and they will be right. But for some, it’s just what they were looking for all along.

Professional: Drobo 5N2

Those who work in the fields of photography, animation, or video production know how much unique data could be worth. From that perspective, Drobo 5N2 is not an expensive device at all, although it starts at about $550 unpopulated.

Drobo 5N2 features five hard drive slots, some of which can be used for RAID and some for actually expanding the NAS storage capacity. Two Gigabit Ethernet ports can be combined into one to provide astonishing transfer speed for the high-end devices that can handle it. This NAS even features its own internal battery for a complete fail-proof setup.

How to properly back up your Mac

Whether you’re using NAS or a regular external hard drive for your backup plan, you need to know how to approach backups in a comprehensive manner, so you don’t forget any important files.

Get Backup Pro is one of the most versatile backup managers you can find. It instantly connects to your NAS drive and offers incremental backups on a set schedule or cloning options that allow you to reboot your Mac from an external drive should it break. Get Backup Pro’s speed and reliability are unparalleled, far exceeding those of Time Machine, for example.

How to recover lost files from an external drive

Mistakes happen and regardless how robust your backup solution is, there would be a moment when you’d accidentally delete a file not backed up anywhere else, be it from your Mac or an external drive. What do you do now?

Disk Drill is master data recovery software that’s able to get into the deepest corners of your data volumes and retrieve information that you thought was forever gone. Your best friend here is to act quickly and launch Disk Drill right after you saw a much-needed file disappear — that’s why keeping this app in your toolkit at all times is a true secret lifesaver.

How to make the most out of home cloud storage

Nowadays, most of us have already signed up for all the free tiers at all the most popular cloud storage providers: DropBox, Box, OneDrive, Google One, and so on. Some of us even have paid plans. The problem is all of them being scattered in various places and easy to forget.

CloudMounter offers a genius solution to gathering your cloud network storage solutions (from Amazon S3 to Backblaze) in one place by mounting them on your Mac as real hard drives, essentially folders like any other. This provides you with a new world of possibilities when it comes to searching through your files, ensuring proper encryption, and effectively transferring data.

As you can see, picking the best NAS hard drive has a wealth of advantages over using a regular external hard drive. What’s better, you can enhance this experience even further by mounting all cloud network storage as local drives with CloudMounter, backing up files securely with Get Backup Pro, and recovering anything that’s lost with Disk Drill.

Best of all, CloudMounter, Get Backup Pro, and Disk Drill are available to you absolutely free for seven days through Setapp, a platform of more than 170 outstanding apps for your Mac. And you can try them all today at no cost to see how else you can improve your daily life without any effort on your part.

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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When it comes to sharing and storing, cloud is a huge asset. There's an abundance of cloud drives — Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, Amazon S3 — to help us safely store important video files, documents, photos, and more. And if you mount cloud storage as local drive, you can extend its power on your computer even more.

How to mount cloud storages as local drives

Even if you're connecting external cloud drives, you can absolutely own them and access cloud storage as a local drive. Connect, see what's on your cloud, share with friends and collaborate—it gets easier if you have some extra storage. You can use both manual and automated ways to sync your remote drives.

For every remote drive, there's a recipe on how to add and use storage. Plus, you can install software that will help you get access to any drive right from Finder. The CloudMounter app is a good choice, which will allow you to work with files stored online in the same manner as the local files on your computer. The app makes it easier to do things like move files between the cloud storage apps without needing to manually copy the files to your computer first. Your content is securely encrypted and you can set up SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) to mount remote SFTP drives. Everyone is happy.

Add your cloud drive to Finder

Download Setapp and get an easy way to mount your network drives and manage external storage from Finder.

How to map Google Drive

While Google Drive integrates with tons of other services created by Google, it expands your file management flexibility. Here's all you need to know about how to sync Google Drive and make the most out of its functionality.

Mount Google cloud storage as fast network drive

You can add Google Drive to Finder by default by going into your Applications folder and launching Google Drive. You will need to enter your login details for your Google account to sign in. The beauty of Google Drive is that you can connect both personal and team accounts — zero limitations. Map a Team Drive if you're working on files collectively with your team, map specific drives as a drive letter, and configure folders with ease.

For more functionality, connect your FTP Google Drive account to your local drive with CloudMounter to have better access to your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Once you link your account on your computer, you'll be able to open or move files directly from Mac's Finder as if they were a part of your local drive.

How to add Google Drive to Finder:

1. Open the CloudMounter app by clicking on New Drive
2. Click on the Google Drive link in the Connections window
3. Enter your Google Drive login details
4. Click Mount
5. You'll see your Google Drive appear in your Finder along with your computer's hard drive
6. Click on the Google Drive folder to see all the files from your Google Drive

To open a file from your Google Drive in your Finder, use the drop-down menu to click View on google.drive.com to have the file open on your browser.

Drive File Stream, Backup & Sync: The superpowers of Google Drive

To simplify your storage management, you can use Drive File System — a valuable Google Drive desktop shortcut. This allows you to access storage via a handy app that you can download on Google Drive Help. With Drive File System you can manage content just as you do on a local drive:

• Save shared drives or separate files offline.
• Flexibly manage document access permissions.
• Track changes to your Google docs in a real time.
• Switch between your Google Drive accounts.

Basically, Drive File Stream is like an additional hard drive that gives you more space for docs without draining your storage.

Backup & Sync is another asset of Google Drive which you'll probably need if you want to sync folders. Just as Dropbox, it allows to back up files from computer to the cloud keeping your data synced. It also works with sharing files across computers.

Before you decide to embrace Google Drive's apps, consider there are limitations like the following:

• Google Drive provides 15GB of free storage, so you have to pay if you need more.
• Backup & Sync is no longer supported on macOS before 10.10.
• If you have multiple doc revisions, they will be available online. On your computer, you'll be able to access the latest version only.
• Files shared with you don't affect your storage.

You can use Google Drive offline with ease and if you don't have an internet connection, you can still access your files on a Mac.

Mounting Dropbox on Mac

Dropbox is one of the most popular alternatives, offering 2 GB of free storage and 1 TB for $9.99 per month with a pro plan. Here's how you expand your drive on Mac with Dropbox:

1. Download Dropbox from the official website and install the app—it should appear in your menu bar.
2. Sign in to your Dropbox account (if you have one) or sign up to complete the registration.
3. Open your Dropbox folder and provide a password.
4. Use the Dropbox folder to store files, just as any other folder on your Mac.

By connecting your Dropbox account to Finder with CloudMounter, you'll have your Dropbox files within reach from your local computer drive in case you want to open, move, share, delete, or make any other file manipulations. Once you set up your Dropbox account with CloudMounter, you'll be able to link multiple Dropbox accounts and you won't need to have dropbox.app installed on your computer.

Here's how to add Dropbox to Finder:

1. Open the CloudMounter app by clicking on New Drive
2. Click on the Dropbox link in the pop up window
3. Enter your Dropbox account log in details
4. Click Mount
5. You'll see your Dropbox file appear in the Finder
6. Click on the Dropbox folder to see all the files in your Dropbox account
7. To share a file or directory from your Dropbox, click on Copy Dropbox Link

In addition to the basics of using Dropbox on your Mac, there are many features that make the most of the service to keep your files safe.

How to mount Amazon Cloud Drive on a Mac

If you go with Amazon Cloud Drive as an additional source of storage, here's how to mount it on macOS:

1. Create an Amazon account if you don't have one and sign in.
2. For an easy access from desktop, download an Amazon Cloud Drive app.
3. Access cloud drive website from the menu bar icon (will be added once the installation is complete).

To save files in Amazon Cloud Drive, drag and drop or add via the upload button. Unlike Google Drive and Dropbox, the drive window is not available from desktop, so you'll have to access the website. Another problem with Amazon Cloud Drive is that it doesn't offer any free storage. On the other hand, it's a great deal if you need unlimited storage—with Amazon, it will cost you $11.99 for photos and $59.99 for everything annually.

You can use your Amazon Cloud Drive to manage and access files within your computer's Finder. To do that launch CloudMounter app. Once connected, you'll be able to easily share a file in your Amazon Cloud Drive by copying the HTTP or Torrent link directly from the Finder. It's also possible to make any Amazon Cloud bucket private or public from the Finder menu.

1. In a new connection box, click on Amazon S3
2. Enter a connection name of your choosing
3. Enter the Access Key and Secret Key
4. Add your Server endpoint
5. Add a bucket name or use / to indicate a root directory
6. Click Mount

How to add iCloud Drive to Finder

To find files that you've downloaded or uploaded using Apple's cloud storage system, you can access your iCloud Drive from a browser window or directly on the Finder. You don't need an external app to find your iCloud Drive on your Mac — it should already be built-in to your finder.

1. Open the Finder on your Mac
2. Locate your iCloud Drive icon on the sidebar

How to mount OneDrive as a network drive

Mounting Microsoft's OneDrive is easy on Windows—but if you want to access OneDrive on macOS, there's no native support for it. Luckily, you can mount with Cloudmounter. Just as any other external cloud storage service, OneDrive will be added to Finder:

1. Open the CloudMounter app by clicking on New Drive
2. Click on the OneDrive link in the pop up window
3. Enter your Microsoft account log in details
4. Click Mount
5. You'll see your OneDrive file appear in the Finder

Mount FTP as drive and connect SFTP server to Finder

If you want to connect a storage device to a server, instead of a computer, you'll have to map a network Drive. CloudMounter provides several easy options on mounting remote FTP and SFTP servers from the app:

1. Open the CloudMounter app and select the connection method (FTP, FTP with TLS/SSL, FTP with Implicit SCL, or SFTP)
2. Type the connection name as well as specify server's address and port (19 for FTP or FTP with TLS/SSL, 990 for FTP with Implicit SCL, and 22 for SFTP)
3. Enter your login details or choose Anonymous login if you don't have an account
4. Choose the connection mode and remote path
5. Click Mount

How to manage your files more effectively

To make the most out of CloudMounter, use it in combination with file management software. Although Finder is definitely a must-have, the workflow you get with Apple's default file manager is pretty basic. For instance, it doesn't allow to rename multiple files at once. Neither is it a handy tool if you need to check free storage for cloud drives you use.

There are at least two alternatives that can expand CloudMounter's functionality in the ways that Finder can't. Both will work CloudMounter if you use it for mapping cloud storage.

Forklift is one of the most advanced file manager apps that can help you manage your files more effectively. Once you connect your external cloud storage solutions to your local drive, you can use this robust file manager to help sort and access your files. Here's how you can professionally manage your files using Forklift:

1. Access and manage files quickly and remotely by connecting to SFTP, FTP, Amazon S3, Google Drive across networks
2. The Forklift Mini on your menu bar allows you to mount and upload files even if Forklift isn't running
3. Find and synchronize new, duplicate, or modified files
4. Play audio and video files or look at previews of images and PDFs on local and remote drives within the Forklift app
5. Rename a large number of files at the same time

Another great app that can substitute Finder is DCommander. DCommander is a robust dual-pane file manager that offers a split screen view of the files you're working with. Here's why you should consider dropping Finder and switch to DCommander:

1. Copy files faster with DCommander's advanced copying mechanism
2. Visualize your files more effectively with a dual-panel window
3. Drag and drop your files between panels or to external applications
4. Find specific files that Spotlight may have missed
5. View Google Spreadsheets via Dropbox

Use this power app combo to access the cloud through Finder

There are tools that allow you to access cloud-stored files directly in your local computer file finder without having to individually access each separate cloud storage service through a web browser. Mac storage managers such as the CloudMounter make it easy to bring all your external cloud storage services together from the cloud into your computer's Finder.

Try all these apps for free

Get a huge set of top apps for keeping your Mac in shape. Best utilities in one pack, give it a go!

The secret to managing multiple cloud storage devices is to bring them all in one place on your computer with the combination of apps mentioned, all of which are available for a free trial on Setapp, a collection of over 150 high-quality Mac apps across all categories.

Best Storage Drives For Mac Pro

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Storage Drives For Macbook

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Storage Drives For Mac

Storage Drive For Macbook Pro