LaCie 2TB Mobile SSD High‑Performance External SSD. The LaCie 2TB Mobile SSD drive is an. LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C 4TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD – USB 3.0 compatible — for Mac and PC Hard Drives LaCie Rugged 4TB for Mac users Image from LaCie website. External Hard Drive For Mac And PC Interchangeable What You Need Your Mac will need to set up your chosen drive before it's shared. Macs are very choosy about the drives they will write to. Typically, an external hard drive that works on a Windows PC uses an NTFS file system. And an external hard drive that works on a Mac is in HFS+ format. The faster SSD drives on a Mac may well use an APFS file system. To check, right click on the external hard drive.
It is possible to find an external hard drive for both Mac and PC that is interchangeable. Of course, which device you go for depends on your budget and how much storage you need.
How to format sd on mac. External hard drives are perfect if you want a safe place to back up your work, old files, or if you use multiple machines for work or recreation. In fact, it is often a good idea to back up important files on an external hard drive. Both PCs and Macs can fail at any time – so it's worth having files stored elsewhere too.
If you're unsure which external hard drives are compatible with both Mac and PC, we've got you covered.
Let's take a closer look at external hard drives for Mac and PC that are interchangeable between machines.
Western Digital My Passport
The Western Digital My Passport is an external hard drive that is interchangeable between Mac and PC. But that's not all.
Found in the latest range from Western Digital, this external hard drive can be bought with storage from 1TB to a huge 4 TB. Perfect for those looking to store large amounts of music, videos, photos or work documents.
The My Passport hard drive will also back up automatically using a customised schedule, so you can forget about remembering to back up your work! Not only that, but it completes file transfers at high speed and can also be password protected to keep your files secure.
- 1TB – 4TB storage
- Optional password protection
- Scheduled automated backup
- USB 3.0 interface
- Reaches those hard to reach places to provide better Wi-Fi coverage
- Plug and Play
- Quick Installation Guide
- Allow more people and devices to connect to the same router
Buffalo Thunderbolt Ministation
Thunderbolt by name and by nature, this external hard drive – compatible with both Mac and PC – delivers speed twice as fast as standard USB 3.0 hard-drives. With 1TB storage it provides plenty of space for storing work documents or photos – with extra to spare.
The Thunderbolt is also a sleek and slim design and much less bulky than other external hard drives on the market.
- 1TB storage capacity
- Thunderbolt Interface (10GBps)
- USB 3.0
- Mac and PC compatible
External Hard Drive For Mac and PC interchangeable: My Book Duo WD
For those looking for a large capacity interchangeable external hard drive for Mac and PC, the My Book Duo is a perfect choice. Although it is worth noting you will need to reformat the device to work alongside Mac.
It comes at a higher price tag, but for a higher capacity of up to 28TB, that can only be expected. This external hard drive also offers protection through the optional Raid 1 data mirroring – which allows you to back up your files twice on the device incase one of the independent hard drives fails. Perfect if you are storing documents that are irreplaceable.
The My Book Duo also comes with 2 additional USB ports, so you can plug flash drives directly into the device for easy file transfers.
- Up to 28TB storage
- 2x USB ports
- Optional Raid 1 data mirroring
- Compatible with PC and Mac (if reformatted)
LaCie Rugged External Hard Drive
If you want your data stored in an external hard drive so safe that it can withstand the pressure of a one-tonne car – this is the hard drive for you.
Yes, the LaCie rugged external hard drive is also rain resistant – and more importantly, compatible with both Mac and PC machines through the USB C cable. It is also an extremely fast device, delivering file transfers and image browsing at high speeds.
- 2TB storage capacity
- Drop, crush and rain resistant
- USB C cable and USB 3.0 adaptor
- 5GB/s file transfers and backup speed
Get Hard Drive Support From a Digi Advisor.
G-Technology External Hard Drive
This external hard drive comes pre-formatted for use with Mac machines; however, it can be easily reformatted for use with Windows PC's too.
With 4TB of storage at an extremely reasonable price, USB C ready and both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3 compatibility, this is a tough external hard drive to beat.
The G-Technology external hard drive also features a sleek, aluminium design that is lightweight and easy to transport.
- Up to 4TB storage capacity
- USB C ready
- USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3 compatible
- Mac and PC compatible (if reformatted)
There we have the 5 best external hard drives, interchangeable for both Mac and PC.
If you are looking for a high storage capacity external hard drive whether, for work or personal use, there are a lot of options out there. It is always good to backup important files to protect yourself from machine failures or viruses that can put your data at risk.
| Image | Product | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| NETGEAR Wi-Fi Range Extender EX2700 | View on Amazon | |
| TP-Link TL-WA854RE | View on Amaozn |
While you can physically connect a Mac hard drive to a Windows PC, the PC cannot read the drive unless third-party software is installed. Because the two systems use different file systems for storage: Macs use the HFS, HFS+, or HFSX file systems, and PCs use either the FAT32 or NTFS. Luckily, if the drive type (e.g., SATA, IDE, or SCSI) is compatible with your motherboard, there are a few solutions to this dilemma.
NoteNTFS and FAT drives open natively in macOS.
Formatting a partition
External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
You can delete a Mac-based HFS, HFS+ or HFSX partition and format it to be usable with a PC. If there are any files you want to keep, copy them from your Mac hard drive to another storage device, then review the page linked below.
External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc Interchangeable 2017
Third-party software
External Drive Mac To Pc
Through the use of third-party software, Microsoft Windows can be configured to read a Mac hard drive. Free programs are available, but they have fewer features and are not as easy to use. One of the best free programs is HFSExplorer. If you are willing to pay, MacDrive and TransMac cost about $50. They do a good job of allowing users to view the contents of a Mac hard drive on a PC due to their user-friendly interfaces. There is also a $20 solution from Paragon called HFS+ for Windows.
Find External Hard Drive Mac
Additional information
