​ + 4 Types of Backup Hard Drives for Mac Posted on March 30th, 2017 by Backups are a lot like insurance: it's imperative to have it, and you hope you never have to use it. Likewise, if you need to use a backup hard drive to restore your data, it can save you hours of time, money and headaches. We often remind you how important it is to back up your files, but it's not just the backup that matters. The media you use to store your data is critical! There are different types of backup hard drives available for Mac. You can use external hard drives connected to your Mac, portable hard drives that you connect when needed, or network devices. You have lots of choice, but each of these devices works best in specific situations. So how can you tell which type of hard drive is best for you? Choosing a hard drive to back up your data can be a quest in and of itself. This post highlights the different types of hard drives for Mac that you can use, and how to choose the best backup hardware for your needs.

Most external drives for PC come with their own backup software. If you use a Mac you can buy an external hard drive and use Time Machine, which will run every hour and check for changes. Windows like photo viewer for mac mac. It will save hourly backups for the previous 24 hours, daily backups for the previous month, and weekly backups for previous months.

1. External Hard Drives The standard way to back up a Mac is to use a hard disk connected via USB or Thunderbolt. There are all kinds of external hard drives, from a number of brands.

You can currently get a 4 TB hard drive for around $110. Thunderbolt drives are on the more expensive end; in fact, they are priced at more than twice the average cost. Yet there's no real advantage to Thunderbolt as a backup drive. While the transfer speed can be higher than USB 3, it's only really useful if you're working on files on that drive, such as editing video. You use an external hard drive for backups with an apps like or, but you can't use the same drive for both. So if you want belt-and-suspenders protection, it's a good idea to get one drive for each. Also, check how much data you have to back up, and buy a drive that has at least twice that amount of storage. Time Machine saves older files, so your first backup will copy all your data, and subsequent backups copy new and changed files.

You can make a similar type of backup with Intego Personal Backup, storing multiple copies of files, and even create bootable clones on an external hard drive for system failure insurance. Just be sure to take into account that you will create a lot more data over the life of the hard drive from the time you purchase it. How long do hard drives last? I've had drives crash on me, but not for many years. I used to assume that hard drives could last about three years before they start developing problems, but newer drives seem much more reliable. That said, I've recently replaced my 5-year old media drive and backup hard drives with new drives. Seagate hard drives are very quiet, and each one is also a USB 3 hub, with two ports on the front that you can use to connect another device or to charge your iOS devices.

It's safe to assume that good drives will last about five years, but I don't recommended that you use them much longer than that; the risk of failure increases over time, and backup hard drives are too important to fail when you need them most. 2. Internal Hard Drives All the drives mentioned in this article have enclosures, meaning they are contained in a device that has the connectors you need to use them. However, there's another solution: You can use a disk dock to house an internal hard drive.