External Hard drive

[MizzLeeZ3]

Have a Mac Book Pro and used My Passport for Mac as my backup. It stopped working and have been unable to get computer to recognize it. My conclusion is to buy another external hard drive and am asking this forum for recommendations.

 

[nickyr]

I'd go with a Samsung T5 SSD. Been using them for a couple of years now - fast and so far reliable.

 

[pigoo3]

Thread moved to better area (Other Hardware).

- Nick

 

[MizzLeeZ3]

Looked up reviews and 2 said it didn't work with OS Catalina. And since I'm new to forum cannot find where you moved the thread.

 

[MizzLeeZ3]

Sorry, but I cannot figure out how to find the other thread. Just a little old lady who tries hard to use computer.

 

[MizzLeeZ3]

Did find it.

 

[chscag]

Looked up reviews and 2 said it didn't work with OS Catalina. And since I'm new to forum cannot find where you moved the thread.

They are wrong. I have two Samsung T5 external SSDs and am using both of them with Catalina. The T5 is fast and will connect to Thunderbolt 3/USB 3.1/3.0.

 

[MizzLeeZ3]

Will this device automatically backup daily without input from me?

 

[chscag]

Will this device automatically backup daily without input from me?

Yes, if you're using Time Machine to do your backups. By leaving the external drive always attached to your Mac and allow Time Machine to run in the background, it will accomplish your backups for you automatically without input from you.

You never mentioned to us how much you have to backup? How large is the drive that is currently in your Mac? You always want to make sure that the external drive you use for backing up with Time Machine is large enough to hold backups for the length of time you wish to keep them.

Please read thru the following Apple Support article about Time Machine:

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

 

[MizzLeeZ3]

Previously used My Passport for Mac constantly plugged in and it backed up without using anything else. It was sufficient for all my files and I'm not really sure how much that is. Remember, I'm just a little old lady who uses the computer for files for volunteer organizations that I don't want to lose. My son says an external disk of 2T would be more than enough.

 

[Slydude]

Given the way you describe your computer use your son is probably correct.

 

[chscag]

If you need a 2TB external hard drive to replace the defective one, you would probably be better off buying a regular hard drive and not a SSD. A 2TB external SSD would likely be very expensive.

Also, your WD My Passport for Mac is warranted for 3 years. If you still have the original receipt you can call Western Digital (WD) and request a RMA. (return merchandise authorization) WD will replace the drive free of charge. Ask your son to help you with that.

 

[MacInWin]

One small thought: Just plugging in the drive will NOT do any backups. You do have to set up Time Machine to see the drive and use it as the backup destination. You probably knew that, but post #8 made me a little nervous.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

If you need a 2TB external hard drive to replace the defective one, you would probably be better off buying a regular hard drive and not a SSD. A 2TB external SSD would likely be very expensive.

This ^^

So now you probably want to know which external hard drive to purchase.

I don't recommend "portable" drives like your MyPassport, unless you really badly need your drive to be portable, because the tradeoff for that portability is that they are not designed to be reliable. They are undercooled and they don't have a rugged power supply.

For *external* hard drives, the market is full of a bunch of brands that are garbage. Stay away from WD, Seagate, LaCie, and Iomega especially!

If you want something reasonably priced, that is decent, go with:

Other World Computing Mercury Elite Pro
OWC Mercury Elite Pro: Production-Grade External Hard Drive


If you want "the best" external hard drive, without having to pay an outlandish price (but you are willing to pay a bit more to have the best), I highly recommend a Glyph Studio drive.

Glyph
Glyph Production Technology | External Hard Drives
Studio | Glyph

Amazon offers them at a good discount:
Access Denied
Another source:
Access to this page has been denied.

B&H Photo also carries Glyph products:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Glyph&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma
which is good, because they can become back ordered pretty quickly.

They also show up on EBay occasionally:
http://is.gd/nE2a2A

Glyph drives come with a 3-year warranty that includes advance replacement during the first year and it also includes data recovery services for 2 years. They are built like a tank, and have stupendous service and support.

 

[krs]

If you want "the best" external hard drive, without having to pay an outlandish price (but you are willing to pay a bit more to have the best), I highly recommend a Glyph Studio drive.

As far as I can tell, there are only three companies globally that still manufacture the internal spinner drives themselves:
Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba

I looked through the Glyph website to see which manufacturer they are using in their drives, but didn't come across that bit of information.
Anyone know?

 

[Randy B. Singer]

As far as I can tell, there are only three companies globally that still manufacture the internal spinner drives themselves:
Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba

I looked through the Glyph website to see which manufacturer they are using in their drives, but didn't come across that bit of information.
Anyone know?

Sure, I can tell you. I can also tell you that it is just about entirely irrelevant.

Glyph uses mostly Seagate drives, and a few Toshiba drives.

Why is that irrelevant? Because Glyph, as an OEM, can spec internal drive mechanisms the way they want them directly from Seagate. (Seagate makes some putrid drive mechanisms, but they also make some of the best. Glyph can request the best ones, maybe even better than the best internal mechanisms that consumers can buy.) And Glyph doesn't stop there. Once they get the internal drive mechanisms from Seagate, they test them themselves and only use the best ones.

So, when you purchase an external hard drive from Glyph you aren't putting your faith in the manufacturer of the internal mechanism, you are putting your faith in Glyph. In several professional industries, such as the recording industry where hard drive reliability is supremely important, Glyph drives are legendary.

By the way, as an academic and interesting side note, while both Seagate and Western Digital actually manufacture their own internal mechanisms, their external hard drives branded with their own names are putrid. The very worst. Why? Ironically, it's not necessarily because of the quality of their internal mechanisms.

Around the time time that internal hard drive mechanisms were approaching 1TB in size, they started to run hotter (heat is the mortal enemy of magnetic media) and they required more electrical power. Did Seagate and Western Digital re-engineer their external cases for better cooling and provide better power supplies? Nope. They used the same stuff that they had been using previously. So, their external hard drives had a precipitous fall in reliability. Couple this with a lack of quality control when manufacturing their internal mechanisms, and both companies became known for external hard drives that were garbage.

 

[MacInWin]

I use WD all the time and have found them to be reliable. On the other hand, I would avoid Seagate.

 

[chscag]

I use WD all the time and have found them to be reliable. On the other hand, I would avoid Seagate.

And I have found the opposite to be true. You like vanilla, and I like chocolate.

 

[MizzLeeZ3]

Did not use Time Machine with My Passport for Mac. Did have to set it up for backups but then didn't have to do anything else.

 

[MacInWin]

And I have found the opposite to be true. You like vanilla, and I like chocolate.

Actually, I like chocolate, but I understand the idea!