Seagate Or Wd For Mac

By: Tech Desk | New Delhi | Updated: September 1, 2020 4:21:16 pm
ADATA and WD hard disks (Source: Amazon India)

Seagate Expansion Desktop Portable, the cheaper option, tends to get more favorable reviews than WD My Passport For Mac 4.4 vs 4.3. In our awesomeness score Seagate Expansion Desktop Portable ranks #38 out of 145 and WD My Passport For Mac ranks #57 out of 145. Go to awesomeness ranking Go to consumer score ranking. Product Comparison: Seagate Expansion vs Western Digital My Passport. Seagate Expansion Portable External Hard Drive for PC/Mac. Linux or Mac out of the box. With Linux or Mac it performs best when reformatted with a native file system for the respective operating system.

  • While Seagate may offer 5TB of storage here instead of Western Digital’s 4TB, the latter is cheaper - it’s a matter of personal preference. Credit: Seagate However, if speed and security are what you’re looking for, the WD Passport SSD ( Amazon ) maximum capacity of 2TB can be encrypted with 256-bit AES using WD’s security software.
  • Seagate Backup Plus Slim is ranked 1st while WD My Passport is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose Seagate Backup Plus Slim is: The Backup Plus Slim comes with a very user-friendly software dashboard called the Seagate Dashboard which lets you back up your PC, mobile devices, and social media, or restore an existing backup.

Since many of us have been working from home due to the Covid-19pandemic, the need for data security has only increased. During these testing times, most of the data is saved on personal or office computer and there is no guarantee whether the laptop or desktop will continue to work as efficiently as it is working now. It’s always handy to have a copy of your personal (photos, videos, documents) or official data somewhere else.

It can be done if you just want to speed up your work computer and want to transfer your data somewhere safe. Also, hard disks can be used by photographers, content creators to keep their data stored and help them save some space on the system. Here are a few portable hard drives that won’t make you delve deep into the pockets and have ample space to save your data.

Western Digital Elements 1.5 TB

Western Digital Elements 1.5 TB External hard drive is currently available for Rs 4,299. The portable hard drive is 3.23-inch wide and 4.35-inch in height. It offers a fast transfer rate of 5Gbps with a USB 3.0 port. It also offers backward compatibility with USB 2.0 devices offering a speed of 480 Mbps. It weighs 222 grams and comes with a two-year warranty. It works with Windows OS without hassle whereas for other operating systems reformatting is required.

Seagate Expansion Portable 1.5TB

The compact hard drive is 3.15 inches wide and 4.35 inches in height. It offers a data transfer rate of up to 625 Mbps. It weighs 170 grams and offers a three-year warranty. It also offers plug and play for Windows and macOS. The USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 for additional system compatibility. Seagate Expansion Portable 1.5 TB external hard drive is currently available for Rs 4,399.

ADATA HD710M Pro 1 TB Military-Grade

If you are someone who is a little clumsy while handling devices like hard drives and phones or may want to carry the hard drive in public transport, ADATA’s military-grade hard drive is something you should look at. It comes equipped with a waterproof cover (exceeds IPX8 rating), shock sensors that have three layers of anti-shock technology offering military-grade durability. It can withstand submerged for up to 60 minutes in water and drops up to 1.5 metre as well. The cable comes attached on the sides of the hard drive.

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It can transfer data at the speed of 5Gbps with its USB C port and is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, Mac OS X 10.6 or later and Linux Kernel 2.6 or later. It is available in different colours including camouflage. It is heavier than other hard disks on the list with a weight of 270 grams, measures 3.8 inches wide, and 5.26 inches in height approximately. It is available for Rs 4,529. ADATA offers three-year warranty with the hard disk.

Toshiba Canvio Basic 1TB A3

Toshiba Canvio Basic A3 has a minimalistic design and is available for Rs 3,899. It offers easy setup, and quick accessibility as no software installation is required. It weighs just 149 grams, is 3.07 inches in width, and 4.3 inches in height. It offers a fast transfer rate of 5Gbps with a USB 3.0 port and backward compatibility with USB 2.0 devices. It is compatible with Windows and Mac systems. Toshiba offers three years of warranty on this product.

Lenovo UHD F309 1TB

Lenovo UHD 1TB hard drive is available for Rs 3,739. It has a multi-coloured LED device status indicator. It comes with a built-in USB 3.0 cable with an integral storage slot. It offers a USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 hardware interface capable of transferring data at 5Gbps per second. The Lenovo hard drive weighs only 100 grams, just 2.5 inches wide and 4.4 inches in length making it easily portable. It is compatible with Windows 7 and above systems. It offers only one year of warranty.

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When it comes to storage, Western Digital and Seagate are the brands to beat but there's rarely a clear winner between the two. They rival one other in nearly every segment of the storage market and are constantly itching to outdo the other with innovations in ease of use and power efficiency.

If you're looking to invest in a portable hard drive or an internal SSD for your PC, there's a good chance you'll be forced to choose between the two. To make that process a little more straightforward, we've crunched the numbers and taken a look at some of the key differences between the two and their products.

Internal Storage

Both Western Digital and Seagate started out making internal hard drives, so it only makes sense that the contest begins here. Hard drives have evolved immensely over the last 20 years: storage capacities have grown exponentially, and speed and power efficiency have also improved.

Different segments of the market have emerged (consumer, enthusiast/enterprise, AV) to cater to different classes of user; those who require greater speed as opposed to capacity, for example. When it comes to internal storage, it essentially comes down to whether you want space or speed.

Capacity

Western Digital was one of the first to offer up to 2 terabytes of space in its internal SATA hard drives. Now, the company offers up to 6TB for desktops and 2TB for laptops. However, Seagate drives come in both cheaper and faster, though only marginally - an 8TB Barracuda (Amazon) drive sells for around AU$50 cheaper than Western Digital’s 6TB offering.

Seagate also offers a Pro version of the Barracuda with up to 14TB of storage (Amazon), though not without a hefty price tag. We’d pick Western Digital’s Blue range (Amazon) for those on a budget, but if you can afford something higher-end then Seagate’s drives are very tempting.

Is Seagate Or Wd Better For Mac

If you want better performance from a hard drive, Seagate offers a HDD/SSD hybrid range, the Firecuda SSHD. The 2TB desktop model (Amazon) includes 8GB of NAND flash memory to boot up and load games faster.

Solid State Drives (SSD)

On the solid state front, both companies offer speedy drives designed to access and write your data as fast as possible. Western Digital and Seagate were both initially reluctant to invest into the solid-state drive field, though they are now roughly neck-and-neck.

Both companies’ SATA SSDs, Seagate’s Barracuda 510 (Amazon) and Western Digital’s Blue 3D (Amazon), are practically the same in terms of speed, both offering a maximum of 2TB. In the newer NVMe range, the Firecuda 510 is where Seagate edges out the competition, though once again only marginally; the Western Digital Black 3D NVMe is more expensive though not as fast as the Firecuda 510.

In our review, Jon L. Jacobi came away similarly impressed with Seagate's FireCuda 520 saying that 'The FireCuda 520 is a great drive, nearly as fast as any we’ve seen in the PCIe 3 benchmarks, and has the added benefit of supporting PCIe 4, which offers a noticeable jump in sustained throughput.'

[Related: Everything you need to know about NVMe]

Winner: Seagate

Seagate is currently on top of the race for larger internal storage and speed, though not by much. Western Digital still holds its own in the lower- to mid-range market.

External Storage

External storage is great for backing up personal and corporate data, as well as for transporting large amounts of information from one computer to another. The better choice in this case is a matter of who provides the best security, largest capacities and best choice of connectivity.

Portable

Western Digital and Seagate both offer a variety of pocket external hard drives with differences in capacity and connectivity. We prefer the colourful designs of Western Digital's My Passport range (Amazon), though Seagate’s Backup Plus Portable drives (Amazon) aren’t bad looking either. While Seagate may offer 5TB of storage here instead of Western Digital’s 4TB, the latter is cheaper - it’s a matter of personal preference.

However, if speed and security are what you’re looking for, the WD Passport SSD (Amazon) maximum capacity of 2TB can be encrypted with 256-bit AES using WD’s security software. While Seagate’s SATA drives have this capability, their comparable Fast SSD (Amazon) does not. The latter also opts for a USB-C cable instead of a traditional USB, which may irk some users.

Seagate Mac To Windows

In our review of Seagate's Fast SSD, we noted that '

at smaller sizes, the Fast SSD is a little more expensive than the competition. Yet, if you’re looking to buy in on the 1TB or 2TB models, the difference between how much Seagate’s offering will cost you and that of the competition is genuinely staggering.'

If cables just aren’t your thing, Western Digital also offer wireless versions of their Passport range in up to 4TB (Amazon), with built-in SD card readers. This is a field that Seagate is yet to enter.

Desktop

Western Digital wins out when it comes to larger capacities, offering its My Book Duo (Amazon) with 20TB of storage in either a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration, along with plenty of connectivity. By contrast, the best Seagate can muster is 10TB of storage from the single-drive Backup Plus Hub (Amazon) or Expansion Desktop. To the average person, either company’s drive would be way more than enough storage for photos, videos, music and the odd document backup. If you’re looking to do 4K or even 8K video editing, or something else equally storage-intensive, Western Digital is your best bet.

Another edge that Western Digital has is their My Cloud (Amazon) line. Plugging directly into your Wi-Fi router, the drives allow users to backup their memories directly from smartphones and other devices using a companion app. Seagate are currently without a similar product since the release of their Personal Cloud back in 2017.

Seagate Or Wd For Mac Os

Network-attached storage and home theatre

NAS devices appear somewhat of an afterthought for Seagate, though Western Digital seem to have embraced the trend.

Western Digital offers the My Cloud Pro (Amazon) and Expert lines in up to 40TB, and Seagate are currently without a first-party NAS server altogether since the aforementioned Personal Cloud. It seems that they’ve instead opted to just produce NAS-designed drives, with the IronWolf range (Amazon) in up to 14TB.

[Related: Best NAS Hard Drives: Seagate vs Western Digital]

It’s interesting to note that in the decade since this article was originally written, both Western Digital and Seagate have stopped producing their specific home theatre devices, which was once a tight battle for lounge-room dominance.

Instead, WD’s My Cloud Pro offers built-in support for Plex Media Server, which organises your library and allows streaming to any enabled device - smartphones, Chromecast, PlayStation 4 and more. While Seagate drives can be incorporated into NAS servers and used in the same way, they are without a high-capacity server with similar capabilities.

Our review of the Western Digital's My Cloud Home concluded that 'There’s room for improvement but the My Cloud Home is absolutely a compelling option to consider. Though the software powering the experience does come with a few freckles, it still manages to offer a degree of ownership, control and consolidation over your digital footprint that sells itself. It’s not quite a NAS nor is it quite a portable hard drive, but it is dead-simple.'

Winner: Western Digital

Seagate Or Wd For Mac

Seagate Or Wd For Mac Catalina

Western Digital rules the coop when it comes to external hard drives, recognising that ease-of-access to digital media and wireless connectivity are now more important than ever. However, while Seagate are yet to tap into the wireless and cloud-storage market, their offerings should not be overlooked.

This article was originally published on 6th July 2009 by James Hutchinson. It was updated 30th April 2019 by Sarah Lewis and then by Fergus Halliday on August 14th 2020.

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