Best external SSD for Mac: expand your Mac storage

Macworld

Solid-state drives – aka SSD – used to be really expensive, but prices have really fallen in the past few years, and you can now pick up fast, reliable SSDs that cost only slightly more than their hard drive counterparts. Even the slowest SSDs are generally faster than mechanical hard drives.

As well as being faster than conventional hard drives, SSDs are lighter and sturdier too, making them ideal for use with a laptop when you’re traveling. That’s reflected in the drives that we review here, most of which are small and light enough to slip into your pocket. However, the latest SSDs can also offer up to 8TB of storage, which makes them a good option for use with a desktop Mac in an office as well. And they can help to reduce cable clutter too, as they generally take their power from a USB port on your Mac, rather than requiring a separate external power supply.

In this article we’ve included the best external SSDs for everything from blazing-fast performance, to budget options, to portability, and more. 

Best SSD Black Friday Deals Available Now!

Black Friday weekend is here and we are already seeing lots of deals, including these top deals on SSDs.

U.S.

$54 off SanDisk 2TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD at Amazon

$30 off OWC 1TB Express 1M2 at Amazon

$15 off LaCie Rugged SSD4 at Amazon

$40 off Lacie Rugged USB-C at Amazon

U.K.

£47 off Lacie Rugged SSD Pro5 at Amazon

£50 SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD at Amazon

£10 off OWC Express 1M2 Portable SSD at Amazon

£22 off OWC Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 at Amazon

Take a look at the Price Comparisons below to see the best prices right now.

Best SSD for Mac

These are our top choices of Mac SSD in 2025.






LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 – Best SSD with Thunderbolt 5















Pros

Supports Thunderbolt 5 

Impressive performance

Rugged design with IP68

Five-year warranty


Cons

Expensive

Requires M4 Pro or Max














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The Pro5 looks almost identical to the previous-generation Rugged SSD Pro (below), which uses Thunderbolt 3. The only visible difference between the two drives is the fact that the Pro5 is wrapped in a dark-blue rubber sleeve, rather than the somber black of its predecessor.

That rubber sleeve is designed to provide extra protection for the drive, and the Pro5 is even sturdier than before, with an IP68 rating for water and dust-resistance. LaCie claims the Pro5 can survive immersion in 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes, survive being dropped from a height of 3m (10ft), and survive being run over by vehicles weighing up to two tonnes. There’s a five-year warranty too.

It measures 17mm thick, 98mm wide and 65mm deep and weighs 150g, which is a little more than its 100g Rugged Pro predecessor. It comes in 2TB or 4TB capacities. It’s not cheap, starting at $399.99/£359.99 for 2TB or $599.99/£579.99 for 4TB.

The Pro5 does use a standard USB-C connector, so it’s still backward-compatible with older Macs, but if you want to get the full performance of the Thunderbolt 5 interface you’ll need a MacBook Pro or Mac mini with M4 Pro or M4 Max processor as these are the only chips to support the standard. The older Rugged Pro is still on sale, so make sure you look for the Pro5 model if you want Thunderbolt 5 performance. We found that the standard USB-C cable we use for our Time Machine back-up drive didn’t provide enough power for the Pro5, so it might be worth investing in a spare Thunderbolt 5 cable.

The Rugged SSD Pro5 is the fastest Thunderbolt drive we’ve tested so far, and along with its rugged, portable design it’s an excellent option for creative users who want to exploit the full speed of their new Thunderbolt 5 Macs.


Read our full

LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 review






OWC Express 1M2 SSD – Fastest SSD with USB4















Pros

80Gbps USB4

Fantastic performance

Finned, heat-shedding design

Backwards compatible with USB 2


Cons

Very expensive














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We had nothing but love for the OWC’s 40Gbps 1M2, so were certainly not going to complain that it’s now been replaced by the 80Gbps 1M2 80G. It ain’t cheap, but it’s easily the fastest external SSD we’ve seen.

It’s USB4 80Gbps. The huge advantage of USB4 over Thunderbolt 5 is that you can plug it into any type of USB port to access your data

It’s expensive, the LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 is only slightly cheaper and less compatible.

It’s very fast. In synthetic benchmarks, it was basically twice as fast as the older 1M2. Under our sister publication PCWorld’s test protocol, it proved the fastest external SSD we’ve tested overall. Faster than LaCie’s Rugged SSD Pro5 to varying degrees. https://www.macworld.com/article/2590233/lacie-rugged-ssd-pro5-review.html That was roughly 6GBps reading and 5.5GBps writing overall. 

If you want the fastest external storage on the planet, buy it–if your finances allow. On the other hand, 40Gbps SSDs or enclosures are considerably cheaper and still offer most of the real-world performance. Regardless, the 1M2 80G is a very nice–if pricey–storage technology upgrade from OWC.






SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD with USB4 – Best SSD with USB4















Pros

USB4 provides good performance

Competitive price

Rugged design


Cons

Lacks full Thunderbolt support

Large














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Since parting ways with Western Digital SanDisk has launched a collection of new products. Among these were SanDisk’s Extreme Portable SSD, an affordable entry-level drive included below, and the Extreme Pro With USB4.

The Extreme Pro With USB4 is available with 2TB or 4TB of storage. It resembles its predecessors, featuring rounded corners, orange trim, and a cut-out for attaching a lanyard. A USB-C cable is included. 

It’s a little larger than previously: 11.9mm thick, 58.7mm wide, and 140mm long. Making it almost as large as the iPhone 16e and heavier than it. The drive’s main body is made of forged aluminium, wrapped in a silicon sleeve for added protection. SanDisk claims it can survive a 2m drop and is IP65 water and dust resistant. They also provide a five-year warranty.

The Extreme Pro With USB4 is larger than other SanDisk drives, measuring 11.9mm thick, 58.7mm wide, and 140mm long. It’s almost as large as the iPhone 16e and heavier than it, but still small enough to fit in a pocket or bag. Its sturdy design makes it suitable for travel and outdoor work. 

The main attraction is USB4 performance. SanDisk quotes a maximum write performance of up to 3700MB/s and read performance of up to 3800MB/s. We tested the drive with a MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 4, achieving strong performance of 3400MB/s for both read and write. 

We also tested the drive with a new Mac mini with Thunderbolt 5 and were surprised to see a significant jump in write performance to 4400MB/s, which remained consistent despite repeated tests. Read performance remained unchanged at 3400MB/s.

Professional users requiring top performance with large video or graphics files may prefer a solid-state drive with full Thunderbolt support, but the Extreme Pro With USB4 offers impressive performance at an affordable price, making it suitable for most users who need a fast, sturdy portable drive for Time Machine backups.


Read our full

SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD with USB4 review






LaCie Rugged SSD4 – Best rugged SSD for Macs















Pros

Mac-compatible with USB4

Good performance

Rugged design

Competitive price


Cons

Lacks full Thunderbolt support

Removable USB cover is easily lost














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The design of the Rugged SSD4 will be immediately familiar to anyone that’s owned one of LaCie’s Rugged drives before, with the drive wrapped in LaCie’s trademark bright orange rubber sleeve, which is designed to protect the drive. 

The drive has a protective rating of IP54 that, admittedly, isn’t quite as sturdy as some of LaCie’s other Rugged drives – the SSD Pro5 boasts a completely water-resistant rating of IP68 – but it can still cope with outbursts of rain and exposure to dust when you’re outdoors. 

LaCie also states that the drive can survive being dropped from a height of three metres, and can withstand a crushing pressure of one tonne.

The drive provides a three-year warranty, reflecting LaCie’s confidence in the sturdy design, and it is also covered by LaCie’s Rescue Data Recovery Service.

Our only complaint about the design is that the protective rubber flap that covers the USB-C port is not actually attached to the drive. You could lose it quite easily. 

The Rugged SSD4 supports USB4 and has a single USB-C interface for connecting it to a Mac, PC or other mobile devices such as an iPhone via the included USB-C cable. 

USB4 is actually based on Thunderbolt 4, so – unlike the older USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 – it’s fully compatible with Macs. It’s more than twice as fast as LaCie’s previous-generation Rugged Mini SSD – which used USB 3.2 Gen 2×2.

LaCie states that it provides read and write speeds of up to 4,000MB/s. Our tests didn’t quite match that performance, with the Rugged SSD4 coming in at an average of 2,975MB/s for read performance, but then stepping up to 3,300MB/s for write performance.

That should be more than fast enough for general day-to-day use and Time Machine backups though. 

if you simply need a fast, affordable drive that can handle your daily Time Machine backups then the Rugged SSD4 fits the bill at a competitive price.


Read our full

LaCie Rugged SSD4 review






Kingson Dual Portable SSD – Fast thumb drive
























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Kingston’s new Dual Portable SSD combines the compact design of a thumb drive with the speed and capacity of an SSD.

The Dual Portable SSD has a compact rectangular design measuring 72mm long, 21mm wide, and 8.6mm thick, similar to the Kingston 64GB thumb drive, but much faster and with greater storage capacity. It’s lightweight, weighing only 13g, and sturdy, with a bright red metal casing.

Most SSDs use a conventional USB cable, but the Dual Portable SSD has a built-in USB interface with a USB-A and USB-C end. This ensures compatibility with many computers and mobile devices, though the second USB-C port on my MacBook Pro was slightly obscured by the drive’s width.

The drive performs well. It doesn’t support Thunderbolt but uses USB 3.2 Gen 2, with Kingston quoting speeds of 950MB/s for write and 1,050MB/s for read. Our tests with the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test confirmed the write speed at 950MB/s, while the read speed was slightly slower at 920MB/s, which should still be sufficient for general file transfers and routine Time Machine backups.

The ultra-compact design of the Dual Portable SSD comes at a cost, though. It’s slightly more expensive than other SSD drives we’ve reviewed, including Kingston’s slightly larger XS1000.

Professional users might prefer a faster drive with Thunderbolt support for maximum performance, but the USB performance of the Dual Portable SSD is sufficient for routine tasks like file transfer and Time Machine backups. Its compact and sturdy design makes it ideal for quick backup on the go.


Read our full

Kingson Dual Portable SSD review






OWC Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 – Best fast SSD















Pros

Fast 6GBps reading & 5GBps writing via Thunderbolt 5

Rugged and weatherproof


Cons

Expensive

Requires M4 Pro/Max Mac for full 80Gbps performance

Limited compatibility














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You can take full advantage of the Thunderbolt 5 ports on your M4 Pro Mac mini or M4 Pro/Max MacBook Pro and possibly circumvent Apple’s avaricious storage upgrade pricing with OWC’s Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 external SSD.

Thunderbolt 5 itself is backwards compatible with older Thunderbolt specs, but it’s not nearly as backwards compatible as we’d like. For example, to utilize a Thunderbolt 5 drive your M-series Mac need to be running macOS Sonoma or later. Thunderbolt 3 Macs with Intel chips must run Sequoia or later. But only the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips will give you the full Thunderbolt 5 experience.

You may have seen 120GBps quoted in some articles as Thunderbolt 5’s top speed, but that’s only unidirectional for displays. Bi-directional, as with storage, is limited to 80Gbps. Benchmarks showed anywhere from 5.2GBps (Blackmagicdesign’s Disk Speed Test), to 6.5GBps reading (AmorphousDiskMark), to near 7GBps reading and 5.57GBps writing (ATTO). It’s fast.

The OWC Envoy Ultra is a larger chunk of black metal, measuring about 0.75 inches thick, 2.8 inches wide, and 5 inches long. The Envoy Ultra weighs in at 10.5 ounces or so. It has a captive cable, which is for weatherproofing (it’s not IP-rated). This does make it a bit harder to put away. Alas, writing was considerably slower, only around 1.5GBps.

The Envoy Ultra costs $400/£356 in its 2TB form and $600/£598.49 at 4TB. It carries a three-year warranty.

If you want, and can afford the absolute fastest storage for your new Thunderbolt 5 Mac, then this is a heck of a lot cheaper than Apple’s rapaciously priced internal storage and nearly as fast.


Read our full

OWC Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 SSD review






SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD – Best compact SSD















Pros

Rugged design

Competitive price

Good performance

USB-C interface, with USB-A adaptor included


Cons

No Thunderbolt support

Not completely water-resistant














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This SanDisk model offers a sturdy design and up to 8TB of storage. The external design hasn’t changed over the years, it still comes in a perforated black case made out of silicon that provides plenty of protection, and there’s the same hook for a lanyard.

The 8TB version is slightly larger than the previous model, but it’s still slim and light. There aren’t many rival drives that provide that much storage in such a compact and portable design.

This model uses the same USB-C connector as its predecessor, with support for USB 3.2 (Gen 2). There’s a USB-C cable included in the box, and even a USB-A adaptor! Speeds are 1000MB/s and 1050MB/s for write and read performance respectively, as previously. And our tests found that the two drives produce very similar results when running the Black Magic Disk speed test, with the Extreme Portable reaching 946MB/s for write performance and 910MB/s for read performance.

The main difference is that this update for 2025 is even tougher than before, boasting an IP65 rating for resistance to water and dust. This model provides more storage capacity too, starting at 1GB and going up to 8TB.

SanDisk has several portable solid-state drives that look similar and have similar names. The Extreme Pro Portable looks identical and has a faster USB4 interface, but only offers up to 4TB storage. The less expensive Portable SSD, isn’t particularly fast. Check the name before you buy.

It’s a good option for anyone that needs to store large, high-res photo or video files on their MacBook when they’re working outdo.


Read our full

Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD (2025) review






SanDisk Pro Blade System – Best modular SSD















Pros

Ultra-rugged design

Professional-level performance


Cons

Very expensive

Doesn’t support Thunderbolt 4 or 5














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Western Digital



$49.99


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We normally organize reviews of portable drives and desktop drives separately, but the new SanDisk Pro Blade is a modular SSD storage system that is very much designed for professional and creative users, and allows you to switch between portable and desktop modes as required.

You can start by buying the Pro Blade SSD Mag, which is a solid-state storage module that is available in 1TB, 2TB or 4TB sizes (the 1TB was discounted from $179.99 to $119.99 at the time of our review). The SSD Mag is pre-formatted in APFS format for Mac users, and is tough enough to withstand being dropped from a height of 3 meters or 9.8 foot, and withstand 4000lb (1814kg) crush pressure, making it ideal for outdoor use. However, the SSD Mag modules can’t connect to a computer on their own, so SanDisk provides two options for portable and desktop use.

For portable use you can buy the Pro Blade Transport, which is a compact case for the SSD Mag, and is equipped with a USB-C port for connecting to your Mac. The Transport measures just 130.4mm long, 71.5mm wide and 16mm thick, so you can easily slip it into your pocket or a carrying case just like any other portable drive. It’s also possible to connect the Transport to a camera that has a USB-C interface so that you can record high-res video rather than having to carry lots of smaller SD memory cards.

When you get back to the office you also have the option of inserting the SSD Mag modules into the Pro Blade Station ($499.99/£490.99). This desktop storage system doesn’t include any built-in storage of its own, but it has four slots that allow you to insert SSD Mag modules (not included) providing up to 16TB of high-speed solid-state storage. The Pro Blade Station has two Thunderbolt 3 ports, with one used to connect your Mac, while the other port can be used to daisy-chain additional storage devices if required. The Pro Blade Station is fairly expensive – given that it doesn’t include any storage of its own – but it gives you the option of creating a high-speed, high-capacity SSD storage system for use in your office, whilst also being able to remove the individual SSD Mag modules and use them as portable drives whenever you need to.

Western Digital – which owns SanDisk these days – claims that the Pro Blade Station can provide read and write speeds of 3000MB/s and 2600MB/s respectively. Our tests actually recorded a read speed of 2600MB/s and write speed of 2300MB/s, but that’s still one of the fastest SSD drives we’ve ever seen, making it a good option for creative users who need a fast storage system that they can use both in the office and on the road.


Read our full

Sandisk Pro-Blade Transport review






Verbatim TurboMetal SSD















Pros

Good data transfer rate

Quiet fan


Cons

Data rate drops during long data transfers

No operation without fan














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The Verbatim TurboMetal SSD is a classic NVMe drive with a length of around 106mm, a 55mm wide and 18mm thin metal housing, and weighs 150g.

Like many USB4 enclosures, it uses an active fan and cooling slots for cooling. The fan is temperature-controlled and starts automatically when the temperature rises.

Verbatim specifies a USB4 data transfer rate of 3600MBps for writing and 3700MBps for reading. However, we achieved 2664MBps for writing and 3123MBps for reading on an M3 MacBook Air in a 4K test with Aja System Test Lite. These are not bad values, but the best USB4 drives we’ve measured achieve slightly higher writing speeds but not higher reading speeds. The M4 Max Mac Studio showed much better values, with 2869MBps for writing and 3499MBps for reading.

In a 30-minute endurance test with the Backmagicdesign Disk Speed Test, the fan started after 10 minutes. The TurboMetal got too warm after around 9 minutes in the data transfer rate, which dropped significantly to below 1000MBps. Shortly after starting the fan, the temperature of the SSD levelled off again, and the data transfer rate rose to its original value. The runs only when it has to.

During the endurance test, the data transfer rate dropped briefly but stabilised immediately. DriveDX measured the temperature at around 46 degrees Celsius after using the fan, which remained on.

The TurboMetal Portable SSD is available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities with a 20cm USB4 cable. It’s formatted as FAT32, so Mac users should reformat it to APFS. The included software is only for Windows.

The TurboMetal SSD is a discreet USB4 drive. The data transfer rates are suitable for everyday use, but some SSDs offer better speed. The regular dips indicate thermal protection, but they shouldn’t affect most applications.


Read our full

Verbatim Turbometal Portable SSD review






Corsair EX400U USB4 SSD















Pros

High data transfer rate

Compact dimensions

MagSafe ring for iPhone


Cons

Plastic housing














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The EX400U from Corsair is a compact and powerful external USB4 SSD.

It looks like a simple external SSD, but underneath is a MagSafe-compatible ring for attaching to an iPhone.

In our tests, it gave a convincing performance, with speeds of 2709Mbps for writing and 3165Mbps for reading. 

Corsair offers a three-year warranty on the EX400U. 

A robust USB4 cable is included.


Read our full

Corsair EX400U USB4 SSD review






Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock















Pros

12 top-end ports, including four Thunderbolt 5

Built-in fast M.2 NVMe SSD

2.5Gb Ethernet

Fast card readers

140W Power Deliverye


Cons

Premium price














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This premium docking station boasts four TB5 ports plus a built-in SSD of up to 4TB. 

The SSD is exFAT-formatted for cross-platform use. If you want it in a different format, it’s easy to reformat yourself using the Mac’s Disk Utility.

The SSD is blindingly fast—much faster than you’d get with an external SSD. We recorded a sequential read performance of 3,977MBps. When copying a folder of raw multimedia files from the SSD to the desktop, we recorded a copying time of just under 14 seconds. With Aja System Test Lite we measured an impressive 5,331MBps write and 5,822MBps read in the 4K test.

While pricier than docks without an SSD, the extra you pay for such fast storage makes it a great investment. 


Read our full

Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock review






Seagate Ultra Compact SSD review – USB stick















Pros

Very compact

Very fast

Robust housing


Cons

Does not fit on iPhones with a protective case














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B & H Photo



$79.99


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This is super small for a mobile SSD and extremely fast for a USB stick. 

You might look at the Ultra Compact SSD and wonder if it is an SSD drive or a USB stick. In the end, it doesn’t matter because the performance corresponds to a typical SSD drive with a 10Gbps USB connection

We tested the Seagate Ultra Compact SSD and in the AJA System Test Lite we saw impressive results: 943 MB/s when writing and 930 MB/s when reading. This makes the SSD ideal as an external iPhone drive for direct video recording

The Ultra Compact SSD combines small dimensions with great performance and is perfect for mobile workers looking for fast SSD storage.

Its robust housing reliably protects against falls from up to 3 meters and is protected against dust and splash water according to IP54. A rubber cover with protective cap provides additional support and safety.

A loop is included for attachment to a key ring. iPhone video videographers should note that the USB-C connector is quite short and therefore the SSD cannot be connected directly with some protective covers. 

It comes with a six-month trial of a Dropbox backup subscription. 


Read our full

Seagate Ultra Compact SSD review






Adata SE920 USB4 SSD – Best high performance SSD