By default, the mid20, early 2014, and early 2015mid2017 macbook air models all shipped with 128 gb or 256 gb of ssd storage. That could be because your mac is waiting on the hard drive. Choose apple menu about this mac, then click storage. How to check a macs free hard drive space macworld. Whether its personal documents, important work files, or just making sure you have everything you need to be backed up, you can never be too safe. While it is possible to replace the hard drive on any mac not listed above, how difficult it is varies wildly with the model. Doing this is extremely easy with disk utility, and well cover exactly how to verify hard disks, how to repair them, and what to do if you encounter any issues or errors in the process. Here are the best mac hard drives and external storage options in 2020. Macbook air models a1237 and a4 hard drive replacement. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Having the best external hard drive or ssd for your mac or pc is. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Its a good idea to check the hard drive health of a mac as part of a periodic maintenance routine. How to free up storage space on your mac apple support.
Most modern mac laptops except for the macbook air have a dvdr drive, which makes it easy to send up to 8. You can also view your free disk space from your mac s disk utility app. To free up disk space, its helpful to know exactly what is using disk space on your mac. Copying data on mac to external hard drive with this format will make copying much longer. This is an overview of available storage space on your mac, as well as the space used. Macbook air retina, inch, 2018 2019 macbook air inch, early 2015 2017 macbook air 11inch, early 2015. Before doing something as drastic as replacing a macbook air s ssd, it pays to confirm the drive is actually damaged and unrepairable. I have so much space free now that i could copy the 4 windows vmware fusion vms back to the single drive on the system from the external drive they were. Check your disk to see what is taking up space and find large files. Mac hard drives typically spin at rates of 5,400 to 7,200 rpm. How to identify and fix hard disk problems on a mac. If you havent yet upgraded to macos sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space. Mac how to find hard drive size on macbook pro, macbook air.
Upgrade your macbook air hard drive to an ssd for 16x the capacity and 5. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. Hi, i have a macbook air 2017 and i want to upgrade its ssd from 128gb to 256 gb. Its automatic backup software ensures your files are saved in case you forget, and its usb 3. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. Clone bootable apple mac hard drive from disk utility mac os sierra 2017. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives. How to format an external hard disk 250gb for macbook air. In this article, i will be showing how simply you can display hard disks on the mac os x desktop. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag.
Macs have a reputation for being hard to upgrade or repair, but that isnt always true. As you can see, not a single icon is displayed on the mac os x desktop. Western digital my book studio 3tb front, left angled, marble table. How to access an external drive thats not recognized on a mac. How to transfer files from a mac desktop to an external hard drive. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. A hard disk analysis tool like disk inventory x will scan your macs hard disk and display which folders and files are using up the most space. Gtechnology 12tb graid with thunderbolt 3 hard drive storage system next gallery image. Lacie rugged mini 1tb external hard drive portable hdd usb 3. If youu001are uncertain, itu001as a good idea to bring the new drive in for a professional installation. Lacie 2tb mobile drive external hard drive usbc usb 3.
The higher a disks rpm, the faster its working speed. The two primary options for reading cds and dvds on a macbook air are to either purchase an external superdrive or to use an apple feature called remote disc. Just follow the instructions below to determine how much space is available. Transferring files from your mac desktop to a usb flash drive or an external hard disk seems to be a simple task, right. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. If you need more space for the mac you already own, on the other hand, an external hard drive is the only sensible way, as those things are. How to display hard disks on mac os x lion desktop. Indmem 512gb ssd nvme pcie 3d tlc nand flash hard drive 512g upgrade for macbook pro retina late 20 mid 2015, macbook air mid 202017, imac late 202017, mac pro late 20, mac mini late 2014 4. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Since many mac users are professional creatives, they have a real need for external hard drive storage. Macbook air laptops have faulty hard drives obviously apple doesnt want to share that with you, but as i was researching how to fix an early. The march 2015 update of apples macbook air features fifth generation intel core i5 and i7 processors, resulting in slightly increased performance and battery life.
You can also view your free disk space from your macs disk utility app. The hard drive or ssd is one component that you often can replace yourself, especially in older macs. No one wants to box up an expensive external hard drive or even a usb flash drive to transport 4gb worth of photos to aunt martha. Youll find desktop and portable external hard drives. This was the case with my macbook, so the solution i eventually used was to clone the hdd from a different macbook it worked fine. How to transfer files from a mac desktop to an external. Gtechnology 12tb graid with thunderbolt 3 hard drive storage system.
How to free up storage space on your mac save space by storing your content in icloud or using builtin tools to find and remove large or unneeded files. You can get an apple external hard drive in any size ranging from about 60gb to 20tb. Open spotlight by clicking the magnifying glass in the upperright. It is quite simple, one of the reason i love apple. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. The 8tb version of the western digital my book is a deep well of affordable storage for your photos, music, videos, and more. A portable drive draws power from your computer, so you wont need a power outlet, plus. How to erase and install you can use os x recovery to erase your computer using disk utility.
How to reset macbook pro or air if you are keeping your macbook. If you choose to replace your hard drive, you need a few tools to get the job done. To display hard disks icons on the desktop, follow the below steps. The best external hard drives for mac in 2019 forbes. How to make any external hard drive mac compatible abt electronics. Only at best buy keep data safe on this western digital hard drive. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. Optimized storage in macos sierra and later can save space by storing your content in icloud and making it available on demand. Best external hard drives for mac imore 2020 we understand that your data is important to you. The mac pro is designed to have its hard drive replaced easily, while an imac requires you to remove the entire screen. Ssd upgrade kits for macbook air 2012 apple mac upgrades. Wd 10tb my book desktop external hard drive, usb 3. Lets look at how to find out if you can replace yours. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below.
Thats because mac os x needs some free space to function effectively. Wd 2tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive blue. How to format external disk for macbook air more less. You may use disk utility application to perform hard drive partitionrelated tasks on mac operating system, such as to format, repair, erase or create hard drive partitions and end up with an erased hard drive moreover, by doing so, crucial data may be deleted by mistake from your mac. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. How to make any external hard drive mac compatible youtube. Typically youll get more capacity for the price with desktop external hard drives for mac, which you can store on computer desks. While portability is not the western digital my books strong suit and it needs a separate power. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. Choose the best external hard drive for your mac or ios. How to hard reset macbook pro or air and reinstall macos x. Traditional hard disks are the most common options of external drives for mac, but you can also use them as laptop internal hard drives. The original macbook air has been out for a while now but it is still an amazing piece of technology. Within disk drill, you can restore data when a hard drive is damaged or add formatting, which is also something disk utility can help with.
Cleanmymac, another useful app available from setapp, can help you identify external hard drive. Gtechnology 1tb gdrive mobile ssd rseries storage previous gallery image. How to factory reset a macbook air or other mac with macos. Choose macbook air hard drive ssd models by brands such as toshiba, samsung, owc, and more. Lacie 8tb 2big dock thunderbolt 3 raid storage next gallery image.
Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated apple friendly drives. Before doing anything you need to be sure exactly what model mac you have. A hard disk analysis tool like disk inventory x will scan your mac s hard disk and display which folders and files are using up the most space. You can easily check the free space on your hard disk to make sure you have enough space on your computers hard disk. Need to reset your macbook air or any other mac back to its factory settings. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system part 3. Lacie 8tb 2big dock thunderbolt 3 raid storage previous gallery image. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc users in. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Well, that might not be as easy as you think, especially if you are more familiar with windows. The steps are exactly the same as mentioned in the first section, except that you do not reset any other disk on your machine except for startup disk if you are planning to keep it second section, differs a bit. Remote disc allows the optical drive of a nearby mac to be borrowed for use in mounting discs on the macbook air. But when they asked for apple id, i entered it and it went thorught.
216 1564 1144 979 1468 332 1329 1085 928 1418 1427 798 364 1003 518 1366 807 363 930 340 170 959 1548 171 1268 572 5 956 649 1349 171 483 175 1178 111 982 982 373 1034 591 866 727