> Hard disks for a Mac Pro

Which 1TB to 2TB external hard disks — both portable and desktop — should I think about buying for my Mac Pro?

There’s a huge choice of branded and selfassemble units, but your solution hinges on whether you have a current (Late 2013) Mac Pro, or an older tower model.

The current model gives best performance over Thunderbolt, which greatly limits your choices, and makes it hard and costly to buy a case and fit your own choice of storage. If that’s the case then you’d be better off with a Transcend Store Jet 300 for Mac or an equivalent portable model from LaCie, G-Technology, or a similar brand. You have to accept their choice of make of storage inside, though. Those same manufacturers also offer desktop models.

There’s an overlap in performance with the best USB 3 drives, depending on the chipset used. If you can, pick a model with both interfaces for future compatibility.

Older Mac Pros can be connected by FireWire 800, which has dwindling support, or, if you install an external drive interface card, eSATA. You could then buy separate cases and storage drives, which would enable you to select your favourite make of disk, such as HGST (formerly Hitachi), in a more durable enterprise spec.

One final point to bear in mind is whether you intend to upgrade to macOS High Sierra, which uses Apple’s new APFS file system. This is optimized for use with SSDs; although it should operate on hard drives too, there’s no advantage to using it there. If you’re likely to move to APFS, look seriously at buying SSDs instead so you’ll see the benefit.