The G DRIVE 4TB USB 3.0 external hard drive is part of a strong product line of high capacity, high performing drives. Designed to look good on the desktop the G-Technology external hard drive for mac is clearly aimed at the Mac user. And I’ll tell you in the article why.
The question I set out to answer in this review is “Does this G Drive USB 4TB have it all?”
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Starting with a 2TB hard drive the range moves all the way up to its maximum storage size of 10TB.
I think you’ll agree G-Technology’s G-Drive (Commissions Earned) gives plenty for those of you needing serious amounts of storage.
And I’m thinking of those of you who do photo editing or video editing on your Macbook Pro.
Pre-formatted in HFS+ for Mac and with USB 3.0 connectivity. Simply plug in and your Mac recognises the G DRIVE. Could it be easier?
(For the very latest Macbook Pro with Thunderbolt ports you will require a Thunderbolt/USB C to USB 3.0 adaptor cable to connect the G DRIVE)
This ease of use is an important reason that Mac users consider the G Drive to be among the best external hard drives in its class for a Mac.
The sleek case echo the brushed metallic surface of a Macbook Pro and the wide options for connectivity only adds to its appeal.
Why not see what the drive looks like? I found this YouTube video from G-Technology the manufacturers of the external hard drive. Have a look.
Benefits of the G-Technology 4TB G DRIVE
Why did I choose to focus on the 4TB external hard drive when the G DRIVE range goes from 2TB up to 10TB and delivers on good looks, reliability and durability?
Because it is the sweet storage machine for those who want this level of capacity, with performance and a wide range of features.
One potential downside of the USB 3.0 version of this drive is its absence of direct Thunderbolt connectivity. I’ll tell you later why there is little need to worry about that.
Who Manufactures the G Drive USB 4TB?
G-Technology a Hitachi subsidiary now wholly owned by Western Digital specialises in high end fast hard drives for professional and home users, has proven itself more than capable of addressing the wants and needs of its target –
consumers of high-performance hard drives.
Attractive Design
On your office table it will take up 5 inches x 7.7 inches x 1.26 inches (Height) and believe me it’ll look good next to your Macbook Pro.
It’s small enough to be taken with you yet still feel substantial.
Note though this drive is not designed to be portable or rugged so if you are taking it with you on editing projects be sure to provide it with a robust case. While you should be careful about damaging it by dropping it on hard surfaces, the casing appears to be structurally sound.
And there’s more…
The casing is made entirely of strong and sturdy aluminium which also has the added benefit that it is recyclable – something G-Technology points out in its product literature.
With perforations on the sides and front for ventilation purposes, this helps protects the enclosed 7,200 RPM hard drive from overheating.
The ultra smart G on the front makes the G Drive USB 4TB look impressive with the white LED status light located also on the front, that shows when the drive is switched on and operating.
The G drive USB is whisper-quiet in operation –
which is a bonus and this is due to its fan less cooling construction. A benefit especially when unwanted background noises from your computer’s accessories are inconvenient if you are recording sound or just simply annoying and add to your stress levels when you are working long hours.
Take a look at the Amazon Reviews on the G-Technology G-drive. (Commissions Earned)
Over 70% have rated the G DRIVE USB 4TB as five star, which is a ringing endorsement of this hard drive.
What is in the Box:
It comes with:
- 1 x USB cable 3.0
- 1 x Esata cable
- 1 x FireWire 800 cable
- AC Adaptor
G-technology External Hard Drive for Mac Connectivity
The ports at the back of the hard drive include a power input, a USB 3.0 port that is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 devices. Two FireWire ports and there is also a power switch next to the power input.
Truly it has it all in terms of flexibility – ways to plug into your Mac.
It has a slim power adapter designed so that it only occupies a single power outlet when plugged in.
That said some users seem to be using the drive successfully by simply plugging in the G Drive USB cable into their USB 3.0 port.
Although I can’t recommend this as the G DRIVE’s product manual clearly states that it should be connected to an external power socket.
It could be useful to power it from your USB 3.0 port for those projects where you want to take the drive physically with you.
Note that: For the very latest Macbook Pro you will require a Thunderbolt/USB C to USB 3.0 adaptor cable to connect the G DRIVE.
Hard Drive Capacities
G DRIVE USB 3.0 comes in eight capacities, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB and 10TB. Plenty of storage for HD video’s, large photography farms and photo editing.
The industry considers the 4TB sized drive as the sweet spot for most professional users. When tested, we discovered that this model has fast USB 3.0 performance. The 7,200 RPM hard drive definitely delivers on the promise of high-performance even after several months of use.
The USB 3.0 interface surpasses Firewire 800 in terms of raw performance.
In our test, we achieved a reliable 140MB/second read and write speeds on the 4TB G DRIVE with its 165MB/second peak transfer rate on a Macbook Pro. That’s twice as fast as the read and write speeds we can get from a 2TB G DRIVE hard drive using Firewire 800.
4TB G DRIVE Set Up and Use
Pre-formatted in HFS+ for Mac so the G Drive is plug in and play.
When you attach the G DRIVE 4TB hard drive to the Macbook Pro for the first time the Mac detects the hard drive and an icon representing the G Drive appears on your desktop.
The Mac also launches the Time Machine software on the assumption that you would like to use this external hard drive as a Time Machine backup device.
The Time Machine dialogue box comes up and if it is the first time you have used Time Machine the slider button will be set to OFF. To indeed use the G Drive as a Time Machine back up device you can turn the slider to ON; otherwise…
If you would prefer to use your G Drive to store your files or photo’s, video’s etc and to directly work from and not use for Time Machine backup. Exit out of Time Machine.
and you can create folders,
Move to and from the G Drive in the finder window,
Drag and Drop files, create files as you would on your own internal hard drive.
To use The G Drive 4TB USB 3.0 with Time Machine
Go to Time Machine preferences while the G Drive is connected and
you simply select the G DRIVE as the Time Machine back up disk. Then by default when the drive is connected Time Machine will take an hourly back up.
The very first back up is a full back up of your entire Macbook Pro internal hard drive (note this could take some time) after that Time Machine does incremental backup’s.
If you want more detail on setting up an external hard drive for Time Machine you can check out my article on the site.
When you are ready to disconnect the hard drive do ensure you right click on it on your desktop and eject it first.
Right Click to Eject External Drive
This ensures your Macbook writes all it needs to down to the hard drive and shuts it down cleanly before you pull out the G Drive USB cable. This saves you from corrupting your G DRIVE.
Using the G Drive USB 4TB between a Mac and a Windows PC
The G DRIVE is versatile. If you happen to have Windows computers and you would like to share the drive between your Macbook Pro and a Windows PC you can format the whole drive as ExFAT. That is if you want the complete drive as shareable. or
partition the drive up so that it has a partition for Time Machine and a shared partition for Windows.
I have an article on how to do that here.
Lack of Thunderbolt
As previously mentioned, the G DRIVE USB 4TB doesn’t have a Thunderbolt port.
Drives with Thunderbolt ports do tend to be more expensive. This may be a non-issue for many Mac users
those with USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 ports or Firewire – you just plug straight in.
If you haven’t got the latest Macbook Pro.
If you have the Latest Macbook Pro then a Thunderbolt to USB 3.0 adaptor will allow you to take advantage of the cheaper drive for little decrease in performance for most. Some users report no decrease in hard drive performance due to lack of direct Thunderbolt connectivity.
Pros
- Beautiful and durable housing to fit in with your Macbook Pro
- 7,200 RPM hard drive coupled with USB 3.0 capacity for high-speed data transfers
- Plug-and-play set up making it easy to connect to your Macbook Pro
- Ready set up for easy Time Machine backups
- Wide range of available disk capacities
- Comes with 3-year limited warranty
Cons
- No direct Thunderbolt connectivity (need an USB to Thunderbolt adaptor on the newest Macbook Pro’s
Conclusion
G-Technology’s G-drive is a consistent favourite for professionals in fields as diverse as finance to filmmaking and for good reason.
Many of those users were day-one adopters of Apple’s MacBook Pro and iMac’s. You demand features like plenty of hard disk space, reliable performance, and fast interfaces, which the G-Technology external hard drive for mac delivers in spades.
4tb External Hard Drive Time Machine
I think, yes, the G Drive USB 4TB has it all (apart from Thunderbolt connections) and you may not care about that, because this hard drive performs.
The G DRIVE 4TB USB 3.0 is well worth the money when you consider its top notch performance,
range of storage capacities and the ability to plug and play with your Macbook.
Interested in hearing about other Top External Hard Drives for your Macbook Pro? You can take a look at my selection on the site.
Image Credit Flickr Creative Commons: Travis Isaacs (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tbisaacs/)
In this article to the best external hard drives for Macs, we focus on the top devices for plugging in and expanding the storage space of your MacBook or even your Mac. While there is a lot of love about Macs, Macbooks, and iMacs, they can be tricky at times to manually upgrade, which indicates supposing that you run of space, it is not so simple to open them up and pop in a larger hard drive.
When you are in search of the best external hard drive for Mac for your needs, you should focus on the capacity you need. External hard drives come in all sizes and shapes and you do not want to pay too much for space you will never need, but neither do you want to run out of space all too quickly.
Best External Hard Drive For Mac 2020
Western Digital external hard drive
This device comes in capacities from 1TB to 4TB, and also features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption, as well as WD’s own backup software. While the speeds of transfers are not the fastest, it provides a good balance between speed, price, and capacity. Other specifications include;
- 4TB capacity
- USB 3.0
Sold at 94 dollars at Amazon
PROS
- Large capacity
- Good data transfer speeds
CONS
- WD backup software is basic
Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt external hard drive
Supposing that you want to use Mac’s Thunderbolt port, this is a great choice, as it offers double the speeds of standard USB 3.0 drives. It also makes use of a traditional hard drive, instead of an SSD, and while it indicates speeds are not as fast as possible, it at least keeps the price low, while providing large capacities. Other specifications include;
- 1TB and 2TB capacity
- USB 3.0
Sold at 129.88 dollars
PROS
- Low price compared to other Thunderbolt drives
- Mac-formatted
CONS
- Not SSD
G-Technology G-Drive external hard drive
This is one of the quickest high capacity hard drives you can plug into your Mac, with a large 4TB of storage space that zips along its USB 3.0, FireWire or eSATA connection. The all-aluminum enclosure enables the drive a premium appearance and feel, while also safeguarding your data from drops and knocks. Other specifications include;
- 4TB capacity
- USB 2.0, USB 3.0, FireWire, eSATA
Sold at 129. 95 dollars at Amazon
PROS
- Slim design
- Sturdy
CONS
- Can be noisy
Samsung T3 SSD
Assuming that you really want a super-fast external hard drive for your Mac, then this device is easily one of the best you can choose from. As it makes use of a solid-state drive, the read and writes speeds of this drive are quicker than external hard drives that make use of traditional hard drives. Other specifications include;
- 1TB capacity
- USB 3.1
Sold at 165 dollars at Amazon
PROS
- Very good performance
- Very high capacity
CONS
- Expensive
Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC external hard drive
With compatibility for both Windows machines and Mac, this device is very flexible and comes with a rugged case that is dust and water-resistant, along with a built-in USB 3.0 cable. Not only does the device have 256-bit AES security features and Near Field Communication features, but it is your data kept protected from knocks and drops with the rugged shell. Other specifications of this device include;
- 2 TB capacity
- USB 3.0
Sold at 108.99 dollars at Amazon
PROS
- NFC security
- Rugged design
CONS
- Not the fastest drive
Western Digital external hard drive
This model features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption, along with WD’s own software suite. This model is a good performer when it comes to data transfer speeds and does not come close to the top of the leaderboard. Not surprising at all, it does not get to the top speeds of solid-state external drives but is the drive you should consider today. Other specifications include;
- 4TB capacity
- 0 USB
Sold at 94 dollars at Amazon
PROS
- Large capacity
- Type-C connector
- Suite of applications
CONS
- Average performance
LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 4TB
Seagate 4tb External Hard Drive For Mac
You probably have stumbled upon this device when perusing the Apple website for USB-C accessories. Though it is expensive for an external hard drive, do not get us wrong, particularly assuming that you are in the market for the top-end 4TB option. Other specifications of this device include;
- 4 TB capacity
- USB-C
Sold at 129.95 dollars at Amazon
PROS
- Fast USB-C connection
- Great design
CONS
- Quite expensive
- You need USB-C ports to take advantage of speed
iStorage diskAshur 2TB external hard drive
Assuming that you are concerned about individuals getting access to your data if your external hard drive is taken away by a stealer, then you will like his model we are about to discuss. Assuming that someone is trying to tamper with your device, you can configure it to self-destruct. Though it might be pricier than other drives of its capacity, the extra security it provides will be well worth it for many of us. Other specifications of this device include;
- 2TB capacity
- USB 3.0
Sold at 267.88 dollars
PROS
- Physical security
- Rugged design
CONS
- Quite expensive