Anybody know about external hard drives with a Mac computer? mine has suddenly become very slow

Just on the off chance somebody might know, I have a portable external hard drive that I have been using and in the weeks it has become very slow to mount, and open files and folders.

I am scared to lose my data on it. It has been fine before, ran some tests on it, they say it is ok.

I just saw the PC and performance thread, I think that would have been a better place for this question, apologies to administrators, if this has to be moved to that section, my internet been a little wacky as well.

 

For long term storage... I've moved away from external hard disks in favor of cloud-based storage. The portables are great for moving data and some storage, but I've seen far to many of them crap out over time.

Assuming your MAC is working normally for all other tasks... Do you have access to another MAC in which you can test to see if the problem follows the external hard drive?

 

There are a number of factors here.

1. Is your external hard drive MAC based?
2. How old is your external hard drive? (This let's me know the connection. If you purchased it in say 2013 or 14 it could easily be a usb 2.0 which heavily effects speeds).
3. Cloud based is a solid option for Macs and is relatively inexpensive. I think 1TB is less than a Netflix Subscription on Apple products.
4. Depending on how old your MAC is, it could be the connection.
5. The remaining storage of your device can affect speeds (especially on older models).
6. The Background tasks running compounded with the transfer of data may cause issue.
For Example...
If you are running an old MAC then it is probably Intel based (quad core cpu) with a fusion drive. The lower cores inhibit the use of multiple tasks or, at a minimum, lower the speeds of those tasks. Factor in a collection of updates, and your MAC may be running slower, or your external component may get slower speeds. The updates tend to make their devices run hotter which requires both the MAC and external components to throttle (slow down to compensate for the heat).
7. In regards to heat and throttling, do you still hear the fans at any point? Maybe there are two and now you only hear one? If so, you may need to replace a fan. The sleek apple designs aren't generally built for maximum airflow and heat redistribution.

I don't know how old either devices are, but these are a few issues that come to mind.

 

ok, yes, I have begun to move to cloud storage, specially Google drive, I actually have quite a few, that I use for the free 15GB option to store documents, and have been gradually uploading documents to them, and would like to move away from hard drives, am finding out the hard way that they may not be the most reliable.

I have tried it on my MacBook Pro laptop, and same thing, very slow to mount and open files and folders.

Come to think of it, my mac has begun to be a little slower, I have just installed a major software update for the OS. It has only USB 2 ports, and the hard drive I am currently using is this one; https://www.amazon.com/Black-Passport-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B01LQQH86A

It is a USB 3.0, 4 TB portable hard drive by Western Digital. I bought it in July 2018.

The computer I am using is a mid 2010 mac pro with OS High Sierra on it. It is one of the older what is referred to as a "cheese grater mac".

Right now, I am just connecting it, letting it do its thing, and then when I can finally view files and folders, I am copying them to a new hard drive. This works for a while, then the process bogs down to the point that I have to abort all copying and try again another time.

 

A decade of updates, compounded with heat degradation, and if you have the 2010, man... The dual Xeon processors run hot as shit. That compounded by the fact that the 2010 model only offered USB 2.0. They upgraded to USB 3.0 as of 2012. USB 3.0 external drives will work with 2.0, but are slow as molasses. Western digital is also known to be particularly slow. I would suggest seagate if you are budget focused. But, all in all, I still use an external drive, but it's a 2tb samsung external ssd. Utilizing cloud based storage is a good bet, but maintaining a "digital hard copy" on an external is important for the work I do.

If you are married to the Mac OS then I think you should wait until 2021 when the new Imacs drop (with new arm chips that are supposed to be much better). I also think they will be unveiling a macbook with the new chips, too.

 

I was debating getting a new mac desktop, and was looking at the 2013 mac pro "trashcan mac", but was advised against that, since it is fairly old too now. There is the mac mini, but, I have had one of those, and you think the big mac pro gets hot, well the mini's get super hot, and I did not like how all the components were all together in a small box. I was advised by some fellow mac users to just add a couple of upgrades to my current mac pro, but now am not so sure. With more things going mobile, I may end up eventually on just my laptop, but I still like some of the power of a desktop. I have seen the imacs, but the all in one of the screen might be difficult if I had to have that repaired. I will probably just do that, and wait until next year to see what is next, see what those new chips will be like.

I saw a seagate 2 tb ssd the other day on ebay, but got a bit nervous on it, it was a deal, but it was used, and I am weary of buying a used hard drive, I would rather get a new one. I am looking to get an ssd external hard drive, but they are pricey.

Overall, I like MacOS, I like its simple interface, but their computers do get hot. Their OS and hardware are tightly integrated, and I have not needed anti virus software, where as on a PC I did.

Also, my macs are capable of running MS windows as well through virtualization software called parallels, so I can actually have 2 computers in one. I use this for some apps that I have that are windows only and run them quite well on my mac.

Is one more reliable than the other? Western Digital? or Seagate? or other brand for portable external hard drives? I like speed, but am more for stability or reliability. Is Seagate better for reliability?