The Mac Pro can support 5 SSDs in HDD bays and 3 more on PCI-E slots (as one slot will be taken by your GPU). SSDs have always been more expensive than HDDs per TB storage capacity, the first 64GB SSD Apple launched in the MacBook Air cost $999. Prices are, however, now becoming more reasonable. Choosing a storage option for you Mac Pro used to be as easy as deciding how much data your hard drive disk (HDD) needed to store. These days it’s a little more complicated with the solid state drive drive (SSD) being able to viably store ever increasing amounts a data, as well as flash storage options becoming more commonly available.
- Flash Storage Drive For Macbook Pro Case
- Flash Storage Drive For Macbook Pro 2020
- Thumb Drive For Macbook
USB C Flash Drive, Dolomy 64GB USB 3.1 High Speed Type C Flash Drive, 2 in 1 OTG Durable Metal Dual USB Memory Stick Thumb Drive for MacBook Pro Air, Galaxy, Pixel, USB-C Devices 4.0 out of 5 stars 33.
Erasing your disk: For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac, you should erase your entire disk.
Erasing a volume on your disk: In other cases, such as when your disk contains multiple volumes (or partitions) and you don't want to erase them all, you can erase specific volumes on the disk.
Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep.
How to erase your disk
- Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
If you're not erasing the disk your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. - Choose View > Show All Devices from the menu bar in Disk Utility. The sidebar now shows your disks (devices) and any containers and volumes within them. The disk your Mac started up from is at the top of the list. In this example, Apple SSD is the startup disk:
- Select the disk that you want to erase. Don't see your disk?
- Click Erase, then complete these items:
- Name: Type the name that you want the disk to have after you erase it.
- Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
- Scheme: Choose GUID Partition Map.
- Click Erase to begin erasing your disk and every container and volume within it. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
- When done, quit Disk Utility.
- If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the disk you erased, reinstall macOS on the disk.
How to erase a volume on your disk
- Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
If you're not erasing the volume your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. - In the sidebar of Disk Utility, select the volume that you want to erase. The volume your Mac started up from is named Macintosh HD, unless you changed its name. Don't see your volume?
- Click Erase, then complete these items:
- Name: Type the name that you want the volume to have after you erase it.
- Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
- If you see an Erase Volume Group button, the volume you selected is part of a volume group. In that case, you should erase the volume group. Otherwise, click Erase to erase just the selected volume. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
- When done, quit Disk Utility.
- If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the volume you erased, reinstall macOS on that volume.
Reasons to erase
You can erase at any time, including in circumstances such as these:
- You want to permanently erase all content from your Mac and restore it to factory settings. This is one of the final steps before selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac.
- You're changing the format of a disk, such as from a PC format (FAT, ExFAT, or NTFS) to a Mac format (APFS or Mac OS Extended).
- You received a message that your disk isn't readable by this computer.
- You're trying to resolve a disk issue that Disk Utility can't repair.
- The macOS installer doesn't see your disk or can't install on it. For example, the installer might say that your disk isn't formatted correctly, isn't using a GUID partition scheme, contains a newer version of the operating system, or can't be used to start up your computer.
- The macOS installer says that you may not install to this volume because it is part of an Apple RAID.
About APFS and Mac OS Extended
Disk Utility in macOS High Sierra or later can erase using either the newer APFS (Apple File System) format or the older Mac OS Extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
How to choose between APFS and Mac OS Extended
Disk Utility tries to detect the type of storage and show the appropriate format in the Format menu. If it can't, it chooses Mac OS Extended, which works with all versions of macOS. If you want to change the format, answer these questions:
- Are you formatting the disk that came built into your Mac?
If the built-in disk came APFS-formatted, Disk Utility suggests APFS. Don't change it to Mac OS Extended. - Are you about to install macOS High Sierra or later for the first time on the disk?
If you need to erase your disk before installing High Sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). During installation, the macOS installer decides whether to automatically convert to APFS—without erasing your files. - Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer?
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use as a Time Machine backup disk or as a bootable installer. - Will you be using the disk with another Mac?
If the other Mac isn't using macOS High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don't work with APFS-formatted volumes.
How to identify the format currently in use
If you want to know which format is currently in use, use any of these methods:
- Select the volume in the Disk Utility sidebar, then check the information shown on the right. For more detail, choose File > Get Info from the Disk Utility menu bar.
- Open System Information and select Storage in the sidebar. The File System column on the right shows the format of each volume.
- Select the volume in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info from the menu bar. The Get Info window shows the Format of that volume.
If your disk or volume doesn't appear, or the erase fails
- Shut down your Mac, then unplug all nonessential devices from your Mac.
- If you're erasing an external drive, make sure that it's connected directly to your Mac using a cable that you know is good. Then turn the drive off and back on.
- If your disk or volume still doesn't appear in Disk Utility, or Disk Utility reports that the erase process failed, your disk or Mac might need service. If you need help, please contact Apple Support.
Learn more
- If you can't start up from macOS Recovery, you can use a different startup disk instead.
- If Disk Utility shows a Security Options button in the Erase window, you can click that button to choose between a faster (but less secure) erase and a slower (but more secure) erase. Some older versions of Disk Utility offer the option to zero all data instead. These secure-erase options aren't offered or needed for solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash storage.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Read my full disclosure.
![Drive Drive](https://s3-media4.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/Pwm3MhBqr9eswHFqpUZbBQ/o.jpg)
Undeniably, flash drives are very popular types of storage for Macs. They are small, and people used them to share data long before we had cloud storage options.
Flash Storage Drive For Macbook Pro Case
Thumb drives are still helpful when there is a need to quickly extend available storage, which is a common problem for MacBooks Pro and Air.
Table of Contents:
- Best USB Flash Drive for MacBook Pro
How to Choose a Good USB Flash Drive
When choosing the right USB flash drive, pay attention tothe following factors:
Flash Storage Drive For Macbook Pro 2020
- Reliability
- Storage Capacity
- Performance
- Size
- Compatibility with Apple computers
Reliability
There are certain qualities that I look for when consideringthumb drives, but the main factor in selection is always reliability. Itdoesn’t matter how fast the drive is, how cool it looks, or how cheap you canget in on Amazon. If the drive fails when you need it, then it’s not worth evena penny.
While nobody can guarantee that a particular device will befail-free, there is a difference in failure rate between quality drives andcheap knockoffs. In my opinion, devices produced by well known establishedcompanies have lower failure rates compared to drives from unknownmanufacturers.
If Amazon is your choice when it comes to purchasinganything online, be aware that not all user reviews are real. So many times,I’ve seen several thousands of 5-star reviews on noname devices, and at thesame time, good drives get a couple of hundreds of reviews, and the average is3.5.
So, what should you do?
If you get anything from this article, I want to remind youthat brands matter when reliability is the most important factor in choosing aflash drive.
If you are not familiar with which manufacturers have beenon the market for decades, here is the list (not complete) of companies whichproduce quality drives:
- SanDisk
- Kingston
- PNY
- Samsung
- Corsair
Other things to consider in thumb drives if their ability tobe waterproof, shockproof, or dustproof. Also, having metal encasing is muchpreferred over the cheaper plastic body.
Memory Storage Capacity
I remember the days when the most you could get is a stickwith 128MB (megabytes). Fortunately, those days are long gone.
Nowadays, the capacity of modern thumb drives can exceed 1TB (almost 8,000 times more storage than in the early days).
However, you must know that not all file formats can support such huge volumes. Read about the Mac file formats in the Apple Compatibility section below.
Performance
The speed with which a USB drive reads and writes data is what makes people choose external hard drives over the convenience of thumb drives. We all know that flash drives are slow, sometimes painfully slow when we try to copy large files.
However, I was able to find out several gadgets with almost SSD like performance. These drives can be used even with Apple Time Machine, which is known for its demands for read/write speed requirements.
Besides, the actual flash drive performance, don’t forget tocheck which USB type the device supports. There is a huge difference intransfer speed between USB 2, 3.0, and 3.1.
While USB 2 offers max transfer speed around 480 Mbps, USB 3.0 supports up to 5 Gbps. With USB 3.1, the transfer speed can get up to 10Gbps. And finally, USB-C is the fastest of all with speeds up to 40Gbps.
Size
Size matters. Especially for USB flash drives that are usedmostly to transfer data from one computer to another. However, in most cases,it’s a matter of personal choice. Some people love very small ones, so they canattach them to a ket chain. Some like larger gadgets.
Compatibility with Apple computers
Since this article is about USB flash drives for MacBooks, let’s talk about compatibility issues. If you browse drives on Amazon or Best Buy, you may see that some of them specifically mention that they are compatible with Macs.
One could make a conclusion that some drives are compatible, and some are not. And such a conclusion can lead to limiting choices.
The reality is that when a device claims that it iscompatible with Macs, it only means that you can use the device out of the boxwithout needing to do anything extra.
However, you can use any USB flash drive with any Mac. Allyou need is to know how to format it properly.
Best File Format for Flash Drive on Mac
There are four main file formats supported on Macs: APFS and its variations, Mac OS Extended (aka HFS+) and variations, MS-DOS and exFat. So, which one should you choose? I wrote an entire article about file formats and which ones are best if you need to transfer data between PCs and Macs.
Here, I will give a quick tip.
If you are planning to use a flash drive with Macs only, then go with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. This file format also works with Apple Time Machine.
However, if you need to share files between Macs and PC computers, then go with exFat.
How to Format Flash Drive on Mac
There is a built-in tool Disk Utility, which can be used toformat flash drives on Mac.
Here’s how to format the flash drive:
- Plug the drive into Mac
- Start Disk Utility from Spotlight Search or LaunchPad
- Select the USB drive on the left
- Click on Erase button at the top of the app
- In the pop-up window type in a name for thumb drive (or keep the old one)
- Select the desired file format
- Hit Erase button
Once the format is complete, you can start using the flashdrive with your MacBook.
Best USB Flash Drive for MacBook Pro
Best Overall: Corsair Flash Voyager GTX
This premium USB 3.1 flash drive is as fast as many SolidState (SSD) external hard drives with up 440MB/s read and 440MB/s write speeds.The actual speeds in our testing were around 420MB/s read, and 400MB/s write,which is pretty close to manufacturer’s specs.
It is backward compatible with USB 2.0 and 3.0.
Corsair Voyager is available in multiple capacities: 128GB,256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. With 1TB drive, I can carry all my virtual machines withme, which is very convenient at work.
This flash drive comes premium rugged zinc-alloy housing, soit does not get hot like some metal drives when copying a large number offiles.
Corsair measures 2.75 x 0.88 inches (70x22mm) and weighsabout 55 grams.
It has a keychain hole, but since it’s bulky, I am not sureif someone would want to carry Corsair with her keys.
Pros: Speed, multiple size options, robust build quality, shockproof
Thumb Drive For Macbook
Cons: Fairly large, so it may block other USB devices if the USB ports are close to each other.
Learn about Corsair Flash Voyager GTX on Amazon
Runner-Up: SanDisk Extreme PRO
If you need to transfer 4GB to the USB flash drive in less than 25 seconds, then SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive.
The manufacturer claims that that the drive offers read speeds of up to 420MB/s and write speeds of up to 380MB/s. In our test with the Black Magic Speed Test app, we found registered reads at 401MB/s and writes at 315MB/s, which are close to the manufacturer’s values.
It is backward compatible with USB 2.0 and 3.0.
SanDisk Extreme PRO is available in two capacities: 128GBand 256GB.
Drive dimensions: 2.79 x 0.84 x 0.45 in (71 x 21 x 11 mm).Weight 18 grams.
Sandisk comes with SecureAccess Software, which I didn’t use myself. There are separate download files for Mac and PC.
The USB connector is retractable. Once extended, theconnector locks in place, requiring you to press down on the button to retractit.
This thumb drive is preformatted with exFat, so it shouldwork on both Windows and Macs.
Pros: Speed, retractable connector, very light, SecureAccess Software
Cons: Limited size options (only 128 and 256GB)
Learn about SanDisk Extreme PRO on Amazon
Best USB-C Flash Drive for Mac
Samsung Duo Plus is the best USB-C flash drive for Mac. Itis waterproof, shockproof, magnet proof, temperature proof, and x-ray proof.Along with USB type C, the drive supports USB 3.1 type A, and it is backwardcompatible with USB 3.0/2.0.
Samsung has a unique design which consists of USB-C andUSB-A pieces. You can copy files from newer MacBook with USB-C ports, thenswitch two parts so that USB-C part goes into USB-A and then plug it into anolder Mac with only USB ports.
Samsung Duo Plus is available in four capacities: 32GB,64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. Unfortunately, there is no 1TB drive.
The thing I didn’t like about the design is that after usingthe flash drive in USB-A mode, you may lose the cap because it only fits USB-Cconnector.
The manufacturer only advertizes the read speed, which is upto 300MB/s for 256/128GB models, and up to 200MB/s for 64/32GB models. Thewrite speed, however, is not impressive. In our tests, we saw around 30-40MB/s.
Drive dimensions: 2.3 x 0.7 x 0.3 in (58 x 18 x 8 mm).Weight 10 grams.
This thumb drive is preformatted with exFat.
Pros: USB Type-C Type-A support, decent read speed, waterproof
Cons: Unimpressive write speed
Learn more Samsung Duo Plus about on Amazon
Budget Pick: Patriot Supersonic Rage Elite
Patriot Supersonic Rage Elite offers a lot of storage forless money.
Note that there are two models: Rage (blue) and Rage Elite(red). Basic music recording software.
Rage comes with the following capacity: 32GB, 64GB, and128GB. Rage Elite gets bigger with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB.
Patriot advertizes read speed up to 400MB/s and writes up to300MB/s. Actual numbers are a little lower, and they fluctuate between 160-240for reads and between 100-140 for reads.
It is backward compatible with USB 2.0 and 3.0.
Drive dimensions: 2.09 x 0.83 x 0.39 in (53 x 21 x 10 mm).Weight: 9 grams
Pros: Price, lightweight
Cons: Speed, build quality Basic photo editing software for windows.
Learn about Patriot Supersonic Rage Elite on Amazon