I looking external storage to save my day to day files, photos and videos. Need compatible with Mac. If 1TB which should I go for? Nvme m2 or normal external hard disk? What the pro and cons or any other option? Budget max 2-400.

Thanks

HDD is cheaper* and good for long term storage

NVME are fast and smaller, but generally more expensive.

As always, beware of scams/fakes should you buy online

Long term storage best to keep on HDD. Cheaper for archiving purposes. Short term can keep on NVME. Be aware though, u need to power up the SSD every few months to refresh the data.

How much you value your time waiting files to transfer? If its that precious of course go for external SSD but if you dont mind the slower speed those external drives like WD Passport is usually half the cost of same sized SSD.

Consider ssd for your internal drive
And a HDD for external/nas

This post has been edited by lj0000: Apr 25 2025, 08:58 PM

I've already given up hope on storing things on HDD... mechanical will eventually be prone to failures...

want long lasting.. NVME drive with an external casing... can buy your own self the capacity you want and make your own drive with an external nvme casing.

hdd is within ur budget

Get a NAS

External HDD has the risk of rusting USB cable

save to cloud :X

Try 5.25" magnetic disc if you can still find it.

I let picture and memory rot
Even in digital mode, dont mind lost all of them

You want permanent, burn it into BD or DVD and store them in a safe. HDD will fail, SSD will lose charge. Nothing temporary is permanent in this world except suffering.

Get a NAS with at least 2 drives for RAID1 support. Drive can be HDD or SATA SSD. Any one drive failure your data still secure in another drive, simply replace the failed drive with new drive and your data back to being secured against drive failure.

Is the setup complicated? Mostly to keep some photos videos from camera and action cam not much.

Seem like hdd is the better choice.

Thanks for all the respond above

Initial setup will need some efforts as need to set everything up. Best is to set it auto backup your files, it will be same as using Google Drive. Once everything have set up then just periodically need to do maintenance such as click apply update.

If going for Synology NAS just be aware:
https://www.techpowerup.com/335824/synology...and-hard-drives