The Retina MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs are great computers. Whether you need ultra-high resolution, or ultra-portability, those machines are stunning workhorses. But there's a tradeoff. Both models come with fixed flash storage. Many MacBook users need to pack along an external drive in order to house all their data. Recent offerings from Western Digital and G-Technology bring signature Mac style to svelte little external drives that are at home on your desk or in your pocket.
Western Digital's My Passport Edge for Mac is a sleek little box, just 4.4 x 3.4 x 0.4 inches. The all-metal construction lends a comfortable-feeling heft and durability to the drive, but it still only weighs 5.8 ounces. The rounded-rectangle shape is similar to WD's other Passport offerings, and the color scheme — matte black with silver accents — complements your existing Apple gear.
The G-Drive Mobile USB takes similar styling cues, reversing the color scheme. The G-Drive is slightly thinner and about half an inch longer, but still great for sliding into a coat pocket or laptop bag. With a 1TB mechanism inside, it has twice the capacity of the Passport Edge.
Both drives are USB-only, shipping with short USB 3.0-to-Micro B cables. Thankfully, USB 3.0 offers plenty of bus power, so there's no need for an external adapter, but both of the drives would benefit from additional connection options.
My Passport ships with WD's suite of disk tools, including diagnostic utilities, formatting tools, and a sleep timer. They're certainly not the main attraction, but as extras some users may find them worth installing on your Mac. If you deal with sensitive data, however, the Passport's support for hardware encryption may be a crucial selling point. The G-Drive, on the other hand, is a tabula rasa, leaving users to their find their own disk tools if needed.
Speed-wise, both drives offer very similar specs. In our benchmarking, the My Passport Edge, uh, edged out the G-Drive, with read and write speeds of 106.7 MBps and 105.1 MBps when connected via USB 3.0 to a 2.9GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro. Under identical tests, the G-Drive posted speeds of 103.2MBps and 100.5MBps. These aren't the fastest drives around, but both units offer respectable performance, and excellent portability.
The bottom line. We wish My Passport Edge came in larger capacities. For build-quality and functionality, it's our favorite, but if your data needs are a bit heftier, the G-Drive is a great alternative.
My Passport Edge for Mac
Western Digital
http://www.wdc.com
Price: $109.99 (500GB)
Requirements: USB 2.0 or 3.0 port
Pros: Small and thin. Durable aluminum housing. Optional hardware encryption.
Cons: Only 500GB capacity. Higher price per GB.
G-Drive Mobile USB
G-Technology
http://www.g-technology.com
Price: $149.95 (1TB)
Requirements: USB 2.0 or 3.0 port
Pros: Small and thin. Large capacity.
Cons: Slightly larger than WD My Passport Edge. Construction isn't as sturdy.
