Apple Developer's Account Restored After Compromised Gift Card Incident
"It's all fixed," says that Apple developer who was locked out of his Apple Account after redeeming a compromised Apple Gift Card. "A lovely man from Singapore, working for Apple Executive Relations, who has been calling me every so often for a couple of days, has let me know it's all fixed. It looks like the gift card I tried to redeem, which did not work for me, and did not credit my account, was already redeemed in some way (sounds like classic gift card tampering), and my account was caught by that. "Obviously it's unacceptable that this can happen, and I'm still trying to get more information out of him, but at least things are now mostly working. "Strangely, he did tell me to only ever buy gift cards from Apple themselves; I asked if that means Apple's supply chain of Blackhawk Network, InComm, and other gift card vendors is insecure, and he was unwilling to comment." Updates to his original blog post now include a frequently-asked questions list: Yes, I have the receipt for the card, including the activation receipt. Yes, the card was legitimately purchased, it's not from eBay. Yes, I have contacted the retailer. Yes, I do have backups... No, I don't know why parts of the account still kinda work, and parts don't. No, I didn't write this article with AI... Yes, Apple really did use emojis in their Live Chat... Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Apple Developer's Account Restored After Compromised Gift Card Incident
"It's all fixed," says that Apple developer who was locked out of his Apple Account after redeeming a compromised Apple Gift Card. "A lovely man from Singapore, working for Apple Executive Relations, who has been calling me every so often for a couple of days, has let me know it's all fixed. It looks like the gift card I tried to redeem, which did not work for me, and did not credit my account, was already redeemed in some way (sounds like classic gift card tampering), and my account was caught by that. "Obviously it's unacceptable that this can happen, and I'm still trying to get more information out of him, but at least things are now mostly working. "Strangely, he did tell me to only ever buy gift cards from Apple themselves; I asked if that means Apple's supply chain of Blackhawk Network, InComm, and other gift card vendors is insecure, and he was unwilling to comment." Updates to his original blog post now include a frequently-asked questions list: Yes, I have the receipt for the card, including the activation receipt. Yes, the card was legitimately purchased, it's not from eBay. Yes, I have contacted the retailer. Yes, I do have backups... No, I don't know why parts of the account still kinda work, and parts don't. No, I didn't write this article with AI... Yes, Apple really did use emojis in their Live Chat... Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Best external hard drives for Mac 2026: Get a low cost storage boost
Macworld It’s not possible to upgrade the storage in Macs, so it’s a good idea to buy an external drive to provide extra storage for all your work files, photos, videos, and games. And, of course, you should always have an external drive available for making Time Machine backups in case anything ever goes wrong. The best choice for you will depend on how much storage you want and how much you are willing to spend. Solid-state drives (SSDs) are the best option as they’re fast, reliable, and compact. Hard drives on the other hand are slower, but you get a lot more storage for your money. If a SSD sounds like it meets your needs, read Best external SSD for Mac. Otherwise read on to find the best hard drives we have used with our Macs. Best Hard Drive for Mac Below we rank the best hard drives we have reviewed recently. Below these reviews you’ll find buying advice that explains what you should be looking for when purchasing a hard drive to use with a Mac. 1. Seagate Expansion Desktop: Smart and fast Pros Low price per terabyte Up to 24TB Cons Requires AC adapter Price When Reviewed: 4TB: $120 I 6TB: $110 I 8TB: $160 I 10TB: $270 I 12TB: $300 I 14TB: $430 I 16: $230 I 18TB: $250 I 24TB: $540 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Seagate $119.99 View Deal $138.01 View Deal $144.99 View Deal $191.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket You will need to reformat the Mac you will need to reformat the Seagate Expansion Desktop with a Mac. Once complete, the drive should be detected and you will be able to use it as you would any hard drive. It measures approximately 7-inches long, by 4.9-inches wide, by 1.65-inches thick and weighs around 2.5-pounds and comes in black with plenty of ventilation grating, and diagonal grooves spicing up significantly what would otherwise be a bland countenance. It’s not bad looking. The Seagate Expansion Desktop is available in a variety of capacities and can provide up to 24TB in a single unit. You won’t get that much storage in an SSD, and even if you could this will cost a lot less than the same allocation in an SSD. Of course, the difference is that an SSD is a lot faster, but our 16TB test unit was a lot faster than you might think. Instead of the usual 120- to 140MBps its smaller 2.5-inch cousins read and write at, the Expansion Desktop managed almost 280MBps. While it’s not fast compared to an SSD, the Expansion Desktop is workable for streaming and background operations, is far faster than 2.5-inch external HDDs, and you sure as heck can’t beat the capacity. 2. Western Digital My Passport Ultra for Mac – Big storage in a small case Pros Up to 6TB of storage Far cheaper per terabyte than SSDs Type-C connectivity Attractive design fits in your (large) pocket Cons Hard drive-level performance Price When Reviewed: $84.99 (2TB), $129.99 (4TB), $139.99 (5TB), $199.99 (6TB) Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $79.99 View Deal $79.99 View Deal Western Digital $85 View Deal $89.99 View Deal $126.34 View Deal $139.99 View Deal $179.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The WD My Passport Ultra for Mac is a 2.5-inch external USB hard drive that offers a pretty decent storage capacity of 6TB for around $200/£200. The 5TB unit currently offers the best bang for your buck at $28 per terabyte.  The drive delivers 110MBps read and write speed, making it suitable for media streaming and Time Machine backups running in the background. The My Passport Ultra for Mac features a USB-C port. Until recently, external 2.5-inch USB hard drives unanimously used USB micro-B SuperSpeed connectors (for extra power) on the drive and USB-A on the other end of the cable. WD bundles a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to USB-A adapter to accommodate older and current connection scenarios.  The first time you attach the drive a.dmg file for installing WD’s Discovery application appears. Discovery can import your data from your Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive accounts. You’ll also find links for the WD Drive Utilities, WD Security (encryption, password protection), and a branded version of Acronis’s True Image backup software. It’s not a bad software bundle, you don’t have to use it of course.  In our tests the My Passport Ultra for Mac delivered a transfer rate of up to 110MBps, which is fast enough for several audio or movie streams. But in a world becoming accustomed to 3GBps speed on USB4/Thunderbolt external SSDs you may not find this fast. It is still a great storage device for a large multimedia collection and is suitable for background backup with Time Machine. The My Passport Ultra for Mac is a great storage device for a large multimedia collection and can stream across the network at 2.5Gbps. Read our full My Passport Ultra for Mac review 3. Seagate Ultra Touch HDD: Best Mac hard drive Pros Competitive price 2TB, 4TB or 5TB storage Password protection and encryption Cons Average performance Larger and heavier than original model Price When Reviewed: $99.99 (2TB), $159.99 (4TB), $164.99 (5TB) Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Seagate $99.99 View Deal $107.22 View Deal $163.32 View Deal $174.09 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The original Seagate Ultra Touch was a pocket-size hard drive with an attractively slim and lightweight design. It was a fairly old design though, limited to either 1TB or 2TB of storage, and it was still using an old USB 3.0 interface that required an adaptor in order to work with more modern Macs and PCs with USB-C. This updated version of the Ultra Touch updates most aspects of the drive’s design. It’s slightly larger and heavier, but now starts with a minimum of 2TB storage, with 4TB or 5TB models also available if you need additional storage. This new model now has a USB-C interface too, with a lengthy (50cm) USB-C cable included as well. The 2TB model – which is finished in cloud white – is still fairly slim, measuring just 13.2mm thick, 80mm wide and 115mm long, and weighing a modest 168g, so it’s a good option if you just need a lightweight, portable drive that you can slip into your pocket or a bag. The 4TB and 5TB models are finished in a darker pebble grey and are slightly larger and heavier, measuring 23mm thick and weighing 267g. You can’t buy the Ultra Touch directly from Seagate, so you’ll have to shop around online, and prices do seem to vary quite a lot. Seagate pricing is as follows: $164.99/£179.99 for 5TB, $159.99/£154.99 for 4TB, $99.99/£109.99 for 2TB. However, the average prices that we came across during testing were around $79.99/£99.99 for the 2TB model that we tested, while the 4TB and 5TB models are around $124.99/£139.99 and $207.99/£164.99 respectively. Performance is similar to that of the original Ultra Touch, at 130MB/s for both read and write speeds, which is around average for a portable drive such as this. The Ultra Touch includes some additional features too, such as the ability to create mirror folders on your Mac and the Ultra Touch drive that are automatically synced and updated whenever you make any changes to those folders. The Toolkit app also provides 256-bit encryption and password protection for extra security, making the Ultra Touch a good option for people who need to keep important files secure when they’re working away from the office. Customers in the US can also use Seagate’s Data Recovery service to rescue files in the event that the drive is damaged (although this service isn’t available in all regions).–Cliff Joseph 4. Western Digital My Passport: Best budget drive Pros Provides up to 6TB storage Competitive price Password protection Cons Could be faster Larger than most portable drives No USB-C interface Price When Reviewed: $84.99 (2TB), $127.99 (4TB), $139.99 (5TB), $184.99 (6TB) Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $74.99 View Deal $74.99 View Deal Western Digital $84.99 View Deal $94.59 View Deal $114.99 View Deal $122.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Western Digital has updated its popular portable hard drive. The 2024 version of My Passport, available in dark blue, offers the world’s first 2.5-inch 6TB model (claims the company). There is no longer a 1TB version. Instead, the range starts with 2TB for $84.99/£75.99. There are also 4TB and 5TB models, while the 6TB model costs a reasonable $184.99/£165.99.The 2TB model is slimmer and lighter than the others, measuring 13.5mm thick, 75mm wide, and 107mm long, and weighing just 140g. The 4TB and 5TB models increase to a thickness of 19.2mm, while the 6TB model is 20.6mm thick, weighing 210g.The My Passport drive still uses an ageing USB Micro-B interface, but Western Digital includes a USB-A cable with a separate USB-C adaptor for compatibility with newer Macs with USB-C and older Macs with USB-A. We’ve also looked at the My Passport Ultra for Mac (above), which uses USB-A pr USB-C via an adaptor. The My Passport drive also includes Western Digital’s Discovery app for Mac and Windows, providing password protection and encryption features. Read our full Western Digital My Passport review 5. SanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD: Best rugged portable drive Pros Cheap for the capacity Attractive design USB Type-C Cons Formatted to exFAT so you’ll need to reformat it in Disk Utility Price When Reviewed: $99.99 (1TB), $119.99 (2TB), $149.99 (4TB), $189.99 (5TB), $229.99 (6TB) Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Western Digital $99.99 View Deal $189.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The ArmorATD starts at $99.99/£89.99 for 1TB, rising to $229.99/£225.99 for the new 6TB model. It’s an enclosure with a 2.5-inch hard drive inside that’s shock-mounted, and the rugged aluminum case is surrounded by a silicon sock for extra protection. It will withstand minor abuse, more when off than on and the disks are spinning, but your best bet with any hard drive is not to treat it like a hockey puck. The connection is USB-C with a speed rating of 5Gbps (USB 3.1/Gen 1)–plenty fast enough for any hard drive. The drive warranty is for three years. You’ll get around 120MBps writing and 127MBps reading maximum (with large files) from the ArmorATD on your Mac. Good stuff. The Armor ATD arrives formatted to exFAT so you’re good to go out of the box under both macOS and Windows. However, exFAT will extract a 5 percent max penalty, so Mac users will want to reformat the drive. –Jon L. Jacobi Read our full G-Drive ArmorATD review 6. LaCie Mobile Drive: Best value Pros Competitive price LaCie’s ToolKit app Cons Not the fastest hard drive available Price When Reviewed: $79.99 (1TB); $109.99 (2TB); $149.99 (4TB); $169.99 (5TB) Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $72 View Deal $79.99 View Deal $79.99 View Deal LaCie $79.99 View Deal $81.47 View Deal $99.95 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket LaCie’s Mobile Drive has been on our list of the best hard drives for Mac users for a while and this version was released in 2022. The 2022 Mobile Drive adopts an Apple-style slimline, rectangular design with smooth rounded corners with the LaCie logo right in the center. Prices start at a competitive $79.99/£69.99 for a drive with 1TB storage (that’s a price cut from the initial £79.99 in the U.K.), but there are also models with 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB available too. The 1TB and 2TB models measure just 10.4mm thick, 85mm wide, and 118mm long, and weigh 200g, so they’re easy to pick up and carry around with your laptop. The 4TB and 5TB models are a little thicker – at 20.4mm – and weigh 300g, but that’s still a good size for portable hard drives that provide such high capacity. They’re all constructed out of recycled aluminum, and sturdy enough to cope with life on the road. You can use them for your Time Machine backups, but LaCie’s ToolKit app – for macOS 10.14 or later – also allows you to create a Mirror folder that is automatically updated whenever you make any changes to the files or data within that folder. The drive has a USB-C interface, with a USB-C cable included in the box, and recorded write and read speeds of 126MB/s and 130MB/s respectively when running the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test. There are faster hard drives available, but that’s still a respectable speed for a compact hard drive such as this, and the Mobile Drive 2022 remains a good, affordable backup drive for MacBook owners – and even owners of desktop Macs who may need the larger 4TB or 5TB models. —Cliff Joseph 7. Seagate Special Edition Firecuda: Best for collectors Pros It’s Baby Yoda! ToolKit app Cons USB-C adapter not included Formatted for Windows PCs, so you’ll need to reformat it using Disk Utility Price When Reviewed: $139.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Seagate $139.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Seagate has a range of special edition Firecuda drives that sport designs taken from Marvel and Star Wars films. There are drives with Spiderman, Boba Fett and the Mandolorian, but our favorite is the ‘small and powerful’ Baby Yoda drive (yes, we know his name is Grogu, but he’ll always be Baby Yoda to us). And, when attached to your Mac, the drive is even displayed on your desktop with a Baby Yoda icon as well. These special edition drives are only available with 2TB storage. They’re priced at $139.99/£139.99 on Seagate’s website, which is a little pricey for a 2TB drive so you’re paying a bit extra for the Star Wars vibe. Some are now discounted including Grogu, who is now $59.99 in the U.S., and we have seen them at lower prices elsewhere online. It’s a little larger than some portable drives, measuring 14.5mm thick, 80mm wide, and 122mm long. It’s sturdily built though and only weighs 167g, so it’s still light enough to just pick it up and slip it onto a bag with your laptop when you’re traveling. The only minor oddity with the design is that it uses a USB 3.2 interface with a USB-A cable–to provide compatibility with Xbox consoles, apparently, so you’ll need a USB-C adaptor if your Mac only has USB-C. The Firecuda drive is formatted in the ExFat format for Windows PCs, but you can reformat it for Macs using Disk Utility, and Seagate’s ToolKit app will run on any Mac with macOS 10.14 or later. The drive will work with Time Machine on your Mac, but the ToolKit app also allows you to create a special Mirror folder on your Mac that is always kept in sync with a matching Mirror folder on the Firecuda drive. The app even lets you customize the colored lighting effects for the status light on the front of the drive too. Seagate doesn’t quote a speed for the drive, but we recorded read and write speeds of 130MB/s in our tests. Professional users might prefer a faster hard drive or SSD, but that’s a respectable speed for a portable hard drive such as this, and the Firecuda is a really good – not to mention seriously cute – option for day-to-day backups on your Mac. –Cliff Joseph 8. Western Digital My Book: Great if you need A LOT of storage Pros Up to 22TB storage Good performance (for a hard drive) Competitive price Cons Uses old USB 3.0 interface  Requires mains power Price When Reviewed: $134.99 (4TB), $159.99 (6TB), $179.99 (8TB), $259.99 (12TB), $299.99 (14TB), $319.99 (16TB), $349.99 (18TB), $499.99 (22TB), $579.99 (24TB) Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $132.42 View Deal $136.99 View Deal $139.99 View Deal $139.99 View Deal $169.54 View Deal $185.67 View Deal Western Digital $499.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket More and more people are now using a MacBook as their main computer, so the trend with hard drives in recent years has been towards smaller, more portable drives that you can easily carry around with your laptop. That’s fine if you only need 1TB or 2TB of storage, but there are times when you may need a larger, desktop drive that can store several terabytes of files and data. Western Digital’s My Book range of desktop drives has been around for quite a few years, but the range provides up to 24TB of storage (we looked at the 22TB model) – which should be more than enough for photographers, designers and video-editors who work with large, high-res files every day. Prices actually start at $134.99 / £120.99 for a My Book drive with 4TB of storage, and there are several other models along the way before you reach the 22TB drive that we review here, which costs $499.99 / £502.99, and the 24GB drive that costs $579.99 / £570.99. Not surprisingly, the My Book is very much designed for desktop use. It measures 6.7 x 1.9 x 5.5-inches (170 x 49mm x 139mm), and weighs 2.20 pounds (1kg), and also requires a mains power supply, so it’s not a drive that’s going to leave your home or office very often. It’s a bit odd that the drive still uses an aging USB 3.0 interface, with a USB-A cable provided for connecting to a Mac or PC, so you may need to provide a USB-C adaptor for Macs that no longer have USB-A ports. However, the My Book does provide good protection and security for all your files, with 256-bit encryption and password protection available in the WD Security app for Mac and Windows. The drive itself has a three-year warranty, and professional users might also want to sign up for WD’s Data Recovery plan – from $9.99 / £9.99 for two years – which can retrieve lost data if the drive does get badly damaged. Performance is good too – despite the aging USB interface – with the My Book recording read and write speeds of 215MB/s. That’s almost twice as fast as most of the smaller, portable drives that we review here, so the My Book will be a good option for people who need a lot of storage for their important work files. And if 22TB isn’t enough, there’s also a model called the My Book Duo, which provides RAID storage options using two internal hard drives for a total of 44TB of storage for $1,119 / £1,289.99. 9. LaCie 1big Dock: Best for pro and creative users Pros Multiple ports including a second Thunderbolt port, DisplayPort 1.4 interface and memory card slots Cons Smallest capacity of 4TB Price When Reviewed: $369 (4TB); $469 (8TB); $519 (10TB); $679 (16TB); $789 (18TB) Best Prices Today: Retailer Price LaCie $369 View Deal $499.95 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket As the name suggests, LaCie’s 1big Dock is more than just a straightforward hard drive. It starts at $369/£349.99 for a drive with 4TB storage, going up to $889/£869.99 for 18TB, and its 7,200rpm IronWolf Pro hard drive provides strong performance with read and write speeds of 235MBps via its Thunderbolt 3 port. That makes it a good option for anyone that needs a fast drive for large video, photos, and audio files. The primary Thunderbolt port also provides power for charging a MacBook laptop as well. You even have the option of popping open the front panel to swap out the standard hard drive and insert a new drive to provide an instant upgrade. But the thing that really makes the 1big Dock stand out from most of its hard drive rivals is its built-in hub and connectivity features. There’s a second Thunderbolt port that will allow you to connect additional Thunderbolt and USB-C devices, and a DisplayPort 1.4 interface for an external monitor. The front of the drive also provides a standard USB 3.0 port and slots for both SD and CompactFlash (CF) memory cards, making it a great option for creative users who need to import files from cameras and other devices. There’s also a version of the 1big Dock available that uses faster solid-state storage too–of course, it’s quite a bit more expensive. –Cliff Joseph 10. WD Black P10: Best for gamers Pros Competitively priced Cons USB 3.2 with USB-A cable – USB-C adapter not included Price When Reviewed: From $79.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Western Digital $79.98 View Deal $88.01 View Deal $108.28 View Deal $124.99 View Deal $124.99 View Deal $129.99 View Deal $134.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The WD Black P10 provides a more portable alternative to the WD Black D10, which is geared for desktop use. It’s not as fast as the D10, but it can draw power from a USB port, so you can simply plug it into any Mac, PC, or games console when you need to back up your files. It’s relatively large for a portable drive, measuring a chunky 20mm thick, 88mm wide, and 118mm long, but its reinforced casing is sturdy enough to cope with being bumped around in a backpack when you’re traveling. The drive is rated at a relatively modest 140MB/s for both read and write performance, although our tests actually recorded speeds of 120MB/s and 110MB/s for read and write performance respectively. That’s not going to break any records, but it’s fine for the occasional Time Machine backup or for storing lots of games, photos, videos, and other multimedia files. The P10 is also competitively priced, starting at just $89.99/£80.99 for a healthy 2TB of storage. There are 4TB and 5TB models available too, so the P10 is a good option for Mac users who have really large collections of photos and videos that they can’t fit onto their Mac’s internal drive. The only oddity is that the P10 uses an aging USB 3.2 interface. There’s a USB cable included, but it has a USB-A connector, so you’ll need to provide an adaptor for Macs that only have USB-C. —Cliff Joseph 11. WD Black D10: Best budget performer Pros Competitive price Fast Cons 8TB model only Requires USB-C adapter Requires external power supply Price When Reviewed: 8TB – £259.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $189.99 View Deal $189.99 View Deal $205.82 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Western Digital’s WD Black drives are primarily aimed at gamers who want a fast drive to boost loading times for their games, which explains why the menacing black design of this D10 desktop drive looks like a piece of heavyweight munitions from the Call Of Duty games. But a fast drive will also appeal to anyone that has a lot of photos, videos, and audio files that they want to store on their Mac, and the D10 has other features that can come in handy too. Some aspects of the design are a little odd. There’s only one version available, with 8TB storage, although its $240/£199.99 price tag on Amazon is still competitive for a fast drive such as this. It’s equipped with only an old USB A interface (even though it is USB 3.2) perhaps to provide compatibility with older games consoles, so you’ll need an adapter if your Mac only has USB-C. Its 7,200-rpm drive provides very good performance, reaching read and write speeds of 245MBps and 240MBps, respectively. The D10 requires an external power supply, so it’s very much designed for desktop use, but it also has two additional USB 3.2 ports on the back of the drive that can provide power to other devices, such as an iPhone or iPad. These ports are only for charging, though, so you can’t use the D10 as a dock for connecting peripherals such as a printer or memory stick. –Cliff Joseph SSD vs Hard Drive Modern solid-state drives (SSD) are the best option as they’re really fast, reliable, and compact. However, SSDs are still relatively expensive, with 1TB drives costing around $100/£150, whereas that same amount of money can get you a 4TB basic desktop hard drive with a USB interface (drives with high-speed Thunderbolt ports tend to be more expensive). See: Best external SSD for Mac. Hard drives are slower than SSDs, but if you need lots of storage for your important files and back-ups then a good old-fashioned hard drive is still the most affordable option. There are plenty of choices when it comes to hard drives, with compact, portable hard drives designed for use with laptops, and desktop drives with larger capacities if you really need a lot of storage. Some hard drives also provide additional features, such as built-in docks with lots of Thunderbolt and USB ports, or perhaps allowing you to open up the casing of the drive and insert a new drive for an instant upgrade. How to choose the right Mac hard drive We’ve rounded up the best Mac hard drives above, but before making a buying decision you need to think about how you’ll be using the device. To find the best hard drive for your needs, you need to answer a few questions. How much storage do I need? Hard drive storage is relatively cheap. Unless you are really out to save your pennies, the smallest size of hard drive we’d recommend is 1TB. Upgrades to 2TB, 3TB, and even 4TB are also cost-effective–the price per megabyte goes down the higher the capacity, so making the bump up to the next model is a good idea. Each terabyte can store around 11,000 music albums at 192kbps quality, but such storage doesn’t seem so grand when you start archiving 4K video. Portable or desktop? If you think you’ll be happy with a 1TB to 4TB hard drive, you can buy a portable drive. These use small 2.5-inch disks, and they fit happily into a coat pocket. Portable drives are usually bus-powered, too. This means you just need to plug them into your desktop or laptop, no separate power supply is required. There’s just one cable, and the drive will barely take up any space. If only an ultra-high capacity hard drive will do, consider a desktop unit. These use larger 3.5-inch drives and tend to cover capacities from 4TB to 18TB. They’ll need to be plugged in for power; that’s fine if it stay home all of the time, or moves from office to office. Rugged drives for travel Some portable drives offer ruggedization. Shock protection is the most important kind for a hard drive, as unlike an SSD they have moving parts that can be permanently damaged following a drop. Rugged drives usually have some form of rubber coating that soaks up impact forces, and a toughened enclosure that won’t dent, crack or collapse under any normal amount of pressure. A few also have water resistance. While few are rated IP68 like an iPhone 11 Pro, meaning they can be submerged in water without damage, several can handle rain or water jets/splashes. What extra features do you need? Buy a larger drive, though, and you’re more likely to get other features. Desktop units may have a built-in “hub”, letting you plug-in memory cards or peripherals using USB ports. These are particularly useful if your current setup has limited connectivity, or the USBs you do have just aren’t that handy. Which connector do you need? Matching the hard drive’s connector to those of your laptop or desktop is also essential. You’ll get a cable in the box, but it will either terminate with a USB-A or USB-C shaped plug, as seen here: USB-A (left) and USB-C. Unless you have an old Mac or MacBook that only offers the old USB-A port, you’ll will want the newer USB-C connector, which also doubles up as Thunderbolt. Every Mac sold by Apple in the past few years features a USB-C style connector, although some Mac desktops still offer the older USB standard as well.  Not all USB-Cs are the same, though. The USB-C port on Macs also supports Thunderbolt 3 and in some cases Thunderbolt 4. USB-C is based on USB 3.1 and offers up to 10Gbps. Thunderbolt 3 offers up to 40Gbps. Thunderbolt 4 also offers 40Gbps, but has a few other advantages, including a 32Gbps data rate, which will be a benefit to anyone who needs to transfer large video files to from the drive to their desktop for editing. There’s also a new USB 4 standard that offers between 20Gbps and 40Gbps bandwidth that you will see alongside the newer Thunderbolt 4 standard, but note that USB 4 doesn’t offer all the features of Thunderbolt. It’s clear that Thunderbolt is a better option than USB if you are looking for the best interface for your hard drive, but Thunderbolt options are likely to be more expensive than their USB counterparts. Wireless and NAS Not every hard drive needs to be plugged in: you can also opt for a network-attached storage (NAS) drive which enables to to wirelessly transfer files and backups. These network-attached storage drives connect to your home Wi-Fi to share their data with other devices in your home. That might be a smart TV, Apple TV, a tablet or laptop. A NAS is particularly useful if you want to set up a media server at home. This is like a wireless jukebox you can fill with videos, photos and music. Read our best NAS drives feature for more.

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This $24 AirTag alternative can fit in your wallet
Macworld TL;DR: Get a MagTag Ultra Slim Tracker Card on sale now for $23.99 (reg. $59.99). Losing your wallet or passport can turn a normal day into a full panic, and most tracking devices are too bulky to fit where they actually need to go. The MagTag fills that gap as a wallet-friendly alternative to an AirTag while still using Apple’s Find My network. You can also get one of these compact trackers on sale for only $23.99 (reg. $59.99). At only 1.5mm thick, the MagTag slides into a wallet, luggage tag, passport holder, or bag pocket without creating bulk. It connects directly to the Find My app, so you get precise location tracking and instant left-behind alerts. You can also trigger a loud beeping sound when you need to locate something fast. A built-in keyring hole gives you more ways to attach it, and the card is fully waterproof with an IP68 rating. The battery lasts up to five months and recharges on any Qi wireless charger, so you never need to replace parts or buy accessories. If you want reliable tracking that fits into places an AirTag cannot, the MagTag gives you the same global network support in a profile that works better for everyday carry items. Right now, you can get a MagTag Ultra Slim Tracker Card on sale for only $23.99. Sale ends soon. MagTag Ultra Slim Tracker Card – Works with Apple Find My AppSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.

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Your iPhone’s storage crisis just got a $10 solution
Macworld TL;DR: Get lifetime access to Cleaner Kit for iOS for just $19.97 (reg. $104.97) with coupon code CLEAN10. This AI-powered app removes duplicate photos, compresses videos, and declutters your contacts. If your iPhone storage is constantly maxed out, Cleaner Kit for iOS Premium might be exactly what you need. This AI-powered utility has earned the trust of over 67 million users by making it remarkably simple to reclaim gigabytes of space without accidentally deleting anything important. The app’s smart gallery cleanup is where it really shines. Instead of manually scrolling through thousands of photos, Cleaner Kit uses AI to identify duplicates and low-quality shots, then groups them by time period. You simply swipe right to keep or left to archive. It’s five times faster than manual cleanup. The video compressor is equally impressive, shrinking file sizes while keeping your memories looking sharp. Beyond photos, the app tackles those messy contact lists by merging duplicates and removing empty entries. It’ll even help you clear out old calendar events and organize your Gmail inbox by grouping messages by sender. For Mac users, this is perfect for keeping your iOS device lean while you work across platforms. Get Cleaner Kit for iOS Premium for $19.97 (reg. $104.97) with coupon code CLEAN10. Cleaner Kit for iOS Premium Plan: Lifetime SubscriptionSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.

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MacBook Pro ‘overhaul’ launching as soon as next year: Here are five upgrades to expect
Rumors strongly suggest that Apple will be MacBook Pro, and we’ll be delving into them here. more…

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Grab Apple's M5 MacBook Pro 24GB RAM for $1,499 with free 2-day shipping
Apple's Late 2025 M5 MacBook Pro with 24GB of RAM is on sale for $1,499, a discount of $300 off MSRP. Plus, get delivery by Christmas to many locations.Save $300 on Apple's M5 MacBook Pro with an upgrade to 24GB RAM - Image credit: AppleThe exclusive deal can be activated through this pricing link or via our M5 MacBook Pro Price Guide when you shop from a laptop or desktop computer (it cannot be activated through B&H's mobile app).This 14-inch MacBook Pro in Space Black not only includes Apple's latest M5 chip, but it also includes a bump up to 24GB of RAM, along with 512GB of storage. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Today in Apple history: Marathon is Mac’s answer to Doom
On December 21, 1994, Mac gamers got their hands on "Marathon," an innovative sci-fi game that quickly became a fan favorite. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Frozen out: Apple cancels 'The last Frontier' after just one season
The Jason Clarke drama "The Last Frontier" did not survive on Apple TV, as the streaming service canceled the Alaskan wilderness show after a single season.The Last Frontier - Image Credit: Apple TVFollowing the release of the trailer on September 18, there were high hopes for the ten-episode series The Last Frontier on Apple TV. However, after the broadcast of its season finale, it seems the show has crashed and burned.According to Variety on December 19, Apple declined to move to a second season of the show. While a reason for the cancellation wasn't disclosed, the show did suffer from mixed reviews, including a score of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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8 Mac settings and shortcuts you need to start using right now
Macworld Your Mac is full of surprises, and even many years after first owning one, you can still find yourself learning new tips and tricks that you weren’t aware of before. There are many ingenious hidden features stashed away in macOS, and we’re here to highlight eight of our favorites. They range from little-known tricks to overlooked gems, and each one should help improve the way you use your Mac. 1. Desktop stacks Foundry After using your Mac for a while, it’s easy to clog up your desktop with files and folders. I get it, I’m no monastic ascetic with a zen-like calm on my Mac desktop either. Thankfully, there’s a way to bring order to chaos without having to laboriously stash all those items away one by one. Let me introduce a feature called desktop stacks. With this enabled, macOS will automatically group related files into what are essentially heaps on your desktop. So, you’ll find one pile for images, one stack for PDF documents, one for presentations, and more. If you want to find an individual file, just click the stack and everything it contains will be revealed. Click again to hide the mess once more. Swipe two fingers across the stack and you can even browse through its files. To get going with desktop stacks, just right-click your desktop and select the Use Stacks option. To turn it off, simply disable this option. And with that, your Mac brings the illusion of calm and order to your desktop, even if we all know what’s lurking beneath the façade. 2. Menu customization Foundry The menu bar is a go-to place to find helpful controls for your apps and settings, but you don’t need to just rely on what Apple decides to put there. Instead, you can dive in and customize it as you see fit. To get started, open the System Settings app and select Menu Bar or Control Center (depending on which version of macOS you’re running) in the left-hand sidebar. Here, you can browse through a range of options and decide whether to show them in the menu bar at all times, only when the app is active, or to hide them instead. If you want to remove an icon from the menu bar, you have another option beyond using the Control Center section of the System Settings app. Instead, hold the Command key, then click and drag the item out of the menu bar. When an X appears next to your pointer, release your mouse button, and the icon will be removed. 3. Hot Corners Foundry Need a quick way to access system functions like Mission Control, start a screen saver, or lock your Mac without fiddling with settings and menus? Try Hot Corners on for size. With these set up, you simply move your mouse pointer into a specified corner of your Mac’s display and your chosen action will be performed. Open the System Settings app and click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar, then scroll all the way to the bottom and click Hot Corners. You’ll now see an image of your desktop with four dropdown menus. Pick one, select an option from the menu, then select Done to confirm. You can use Hot Corners to do a wide range of things, from showing your desktop or opening the Notification Center to launching a Quick Note or putting your screen to sleep. That gives the feature a lot of flexibility to adapt to your needs. And if you’re worried about accidentally setting off one of these actions, you can add a modifier key into the mix. Just open one of the dropdown menus, then hold Shift, Control, Option or Command. You can combine any number of these keys, so you might open Launchpad by holding Option and Command, then moving your mouse to the bottom-left corner of your screen, for example. 4. Drag and Dock Foundry For most of us, the usual way of opening a file inside a specific app is to initially open the app, then load the file from there. But there’s a quicker way that doesn’t require you to load up the app first. All you have to do is drag the file onto the app icon–voilà, the app starts up with the file ready to go. The easiest way to do this is to drop the file onto an app in your Dock, but you can do this wherever an app is stored; it works with apps housed in your Applications folder, for example. It could save you a little time if you’re working with a folder of files and want to get started quickly. 5. Speedy saving Foundry There’s another useful drag-and-drop feature that you might not know about, and this time it relates to saving files. Instead of having to click through folder after folder to get to the save location you need, there’s a much faster way to save your files. The next time you have a save dialog box open in an app, drag the destination folder directly onto the save window. Doing so will set the save location as the folder you just dragged into place. You can drag a folder from anywhere: from your desktop, from inside a Finder window, even from the path bar at the bottom of a Finder window. I’m something of a neurotic organizer on my Mac, with endlessly nested folders storing my neatly sorted files. Normally, it would be a pain to save something in the right place, but using this trick saves me a bunch of time every day. Now it can do the same for you, too. 6. Find my pointer Foundry You know you’re having one of those days when even locating your mouse pointer on your Mac’s screen can feel like a chore. The problem is exacerbated if you’re using multiple monitors, where finding the pointer can seem akin to a wild goose chase. Thankfully, Apple has come up with a brilliantly elegant solution to the problem: just shake your mouse. As you rapidly wiggle it side to side, your mouse pointer is blown up to gargantuan proportions, helping you locate it in a quick second. Once you stop the movement, your pointer returns to normal, safely held under your watchful eye from now on. 7. Quick Look Foundry You might already be familiar with Quick Look, which allows you to click a file and press the Space bar to get a handy preview of the file in question. But did you know that Quick Look can do much more than just provide a peek at the file? The next time you open an image with Quick Look, head over to the top-right corner of the preview window, where you’ll see some useful editing tools, including a rotate button and a share option. You can open the file in the Preview app, or detect and highlight any text that might be present using the button in the bottom-right corner. But the more useful option is the markup button. Click this and you’ll be able to draw on your image, add text, drop in a saved signature, crop it, add a comment, send it to your iPhone, and much more., without having to open the image in an app. If you just want to make a few simple changes, Quick Look could be all you need. 8. Unlock with Apple Watch Foundry Apple devices are great on their own, but just like the advice your high school coach probably once gave you, they work even better as a team. One of the best examples of this is what happens when you pair up your Mac with an Apple Watch. When these two devices are linked, you can automatically unlock your Mac and compatible apps simply by wearing your Watch. As long as your Apple Watch us unlocked, you’ll be able to log into your Mac when it wakes without raising a finger (note that this won’t work the first time you switch on your Mac; you need to have logged in once already). Despite the obvious utility of this feature, it’s not enabled by default. To turn it on, you need to open the System Settings app on your Mac and head to Touch ID & Password (or Login Password, depending on your Mac). There, under the “Use Apple Watch to unlock your applications and your Mac” text, enable the toggle next to the name of your Watch.

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The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Chip 16GB RAM/512GB is $250 Off
Amazon has the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro with 16GB Unified Memory and 512GB storage marked $250 off. The MacBook is powered by the next-generation M5 chip to render your computer ultra-fast and fluid. Each GPU is powered by a Neural Accelerator for faster performance of AI. You can blitz through tasks like editing, demanding workloads, […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Noise and Static on AirPods Pro 3 Still Unfixed
Since the release of the AirPods Pro 3, users have been experiencing an issue where the earbuds produce a crackling/static-like noise when using them. This specifically happens when ANC is on.  Even after 2 firmware updates have been rolled out for the earbuds, the issue is yet to be solved. Users who downloaded the firmware […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Flickering Issue On Studio Display Caused by Bug in macOS Tahoe
A bug has been introduced by macOS Tahoe, where the connected Studio Display on a Mac device flickers every now and then. The most recent update seems to have made the problem worse. Current Mac users who use a Studio Display have expressed the problem since September, when the update was released. The flickering occurs […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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New iMac with 24-inch OLED Display May be Brighter With 600 Nits
Apple is developing an iMac with an OLED display measuring 24-inches, and the device could see a release date in about two years. Reportedly, requests for information have been sent by Apple to LG Display and Samsung Display for the development of the OLED panel for the iMac. The current iMac features LED backlighting in […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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The 15-inch M4 MacBook Air 256GB Is $250 Off
Amazon has the 15-inch M4 MacBook Air 256GB marked $250 off. The MacBook is powered by the M4 chip to give you faster speeds and fluidity when using the device, allowing you to blitz through heavy workloads such as creative projects, editing and run graphic-intensive games. The device features a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina Display capable […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Internal Kernel Debug Kit from Apple Reveals Tests for a MacBook with A15 Chip
A kernel debug kit inside Apple hints that the company has run some tests for a MacBook powered by an A15 chip, as well as a separate entry for an A18 Pro chip for a MacBook. This information came from the files leaked from an internal kernel bug used by engineers at Apple. It was […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Apple Currently In Talks With Suppliers for Chip Assembly & Packaging of iPhones in India
Apple is having discussions with suppliers to deal with the assembly of iPhone chips and packaging for the first time in India. The company sources display panels for the iPhone from three industry-leading OLED manufacturers, namely BOE, LG Display, and Samsung Display. The IC display drivers used are provided by Novatek, LX Semicon, Himax, Samsung, […] The post Apple Currently In Talks With Suppliers for Chip Assembly & Packaging of iPhones in India appeared first on iLounge.

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Apple Allows Easier Battery Replacement For M5 MacBook Pro with 14-inch Display
Replacing the battery of the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro has now been made easier by Apple, letting users that are a part of the self-service repair program replace it without taking out internal components of the MacBook. The M5 MacBook Pro in the past needed you to swap multiple modules other than the battery itself […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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The Apple Watch SE 3 44mm GPS is $50 Off
Amazon has the Apple Watch SE 3 44mm GPS marked $50 off. The smartwatch features health essentials like sleep score, detects if you have irregular, low or high heart rate/ rhythm, temperature sensing for better insight in the Vitals app so you can take appropriate action. Stay connected, listen to podcasts and music, take calls, […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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20th Anniversary iPhone May Launch in Two Years
Apple is thinking of releasing an iPhone to commemorate its 20th anniversary in two years. The gadget will feature curved glass and no cutouts on its display, with Face ID built underneath the screen of the device, starting with next year’s iPhone 18 Pro units. The company is developing a game-changer design for their 20th […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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