Review: The G-Drive Mobile USB-C HDD is a great storage solution for your Mac

Storage devices are arguably the most common accessories that still get connected to your Mac. Whether a massive RAID array at your desk, a super-fast SSD, or a portable solution for backups and media it needs to connect somehow. Slowly but surely, all accessories have been transitioning to USB-C and storage has been at the front of that transition.

We've been using the 2TB G-Drive Mobile USB-C hard drive with our MacBook Pro for the past few weeks, partitioned as half external storage and half a time machine backup.

Compatible I/O

This drive has a USB-C port on one end and both USB-C to USB-A and USB-C to USB-C cables in the box. This allows it to work out of the box on the newest Macs, as well as on older Macs and PCs that have type-A ports. It doesn't have the speed as Thunderbolt, but given the common USB-C connector, it does fit and work with any Thunderbolt 3 ports.

There's no difference in speed between the two of them, so you don't get any benefit choosing type-C over type-A. It just happens to work natively with your machine without any adapters.

By including a native USB-C port on the drive rather than a mini B, it allows you to use almost any USB-C cable you've got lying around. Next to the port is a small LED which flashes when the drive is in use and can act as an indicator when it is a poor time to disconnect the drive.

Performance

This drive isn't meant to be the fastest in the world, and shoot for cost-effective data density. The 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB models all ship with a 5400RPM internal 2.5-inch HDD, which is a fine average for a daily use drive.

G-Tech promises up to 140MB/s max transfer rate, which is just about what we saw. In our Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, we pulled 125MB/s on average for write speeds and 135MB/s on average for read speeds. If you are looking for faster, G-Tech does put out more pro-oriented drives with faster internals and I/O. You can also look at SSDs.

With 140MB/s, this is a great drive to use for transferring common files or for backing up your machine. Think daily utility use, not blistering speed.

Made for Macs

The G-Drive Mobile USB-C drive isn't exclusively made for Macs — it works with PCs just fine — but it is clearly designed with the Mac user in mind. The exterior is simple and stylish and the aluminum matches that of any Apple computer.

There are gold, silver, and black finishes available, which matches the coloration of Apple's most recent gear.

G-Tech includes a three-year warranty on the drives which is above the one year average we see on consumer-grade storage solutions. Should anything go wrong within that period, G-Tech will have your back.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Where to buy

If you need some additional storage for on the go, you can grab the G-Drive Mobile USB-C portable hard drive from Amazon starting at $70 in either silver, black, or gold.