Mac Compatible USB 3.0 - 2.0 Flash Backup Drives

For smaller files, select backups of mission critical accounting or business data, or for offsite storage: USB flash memory disk drives can be an affordable, compact and simple solution for transferring files Mac to Mac - or Mac to PC. Compact storage to go for easy transfer of photos, data and music; cross-platform.

Most USB thumb drives come pre-formatted for PC - often in a FAT file format for out-of-the-box cross-platform compatibility. But if your needs are strictly Macintosh - re-formatting a thumb drive for Mac OSX is more efficient and will copy files a bit more quickly. For most Apple computer users, just plug 'em in and they'll show up on your Mac's desktop, ready for file copies.

USB Flash Drive Speeds

Like all types of memory - and Flash memory in particular - not all thumb drives are created equal. How fast do you want to go? How much are you willing to pay? affects this market because there are premium priced Super-Speed USB drives that are significantly faster - especially at Writes - which tend to lag Read speeds.

Fastest USB Flash Drives in 2012 - Think USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Flash

NAND flash memory is now capable of exceeding USB 2 speeds. More forward thinking Mac users may want to consider a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Flash Drive. Enjoy USB 2.0 backward compatibility at peak USB2 speeds today - while being ready for the SuperSpeed future when Macs offer built-in USB 3.0 ports.

Fastest USB2 Speed Flash Drives

Multiple reviews and benchmarks agree: For the time being, Corsair's USB 2.0 GTR drive smokes 'em all, reducing backup and copy times by 50% or more over the majority of thumb drives. These USB sticks are pushing the theortical limits of USB 2.0 port transfer speeds with Read speeds of 34MB per second and Writes up to 28MB per second. However USB 3.0 flash drives are appearing on the market, bringing yet another performance edge.

Voyageur GTR Line

32Gb, 64GB, 128GB Capacity

Other Top Performing Thumb-Drives

Dead serious about maximum USB Thumb-Drive performance for your Apple Macintosh? Check out these high-speed flash drives from OCZ Technology & Patriot Memory:

OCZ Rally 2 Flash Drives

Dual-Channel High-Speed

Patriot Magnum Series

Fastest USB Keychain Drive

How To: Format Thumb Drive For Mac

This is optional: Most drives are ready for cross-platform use that a Mac can read. However if you want to prepare it exclusively - and optimally - for Mac use:

+ Insert the USB drive and wait for it to appear on the Desktop.

+ Go to your Applications folder. Scroll down to the Utilities Folder (this is nested in Applications) and click it. This will expand the Utilities folder and show it's contents. Scroll down to "DISK UTILITY" and double click it.

+ Select the drive that you wish to manage in Disk Utility. The available drives will be listed in the left hand column. In this case, click on the drive labeled "USB Flash". Be careful here: You really need to verify and make sure you have the Flash drive selected - and not another hard drive on your system!

+ After the flash drive has been selected click on the "Erase" tab at the top of the screen in Disk Utility. This will open a screen with formatting and naming options for your drive. Give your USB drive a name by typing it into the field provided, and select "Mac X Extended Journaled " as the Volume Format. Then click the "Erase" button on the lower right of the screen to begin the formatting process.

FYI: If you have an Intel CPU Mac - AND a Flash Drive large enough to hold an OSX install (Ideally 16GB or larger) - you may want to create a BOOTABLE flash drive for emergency startup - and backup as well. In this case it's critical to PARTITION the drive with a GUID Partition Table in the Partition options to make it bootable. Hold OPTION key at startup when you want to boot from the flash drive.

Last Updated: Jan 2nd, 2012