LaCie's range of Mobile Drives provide a much wider range of options, as well as a 'diamond cut' design.

Rather than the neon-orange rubber bumper of the Rugged drives, the new Mobile Drives are wrapped in smart aluminium. They're available in two colours: 'moon silver' and, of course, 'space grey' that is intended to match the latest Mac models. The 'diamond cut' design simply refers to the exaggerated angular edges and corners; looks aside, the aluminium casing feels really sturdy - in fact, the 5TB model that we tested weighs in at 400g, and could give someone a serious concussion if you whacked them over the head with it.

There are smaller and lighter alternatives, though, depending on how much storage you need. Those two drives measure just 10mm thick, 88mm wide and 122mm long, and weigh a more modest 200g.

The 5TB model is twice as heavy and twice as thick (20mm), and costs more. There's also a 4TB model, which is the same size and weight, but slightly less expensive.

The Mobile Drive has a single USB-C port on the back, but LaCie includes cables for both USB-C and the older USB 3.0, so you can use the drive with any Mac or PC.

The drives can be used with Time Machine for Mac backups, but LaCie's ToolKit app also allows you to 'mirror' individual folders. This is a good option if you use your Mac at work, and have individual projects organised in their own folders. Any folder that is 'mirrored' is automatically backed up and updated as soon as you make any changes to any file within that folder. This ensures that your backups are always up to date with the most recent versions of your files (whereas Time Machine still leaves a one-hour gap between backups).

Our only complaint here is that LaCie's skimpy manual doesn't provide much information about the ToolKit app, or the various formatting options for the drive, simply leaving you to wade through a bunch of FAQ files on its website.

That's our only complaint, though, and the Mobile Drive provides good performance, with write and read speeds both averaging out at 132MB/s in our tests - almost identical to the Rugged Secure drives - while backing up a 5GB batch of iTunes songs took exactly one minute.

Seagate has recently overhauled the Backup Plus range, putting more emphasis on portable drives for laptop users.

The new models are all compact, portable drives, although they offer a number of different designs and features. If you just want lots of extra storage at a competitive price then the Backup Plus Portable Drive offers either 4TB or 5TB. Those large drives are a bit on the chunky side - 21mm thick - so Seagate also offers the Backup Plus Slim with either 1TB or 2TB storage instead. The Slim drives measure just 12mm thick, and has 1TB storage or 2TB capacities.

However, the top-of-the-range model is the new Backup Plus Ultra Touch. Like the Slim drives, the Ultra Touch is available with either 1TB or 2TB storage. It's slightly more expensive, but has a stylish design that makes it a good companion for your MacBook, and also offers encryption to provide extra security for your important files and data.

The Ultra Touch measures just 12mm thick, 78mm wide and 115mm long, and weighs 151g, so you can easily slip it into a jacket pocket or a bag when you're travelling with your laptop. It's available in either black or white, and finished off with a smart woven fabric that makes a nice change from the dull monochrome colours of most hard drives. There's a standard USB 3.0 port on the back of the drive, and a USB 3.0 cable that will work with any Mac or PC, but Seagate also includes a USB-C adapter so that you can use it with new computers that have USB-C as well.

The Ultra Touch includes the same ToolKit app that is used with the LaCie Mobile Drive that we also review in this group test. The drive can be used for automatic Time Machine backups on your Mac, but you can also use the 'mirror' option in the ToolKit app to automatically back up individual folders so that they're always right up-to-date (and don't have to wait for Time Machine's hourly backups).

The ToolKit app also handles the encryption process for the Ultra Touch, although we found Seagate's manual - or lack thereof - to be rather unhelpful, leaving us to look around for FAQs and information about this encryption and other features on the company's website.

Performance is respectable enough, although the Ultra Plus won't win any awards for high-speed backups. It recorded write and read speeds of 125MB/s and 130MB/s in our tests, and took 110 seconds to back up a 5GB batch of iTunes music files. Even so, that performance will be fine for routine backups when you're travelling, and the encryption option will be really useful if you want to make sure that your private data stays private even if the drive is lost or stolen.

There's a somewhat confusing selection of drives in Western Digital's Passport range, including the My Passport Ultra equipped with USB-C, the rugged My Passport Go for outdoor use, and even a wireless model too. However, we're happy to opt for the basic My Passport drive, which provides plenty of portable storage at a competitive price.

The My Passport starts at just £49.99/$79.99 for 1TB storage, going up to £119.99/$189 for 5TB, so it's a really affordable back-up option if you're on a tight budget.

The size of the drive depends on the amount of storage you choose - our 4TB drive measured a chunky 19mm thick, 75mm wide, and 107mm deep, but the 1TB and 2TB models are just 11mm thick. Our 4TB drive was still small enough to slip into jacket pocket with no trouble at all.

It's very solidly built too, so we'd be happy to use it in outdoor locations with our MacBook if we needed to.

Admittedly, the drive is showing its age a little, using ye olde USB 3.0 interface, so you'll need an adaptor if your Mac only has USB-C. Its read and write speeds of 108MB/s and 100MB/s aren't going to win any awards either, but the My Passport will still be fine for the occasional Time Machine back-up when you're on the move with your laptop.

There's also a model called My Passport For Mac that includes extra cables for both USB 3.0 and USB-C, and is pre-formatted in Apple's HFS+ format, but that's slightly more expensive so it's not essential unless you've got a bit of extra cash to spare.

As the name suggests, LaCie's 1big Dock is more than just a straightforward hard drive. It starts at £319.99/$449 for a drive with 4TB storage, going up to £709.99/$853.99 for 18TB, and its 7,200rpm 'Iron Wolf' hard drive provides strong performance with read and write speeds of 235MB/s via its Thunderbolt 3 port. That makes it a good option for anyone that needs a fast back-up 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 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 - although, of course, that's quite a bit more expensive.

Seagate's Firecuda Gaming Dock is an impressive all-in-one device that combines a speedy desktop hard drive with a versatile Thunderbolt dock. But all those extra features mean that it's big and heavy - and also pretty expensive.

If you're looking for a more affordable alternative option that still has a bit of gaming eye-candy then the new Firecuda Gaming Hard Drive should fit the bill.

It's not just for gaming, of course, and it's available with 1TB, 2TB or 5TB of storage, so it provides plenty of room for all your music, photos, videos and work files. The drive only has a standard USB-A interface (USB 3.2) though, so owners of newer Mac models that only have USB-C will need an adaptor (not included).

The USB port provides power too, so you can use the Firecuda either as a desktop drive, or as a portable drive with your laptop if you want to. 

The drive works with Time Machine, as you'd expect, but Seagate's ToolKit app provides additional options for creating 'sync' plans that back-up specific folders. It even allows you to customise the lighting and colours emitted from the drive's front panel.

The drive's performance is similar to that of other compact hard drives that we've seen recently, recording read and write speeds of 133MB/s and 130MB/s respectively. And, with its competitive pricing and handy ToolKit app, the Gaming Drive deserves to attract a wider audience than just the gaming market.

G-Tech has always focused on providing high-performance storage devices for creative users who work with lots of photos, video and audio files, and the G-Drive USB-C is an affordable desktop drive that provides good performance and bucket-loads of storage space.

The G-Drive is neatly designed with a smart, sturdy aluminium casing, and it starts with a minimum of 4TB storage, going right up to 18TB, which should be enough even for professional users working with 8K video.

There are USB-C and USB-A cables included in the box, so it'll work with older Macs that don't have USB-C without needing an adaptor.

The drive's high capacity means that it requires a mains power supply, but the USB-C port on the back of the drive also provides 45W pass-through power, so you can use it to charge a laptop without needing a separate power supply for the laptop as well.

Performance is good too, with our 4TB model recording read and write speeds of 170MB/s with the Black Magic Disk Test. There's also a version of the G-Drive that has both USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports, but that's a lot more expensive, so this USB-C model is the best option if you simply want lots of hard drive storage at an affordable price.

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, of course, a fast drive will also appeal to anyone that has a lot of photo, video 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 £199.99 price tag on Amazon is still competitive for a fast drive such as this.

Note that it's only equipped with an old USB A interface (even though it is USB 3.2) perhaps to provide compatibility with older games consoles too - so you'll need an adaptor if your Mac only has USB-C.

As you might expect, its 7,200rp drive provides very good performance, reaching read and write speeds of 245MB/s and 240MB/s respectively. The D10 requires a mains 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.