External Hard Drives Test

Reviews on External Hard Drives

"LaCie Hard Disk 500GB, Design by Neil Poulton"

Published on: 3/2008

On test: LaCie Hard Disk (500GB)

If you’re the type of person who is impressed by designer labels, you’ll love this external hard drive as it oozes style. The black glossy finish is more in keeping with the digital home than the average living room or computer desk.

"Memorex Ultra TravelDrive"

Published on: 10/2007

On test: Memorex Ultra TravelDrive

It's pretty much been established that USB powered 2.5in portable hard drives are the greatest invention in computer storage since the CD. They work on just about any computer, don't need a separate power supply, can be small and light enough to carry in a pocket (yet tough enough not to need a case), have enough capacity for transporting even the largest media collections, are reuseable, and, considering their capacity, are as cheap as chips as well. All of which is great for the consumer but for the manufacturers, this makes things a little more difficult as a marketplace saturated with essentially identically good products means that making your product stand out from the crowd becomes a difficult task. That's why we've seen plenty of attempts by companies to create products that offer something unique to the consumer, with some being more successful than others. However, the Memorex Ultra TravelDrive is the first portable hard drive we've seen that offers not just one but several unique and innovative features. The most stand out of which is that it's the first we've seen that changes colour to suit your mood!

"Freecom ToughDrive Pro 160GB"

Issue: 19/2007

On test: Freecom ToughDrive Pro (160GB)

The idea of using rubber to protect the outside of a portable hard drive isn't new; LaCie started shipping drives with a rubber 'bumper' in the late 1990s. however, this Freecom drive is covered in the stuff. In fact, only the rear section of the case where the ports are is rubber-free.

"WiebeTech ToughTech XE Mini 200GB"

Issue: 17/2007

On test: WiebeTech ToughTech XE Mini (200GB)

WiebeTech bills its ToughTech XE Mini as 'the most portable quad-interface enclosure available', and when you take it out of the box it's easy to see why. Despite measuring only 130mm x 80mm x 20mm, this hard drive enclosure squeezes two FireWire 800 ports, an eSata port and a USB 2 interface onto its rear.

External Hard Drives

The hard drive of a computer is used for saving all non volatile, that is to say, all permanent information such as documents, the operating system, programs and all other data. Most hard drives are found inside the computer case itself, but an external hard drive can be used to add storage space and also to help when sharing large amounts of data between computers or for keeping a secure backup of important data.

These drives are either specially made or are a normal internal hard disk mounted in an enclosure with an IDE to USB or FireWire adaptor. There are also no-called Network Attached Storage devices, these are connected to a local area network and can be accessed by any connected computer.

Because the basic drive is the same, external hard drives are available in the same sizes and speeds as a normal drive, ie. up to 500GB with speeds of 5400 or 720RPM. External hard drives are now much cheaper and more efficient, some smaller drives can even be powered by the USB bus itself, although for backing up sensitive information this is generally not recommended.

Prices have also dropped significantly with basic 300GB drives costing under one hundred pounds. A more expensive drive could however offer some interesting features that may be of use to those living in today's digital age. These include the ability to connect the drive directly to a television or hi-fi system, copy from memory cards or act as an automatic redundant backup device for the connected PC.

This category contains tests on External Hard Disk, External Hard Disks.