A tad pricey but a well-built desktop DAS appliance with plenty of fault-tolerant storage and top performance

External hard disks are a great way to add storage. We test 13, from sub-$130 portable drives to mighty terabyte desktop units.

As prices continue to fall in a competitive market, we take a look at the latest crop of devices for backup and storage.

Stylish and versatile, its only drawback is the mammoth price

Is your PC’s hard disk getting cramped? Invest in an external hard disk and never again worry about running out of room.

An large capacity extrenal drive that looks like something out of the Guggenheim.

Quick, packed with interfaces, but just a little too expensive.

Big, brash and versatile, but for top-end PCs only. Enthusiasts will love it.

New design should cut costs and space.

The P45 chipset takes the stability of the P35 chipset and introduces support for PCI Express 2.0 - the latest standard for graphic cards. If you were waiting for the best choice of upgrade for an existing LGA775 system, or want a board for a budget system, this is definitely the chipset of choice. It's great time to bag an upgrade. What better gift for the DIY geek in your household?

Quick, cheap and light: the best 3.5in drive in the group.

A solid, assured drive with plenty of interfaces and enough style to justify the price.

It may lack eSATA, but this is a fast and cheap terabyte drive.

Clever corner cutting gives us an affordable, upgradeable performer.

A veritable Swiss Army Knife of a NAS drive, the QNAP TS-119 Turbo NAS has every feature under the sun

Dell’s latest business model is another superb outing for its recently released Latitude E-series. It’s not cheap, though

A super-light laptop with great battery life, but the screen is both its stand-out feature and, for some, its Achilles heel

A decent board, but the Hybrid SLI feature doesn’t justify the high asking price

A blisteringly fast processor, strong build and stylish design make this an extremely attractive laptop

Not very competitive on price, but there’s plenty of scope for performance