Pocket drive battle: 10 high speed external hard disks rated
Looking for a portable drive to store your photo and music? Read our verdict and reviews of 10 of the best
External drives are a part of everyday life, and the ubiquitous USB 2 connection is an effortless way to add storage. Sadly, it’s nowhere near fast enough to realise the full performance potential of a typical hard disk.
The read and write speeds you’ll see from a USB 2 external drive are normally only a fraction of what the spinning platters inside the unit are capable of.
The solution? A faster interface. The recent USB 3 standard brings a new SuperSpeed mode that’s ten times as fast as USB 2, allowing hard disks to operate at full speed. If your system doesn’t already have USB 3 ports, you can easily add them: desktop systems can be upgraded with a PCI Express card, while laptops need a USB 3 ExpressCard adapter (these cost around $50). The new standard is backwards compatible, so you can also plug a USB 3 drive into a USB 2 socket should you need to.
This month, we’ve rounded up 10 USB 3 drives to find out which models make the most of the SuperSpeed interface. Some are high-performance desktop drives, designed as a permanent addition to your workspace. Some are stylish portables that you can easily throw in a bag or move between PCs.
For both types of drive we focus on high-capacity models of 500GB or more, because it’s large libraries of data that will benefit most from a faster connection. And we also consider the important issues of design and price. Read on for our verdict on 10 of the biggest, fastest disks in the business.
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NextThis Group Test appeared in the December, 2010 issue of PC & Tech Authority Magazine
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rubaiyat
20 June 2011
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Unfortunately USB 3 does not offer anything like 10 times the speed in the real world tests I have made, and others as well. My FW800 still beats it when transferring randomly sized and numerous files.
I have a feeling it will be an interim technology which many PCs will get stuck with just like they were with USB 1 & 2. For most PC users, never experiencing anything better, they will not notice that however.
Comment made about the PC & Tech Authority article:
Pocket drive battle: 10 high speed external hard disks rated?
Looking for a portable drive to store your photo and music? Read our verdict and reviews of 10 of the best
What do you think? Join the discussion. |
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Athlonite
21 June 2011
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personally eSATA is far better than USB3 or 2 or Firewire and as most mobo's come with it nowadays but for some reason alot of portable HDD makers seem to ignore that fact |
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rubaiyat
22 June 2011
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eSATA is a clumsy patch. Technically it works for limited drives, but Thunderbolt will be by far the better solution as it externalises PCI Express and covers all possible uses in one flexible and straight forward technology. |
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