Pocket This!

Take your pick from 16 portable hard drives to carry your world in your pocket!

High-capacity portable external storage devices are becoming a necessity. Faster Internet connectivity, more sources of data, better hardware, and many such factors have sped up the rate at which we create and download data. And at the same time, file sizes are bloating thanks to high-definition video formats, increasing complexity of game engines, and so on. Not too long ago, a couple of gigabytes on a USB flash drive would suffice to carry a movie or two along with a few songs, photos and documents. But today, people want to carry their entire music collection, favorite movies, photo albums, documents, ISO images, and more, wherever they go. Haven’t you ever wished you had a portable hard drive to carry a couple of movies for the weekend? It’s true that an 8 GB USB flash drive can store around 10 DivX movies, but an external hard drive allows you to store much more—you don’t have to worry about low disk space warning bubble popping up every now and then. The only advantage that USB flash drives have over 2.5-inch drives is that they are as small as your pinky finger and you don’t need to worry about it getting defunct if it falls. Also, it plugs in directly into a USB port and you don’t need any extra cables. External hard drives are bulkier and you need a USB cable to connect them to the PC. But a good thing is that 2.5-inch hard drive-based devices draw power from the USB port and you don’t need to carry a power brick around like in case of 3.5-inch external hard drives.

2.5-inch external hard drives have come a long way, thanks to the advancements in storage technology. The last time we compared these drives, 40 GB and 80 GB capacities were available and SATA hard drives had just made their way into external storage devices. Today, the minimum capacity of these storage devices has doubled to 160 GB, and the highest capacity has reached half a terabyte. Unlike before, you also have a choice of interfaces. If you own an Apple Macintosh, you can opt for a drive with FireWire interface for better transfer speeds or a preformatted drive ready for use with an Apple machine. Users who handle things roughly can now pick a rugged hard drive that is robust enough to sustain accidental drops and occasional tossing around—we tried ill-treating one such drive and it didn’t succumb! A drive with a one-touch backup button and data encryption feature is ideal for students and office users who want a backup device to secure their critical documents and synchronize data between home and work PCs. Or how about a sexy-looking storage device that will turn all heads around you?

If you want to transfer voluminous amounts of data and still haven’t picked up an external storage device, pick up a 2.5-inch external hard drive. USB flash drives are cheaper, but look at the price you’re paying per GB. An 8 GB flash drive priced around Rs 800 offers a gigabyte for Rs 100, whereas you pay only Rs 16 per GB if you buy a 250 GB that costs Rs 4,000. In this roundup, we compared 15 portable hard drives from most of the major brands on the market. You’ll find all that we’ve spoken about in the next few pages. But before we move on, here’s what the drives went through in our tests.

personal take

Before buying a portable storage device, decide on the storage capacity you really need. 160 GB is ideal for backing up your documents and carrying your favorite movies and songs. If you’re a gamer or an entertainment buff who likes carrying his loads of movies and ISO images, then a capacious 320 GB or 500 GB storage device will keep you satisfied.

Don’t base your decision primarily on read / write speeds because all external 2.5-inch hard drives perform almost the same over USB. Instead, look at the price per GB ratio after you have decided on the capacity that will suit your storage needs—on an average, it’s between Rs 14 and Rs 20 per GB. Also look out for additional features such as a one-touch backup button and a shock-proof build. Don’t ignore the one-touch backup feature if you need an external storage device for backing up or synchronizing your data between two or more PCs. And if looks matter to you the most, then don’t look anywhere else and pick the gorgeous ruby red Iomega eGo.

I’ve always been a fan of the ‘Best Value’ award winners because they offer an excellent blend of features and performance for their price. My personal favorite is none other than the 250 GB Transcend StoreJet 25M. First and foremost, 250 GB is just perfect for carrying around lots of movies and music, my entire photo collection, office documents and saved games. The drive offers a very attractive price per GB ratio along with the one-touch backup feature and a robust build—it’s a steal for Rs 4,000!

Putting together a portable storage device by adding a 2.5-inch hard drive in an external casing is no longer a cheaper alternative, unless you can get hold of a good 2.5-inch hard drive casing with USB and eSATA interfaces. Otherwise a branded product with a five year warranty is a much safer bet. I have added a 250 GB SATA hard drive into the Vantec NexStar 3 NST-260SU (with eSATA) and I’m very happy with the performance. It cost me Rs 4,500.

The gorgeous Iomega eGo can never go unnoticed. It sports a ruby red anodized aluminum shell with chrome highlights at the ends, and resembles a pocket alcohol flask. You just want to keep looking at it while it’s on your desk. The drive packs in a 250 GB Seagate Momentus 5400.4 SATA hard drive and connects to the PC via USB 2.0 interface. Not to mention, the Iomega eGo is rugged and it won’t fail if you drop it accidentally.

On ripping the packaging open, you’ll only find a USB cable, quick start guide and sheet with license codes for the backup solutions for both Windows and Mac Users—EMC Retrospect Express (for Windows and Mac) and EMC Retrospect Express HD (for Windows). We expected the applications to be loaded on the drive because there was no installation disc in the package. But when we hooked up the drive to the PC it was completely blank. You have to download the application from www.iomega.com/getemc and activate them with the codes provided—a bit bothersome and there’s no way out. EMC Retrospect Express features an intuitive interface to backup and restore your data. However, it misses out on certain key features such as data encryption.

The average read and write speeds of most 2.5-inch external hard drives were very similar. The only reason why Iomega eGo made it to the top was because it zoomed through the ‘multiple files write’ test. While other drives took almost a minute to write 1 GB of multiple files, this one took 15 seconds less. At Rs 6,330 the Iomega eGo is overpriced for a 250 GB drive because it commands a premium for its attractive design and ruggedness. The inclusion of a one-touch backup button and eSATA connectivity would have justified the price tag. If size matters more to you, then you can get a 320 GB drive for a little more than Rs 4,000.

Verdict: The Iomega EgO is for those who want a sleek-looking drive with top-notch performance.

For: Excellent build quality, good read and write speeds, shock-proof.

Against: Software has to be downloaded and it lacks data encryption feature.

The 250 GB Transcend StoreJet 25M offers an attractive price per ratio along with a good bundle of features. The chocolate brown drive with orange highlights comes encased in a rubber sleeve that makes it shock resistant. We dropped it from a height of four feet a couple of times and then connected it to the PC keeping our fingers crossed. It worked without any problems as if nothing happened to it.

When it comes to storage devices, size matters the most. Given a choice between additional capacity and one-touch backup feature, most people would opt for the former. But the one-touch backup feature on this drive is indeed a very good value addition, thanks to the bundled software StoreJet Elite 3. To make the one-touch button functional, you have to first run StoreJet Elite 3 and set the preferences.

The software has many useful features such as backing up of Outlook mails, Favorites (IE and Firefox), My Documents, and data on the hard disk. You can also select the folders that you wish to mirror and keep synchronized on the StoreJet 25M. After configuring the settings, you just have to push the backup button on the drive to synchronize the data. This feature is extremely useful for backing up critical data and keeping the folder contents up-to-date at all times.

The StoreJet 25M is a good performer with decent read and write speeds. At 30 MB/s it takes around 20 seconds to transfer a 700 MB DivX movie to the drive. However, it takes a slight hit if you transfer multiple files.

For example, copying 1 GB worth MP3 files to the drive will take a minute or so, which isn’t too bad. Rs 4,000 for 250 GB of storage space, ruggedness and one-touch backup feature—you can’t ask for anything more.

Verdict: Buy this drive and you can rest assured that you’ve got your money’s worth.

For: Shock resistant, one-touch backup, very useful software.

Against: None.