The trends in external drives continue to build,
with larger capacities, better performance, smaller
packages, and lower cost. Unfortunately, with so
many options available today, it’s all a little confusing.
First there are the basic form factors: 3.5-inch
drives, 2.5-inch notebook drives, flash drives, 1.8-
inch mini drives, 1-inch and even .8-inch micro
drives. Then there’s the alphabet soup of connection
standards. Do you need IDE/ATA, PATA, SATA,
SAS, SCSI, USB/USB2, FireWire 400/800? Mix in
rotational speeds, buffer cache sizes, advertised seek
times, enclosure cooling, warranty, brand loyalty,
and on and on until your eyes glaze over.
Here’s a tip. Today’s external drives are almost
always USB 2.0, FireWire 400, or FireWire 800
devices. USB2 and FW 400 (the original FireWire)
move data at about the same speed, while the newest
FW 800 is slightly faster … but a far cry from its
advertised 30MB/s and 60MB/s speeds. Higher rotational
speeds do translate into faster throughput but
come at a premium. New eSATA drives (external
Serial ATA) are being introduced at affordable prices
and bear watching since, theoretically, SATA doubles
the top speeds of the fastest FireWire drives. All
those other specifications are simply not especially
important. So keep it simple: Ask yourself what
you want your drive to do and then get the largest
capacity drive you can afford that does it. But first
you should know a few things.
Know your need
Do you want increased performance, additional
storage, portability, security, or data redundancy? In
other words, do you want to work faster, make more
room, simplify transfers, or safeguard your data?
Know your system
Do you have USB, USB2, FireWire 400, or
FireWire 800 ports? Do you have an open PCI slot?
What is your current operating system?
Know your budget
Do you have a spending limit? Are you willing to
trade off size or speed to stay on budget?
Know your work
Are you moving large chunks of data such as digital
video editing, 3D rendering, or scratch disk
Photoshop filter operations? Do you archive years of
music, hours of video, or large portfolios of working
files? Do you have mission-critical files you can’t
afford to lose? Do you work on the road or at a second
location?
Choose your form factor wisely
As a drive’s physical size decreases, its cost per gigabyte
increases. Additionally, drive durability translates
into data survivability. The standard desktop
drive with its 3.5-inch form factor is still the most
reliable single-drive storage solution today; 2.5-inch
portable drives are nearly as durable. But reliability
decreases rapidly with 1.8-inch and smaller drives.
So be sure to have an established backup policy if
you decide to go with one of these mini or micro
drives. Even flash drives, with no moving parts to
fail, can corrupt data if improperly disconnected.
Specialized functions
Today’s drives handle specialized functions. These
are mass storage, portability, backup, or data redundancy
and come in various performance levels. It
doesn’t make sense to buy an expensive 120GB portable
FW 800 7200rpm drive for nightly backups
when you can get a slower 200GB FW 400 3.5-inch
drive for half the price that does the job easier.
Again: Know what functions you want and select
the drive that best fulfills your requirement.
Desktop mass storage (3.5-inch)—Sizes
up to 1TB
Size matters and the rule of thumb still holds: Once
you’ve determined the storage size you want, double
it. Remember, interface options and rotational
speeds both contribute to a drive’s performance and
impact its price per gigabyte. Some more popular
multiple-interface system options are shown at right.
LaCie, with a wide range of hard drives for mass
storage, trumps this category.
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1. LaCie d2 Extreme
sports a sleek aluminum
edge-mounted
enclosure with a
super-quiet drive
mechanism.
Three-way FW400/
800 + USB2; 7200rpm
160GB—$160 ($1.00/
GB); 300GB—$220
($.73/GB). Includes
cables for FW400/
800, USB2, and iLink.
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2. Iomega Black Series
comes in a unique
enclosure with heatactivated
fan.
Three-way FW400/
800 + USB2; 7200rpm
250GB—$220 ($.88/
GB); 400GB—$360
($.90/GB). Includes
cables for USB2 and
FW800 only.
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3. LaCie’s Big Disk
Extreme breaks the
1TB barrier (1 terabyte
equals 1,000 GB).
Three-way FW400/
800; 7200rpm
500GB—$330 ($.66/
GB); 600GB—$380
($.63/GB); 1TB—$729
($.73/GB). Includes
cables for FW800/
400, USB2, and iLink.
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Portable drives (2.5-inch), a.k.a. Pocket
drives—Sizes up to 160GB
Perfect for moving between multiple locations or
supplementing a notebook’s puny drive, portable
hard drives are pocket-sized marvels of engineering.
Look for a durable enclosure that will stand up to
travel and pay careful attention to rotation speeds
if performance is critical. You’ll pay a premium for
the three-way high-speed interface, but if you need
only one connection, be sure to check out the OWC
Mercury On-The-Go offerings.
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4. LaCie Rugged has
aluminum enclosure
with rubber bumpers
to protect data from
road shock. Three-way
FW400/800 + USB2
5400rpm 80GB—
$199.99 ($2.50/GB);
7200rpm 100GB—
$399.99 ($4/GB);
5400rpm 120GB—
$359.99 ($3/GB). Or
single USB2 interface
5400rpm 80GB—
$169.99 ($2.13/GB);
5400rpm 120GB—
$329.99 ($2.75/GB)
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5. G-Technology GDrive
Mini is extremely
durable. Tough and
sleek in its aluminum
case and big heat sink,
it also has the highest
price per gigabyte
in its class. 100GB
FW/USB2 Hybrid;
5400rpm—$239 to
$279 ($2.39/GB to
$2.79/GB); 7200rpm—
$359 to $389 ($3.59/
GB to $3.89/GB)
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6. The OWC Mercury
On-The-Go’s cool seethrough
design offers
a model for every user
and the best price per
gigabyte in portable
drives (available in
40–120 GB). Here’s
a 100GB sampling
(includes external
power supply and
leather case):
Two-way FW800
+ USB2; 7200rpm
8GB—$280 ($2.80/
GB); 5400rpm 8GB—
$230 ($2.30/GB);
5400rpm 16GB—
$234 ($2.34/GB);
Two-way FW400 +
USB2; 7200rpm 8GB—
$260 ($2.60/GB);
5400rpm 8GB—$198
($1.98/GB); 5400rpm
16GB—$200 ($2/
GB); FW400-only or
USB2-only: 7200rpm
8GB—$250/$240
($2.50/$2.40/GB);
5400rpm 8GB—
$190/$188 ($1.90/
$1.88/GB); 5400rpm
16GB—$190/$186
($190/$1.86/GB)
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Portable mini drives (1.8 inch)—Sizes up
to 60GB
You may already be toting around extra storage and
not know it. MP3 players are really just mini storage
devices. And with the popularity of Apple’s iPod,
its cost per gigabyte is not prohibitively higher than
other 1.8-inch dedicated storage drives.
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7.
The QMemory
Mobile Disk Mini is a
best buy in 1.8-inch
drives. USB2 40GB—
$154 ($3.85/GB)
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8. Apple’s Gen5 iPod
is comparably priced
to other 1.8-inch simple
storage drives but
offers the added benefit of music, video,
and image libraries
with audio out, a
sharp LCD screen, and
onboard battery to
enjoy on the go.
USB2 (Gen1/2/3/4
iPods connect via
FireWire 400);
60GB—$299 ($5/GB)
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Tip: Here’s how to set up your iPod for double
duty: With the iPod connected to your computer,
open iTunes Preferences and select the iPod icon
from the top menu bar. Check Enable Disk Use.
Your iPod now appears as an external drive. One
thing to remember: When the iPod is in Disk mode,
you must always eject the drive manually before disconnecting,
just as with other external devices.
Flash drives (a.k.a. Thumb, Pen, Key, or
Jump drives)—Sizes up to 16GB
Flash drives have become a must-have for moving
files painlessly from one machine to another …
regardless of platform.
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9. Smallest: The tiny
Sandisk Cruzer Micro
comes with a lanyard
and quick release
clasp. 1GB—$45
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10. Best Buy:
SuperFlash flash
drives give you the
most bang for your
buck. USB2; 1GB—$23,
2GB—$44.
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11. Dual Function
Gadgets: The popularity
of flash drives
has generated some
unusual combinations.
These are only a few
examples:
Q-Memory Calculator
USB2; 512MB—$26 (www.costco.com)
DiskGo! Wristwatch
USB; 1GB—$70
Swissbit Victorinox
RetroALOX
USB2; 1GB—$141 (www.tylertool.com)
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12. Larger Capacity:
Buslink with Secure
Write—Expensive!
Consider a mini drive
if you really need this
much storage.
USB2; 16GB—$497.95
($31.12/GB)
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Backup drives
A number of drives perform incremental backups of
one or more drives at the touch of a button. A few
of the best are shown at right. With no real need
for a faster FW 800 connection, each of these drives
comes with a two-way USB2 + FW 400 interface. If
you are looking for a simple backup solution, these
drives offer the lowest price per gigabyte for a variety
of capacities.
Today’s external drives offer spacious storage and
peace of mind at attractive prices. With plug-andplay
simplicity, massive storage in the palm of your
hand, or one-touch backups, it’s never been easier to
work smarter, faster, and safer.
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13. Seagate External
Hard Drive: Seagate’s
drive mechanisms
are the most durable
in the industry. Two-
Way USB2 + FW400;
7200rpm 200GB—
$230 ($1.15/GB)
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14. Maxtor OneTouch
II is a popular backup
drive. Two-Way USB2
+ FW400; 7200rpm
300 GB—$290 ($.97/
GB); 500GB—$450
($.90/GB) www.circuitcity.com
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15. Seagate Pushbutton
Backup: This
model represents
the lowest cost pergigabyte
one-touch
backup solution.
Two-Way USB2 +
FW400; 7200rpm
500GB—$346 ($.69/
GB)
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16. Seagate Pushbutton
Backup Hard
Drive: This is the largest
one-touch backup
solution available.
Two-way USB2 +
FW400; 750GB—$559
($.75/GB)
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