Linksys NAS-200

We’ve reviewed a couple external hard drives here such as the Seagate FreeAgent and the Western Digital My Book but what do you do if you want to share your drive between a number of computers.

When you want to share your drive between multiple computers at once (or even over the internet), the easiest way to do so is to put your drives into a Network Attached Storage device. The Linksys NAS-200 is a great little device that does just the job.

Connecting the Storage System to your network is simple - just plug it directly into an available 10/100 Ethernet port on your router or switch, and the storage is instantly accessible by your whole network.

Here are a few of the technical specifications for the NAS-200:

• Street Price: $179.99
• Two drive bays and two USB ports
• Automatic Backup software included
• More USB ports to add additional external drives
• 10/100 Ethernet port
• Ability to share your files on the internet through FTP or HTTP

Things I like
The thing I like most about the NAS-200 is how easy it is to set it up. The install utility works well with all versions of Windows including Windows Vista, sets up the drives, and automatically maps a network drive. After this you can do everything you need either through the software provided or online so you have total control over the device. The final thing I like is the price. Coming in at just under $200 the NAS-200 is one of the cheapest network attached storage systems available. If you’re on a low budget this is definitely for you. Unfortunately, other than the easy setup and the low price there isn’t that I like about the NAS-200.

Things I don’t like
The thing I like the least about the NAS-200 is its transfer speeds, they are absolutely terrible. Moving 5 files for a total of 5.30GB, from the PC to the NAS-200 took just under 40 minutes with an average transfer speed of less than 3.60MB/sec. Since it has a 10/100 interface, the theoretical maximum transfer speed was 12.5MB/sec and I was hoping to get somewhere around 8-10MB/sec on writes and reads. The NAS-200 also uses proprietary software to format the drives so you can’t swap them into a computer without formatting them before hand. This is really annoying and in my opinion rather stupid, but what can you do.

Pros:

• Easy to set up, all web driven menus.
• Two hard drive storage
• Can be set for multiple users.
• Cheapest Network Storage available

Cons:

• Priprietary disk format
• Slow transfer speeds

Final Thoughts
If you’re in dire need of a NAS and you don’t have a lot of money to spend than the Linksys NAS-200 is a good deal for you. If you have a little more money or aren’t in need of a NAS right away I would hold up. The proprietary disk format and the low speeds just don’t make the NAS-200 worth the money. I don’t recommend this product and I think Linksys could have done a lot better.

Western Digital - My Book

For years now people have relied on external hard drives to store personal information, videos and other things. The size of external hard drives have been increasing recently and today we’re going to look at the largest external drive around.

Western Digital’s My Book is a sleek 1 TeraByte (1000 GB’s) external hard drive. Its curves seem a bit softer and there is a blue activity light. The old model had two circles: one for activity, and one circle that filled up as the drive was loaded with files. This new version has just a single LED strip that bounces back and forth during activity and then lights up as you fill the drive up.

Here are a few of the technical specifications for the WD My Book:

• Street Price: $349.99
• eSATA, Firewire 400, USB 2.0
• Automatic Backup software included
• Small size

It Holds

• Up to 285,000 digital photos
• Up to 250,000 songs (MP3)
• Up to 25,000 songs (uncompressed CD quality)
• Up to 76 hours of Digital Video (DV)
• Up to 400 hours of DVD quality video
• Up to 100 hours of HD video

Things I like
The fact that this drive allows for eSATA, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 connections. This means you’ll be able to use the fastest connection possible to move your data. This drive is meant to be a backup drive for your laptop or desktop. WD realized this and included a great set of software tools to do the backup job. This software works flawlessly and is really easy to use. I’ve had backup software where it would take me 30 minutes just to understand what to press but this isn’t the case. I also like the look of the My Book. It is so sleek and just looks really nice. The final thing I like about this hard drive is the fact that it stays cool even during prolonged usage. Normally external hard drives heat up but the My Book keeps cool.

Things I don’t like
The My Book is fairly expensive and there are a number of cheaper 1TB hard drives. Other than its high price there isn’t anything I don’t like about this drive.

Pros:

• Triple interface
• Great software
• Quiet operation

Cons:

• Pricey
• No eSATA cable included

Final Thoughts
If you’re in need of a large backup external hard drive the Western Digital My Book is definitely the hard drive for you. It looks amazing, has a number of different connection possibilities and stays cool even during prolonged use. I highly recommend this drive to any one.

Rating : 4.75/5

Fantom Drives 1TB

People expect a lot from their computers. They expect them to be quick, efficient and store a lot of data. Unfortunately most computer cases can only hold a limited number of things before they become too cramped. If you’re into photography or video editing you want your computer to be very quick and store a lot of data and this just isn’t always possible.

The Fantom Drives 1TB external hard drive will allow you to keep all of the extra things that you can’t fit onto your computer. The FD 1TB external has a very sleek and professional design to it; just looking at it makes me want to buy one. Under the nice case is a fairly fast hard drive that will store your information at a rate of 75mb/s.

Technical specifications for the FD 1TB external hard drive:

• Street price: $339.95
• Firewire 800/400, USB 2.0
• Data Buffer Cache : 32MB minimum
• Access Time : 8.9 ms
• Connectors : 2x FireWire 800, 1x FireWire 400, 1 x USB 2.0
• OS Support : Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Mac OS X v10.2 & greater

Things I like
1Terabyte (1,000 Gigabytes) stores a lot of information. On this external hard drive you could store up to 400 two-hour DVD-quality movies, or 880 days of around-the-clock MP3 audio, or 370,500 vivid digital photos. Unless you’re storing raw video footage it’ll be very hard to fill this thing up.

A great thing about the Fantom Drive is that you don’t need to install anything to get it to work. A lot of external hard drives require you to put some sort of software on your system. With this external hard drive all you have to do is plug it in and start using it, it really couldn’t be simpler.

Things I don’t like
The thing I don’t like about this product is that it uses two drives. I know that may seem a little pick but if one of the drives fails you’re in a lot of trouble. Because Fantom uses their own unique algorithm to store the information between two disk if one of them goes you might not be able to access whatever you put onto the disk. This shouldn’t be a problem because hard drives now a days are lasting a lot longer than they used to but it still scares me.

This external gives you a lot of space but it comes at a premium. If you’re willing to pay over $300 for this external hard drive than its a great buy.

Pros:

• Very nice design.
• Large capacity.
• Fast transfer rate.
• Don’t need to install anything.

Cons:

• Costly.
• Two separate drives.

Final Thoughts
The Fantom Drives 1 Terabyte external hard drive is a sizable investment. While it does cost over $300 it does store a lot of information. I personally wouldn’t want to trust all of my information to one external but if you don’t have a lot of space than this drive is for you. If you don’t have a lot of money you could pick up two 500GB external hard drives for cheaper.

Lacie Rugged All-Terrain-120GB

Hard drive is a fragile component and hence is not preferred over flash drives by some people.Lacie has come to the rescue with a rugged all-terrain external hard drive which can stand shocks and hence makes a good companion without you having to worry about its handling.The drive supports triple interface too.

First some of its specifications:

• Dimensions: 3.5″ x 5.7″ x 1″
• Interface: USB 2.0/Firewire 400/Firewire 800
• Spindle speed: 5400 rpm
• Transfer rate: 800 mbps
• Buffer size: 8 MB
• OS compatibility : OS X , Windows , Linux
• Warranty: 3 Years

The drive has a layer of orange color rubber covering on it which gives it extra protection.The drive covering has been made from scratch proof aluminum.The design on the drive is simple yet elegant.Lacie claims that the drive will not sustain any damage if it falls from a height less than 35 inches which comes out approximately to about 3 feet which is roughly the height of a table.The drive comes in two versions.One which has only USB 2.0 interface and other which has additonal triple interface along with Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 interfaces.

Triple interface is handy if you have a firewire port on your PC and it can help you extract the maximum out of the hard disk.The drive is USB powered and does not need any AC adapter to go about doing its task.Also if the drive is not able to draw enough power from one USB port you can connect another cable to the power port provided on the hard drive.This is a boon for old PC users which have limited USB power.

The performance is very good and among some of the best in its category.The drive managed to give an average speed on 16 MB/second while writing data on the disk using the firewire 400 interface.The drive’s write speed managed to climb to 20MB/second when tested using the Firewire 800 interface, an improvement of a neat 25 per cent! The read tests slated the read speeds at 19MB/second and 22MB/second using Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 interfaces respectively. Hence Lacie hard drive managed to pass the tests with flying colors.

Pros:

• Ruggedly built
• Shock proof
• Slim
• Triple interface
• Good performance

Cons:

• Expensive

Final Thoughts

The Lacie rugged all-terrain hard drive is perfect at the job that has been assigned to it! The drive is shock-proof,its body is scratch proof which makes sure it will survive rough handling.The drive is slim with its height measuring only an inch.The inclusion of triple interface makes sure that the drive performs fast and it surely does. All in all the Lacie hard drive has just about everything going about it and is a perfect buy if you need a rugged portable hard drive and have the cash to spend.

Apple Time Capsule

Apple Time Capsule is a unique invention from the invention labs of Apple! If you are a regular follower of Steve Job’s keynotes you would already be familiar with it. For others to get things started, this is a hard drive as well as a wireless router clubbed together. This is a great product for users who love to save space and of course Apple followers would have already bought this one! I will be reviewing the 500GB version of the Time Capsule, although there is a 1TB version also.

Apple Time Capsule specifications :

• Dimensions : 7.8″ x 7.8″ x 1.4″
• Storage Capacity : 500GB
• Hard disk type : 3.5″ SATA-300
• Connectivity : Gigabit Ethernet / 802.11a/b/g/n
• Bandwidth: 2.4GHz and 5GHz
• NAT support,DHCP support,RADIUS support
• Interfaces : Ethernet-USB
• OS Compatibility : Mac OSX 10.4 or later, Windows XP SP2,Vista
• Approx. Price : $300

The Time Capsule comes in a very sober and clean design without any added attractions.The router has an inbuilt antenna, so the Time Capsule resembles exactly like a external hard drive. There is only one LED at the front to give you company while working. The back is filled with all the ports ranging from power input to Ethernet ports. Surprisingly, Apple has not included a power button, so that leaves you with your main power supply switch for doing the ON/OFF task!

The Time Capsule combines a Airport Extreme Base Station with a hard drive. A big downside of the hard drive is that backing up and some other features are limited to Mac users which leaves Windows users in the dark. This will bring down its sales with Windows users by a huge margin. The router can connect wirelessly to a Mac or Windows machine. This enables you to wirelessly read/write from the hard drive although speeds will take a hit.

Connecting the Time Capsule to a Windows PC brings up the drive in the network folder. Mac users have many added advantages such as getting to use it for basic storage as well. Leopard users can use the Time Capsule with the Time Machine feature to set up automated backups.Simply put, the Time Capsule is a boon for Mac users while Windows users are offered with limited functionality.

USB port is an ultra-cool feature that lets you plug in any networkable USB device or a series of devices through a hub and share them across the network using the Time Capsule. USB port also accepts printers which is an added advantage, although that can also be done wirelessly if your printer is Wi-Fi capable.

The performance is not a top priority with the Time Capsule but you do get decent performance. You manage to get around 4.5 Mbps/5.1Mbps write/read through Gigabit Ethernet interface. The wireless performance is not impressive at about just 65 Mbps measure at a distance of 15 feet from router.The signal strength drops considerably at larger distances. The hard disk performance is good enough for most of your tasks though.

Pros :

• Neat and clean look
• Upto 1TB hard disk available
• Networking via USB port
• Great for Mac users
• Portable

Cons :

• Average performance
• Limited Windows functionality
• Not advanced storage features

Final Thoughts

The Apple Time Capsule is a great invention in itself and it sets the stone for further such interesting combinations that might crop up in future. Its a good buy for Mac users as they get to exploit the Time Capsule to the maximum. It will not go down too well with Windows users. Performance is a bit of concern especially with networking. If you want to save space, then you won’t get a better product that this!

My Rating : 3.75/5

Seagate FreeAgent Pro

Finding a reliable hard drive for taking backups is not an easy job.Most of the drives are plagued by reliability issues and some have low performance.Seagate FreeAgent series has drives to suit everyone’s need.Seagate FreeAgent Pro is a 3.5″ external drives.I am reviewing the 500GB model of it.

Here are its specifications:

• Dimensions : 1.4″ x 6.3″ x 7.5″
• Form factor : 3.5″
• Interface: FireWire/Hi-Speed USB/eSATA
• Spindle Speed: 7200 rpm
• AC powered

Seagate FreeAgent Pro features almost all the modern connection interfaces that you likely to encounter.The provision of eSATA interface makes the drive future proof and makes sure maximum juice is extracted out of the 7200 rpm drives that is hidden behind the enclosure.

The drive is enclosed within an black case with is slick and has a smooth surface.The drive cannot be used as a portable drive as it weighs a heavy 2 pounds.The drive is powered on a touch sensitive button.The base of the drive can be removed as different types of connection interfaces are available on the two bases provided by Seagate.Its good that Seagate has included a full manual rather than just providing one on the drive.

The FreeAgent and Memeo Backup software are the ones that come bundled with the drive with their setups on the hard drive itself.The Memeo backup software as the name suggests is used to take backups and can be configured to manage multiple backup tasks.The backup can also be stored on Seagate’s Memeo Internet Drive which is basically storage space on Seagate managed servers.You get a cool 500MB trial space for 6 months free with the drive.The monthly and yearly subscription charges are costly though.The lights on the drive,sleep interval times,diagnostics and other stuff can be managed from the FreeAgent Tools software.

Coming to the performance of this drive, the driveg fares rather good in assorted files tests with a write speed of 18 MBps and a read speed of around 20 MBps. The continous write speed test gave an impressive 25MBps as the write speed.This puts the drive in the league of high performing drives.If you have an eSATA compatible PC you can even futher stretch the speeds.

Pros:

• Sleek
• Good software bundle
• Fast transfer speeds
• 5 year warranty

Cons:

• Bundled software not Mac compatible
• Only trial space on Internet Drive included

Final Thoughts

The Seagate FreeAgent Pro is a no nonsense drive that does the job perfectly.Seagate has packaged a good software bundled which further enhances the capabilities of the drive.Fast transfer speeds add to the high capacity that this drive supports.I would highly recommend getting this drive if you want to take large backups without spending too much time on them.This drive is a best bang for its current price of around 225$.

Iomega eGo

External hard drives are not all about storage and performance, they also add to your personality if you do carry one along with you everywhere. Iomega reiterated the fact with their Iomega eGo Portable hard drive that not only promises to deliver strong performance but also act as a fasion accessory!

Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive specifications :

• Dimensions : 3.5″ x 5.2″ x 0.7″
• Exterior color : Red, Silver
• Capacity : 160GB
• External data transfer rate : 480 Mbps
• Drive speed : 5400rpm
• Cache : 8MB
• OS Compatibility : Mac OS X, Windows 2000 or later
• Warranty : 1 year
• Approx. price : $110

The drive is extremely thin at just 0.7″ and the red color gives it a flashy look, although there is also a more subdued silver color. The build quality of the drive is impressive and feels solid and sturdy. The drive is made of anodized aluminum and polished steel which is mainly responsible for its looks. The drive is priced extremely competitively priced at just $110.

The hard drive is powered by a USB-port itself instead of those bulky adapters. Iomega has surprisingly placed the activity LED at the rear of the drive, which is quite inexplicable. The drive is light weight also making for a great companion. The drive has DropGuard feature which protects the drive from shocks when not in use as the drive has extra padding inside the case to protect it from shocks.

The drive comes preformatted with FAT32 partition which can be read by both Mac and Windows and for that matter even Linux. If you intend to use it with OS X primarily then format it with Disk Utility to HFS file format. The drive bundles the EMC’s Restrospect Express 6.1 software to carry out the various tasks. The updated version compatible with OS X Leopard is available on their site. The software can be used to make partial/full backups, duplicate images, create bootable recovery CD but sadly can’t do encryption of data.

The drive has impressive performance. Writing assorted data to drive yielded an average write speed of 20MBps, one of the best in its category. The read speed from the drive is even better at 22Mbps. Surely, the Iomega eGO Portable Hard Drive manages to pull in good read/write speeds along with great looks!

Pros :

• Slim and small dimensions
• Attractive look
• USB Powered
• Good performance
• Backup software included

Cons :

• Backup software not Mac compatible
• No encryption of data utility

Final Thoughts

The Iomega eGO Portable Hard Drive is an excellent drive from Iomega and manages to put everything in place perfectly. The only flaws that you van find are with the bundled software. So, there is no doubt that if you are looking for a portable drive, grab this one.

My Rating : 4.25/5

Thermaltake BlacX SE

Storage space is a precious commodity in the computing world. A computer case only has space for so many hard drives before it gets full, so what should you do when you need more space. One option is buying external enclosures for extra hard drives, but this can get expensive rather quickly. The other option is to buy this product.

The Thermaltake BlacX SE is a device that allows you to hot-swap SATA hard drives quickly and effortlessly, allowing you to increase the amount of storage. The BlacX SE basically allows you to plug in all of your internal SATA drives (either 2.5″ or 3.5″) and store information on them without having to put them into your computer case. The SE also gives you four extra USB 2.0 ports for you to plug other devices into it.

Technical specifications for the Thermaltake BlacX SE:

• Street price: $49.99 approx.
• Supports All 2.5” & 3.5” SATA HDDs up to 1TB
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• Windows & Mac OS Compatible
• Heat dissapation
• Works with Vista

Things I like
The BlacX SE is a great device if you need extra storage but have run out of room in your computer case. The average cost of an external hard drive enclosure is around $30, so if you have multiple drives it quickly becomes more expensive than buying a single BlacX SE device.

The four included USB 2.0 ports are a very nice addition as well because you get the added value of having a USB hub that generally costs $10+. This device works extremely well. I plugged it in via a free USB port, and then connected a free SATA drive to it. Windows recognized the drive and I was able to read and write to the drive. While the speeds are as quick as connecting it internally they are rather quick. I was getting 30-34MB/s read and write speeds.

Drives generally create a lot of heat when they run but the Thermaltake BlacX SE dissipates the heat rather well, preserving the drive and hopefully making it last longer.

Things I don’t like
The only problem with this is that you can easily destroy a drive by pulling it out two quickly. If you want to make sure your drives last for as long as possible wait until the drive stops spinning before pulling it out. If you don’t wait its possible to damage the platters inside the drive and render it useless. Other than ruining drives due to improper use, this is an excellent device.

Pros:

• Hot-swap hard drives
• Cheaper alternative to hard drive enclosures
• 4 USB ports
• Dissipates heat away from the hard drive

Cons:

• Improper use could lead to your hard drive being ruined

Final Thoughts
If you’re like me and constantly need more storage the Thermaltake BlacX SE is definitely for you. It provides a cheaper way of adding more space than buying external enclosures and it even comes with four USB 2.0 ports.

Rating: 4.75/5

Freecom Hard Drive PRO

External hard drives have been used as a secondary hard drive for a while now. They offer extra capacity to your small laptop battery or a portable option to your desktop.

Freecom brings the latest in high-speed connectivity to the portable storage market with its new 500GB Hard Drive PRO. Sporting lightning fast 3,000Mbps eSata as standard, you have a choice of USB 2.0 or Firewire 400/800 as an accompaniment. ESata is still gathering pace in the mainstream market, but with speeds over six times faster than USB 2.0 it’s likely to be a big hit.

The Hard Drive PRO looks great and works like a charm for transporting your files wherever you want.

Here are a few of the technical specifications for the Hard Drive PRO:

• Street Price: $350
• FireWire & USB 2.0 HD
• Unique SYNC button for One Button Data Synchronization
• Dimensions: 15×18x5 cm / 5.9×7.1×2 inch
• Windows 2000/XP, MAC OS X v. 10.1 or higher

Things I like
First of all, the Hard Drive PRO looks really good. When it was sitting on my desk I had three different people come up to me and comment on how nice it looked. Freecom really takes care when it comes to the little details such as looks and performance. Another thing I really like about the Hard Drive PRO is the software that is included. Freecom’s backup software gives you slightly more control by allowing you to select specific documents, folders or file types to copy across. Freecom’s Personal Media Suite is slightly more problematic, as here you have the option to backup and encrypt files to a secure folder. In addition, Freecom Sync allows you to choose certain files or folders that will be synchronised with existing copies on your external drive whenever they are changed or appended to.

Things I don’t like
I used this device for a number of days and never really came across any problems with it. I did notice that it runs a little hot if you leave it on over night but this happens to a number of external hard drives. The Hard Drive PRO software isn’t quite so nice to use because you’re not given any real indication of progress during this backup or synchronisation process, and very little reassurance that your files have been successfully saved. The interface is also particularly poor and often very confusing, so you might end up resorting to alternative methods to keep things in order.

Pros:

• Very nice design
• Three different options for connectivity
• A lot of different software tools included

Cons:

• Pricey
• Runs a little hot
• Included software is a little chunky
• No indiciation of progress during backup or synchronisation

Final Thoughts
Freecom’s Hard Drive Pro is a solid enough offering from a hardware point of view. I’ve been storing videos and music and, well, basically anything I could think of on it and it has performed nicely. The software isn’t great but Freecom has said that they’re going to be updating the software. If you’re in need of a great hard drive the Hard Drive PRO is for you. It offers a number of ways to connect it to your computer and a number of different software tools.

Lacie Ethernet Disk Mini 500GB

External hard disks for network usage are beginning to become mainstream. Devices based on such solutions are also cropping up much frequently than before. Lacie introduced their high capacity 500GB Ethernet based hard disk which is a network-attached-storage(NAS) drive and can serve files to various entertainment attached to it.

Lacie Ethernet Disk Mini 500GB Specifications :

• Dimensions : 1.7″ x 6.8″ x 6.3″
• Processor installed : 400Mhz
• RAM installed : 64MB DRAM
• Capacity : 500GB
• Spindle speed : 7200 rpm
• Buffer size : 16GB
• OS Compatibility : Mac OS X 10.3 or later, Windows 2000,Xp,Vista
• Approx. price : $150

The device is very attractively priced which is one of its biggest attractions. The Lacie Ethernet Disk Mini 500GB can serve files to your PC, Xbox, your music system and of course your PC. And this all can be done without the need to power on your PC. If that was not enough, it can be configured to deliver files remotely ie. via Internet.

Talking about the build quality of the hard drive, the Disk Mini has a good strong build. Lacie has preferred to use metal for the external casing as against with other manufacturers using plastic for external hard drives. It has a big power button which gives you option to manually power off the drive. At the back, you will find the standard set of ports and also vents for heat to escape. It certainly looks quite a beauty sitting upright on your desk!

Lacie has bundled Hipserv software for categorizing your files in sets and also assign permissions for their access, always a handy feature to have. The best part about the software is its ease of use, it has lots of options but all can be easily accessed. But the backup software is just the opposite. It has fewer features, lots of restrictions and not very easy to use.

iTunes users have more reason to smile. They can use the hard disk as an iTunes server and hence make your favorite music files accessible. It also features uPnP support which makes it compatible with other music players such as Windows Media Player, nice way to keep Windows users interested.

Accessing files remotely can be a bit of pain due to slow speeds and also it can hang sometimes. Local access is smooth though with no hiccups whatsoever. The fast processor ensures that you have skip files without lag. The write speed is around 4.5 MB/s and read speed of 4MB/s. Those numbers are good enough for a NAS drive.

Pros :

• High capacity
• Good design and build
• Can be set up as iTunes server
• uPnP support
• Good performance
• Remotely accessible
• Great file sharing software

Cons :

• Unreliable remote accessibility
• Bit noisy
• Back software not upto mark

Final Thoughts

The Lacie Ethernet Disk Mini 500GB is the perfect solution for all your media streaming needs for your house. The attractive price makes it a much better buy. So if you want such a drive then go ahead and purchase it.

My Rating : 4.25/5

Western Digital Passport -250GB

External Hard disks are gaining popularity all over the world and many have started preferring them over pen drives to gain huge amount of portable storage space.The Western Digital Passport series of its external range of portable hard disks live up to that reputation and beyond.

Here are the specs:

• Serial Bus Transfer Rate (USB 2.0) : 480 Mbits/s (Max)
• Capacity: 250GB
• Dimensions: 129.78 X 79.78 X 15 mm
• Weight : 104 gms

The 250GB Passport Hard Disks just weighs a measly 104 gms and also has small dimensions making it a perfect pocket drive. It is a 2.5″ Hard disks and hence does not require any external power supply and is a bus-powered drive.This drive is known to have problems with older laptops like Apple G4 due to their limited bus-power but that is not the case with new laptops.

The packaging bundle is not anything to boast about as it does not even bundle a manual nor a carry case which are absolute necessities. But you can find the software manual on the hard disk.The outer surface is shiny glossy black but develops fingerprints and scratches easily.

Setting up the drive is a piece of cake as it is a plug-n-play drive and gets detected by Windows,OS X,Linux as it comes pre-formatted in FAT32 partition which is recognized by all the above mentioned operating systems.The formatted capacity of the drive is 232 GB.

Coming to the performance aspect of the drive.It is one of the fastest drives available in the USB 2.0 External hard disks category.It manages an impressive 20MB/s with FAT32 formatted and 22MB/s with NTFS formatted.The read speed is around 22MB/s. It may not be comparable to some of the external Firewire/eSATA hard disks available in the market but it does not need an AC adapter either!

Pros:

• Light Weight
• Small Dimensions
• USB Powered
• Fast Performance

Cons:

• Surface prone to fingerprints
• Surface gets scratched easily
• No manual bundled
• No carry case
• Pricey compared to 3.5″ external drives

Final Thoughts

I would recommend this drive to anyone looking for high storage on the move. Its price is 200$ which is not much as cost/per GB comes out pretty low. All in all it is a perfect pocket drive and a must buy!