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Best Portable Hard DriveThe best portable hard drives are small in physical size and large in storage size. This can include both SSD (Solid State Drive) and smaller footprint 2.5 inch drives used for laptops. There are two good choices for a portable hard drive, Solid State Drives and what is normally used for laptops, a 2.5 inch hard drive. Both of these types of hard drive make good portable drives due to smaller size and large storage capacity. Right now the Solid State Drive can be pretty pricey since the technology is new and the cost of productions still high. You will also need to buy a USB 2.0/3.0 connector cable if you want to use the Solid State Drives. Another recent development in portable hard drives is the new USB 3.0 standard. The difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 is considerable when it works properly. Most real world speed tests result in a 3 to 1 improvement (3 times faster) even though many manufacturers claim much higher copying speeds. Think of it as mile per gallon, testing is done under perfect conditions and in reality the mileage most people get is less than advertised. Another issue is that most computers don't come with USB 3.0 onboard yet so this also limits the ability to get those super fast copying speeds. So for right now we'll stick with the size and portability as our key factor when choosing the best portable hard drive. If you have USB 3.0 on your computer (or plan on installing) then definitely go for the faster copying speed it offers. Another factor is cost. Like mentioned above, the Solid State Drives are much more expensive than the more common 2.5 inch hard drives so keep that in mind. Two Best Portable Hard Drive Models Right now the two most popular and overall winners for the best portable hard drive are the Western Digital PassPort 1 Terabyte USB 2.0/USB 3.0 and the Seagate FreeAgent 1 Terabyte USB 2.0. they both are about the size of a thick (.07 inch) 3 X 5 card. Both weigh in at about 10 ounces, the Western Digital does have the USB 3.0 but like I mentioned your computer has to have that ability too. The going price for the Western Digital model is about $130, and the Seagate FreeAgent model is about $99 (probably due to the difference in USB 2.0 and USB 3.0).
The Best Portable Hard Drive may not be a Hard Drive! (for the more adventurous) If you want the fastest and most portable hard drive solution, the Crucial Technology 128 gig Sata III Solid State Drive is good choice even though it's technically not a hard drive. You will have to buy your own connector (you can by USB 3.0, USB 2.0, or eSata cables) but you won't find a smaller or lighter (about 2.8 ounces) option. And this baby is fast, faster than any other possible portable hard drive that I've tested. You will pay for this smaller size and faster speed, this model sells for around $245. This is the optimum solution for those more technically inclined and is very fast and reliable.
These three choices offer slightly different advantages and depending on what your preference may be, one will be better than the other two. All three have some good features but when it comes down to a choice, budget and current equipment on hand will dictate the best choice for you. It really comes down to your personal scenario and of course budget. If money is not a concern, you could go with a large Flash Drive too. But the cost is prohibitive in that most of the 128 Gig and above flash drives are more (starting at about $300) than the Solid State Drives and most don't have the performance due to the nature of the beast. They are smaller and lighter than most Solid State Drives but a little out of my price range. As the never ending accumulation of large data files continues, so will the best portable hard drive choices. Music and high definition videos are huge space hogs and are driving the size requirements up as a person's collection grows. We're just starting to see 3 Terabyte internal hard drives so the portable models will soon be showing up. |
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