Top Portable Hard Drives

WD Elements External 2 TB 3.5" Hard Drive (USB 2.0, 5400 RPM)

2779 Reviews

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	Price: $149.99
	Price: $156.99
	Price: $144.99
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Pros: Huge storage capacities, Decent speeds, Quiet, Cheap
Cons: No power button, Plastic construction, Odd placement of activity light

Western Digital has really made a name for themselves in the digital storage market. This is probably due to the product's affordability and most importantly, reliability. With capacities ranging from 500 GB to 3 TB, the WD Elements is designed to suit individual needs. You can transfer a massive amount of data right away and no software installation is needed. Just plug it into your computer's USB port and connect the power supply. No on and off switch is embedded into the drive but it turns on and off with your computer, thanks to its WD GreenPower Technology. The drive works with Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP but it can also be reformatted for use with Mac OS X Tiger or Leopard. Whether you have a few or huge files to save, you can choose freely from 3TB, 2.5 TB, 2 TB, 1.5 TB, 1TB, 750GB, 640GB and 500GB. Compared to the My Book Essential, the WD Elements does not permit automatic backup and has no WD SmartWare nor Password protection and hardware encryption but from another viewpoint, it makes saving and sharing files easy and convenient. The drive passes up on the bold colors, glossy finish and trendy designs of most drives today and is very compact, measuring a total of 6.5 in x 5.3 in x 1.9 in (L x W x D). Although its plastic construction is a step-down to more rugged external drives with tough aluminum casing, the color matches your office decor and the overall design allows for a versatile desktop arrangement. The drive is quiet and has good speed, especially for the price. One minor flaw, though, is the odd placement of the activity light. Instead of placing it in front so that users can easily monitor their drive's status, it is positioned at the back of the unit, making it useless. However, with all things considered, the WD Elements reflect the quality that the brand has been known for and its price as well as its decent performance makes it a good option if your budget is tight.

WD My Passport Essential SE Portable External 1TB 2.5" Hard Drive - Black (USB 3.0)

1002 Reviews

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	Price: $229.99
	Price: $149.99
	Price: $149.00
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Pros: Huge capacity, Fast transfer speed, Wide compatibility
Cons: Glossy finish, Expensive

Western Digital's My Passport Essential SE offers higher capacity and faster transfer rates compared to other portable hard drives. It is available in 750 GB and 1TB capacities and compatible with both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. It also features password protection and encryption which keeps all your important files secured and private. With Western Digital's SmartWare software, you can take advantage of quick back-up and easy file management. This portable hard drive allows maximum mobility. You won't need a separate power adapter because it is USB-powered. One of its greatest features is its support for USB 3.0 which boosts performance up to 3 times faster than standard drives. In terms of construction, it has a small footprint and is very lightweight. It also sports a simple and minimalist design. However, its smooth, glossy finish makes it prone to scratches and fingerprints. Having said that, you might need to purchase a case for protection. The Western Digital My Passport Essential SE is suitable for use with Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Mac OS X 10.4.8 or higher. It also comes in different colors such as silver, black, red and blue to suit your personality. While it is plain and a bit expensive, it performs a lot better than other drives and it provides a reliable solution for protecting your critical data against hard drive failures.

Seagate Expansion STAX1500100 1.50 TB External Hard Drive (USB 2.0 - 5400 rpm - 2.5")

749 Reviews

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	Price: $144.99
	Price: $160.99
	Price: $156.59
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Pros: Quiet, Fast, Sleek design
Cons: Installation with a Mac takes more time

This Seagate portable hard drive enables you to take all your essential files to your every destination and expand your computer's storage capacity. Its large memory capacity allows you to save a large number of documents and multimedia like photos, videos and music collection. With its Plug N' Play support, you can skip the time consuming installation and start copying and moving your files from and to your drive. It is also bus-powered which means you don't need an external power supply because it runs through your USB port and uses a single cable for power and transferring data. Considering its sleek design, we recommend getting a case to protect it from scratches. The only issue with this portable hard drive is that installation takes a little more time than usual for those with Mac systems but once installed, it works perfectly and gives you a lot of room. Its support for USB 2.0 also provides a quick operation and fast data transfer rates which means less waiting time when transferring large amounts of files. If not for its green LED, you'll not notice that it's working because it is very quiet. As a whole, Seagate's hard drive is easy to use and very reliable. It's an excellent back-up drive that comes with an unbelievably affordable price.

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex STAA1000100 External 1 TB 2.5" Hard Drive - Black (USB 2.0, 5,400 RPM, 16 MB)

415 Reviews

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	Price: $175.99
	Price: $119.99
	Price: $169.95
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Pros: Sleek design, Large capacity, Lightweight, Quiet
Cons: Fingerprint-magnet

The Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Ultraportable Hard Drive lets you store everything from important work documents to music, photos and videos. It shares the same design of the earlier GoFlex Pro but offers a larger capacity and more flexibility in terms of connectivity. Aside from its USB 2.0 and 3.0 interface, it also allows you to use an eSATA OR FireWire 800 connection for faster transfer speeds. This 2.5-inch hard drive supports plug n' play for a no-fuss installation. All you have to do is connect it to an available USB port then you're good to go. With its Seagate Dashboard management tool, you get to do more than just check your drive's capacity. You can also set your preferred back-up schedule and protect your sensitive files through file encryption. In terms of appearance, the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex boasts of a lightweight yet durable plastic construction and comes in different colors such as red, blue, black and silver. Its glossy finish makes it a fingerprint-magnet but on the bright side, it also makes it look sleek right out of the box. Seagate's FreeAgent GoFlex Ultraportable is the first portable drive to offer a whopping 1.5 TB capacity. It provides a whisper-quiet operation and is noticeably faster than its competition. To top it off, it works flawlessly with both PC and Mac systems and is also available in 320GB, 500GB, 750GB and 1TB capacities.

WD My Passport Essential Portable External 500GB 2.5" Hard Drive - Black (USB 3.0)

220 Reviews

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	Price: $107.99
	Price: $136.99
	Price: $99.99
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Pros: 500 and 320 GB variants with four color options each, USB 3.0 and 2.0 support, Backup software included, Password protection and hardware-based encryption
Cons: May need reformatting before use, Case susceptible to scratches and grime, Proprietary USB 3.0 cord

Flash drives may be ultra-portable because of their tiny size, but their limited storage capacities mean that they can only go so far. External hard drives like the Western Digital My Passport Essential Portable Hard Drive, on the other hand allow you to do much more, like the all-important act of creating backups of your data. This 2.5" hard disk enclosed in a glossy plastic shell with four color options to choose from has dual support for USB 2.0 and the newer 3.0 standard, which means you can use it on older machines without any compatibility issues. The My Passport Essential is formatted for Windows computers and can run entirely off the power supplied by your computer's USB port. As any technologically capable person will tell you, an important component of data security is keeping updated backups of your data which can be restored in the event of a serious corruption. The WD My Passport Essential comes with pre-installed software that can automatically find and make copies of media files on the disk when plugged in. It can even work quietly in the background, updating the copies if the originals are modified. Another key feature of the My Passport Essential Portable Hard Drive is password protection and 256-bit hardware encryption, which are a great help in keeping your data private. If you are a power user, you can even disregard the backup software entirely, formatting the drive to remove the software and making the drive available for use not just with Windows machines, but Mac OSX or even other devices as well. In some respects, this approach may even be the best way to use the My Passport Essential, as some users have noted that the included backup suite isn't that user-friendly aside from having some other problems. Doing so, however, will cause you to lose the enhanced functionality. Apart from the software, some users have observed that the Western Digital My Passport Essential Portable Hard Drive's glossy exterior is a surefire fingerprint magnet. Since it is made of plastic, it can also be susceptible to scratches. The USB 3.0 cable is also a proprietary design, fortunately, you can swap using it for an ordinary micro-USB 2.0 cable. Consider this model if you need to make frequent backups, as it is lightweight, very portable, and enough capacity for large files.