Photo: Samsung

As the lines between traditional consumer electronics manufacturers and specialist PC hardware manufacturers get more and more blurred, we’re seeing companies like Samsung encroaching in territory previously dominated by the likes of Lacie and Western Digital. We took the Samsung G2 500GB USB external hard drive for a spin to see how it compares, and you can read our thoughts below.

Stats attack

The Samsung G2 500GB USB external hard drive, as its name suggests, has a 500GB capacity. It runs at an okay 5400rpm and is whisper quiet. The disk is 2.5-inches in size, meaning it doesn’t need an external power source, so all you need is a sole USB cable for transferring data and plugging it in. Even when we tried very hard to listen out for it, we couldn’t hear so much as a fizz. To this effect, Samsung has included a clever blue LED light that remains solid when the drive is plugged in but inactive, and flashes on and off when data is being read off or written to it.

Aesthetics

The drives come in four colour varieties, namely cobalt black, silver white, cobalt blue and olive green. The top of the drive is studded – think almost of how lego blocks have those little connectors – that makes the drive shimmer when light bounces off of it. Sure, it makes no difference to performance, but it’s a pretty effect (and Twilight fans will certainly appreciate it).

Added features

Photo: Samsung

The hard drive comes with Windows only (sorry Mac fans) password protection and backup features. While Time Machine should suffice for backing up a Mac, the file hiding and password protection of sensitive files would have been nice to have. Samsung also has faith in its manufacturing quality, selling the external hard drive with a healthy three-year warranty, which is always a good sign.

Performance

These drives are aimed squarely at consumers, and perform competently when held to that mantle. Professional users who need high 7200rpm disk speeds, or Firewire 800 or USB 3.0, which bring significantly improved transfer speeds, this drive is not for you.

Verdict

The Samsung G2 500GB USB external hard drive has grown on us the more we’ve used in. Its tiny, almost pocket book size makes it great for carrying with you pretty much everywhere you go and with its clever diminutive design, it won’t look out of place with your slightly flashier electronics. The omission of 7200 rpm and USB 3.0 may be a big deal for some, and if that’s the case, look elsewhere. Also the lack of Mac love in this day and age is somewhat bemusing. Nonetheless, if these things don’t deter you and you like smart design, it’s very difficult to say no to a product that comes with a three-year warranty.



Photo: LaCie

As fast data transfer becomes a growing concern, coupled with the increasing demand for more storage space, data storage manufacturers have had to come to terms with an interesting conundrum or two. The Lacie Rugged 500GB USB 3.0 external drive aims to solve these problems, while tackling an additional one – heavy use.

USB 3.0 is nearly here

The standout feature of this 500GB USB external drive is its USB 3.0 support running at 7200rpm and its super fast transfer speeds. In controlled tests, the drive’s transfer speeds exceeded 80mb/s on USB 3.0 and 29mb/s on USB 2.0. That’s a 1GB of data transferred in under 13 seconds, which is simply remarkable. The truth is the vast majority of computers do not support USB 3.0, so this remarkable speed boost will go unnoticed by most, but this is sure to change in the coming months.

Design

From a design build, as its name indicates, this Lacie 500GB USB external drive is meant to withstand the odd bump here and there. Lacie deliberately pitches the drive as being able to withstand much more damage than most, with a supposed 2m drop not having any affect on the drive at all. Furthermore, an immediately noticeable feature of the Lacie Rugged is the orange rubber buffer around it, which absorbs some of the shock of high drops, while also reducing the effects of long-term wear and tear.

As with anything that’s built to withstand shock, tear, and even bullets, we ill-advise actually putting the Lacie Rugged 500GB USB 3.0 drive through its paces just to see how it holds up. We did, however, accidentally drop the Lacie drive and were pleasantly surprised to find it did, as is true to its advertising, keep humming along.

Other considerations

Noise levels on this 500GB USB external drive were good, with the drive’s humming going unnoticed unless you listened for it. The drive never heated up beyond lukewarm even after hours of use, and performance degradation as you approach maximum capacity is unnoticeable.

The Lacie Rugged 500GB USB 3.0 drive is well worth it if spacious capacity, fast transfer speeds and the ability to withstand a rough and tumble life cycle are what you’re looking for in a USB external drive. Sure, it’s more expensive than other drives of similar capacity, but you’re paying for design quality and features other comparable drives simply do not have.

Photo: Digittrade

The Digittrade HS256 represents storage peace of mind. As a high security external USB hard drive unveiled at CeBIT, the HS256 portable drive represents the pinnacle in data storage security.

Just how secure is it?

All data stored on the strong 256-bit AES hardware encryption-equipped high security external USB hard drive is accessed through a two-step process of inserting a smart card to unlock the drive, allowing the user to enter an eight digit PIN. The smart card is encrypted and linked to the hard drive, making each smart unique to its Digittrade hard drive. This all sounds pretty James Bond, but the Digittrade HS256 is just an accessible way of protecting your data, without the tuxedo and suave one-liners. The portable drive looks good and is well designed, but won’t be winning any awards for being the best looking portable hard drive. On first sight, it looks tough and secure and delivers on the user’s expectations.

Why now?

Digittrade’s main reason for releasing such a high tech and high security external USB hard drive is that more and more people are in possession of highly sensitive data these days. It’s also so easy to misplace or lose baggage when travelling, and the HS256 ensures that if this unfortunate event happens, the information being carried on the external drive cannot be accessed and used by anyone else. The secure hard drive stole the show at CeBIT, and is the most secure storage device of all the Digittrade devices launched such as the less encrypted HS128, RS128 and RS64 and the security USB USS256.

The HS256 portable drive will retail at $419.90 (approximately £279.56) and $608.90 (approximately £405.39), for the 160 GB and 320 GB. The biggest 500GB drive will retail at around £450.

The secure Digittrade portable drive is targeted more towards the business user, though home users may find the device useful if carrying a lot of data they don’t want other people to see.