Seagate enters the ring with its Portable External Hard Drive. It houses a 2.5" proprietary hard drive (Momentus 5400.1) in a stylish metallic enclosure. So far, models up to 100 GB are available; our test model featured 40 GB and a USB 2.0 interface.

Visually, this unit passes as the Mercedes of external hard drives, thanks to its unrivalled good looks and superb feel. But the drive also delivers solid performance, with above-average data transfer speeds.

The Seagate drive doesn't come with its own power supply; it gets the juice it needs via a USB 2.0 port. If you need more power you can resort to the double USB 2.0 cable Seagate throws in the box. While not exactly a lightweight at 12 oz (354 g) including cables, the Portable External Hard Drive is nonetheless thoroughly adequate for regular mobile use.