Eight Portable Hard Drives Compared: USB 2.0 Lives On

Toshiba StorE Portable External Hard Drive (320GB, USB 2.0)

Toshiba hasn't been a player in the external/portable storage market as long as some competitors, which may help explaining why its drives aren't available yet in all markets. But we've included the 320GB, USB 2.0 portable in this review to give you an idea of what the company is offering. Toshiba has both 3.5” and 2.5” models outfitted in aluminum, steel, or art/plastic enclosures.

The drive we're reviewing is a member of the art family, which comes with a stylish black and white cover. Up to 500GB capacities are shipping, and the already-promoted 640GB model should soon follow. A 6-ounce weight translates into 170 g, which is normal for a portable 2.5” hard drive. Toshiba provides a respectable three-year warranty, bested in this roundup by Seagate's five-year coverage.

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NTI Backup Now EZ

With Toshiba/NTI's backup software solution, users can execute a disaster recovery using an existing backup system right off the portable drive. It's also possible to create a bootable DVD. You can select backup data by file type or by application, in addition to the complete system backup. However, the solution isn't as flexible and powerful as some others in this review that also support scheduling, encryption, and similar advanced features.