USB 3.0-Based 2.5" Hard Disks From Adata, Hitachi, And WD

Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro (750 GB, HTOLMNA7501BBB)

We previously tested the 500 GB Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro, and it proved to be one of the fastest 2.5” drives we've seen. In fact, it claimed a ranking in the top third of our USB 3.0 Storage Charts. The 750 GB version (HTOLMNA7501BBB), which sells for less than $100, is slightly faster still.

The piano black Touro Mobile Pro sports a USB 3.0 interface like its smaller sibling, and it also boasts a 7200 RPM drive inside. But that's where similarities to the 500 GB model end. The 750 GB version is the fastest external 2.5” drive we have ever tested. Its maximum sequential read rate of 125.6 MB/s and its maximum write speed of 125.5 MB/s make it the new speed king, pushing the previous winner, Samsung's S2, down one spot, even though the S2 is still better with small files.

It's also worth noting that, while Samsung's S2 loses out to Hitachi's Touro Mobile Pro in synthetics, it remains faster in real-world metrics, such as the copy test.

Hitachi's drive is positioned as a professional product for backing up data. Although it can be used to save information from the cloud, the Touro Mobile Pro is also capable of putting data into the cloud through a bundled application called Hitachi Backup. The software includes 3 GB of online storage space, and is upgradeable to 250 GB for $49 per year. The box also contains a quick-start guide and a USB 3.0 cable.

Hitachi Backup may not be feature-rich, but this Flash-based application is easy to use. By default, it copies the logged-in user's data to the external drive or the cloud either at pre-defined times or on demand. You can specify different folders for the two backup targets, and also define the number of revisions to keep. The latest backup is available in a folder named “Current,” and older backups are found in “Archived.” With a slider, you can specify the bandwidth usage of the cloud backup function as “Low,” “Medium,” or “High”.

  • alidan
    how fast is usb3? i mean real world, say you put a ssd in the best enclosure, what would it do?
    Reply
  • thezooloomaster
    alidanhow fast is usb3? i mean real world, say you put a ssd in the best enclosure, what would it do?
    The theoretical bandwidth of USB 3.0 is roughly 625 MB/s, but this speed is rarely achieved -- even with the fastest hardware -- because the bus relies on a protocol for transferring data which is poorly optimized and eats up a chunk of the bandwidth.
    Reply
  • shahrooz
    alidanhow fast is usb3? i mean real world, say you put a ssd in the best enclosure, what would it do?I get like 70~140 MB/s (copying from WD my passport 1TB to my WD HDD (7200rpm black))
    and I get 30~40 MB/s copying from USB 2 WD my book 2TB to ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    Reply
  • willyroc
    shahroozI get like 70~140 MB/s (copying from WD my passport 1TB to my WD HDD (7200rpm black))and I get 30~40 MB/s copying from USB 2 WD my book 2TB to ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^USB 3 is more than twice as fast as USB 2.
    Reply
  • tridon
    I'm sitting here, daydreaming about a Velociraptor external drive. Maybe that would be able to use the USB 3's capacity better, or maybe something's slightly wrong in my head for wishing for such a thing.
    Reply
  • ojas
    willyrocUSB 3 is more than twice as fast as USB 2.Yeah but you're still limited to both the source and destination drive's read/write speed. So when copying from a HDD to an HDD, you're unlikely to exceed 140 MBps.

    If you're copying from a SATA 3 SSD to a USB 3.0 SSD, then yes, you could see much faster speeds.
    Reply
  • jaquith
    USB 3.0 + UASP (or) eSATA (or) Internal (SATA 2 or 3) HDD.

    USB 3.0 in most instances isn't ready for prime time for external HDD's, and without UASP the queuing is too slow; UASP solves this problem. Otherwise without UASP IMO use eSATA or a backup internal SATA HDD.

    More info see TH article June 20th, 2012 - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3-uas-turbo,3215.html

    Note: The Hitachi Touro fails (BSOD) in Windows 8.
    Reply
  • ubercake
    So... Theoretically USB 3.0 is faster than eSata, but in practice eSata is still the way to go?
    Reply
  • LukeCWM
    ubercakeSo... Theoretically USB 3.0 is faster than eSata, but in practice eSata is still the way to go?Yes.
    Reply
  • alidan
    shahroozI get like 70~140 MB/s (copying from WD my passport 1TB to my WD HDD (7200rpm black))and I get 30~40 MB/s copying from USB 2 WD my book 2TB to ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    that 1tb is in a better case than the 2tb
    what i have noticed with usb 3 is that, yes while its theoretical max is higher than current hdd and ssds should achieve, the fact of the matter is they never hit that peak.

    thats why im wondering, with an ssd, what is the best we can get usb3 to.
    you proved that current normal hdds in a good case do not have a problem in usb 3, and for that i thank you.
    Reply