Three More External USB 3.0 Drives Benchmarked

Samsung Story Station 3.0 (3.5”, 2 TB)

Samsung’s Story Station has been around for a while. Version 3.0 is based on a USB 3.0 interface and comes in capacities of 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 TB. Anything less than 1.0 TB doesn’t make much sense given how affordable 3.5” hard drives have become.

The Story Station uses Samsung Spinpoint F3 EcoGreen hard drives, known for their low temperatures and noise, due in part to a 5400 RPM spindle speed. The EcoGreen’s compromise is performance, which maxes out at 113 MB/s and may even drop under 40 MB/s once you fill the drive with data. Western Digital’s MyBook 3.0 is noticeably faster.

The Story’s metal case received a product design award this year, and still looks a bit like a car amplifier. Nevertheless, it’s chic (form) and actually sports a physical power switch (functional). Unlike most 2.5” portable drives, this one requires the bundled external power supply.

Long story short: the Story Station 3.0 is a high-capacity storage solution that delivers great performance, but enthusiasts should be aware that other 3.5” USB 3.0 solutions are faster.

Latest in USB Flash Drives
Holiday Deals
Grab two of SK hynix's superfast Tube T31 1TB Flash drives for just $109 - techy stocking fillers for the holidays
Real Deals
SK hynix's superfast 1TB Tube T31 USB flash drive is now $61, hitting its lowest-ever price
3-in-1 USB flash drive and camera
Japanese company shows off $50 USB thumb drive with integrated digital camera
Real Deals
Team Group's 256GB C175 is only $13 for a limited time — handy, portable storage at a low price
Rostec
This USB flash drive can only store 8KB of data, but will last you 200 years
A shot of the open-source Ovrdrive USB from Interrupt Labs' official YouTube video.
New USB stick has a self-destruct feature that heats it to over 100 degrees Celsius — a secret three-insertion process needed to unlock data safely
Latest in Features
Free Alternatives to Photoshop
Five Best Photoshop Alternatives Tested: Image Editing for Free
Awekeys Antiques Metal keycaps
Awekeys Antiques Metal keycaps are Viking-themed luxury for your fingertips
The Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7
Get the most out of your processor with this motherboard's Turbo Mode
AMD RDNA 4 and Radeon RX 9000-series GPUs
AMD RDNA 4 and Radeon RX 9000-series GPUs start at $549: Specifications, release date, pricing, and more revealed
MSI Prestige GPU
Tested: Intel's Arrow Lake 140T iGPU mostly maintains an edge over AMD's older 880m
MechBoards Hyper7 R4
I’m typing this on the world’s largest keyboard, a 178-key beast designed to make you more productive