External Hard Drives

Everybody is aware of the fact that it is a must to have a back-up of your system. However, rather like cleaning the hardly used room, it is a chore that most of us opt to do later or often, never. But, now a days, the portable drives have made this chore a lot easier for us procrastinators and there are drives out there that make the whole concept of backup very simple. Freecom ToughDrive range aim to take off the risk for outdoor loving people, with a hard-wearing case that can survive drops. In the following review we see about the FreeCom ToughDrive Sport, let us see if you can stand your adventurous life.

Design:

The FreeCom ToughDrive Sport has an outrageous al fresco sports design, you will love it or hate it. This USB powered portable drive possesses a clever design, any you will have to look past the fact that FreeCom’s suggestion that it is a climbing companion. For instance, the in built tag-styled USB lead fits neatly inside the drive, so practically, there is no chance of you loosing it. The entire casing has not been rubberised as you will usually find on the other external hard drives dubbed as “rugged”, but it still feels as if it is capable of taking some degree of abuse without any issues. It has quite a style oozing red and black designing sporting a circular puncture on the top of the drive in order to tie-up the karabiner clip that comes with the device. It is a very secure manner of portability on bags or belts. The black and red USB cable has a clean slot on the drive itself, which provides the device quite a smooth structure. FreeCom has certainly imagined your trekking with the drive on you. You will also find a brushed metal ring using which, you will be able to tie up your rope through one of the corner and hence, you have the karaniber.

Installation:

Installation of the FreeCom ToughDrive Sport ultra portable external hard drive is extremely simple. As you would expect these days, this drive is a plug and play device. As soon as the device is plugged in, the plug and play comes in and takes you through the entire process of setting up the password for your important information. The drive is compatible with both Windows and Mac Operating Systems, and the drive is available in capacities of 320GB, 500GB and 640GB. We tested the module in our Windows Vista Laptop.

Features:

Password Protection:
In addition to this exterior protection, FreeCom has equipped the hard drive with a built in 256 bit password that should keep your data safe and sound if somebody nabs it. If your choice is to use this feature, you have to enter a password each and every time the drive is put into use to access data or see the contents. You have to kick yourself if you stuff up the password and just forget it; because the only way you can access your drive is to reformat it, hence erasing the contents of the drive to start all over again. However, you will be able to remove the encryption with the help of preloaded software, it will then allow you to access the drive as usual.

NTI Shadow back-up software:
FreeCom has also supplied the NTI Shadow back-up software; this is a software that aids you in creating and modifying the backup tasks based on the most usual formats of file like photos, documents, audios and videos, or even the manual and custom folders or files chosen. As soon as the software is installed, you will be able to choose the files and folders that you wish to backup using a simple listing of check boxes. After choosing the files that you want, you will then be able to make a decision on how often you wish to back-up the same. This frequency can be either every time you change a file in a selected folder, with a certain degree of frequency like each 10 minutes or just a specific day and time.

Other Software:
The manufacturer has even offered trial version of the NTI Ripper software which allows you to rip off music from audio CDs. You also get the MySecurityCenter Internet Security Suite that has antivirus, anti spam and firewall protection. Again, as we had mentioned earlier, you will loose all these software too, in case you forget that all important software you have to format the drive. So, save all of it into a local folder on your hard drive and you are also provided with a small application to complete this task.

Performance:

As the name of the FreeCom ToughDrive Sport USB external hard drive suggests, its highlight feature is being durable. So, let us see here how far it does so. Since the ToughDrive Sport supports Turbo USB 2.0, it allegedly offers transfer speeds of up to 40 percent faster than the regular high speed USB devices, and this driver can be enabled from the software provided. With transferring speeds, the drive transfers 1GB data in 48 seconds with a regular connection dropped to 45 seconds with Turbo USB 2.0 enabled. Not quite the quoted 40 percent, but it is pretty fast anyway so we cannot see too many people complaining.

Warranty:

FreeCom ToughDrive Sport External Hard Drive (320GB, 500GB, 640Gb) comes with two years manufacturer’s warranty for parts and labour.

Conclusion:

Though system security and trekking do not seem to be related in anyways, but if they were, the very durable and rugged Freecom ToughDrive Sport USB hard drive will be everything you are in the market for. If you are carrying data around with you on the move, it is usually prudent to invest in portable storage that is more rugged and durable than your average external hard drive. Typically, there will not be much of features in a tough external hard drive, hence, we were kind of amazed to find the attention to detail FreeCom has taken in extras such as the effective backup software, auto encryption and heaps of other utilities and programs offered.

The drive has managed to have a successful combination of ease of configuration as well as offering of very handy tools and features. This, when combined with style, rugged design and a range of capacities including 320GB to 640GB to provide a great overall storage solution. As far as the entire package is concerned, Freecom has done an excellent job in making the Toughdrive a unique and attractive product in the market. As a portable durable data drive, then, it is one of the best at its price point. Just do not bother taking it up Kilimanjaro.

Check other Freecom External Hard Drive Reviews in this website.

FreeCom ToughDrive Sport (320GB, 500GB, 640Gb) – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Freecom
Model Name	FreeCom ToughDrive Sport
Model Numbers	320GB: 31649 500GB: 31650 640GB: 33003
Colour/Finish	Black and Red
Type	Portable External Hard Drive
Form factor	2.5 inch
Dimensions (W x D x H)	6.1 x 3.15 x 0.83
Weight	260 Grams
Capacities Available	320GB, 500GB and 640GB
Interface	Turbo USB2.0
Hard disk type	2.5″ SATA, low noise, low power consumption
Data transfer rate	480 Mbps
Maximum Drop height	2 Metres free drop on fl at surface
Connectivity	Integrated USB 2.0 cable (30cm) with unique climbing rope texture
Spindle speed	5400
Cache	8MB
Seek time	12ms
Shock Resistant	Operating 300G, non-operating 1000G
Compatible OS	PC: Intel Pentium III / AMD Duron 900 MHz or higher, 256MB RAM (Vista: 512MB RAM) or higher, available USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port, Windows 2000 / XP / Vista MAC: PowerPC G3/G4/G5, Power Book G3/G4 or Intel Mac, 256MB RAM or higher, available USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port, Mac OS X v10.3 or higher
Software	Turbo USB 2.0 software MySecurityCentre Internet Security Suite
Power	USB bus powered, no power adapter required
Warranty	Two year warranty