External Hard Drives

We have come to see all sorts of “Days” these days, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Friends’ Day (to name a few) and what not, well, personally wouldn’t everyone prefer something called Backup Day. Now, there is no denying the fact that you really can’t get too safe in life, can you? No, we are not talking about a “Droid” thing here, but it is a backup thing. There is always procrastination or laziness or indolence that is sure to mess up the best of your backup plan, ain’t it? Well, not anymore! Allow us to present to you the ioSafe Solo G3 USB 3.0 that acts as an aircraft’s black box in safeguarding your data. Aside from huge storage and blazing speeds, what is the other thing that all of us expect from an external hard drive? Yeah! That’s right – imperishable. We would like the drive to take care of all elements that come in contact with it and help in storing data securely. While most drives in the market today fails desperately in trying to achieve this, the ioSafe Solo G3 has managed to achieve this feat quite impressively, should we say. The Solo G3 together with the Data Recovery Service offers users an unparallel kind of data protection. A blend of elegant design and advanced technology, this sturdy ioSafe Solo manages to deliver both fire and water protection to your digital life taking it to an unmatched level. And god forbid even if something unfortunate happens, the DRS (Data Recovery Service) comes to your aid in restoring your hardware and data, irrelevant of what the circumstance is. So are we all set to explore this heavy beast that weighs a whopping 15 pounds and supposedly the toughest in the hard drive arena? Also, you might also want to be aware of the fact that it is designed literally like a fortress (now you might wanna keep that in mind the next time you decide on lugging it around)

Key Features

• Pre-populated storage for your digital media in the capacities of 1, 2 and 3TB
• Both fire and water proof thus protecting data loss for up to 30 mins of 1550°F and 10ft of water for 72 hours respectively
• The Fan-free Near Silent Cooling makes it ideal for almost any location – Residential, Commercial or Entertainment
• Offers full system disaster recovery via Encryption and Backup software
• Absolutely Theft-proof via the Kensington Lock Slot / Padlock-able / Bolt down capable
• Compatible to both 3.0 and 2.0 USB (Backwards Compatible)
• Offers extension plans for One, three or five years of Data Recovery Service

IoSafe Solo G3 Quick Specs
Interface Type – SuperSpeed USB 3.0
Available capacities: 1, 2 and 3TB
Drive Type – External USB 3.5-inch drive
Dimensions (HxWxD) – 5 x 7.1 x 11 inches
Weight – 15lbs
Connector options – Both USB2.0 and 3.0 compatible
OS Required – Mac OS 8.6 or greater, Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista 7) or Intel Pentium II 350MHz-compatible
Rotation Speed – 7200 rpm
Data Transfer Rate – 5.0 Gbps
Complies with FCC, UL and CE standards such that your may pretty much use it anywhere
Manufacturer Warranty – 3 year Manufactuer’s warranty

In the box

• IoSafe Solo G3 USB External hard drive
• Power supply
• USB 3.0 cable
• Warranty and Owners Manual

Build & Design

Well, for starters the ioSafe Solo G3 would be the latest addition to ioSafe’s collection of water and fire-proof hard drives and is also a revised variant of the SoloPro. The Solo G3 can literally take a bullet for you, but if you are wondering if it is bullet marks that you are seeing on the image above, no it is not! The first thing that catches your attention by taking a single glance at the Solo G3 would be its weight. It would actually be unjust to just call it huge, as it is a behemoth weighing a whopping 15 pounds, that you can literally do a tap dance on it. So, if you are looking at a portable or handy drive, then this is definitely not for you and it would be ideal to quit the review right away. On the other hand, “if size doesn’t matter to you, well then read on! All of it is 15 pounds has been neatly packed to form a veritable brick forming a dimension of 5 x 7.1 x 11” (HWD). Though it works as a desktop drive too, it almost weighs pretty much like a desktop itself. In fact, it beats the 6TB LaCie 2big Thunderbolt series hands down, which by itself is considered nothing less than a beast. Even as you need a protein shake at the very thought of lugging around the Solo G3, it sure does give you a weird satisfaction that it is not any ordinary drive that you are working with here. Though it does give you the feel of a tank, we must agree that it is nothing short of a silent stealth bomber, thanks to the fan-free design.

So moving on with the design of the Solo G3 Desktop Drive, the hulk-like indestructible impression given by the drive would make one wonder if it sports some kind of an industrial design. Well, then you will be surprised to know that that’s not the case. It comes encased in a sleek metal chassis taking the shape of a grey slab with the inner mesh closure revealed by a perforated motif in the front. Akin to its predecessor the SoloPro, the Solo G3 also looks like a massive asphalt brick, but yes better-looking and shiny, may we add. At 15 pounds it sure does pose a challenge to be picked up especially with its rounded corners. We would have been more impressed if it had some kind of a handle on the top, making it easier to be carried around, but sadly it doesn’t sport one. Towards the front of the G3 is a tiny indicator light, glowing solid blue with the drive being powered on and flashes intermittently with any activity happening on the drive. It could prove annoying to some users owing to its brightness, especially if you want to maintain some darkness in the room. In contrast to the SoloPro, the Solo G3 doesn’t pack any fans thus maintaining complete silence, except for a pale hum caused by the drive inside, every now and then. There are no vibrations either.

Getting to the rear, it is the same perforated design that goes on to the reveal a port for the USB 3.0 and an AC input together with the On/Off switch. But for this, the drive packs no other connection type, like the eSATA, FireWare or Thunderbolt. There is also a bar coded sticker that has the serial number of the device. The same comes engraved in a metal strip too which is riveted in safely, such that ioSafe recognizes the drive despite an Armageddon. There is a slot that has been incorporated into the casing that comes with a Kensington lock and if that doesn’t seem good enough to you, there is also a floor mount on offer, which can be used to bolt the drive down adding to its security.

Hidden below the drive’s metal casing sits the DataCast Technology of ioSafe, a thick ceramic fortress that prevents heat penetration. ioSafe claims that DataCast can easily handle half hour of constant exposure to high temperatures (as high as 1550°F). Furthermore, the DataCast formulation can supposedly create a chemical bond via water molecules, such that at 160°F it releases water vapor thus limiting the internal temperature of the drive, even as the drive gets engulfed in flames. So that takes care of fire, but how about hazards of water? Flaking through the DataCast corral goes on to reveal the ioSafe’s HydroSafe water cordon. Encasing the drive like a Capri Sun pouch, this allows for submersion of the drive in as much as 10 feet or salt/fresh water. Additionally, the barrier has been designed in a manner that it is capable of dissipating any amount of heat generated by the drive during its normal operation.

Getting to the most impressive feature of the Solo G3 External Hard Drive that sets it apart from the rest would be its built-in Data Recovery Service (DRS). You can probably think of it like your data’s insurance. For instance, if ever your drive is destroyed for some reason, all you need to do is to send it to the guys at ioSafe and they will recover your data and transfer the same to an alternate drive and mail it back to you. This is something unique done by ioSafe as against their competitors, who just manage to cover the physical drive alone and not the data within. The DRS sure does give you some peace of mind about both your drive and the data within. While the hard drive comes with the DRS standard for 1 year, it can also be extended to 3 o 5 years, as per your requirement. Nevertheless, whether or not you choose to extend the warranty, you still remain covered for one whole year at the least.

The ioSafe G3 proves to be extremely handy especially for those with enormous amount of data to store like medical records, which requires periodic backup and needs to be safeguarded against tornadoes, floods or even fire. The G3 would prove to be fairly handy in such circumstances. While all of the above looks to be impressive, there is something else that we are more concerned about – all said and done it is still a single-volume hard drive, with just a single drive inside the casing. This would mean that there is no support for RAID configurations, namely RAID1 that protects data from a single-drive failure. So, even as the data is safe from extreme natural disasters, it is still prone to dying its death out of general wear and tear or mechanical defects. There is no facility for the drive to be replaced by users on their own. This only means that once the outer shell is ripped off, there is no guarantee for the effectiveness or protection offered by this drive. So you might want to understand one thing very clearly here – even though the drive is designed to sustain natural disasters, in all probabilities the drive might cease to work after having gone through any such disaster. Wherein the layers of protection can be peeled out and the internal drive retrieved to recover data by connecting to your PC, after which you might have to invest in another G3 if in case you want your data to survive yet another disaster.

 Features

The Solo G3 Protects Memories of enterprises, families and corporates alike, who depend on the Solo G3 for some peace of mind in knowing that their digital life is safe in the hands of an ultimate hard drive. Now be it a Laptop or a PC Backup, the ioSafe G3 provides you with the safest and simplest way of protecting data, such that you might not have to worry about losing data the next time your system crashes. Having backed up your PC with the Solo G3, restoring your system after a crash is pretty much fast and painless. Simply Plug and Play – with a simple but blazing fast 3.0 USB interface getting the G3 up and running cannot get anymore simple than just plugging in. Better yet the G3 is compatible with both Mac and Windows. Theft Protection, the Solo G3’s Kensington lock together with the boltdown flange ensures your drive stays grounded and pretty much assures you that the drive doesn’t walk out of your front door even in the event of a break in or robbery. Fan-less Near-Silent Cooling – the latest cooling technology, FloSafe airflow, aides in the near-silent operation of the drive, which is perfect particularly for fussy/sensitive users ,who prefer the fire and water protection in a silent way. Upon sensing devastating heat levels, fire for instance, the FloSafe vents regulate and safeguard your data from extreme heat. Supplement Online Backup – Trying to backup your PC could leave you vulnerable for weeks together, but this is where the Solo G3 pitches in rescuing your digital life in minutes. Supplementing an existing online backup solution, the G3 offers you the best of both worlds. While offsite redundancy is provided online, the Solo G3 provides a real-time backup, security, privacy and fast recovery speeds on a day to day basis. Protecting your identity – instant protection and safeguarding your financial info is a literal cakewalk with the Solo G3. You can also protect your personal financial details from theft, corruption and even loss of identity by storing it privately and locally on the Solo G3. Last but not the least, the drive is both Fireproof and Waterproof together with offering Data Recovery Services as elaborated above.

Performance

Having been pre-formatted with NTFS, the Solo G3 almost springs to life and works instantly upon being plugged onto a Windows PC. Additionally, it also packs a retail variant of “Genie Timeline Pro” backup software. The Solo G3 is compatible with Mac too, after you have it reformatted to HFS+ that just takes a couple of seconds. Then again, you will unfortunately not be able to enjoy the blazing speeds of the USB 3.0, as Mac’s generally provide support only for 2.0 USB’s. The G3 manages to score impressive ratings with both 2.0 and 3.0 USB, in reading as well as writing (we’ll get to that shortly).

Well, talking about Mac, you might want to be apprised of the fact that while the G3 has managed to be upgraded to USB 3.0, it is just the drive’s interface, so unless you possess a USB 3.0 PCI card or the ExpressCard for the Mac Pro and the a 17-inch MacBook Pro respectively, you really cannot benefit from the USB 3.0 speeds. Again, the transfer speeds on USB 2.0 look to be average as against other USB 2.0 drives. The Solo G3 looks to be 1 or 2Mbps faster than its rivals like the Iomega Helium or the WD My Passport for Mac .

Performance-wise it is not really an easy task to compare this behemoth drive to another one, as it is yet to find its equal. Well, there are a couple of others that are touted for their rugged label, but are nowhere near offering the kind of immunity promised by the Solo G3 for the natural catastrophes. Of course, drives like the Iomega eGo BlackBelt Mac Edition and the LaCie Rugged Mini sure do seem to survive short heights, but neither of the two has been designed for Armageddon and hence cannot really take raging fires or submersion. Again, even as the incredible resilient design of the Solo G3 steals the show away, the blazing USB 3.0 is also laudable in its own specialty. The Solo G3 fares impressively well in both reading and writing registering 111Mbps and 109Mbps respectively. With the USB 3.0 interface being compatible backwards too with the common USB 2.0, the results weren’t that impressive upon trying the same. With an average 26Mbps and 32Mbps for writing and reading respectively, it was kind of below average on the chart. So, it would be ideal to use the hard disk with a USB 3.0, if you really want to get the best out of the drive, which is absolutely easy to be added to the desktop via the add-in card. Again, the G3 looks to be a silent performer with no vibration or sounds emitted. Neither does it emit any heat for that matter owing to the fact that it gets absorbed by the multiple thick seams of protection.

Long story short, the Solo G3 evidently isn’t just any drive that is intended for mainstream usage, so it would be wrong to view it via a prism of average expectations.  This leviathan has been crafted to withstand the worst possible conditions and it clearly does so with absolute ease even as it boasts of an impressive aesthetic chassis.

Support/Service

ioSafe supports the Solo G3 too, similar to its predecessor, with a 1 year data warranty, which includes the Data Recovery Service that takes care of restoring your data back if in case a disaster strikes. Just in case the damage caused by fire or water requires an expensive forensic recovery, the warranty covers a portion of that cost too. As mentioned, there is also the facility to upgrade to a 3 or 5 years warranty at an additional cost. Furthermore, the drive also packs a 3 year warranty against defects. So that is that in terms of support and for everything else there is always the company’s toll-free number that can be reached from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Additionally, their website also provides you FAQs, user guides/downloads or any other support-related stuff for that matter.

Plus: Blazing USB 3.0 interface, amazingly durable, fan-free silent operation, packs Forensic Data Recovery Service.
Minus: Pricey and Hefty

Verdict

Well, to conclude if you are someone who is paranoid about freak accidents or natural disasters to strike you unaware depriving you of your beloved digital data, then the ioSafe Solo G3 is something that has been built exclusively for you. The drive is not just fire and water proof, but also offers Data Recovery Service for 1 year as well. Nevertheless, if the bulky design and single interface disappoints you big time, then there are other compact and less expensive options waiting to be explored. Now, not everyone looks at an armored truck for everyday commute, do they?

IoSafe Solo G3 USB 3.0 External Hard Drive – Complete Specification Details

The External Hard Drive souk isn’t really short of storage solutions, yet the latest product from Buffalo Technology has a nice addition to make to the ever-growing lineup of 3.0 USB storage solutions. Buffalo has unveiled two new models namely the MiniStation Extreme (the disk in discussion today) and the other being DriveStation Axis Velocity. Both of these drives support USB 3.0 that allows for faster transfer rates, that is if your PC supports USB 3.0 ports. Both the models pack a 256-bit AES hardware encryption, which allegedly meets the security standards of the US government. As the name suggests, the MiniStation Extreme has been crafted more for a rugged use and supposedly withstands bumps and knocks, thanks to the shock protection elements and rubberised base that also meets the shock protection standards of the US military.

Now, it would be pertinent here to bring to the notice of users about the growing issue of demand in hard disks particularly with the current yo-yoing prices, the reason being the 2011 floods that hit Thailand during last monsoon. This has brought down the production of hard disks by more than 50% as majority of the manufacturers have their factories in Thailand. Now scarcity is directly proportional to price hike right? If you are waiting for a dip in prices before you decide on your purchase, well that is not gonna happen anytime in the future. So, the fury of nature aside, the need for an external hard drive only keeps increasing by the day to backup all of those important files and your cherished moments by way of videos and photos. Delaying your purchase now might only cost you dearly, god forbid, if your PC bumps into some natural disaster of its own while you impatiently wait for the price to descend.

Buffalo MiniStation Extreme Quick Specs

• Interface Type – SuperSpeed USB 3.0
• OS Required – Microsoft Windows XP, Apple MacOS X 10.5 or later, Microsoft
• Available capacities: 500GB and 1TB
• Available colours: Piano Black, Silver and Red
• Power Source – USB bus
• Manufacturer Warranty – 2 years warranty
• Dimensions (WxDxH) – 8.9 cm x 12.8 cm x 1.8 cm
• Weight – 230 g
• Data Transfer Rate – 5.0 Gbps (SuperSpeed USB)
• Required OS – Microsoft windows XP, Apple MacOS X 10.5 or later, Microsft Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows 7

Key Features

• Highly shock resistant that meets the protection standards of US Military
• Sleek and compact
• Compatible with Mac and Windows PC
• Flex Connect USB Cable
• USB powered
• Compatible with both USB 2.0 and 3.0
• Hardware Disk Encryption
• Super Speed USB 3.0 with TurboPC EX
• Connect & Go
• Backs up your data/files
• Buffalo Tools
• Compatible with Time Machine
• eco Manager

Design and Feel

Featuring an enhanced motif over its predecessor, the MiniStation Stealth, the piano-black Buffalo MiniStation Extreme portable hard drive looks much similar to a small notebook or a datebook. Even as it comes in a case-glossy plastic, that looks kind of cheap, on one side and a rubberized textured rubber on the other side, it sure does prove to far better than the bland squarish look of the Stealth, together with an inclusion of a rounded corner towards the upper right. It is at this corner where the USB cable gets folded into the drive, thus eliminating the hassles of cables that need to be carried separately and also making the Extreme so much more portable. Measuring 89×128 x18 mm and weighing about 230g, the hard drive looks to be much sleeker that the Rugged Mini, but not quite as light or slim as the Seagate GoFlex Turbo. Again, the rugged chassis, mentioned above, that it comes enclosed in, packs a nifty array of highly shock-protecting elements with 4 different kinds of rubber that has gone into the making of the same, each crafted to help in absorbing shock in individual areas of the drive and thus shielding it from accidental bumps. Additionally, it also meets the protection standards of the U.S. Military (as already mentioned) Procedure IV Standard MIL-STD-810F 516.5 along with getting past couple of free fall tests with the drops being as high as 2.3 meters and almost all those daily bumps and knocks. By comparison, the MiniStation Extreme beats the Rugged Mini that is also shock resistant and can take a height of only 1.2 meters, nevertheless it boasts of enduring as much as 1 ton of pressure together with being rain resistant. Well, no worries here as your drive runs reliably along with staying safe

The drive boasts of a LED lighting at the front that comes in handy in telling you into which port have you plugged in the drive – illuminating Blue for the USB 3.0 and green for the USB 2.0. It also flickers while the data gets accessed. The hard drive is devoid of any power switch, so will only to have manually unlatch it from your PC if you are looking at turning it off. Together with supporting Buffalo’s TurboPC EX and the latest USB 3.0, the hard drive is capable of delivering theoretical data transfer rates (brutto) of 5Gbps. The MiniStation Extreme comes in 500GB and 1TB capacities with a 256-bit AES FDE and is priced at £74 for the former and £134 for the latter with the available colours being Silver, Piano-black or Red. There is also an incorporated USB 3.0 cable that is tucked in snugly at the sides. Well, there is a hitch to it though – the cable is actually kind of short, so Buffalo has gone ahead and included a cable extension, which is kind of hideous, making it a cumbersome and an uninviting solution for connecting it to a PC. Looking at the brighter side, the drive doesn’t really require hefty adaptors as it is USB powered. Again, there are some quality issues with the cable design too by way of getting the cable unclipped from the top of the drive which makes it almost impossible to reattach the same. Also the delicate metal plate poses to be a concern which kind of sits too close to the USB port which over time could shift slightly and thus not allow the cable to attach.

Features & Extras

While the shock-resistant chassis and rubberised parts aid in branding the MiniStation Extreme one of the robust MiniStation until date, looks like Buffalo has not forgotten about the equally important constraint – data security. Supporting 256-bit AES encryption (but for the Windows server and Mac OS) that also keeps the US government’s security standard in mind, now it is absolute peace of mind for globetrotters in keeping their password-encrypted data away from prying eyes. Besides, the fixed hard drive of the MiniStation Extreme also means it is fairly evident to note if it has been tampered with.

FDE (full disk encryption) that is hardware-based is on offer by almost all vendors with the core of the technology being symmetric encryption key. As this is maintained independently from the CPU, it eradicates the threat of the computer memory being a potential attack factor. The advantage here would be the transparency to users with the drive operating similar to any other drive with no compromise in performance. So it is free of performance overhead or complications, in contrast to disk encryption software, as all encryption is obscured from both the OS and the processor of the host PC.

Now the encrypted MiniStation Extreme USB 3.0 External Hard Drive is perceived by a computer in the form of a virtual CD at startup. On attempting to access it, a window pops up demanding the preset password. Now if you forget your password, you can bid farewell to your data for good, as the drive has to be restored using factory settings that ends up erasing all your passwords and data.

Well, this complicated discussion of encryption shouldn’t really deter the technophobes out there as the Extreme is a fairly easy to use hard drive that has been preformatted for instant use with Windows HFS+ and NTFS support and Mac. All you need to do is to stick the drive into the available port and the OS takes care of the rest.
The hard drive also packs the “Buffalo Tools” a neat Windows software suite that allows for backup of more than one PC with just a single hard drive. It also helps with conserving energy by regulating the hard drive’s power usage. The Extreme doesn’t disappoint Mac users as well by being perfectly compatible with Mac’s Time Machine as well.

The only gripe is the host of programs that the Extreme comes with similar to any other Buffalo devices. Well, these programs aren’t of much help and only prove to be a pain while attempting to uninstall them, scattering folders all over PC’s hard drive. The hard disk works perfectly fine even without these programs and we would only advise not installing them.

Performance

Getting to the performance of the MiniStation Extreme, upon being plugged into a conventional USB 2.0 port, the read and write speeds of the disk ranges to around 30MB/s. Nevertheless, when plugged in a USB 3.0 port, the write and read speeds soar away to 85.73MB/s and amazing 94.87MB/s respectively. Now before you stick it in the USB 3.0 port, you might want to ensure that you have the latest drivers for the USB 3.0 installed in your motherboard, as it sure does prove to be a faster and better USB port.

The Extreme shines extremely well in the area that matters the most – raging read and write speeds. Looks like the hard drive has taken full advantage of the TurboPC technology and the USB 3.0 interface using the system’s RAM to augment the transfer rates. It almost gives all of its competitors a good run for their money and beats them hands down. For instance, it takes roughly about a minute and 10 seconds to write 5GB of mixed multimedia files at the rate of 74.2Mbps. Again, it proves to be too good when it comes to reading the same file by taking an average of 59 secs at the rate of 86.6Mbps. It beats the Seagate GoFlex and LaCie Rugged Mini mercilessly in both read and write speeds with only the Iomega eGo offering comparable speeds and yet pales down when compared to the blazing speed of the Extreme. Again, the MiniStation Extreme breaks no sweat while trying to transfer a single 3GB file and writes the file in an average of 31secs at the rate of 99.1Mbps thrashing out both the Seagate and LaCie hard drives at 71.4 Mbps and breaking into a tie with the eGo.

Warranty & Service

The manufacturer offers a 2-year warranty on this Buffalo MiniStation Extreme USB 3.0 Hard drive.

Verdict

Bufallo seems to have gotten all their basics right with the MiniStation Extreme – a rugged design, amazing transfer speeds, more importantly a competitive price tag. Though it isn’t imperishable it is actually nice to see something sturdy in comparison to some of the other critically flimsy hard drives that have hit the market thus far. Well, you will have to ignore the totally uncalled for programs that tag along with the drive. Its unmatched transfer speeds and reasonable pricing sure does seem impressive, particularly for globetrotters with a requirement of a portable, at the same time a robust drive and the MiniStation Extreme sure does seem to be their best bet.

Buffalo MiniStation Extreme Portable Hard Drive – Detailed Specification Table

Are you on the look out for the NextGen portable HDD from Western Digital? Well, you are in for a treat then, especially Mac users! Well, the manufacturer has unveiled two of their new generation My Passport Drives – My Passport and My Passport Studio for Mac. While the latter is designed to cater to people on the go and have the need to transfer huge amounts of data constantly like artists, photographers and videographers, the former has been designed for Mac users looking at storing massive amounts of data packed in a super compact lightweight disk. Featuring two ports for the FireWire 800 together with USB 2.0 interface the WD My Passport Studio (in discussion today) also packs a password protection and encryption software and comes in a whopping size of 1TB and 500GB. Again, it is the high-end of the two drives that has an anodized all metal aluminium chassis with rounded sleek edges.  Well, these two drives sure does put the old general Mac externals out to pasture and for a good reason, we think! WD sure does seem to have paid a lot of attention to detail in designing the My Passport Studio as it boasts of a minimalist feel throughout, looking and feeling robust, yet seems sophisticated with even the indicator light on the rear of the drive kept tiny such that it doesn’t really offend. So, before we delve onto an elaborate review, let us take a quick peek at the My Passport Studio’s specs shall we?

Western Digital Studio Specs

• Capacity – 500GB / 750 GB / 1TB
• Weight 334 g
• Interface – Dual FireWire 800, USB 2.0
• Measurement – (H) 0.9” x (L) 5.0” x (W) 3.3”
• HFS+ Journaled Formatted (can be reformatted for Windows)
• Operating 41° F to 95° F
• Non-operating -4° F to 149° F
• No power adaptor required
• WD Security / Drive Utilities
• Compatible with Apple Time Machine

Design and Feel

As mentioned above, the My Passport Studio Portable Hard Drive doesn’t just boast of a sublime design or build credentials, but feels rock solid too as the hard disk cargo comes encased in a solid lump of metal that is machine-hewed. Well, it might not be indestructible per se, but the CNC-machined aluminium casing is good enough to manage bruises and bumps just fine and maintain the drive nice and safe. The drive not giving up with twisting or bending the case and the parts not squeaking or rubbing together goes to prove this point fairly well. It is good to see that Eschewing WD has chosen to ditch the plastic exterior that we saw in its elder sibling, My Passport Essential and have opted for an all-metal brushed aluminum exterior with a matt black lid. This two-tone design looks to be a fab with the black casing spilling over the ports in the rear and the bottom and sides sporting an Apple Silver. More importantly, it is not fingerprint-hungry. In contrast to the Iomega Helium Portable Hard Drive, that feels and looks like a hard brick, the My Passport’s enclosure has been slightly curved along the edges.

Now getting to the evident causality of the drive – its weight, all those mobile power users for whom every little gram counts, you might wanna look away now as the My Passport Studio weighs a whopping 334 grams. On the flip side, with great mass comes great amounts of authority ain’t it? Yes it does! This 1TB portable drive sure does stretch your coat lining a wee bit, but it does feel solid and durable.

Getting to the drive’s rear, you are greeted by a single microUSB 2.0 port along with 2 daisy-chainable FireWire 800 ports together with a white/blue activity light. Unfortunately, WD has decided to exclude using a wider USB 3.0–compatible connector in this hard drive. Well, a USB 3.0 port would be a nice feature to have both for cross-platform usage and for possible future Macs.

Again, with the drive being powered via the USB/the FireWire port, it saves the hassle of lugging around a bulky power cord. That said, the USB port is microUSB connection, a neat touch indeed, especially with many users having gotten over with outdated dated miniUSB cords. A trivial thing perhaps, but we still get to see new drives released with old interface designs.  Towards the bottom one can note the 4 rubber feet that is near-flush along with the basic drive certification info/serial number sticker sitting comfortable on a recessed area. As the My Passport Studio is pre-formatted for Mac, there is no hassle of reformatting it. Again, it also packs the required cables too (with the exception of the FireWire 800 to FireWire 400 cable), together with the warranty booklet and a guide for Quick Installation. Additionally there is also a full digital version of the manual that comes with the drive itself or you are given the option to download the same from the Western Digital website too.

Now while other manufacturers have taken measures in ensuring that users do not tamper with the drive inside, the My Passport Studio Hard Drive begs to differ here. All it takes to rip the drive apart are just four Torx screws at the bottom of the casing. Upon removing these screws, the case gets ripped into two revealing the WD10TPVT 1TB Scorpio Blue hard drive clocking inside of it. The drive boasts of an 8MB cache, a spin speed of 5200 RPM together with a SATA 3Gb/s interface. The drive and added PCB containing the ports is further secured by a metal caddy and unscrewing 6 more screws dislodges the drive from the caddy. Ironically, aside from the fact that the whole process is fairly simple, the Western Digital My Passport Studio External Hard Drive is probably one of those rare gadgets that allows users to so easily swap drives, probably with something that performs better, if they so choose.

Features & Extras

Now every time you decide to connect your Mac to the My Passport Studio, WD’s unlocker software promptly greets you by asking you to type in a preset password before it lets you to use the drive. But if you are looking at a way to get around it, then you might have to use the provided WD Security app. After having installed it, you are allowed to either change the password or totally terminate the Unlocker from showing up. While some of us might appreciate the extra security provided by WD here, many users would only be too happy if WD had let the customers decide on whether they prefer having a security app or not as against forcing them to install some additional software to deal with a pre-installed app.

The included software on the drive looks to be much improved in comparison to the older WD external drives that packed a stuffed cross-platform Mac/Windows app. Installation interface in Adobe Flash, it required admin rights for being set up and installed files deep down your PC that devoured processor and memory resources even when the drive was not connected. Well, now what we have is an OS X app that is suitably coded, in fact two of them, one that takes care of basic functions while the other looks after security.

There is this WD Drive Utilities that is a simple app boasting of 4 functions. For starters, there is this Diagnostics Section that checks the SMART status running a rapid disk test or scanning a disk completely for bad sectors, if any. Then comes the Sleep Timer that helps with setting an idle time prior to the spindown, for say, 10 mins, 15 mins, 35 or 45 minutes or never. Third would the dangerous Drive Erase that can erase all of your data on the disk for good. Finally comes the Registration section that gathers your contact details.

In contrast to it older sibling the My Passport Studio 500GB, 750GB & 1TB Hard Drive neither has a storage gauge or an electric label. It is pre-formatted for HFS+ (Mac’s native OS) such that it can be used right out of the box with Time Machine.  Well, if you are not so keen on using Time Machine, the drive still works perfectly fine as a transport or storage drive, but then it lacks any other backup software that could pose to be a problem if you are someone who is still using Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier. A drive image file on the disk contains a drive health utility, a Western Digital Plus Turbo utility, which helps speed up some disk operations, a Security app that comes in handy for hardware encryption together with user manuals in many languages. Now even as it is fairly easy to reformat the hard disk using NTFS and make it Windows compatible, the fact that it is devoid of USB 3.0 would mean that Windows users need to settle for other options. The reason for the drive not supporting USB 3.0 is probably because of the fact that Mac computers normally do not support this peripheral connection.

Clocking inside the My Passport Studio would be a WD 2.5in Scorpio Blue SATA disk. Instead of the latest 9.5mm variant (WD10JPVT) that earned itself a Recommended award recently it is the plumpy 12.5mm (WD10TPVT) version that is ticking inside this hard disk. Even as it is tagged slow by the WD specs when compared to the all new 9.5mm version, it still manages to perform way beyond the potential of the fastest 800 FireWire interface. Now if you are wondering whatever happened to WD’s pledge of Thunderbolt’s benefits (that was launched on Apple PC’s in Feb last year) – well the arrival of a Thunderbolt port on a storage device looks to be a long overdue.

Performance

For the techno-buffs, you might be interested in knowing that it is a powerful chip controller, an OXUF943SE, from the Oxford Semiconductor that serves as a primary interface between the SATA disk and the USB and FireWire ports that faces the user. Results suggest that MacBook Air/other OS platform users might witness an impressive write/read speeds of 28MBps and 38MBps respectively via the microUSB port. Well, that might surely seem slow by modern interface standards, but that is the best you can expect from a USB 2.0. On the contrary, things start looking better with the FireWire 800 connection with the read / write performance measuring 76MBps and 69MBps respectively.  Again, this is the next best thing to thunderbolt that Mac users can expect to have particularly with its lack of support for USB 3.0. It would be worth mentioning that the My Passport Studio does get a wee bit warm after being operated for a while, but remains fairly quite and doesn’t really emit any vibration or whatsoever.

Warranty & Service

There is a 2-year-warranty offered on the My Passport Studio that looks to be kind of disappointing because it is the service and support that plays a vital role when it comes to external hard drives. Anyways, there is a toll-free support over phone offered by the company that can be availed of from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. together with online support by way of comprehensive tools on their website that includes downloads, substantial knowledge base, an online installation guide along with a product RMA.

Verdict

Robust, good-looking and performs decently is how we would like to describe the My Passport Studio, which looks to be a best bet for Mac users. We are okay with forgiving WD’s continuous omission of Thunderbolt for the simple reason that the disk proves to be a tough example of ultra-modern engineering even as it stretches the pocket, but is definitely worth every pound and gramme.  With its amazing FireWire performance and couple of worthy software up its sleeve, all of which comes neatly packed, it sure does raise the stakes for pocket drives as this. That said, Windows users; nevertheless, should continue their hunt for better deals, particularly a drive that is USB 3.0 compatible.

Western Digital My Passport Studio External Hard Drive – Technical Specification Table

Well, Sony does not need any introduction whatsoever, unless you are an 18 month old. The HD-PG5 is the company’s flagship external hard drive. It is not just another external hard drive, as you can expect from the giants, this device has the capability to record live TV shows to it directly, transfer videos directly from Sony Handycams and last but not the least, even watch videos and images through PS3.

Design:

The Sony HD-PG5 external hard drive is available in two shades of black and white. Being a portable hard drive, the drive fits the current good-looking stereotype by being sleek and slender measuring (H x W x D) 126 x 80 x 16mm, weighing just 180g. As an added advantage, it has a scratch resistant paint layer to make sure that it is able to maintain the good looks for a longer period.

Features:

For the hardcore Sony adorers out there, who have everything ‘Sony’ in their house such as, a Sony Bravia telly, Sony Blu-ray player, Handycam etc, and all of the other newest Sony technology, the HD-PG5 portable hard drive will simply put all of those technology quite well.

Capacity and Interface:

The Sony HD-PG5 portable external hard drive has a storage capacity of 500GB, which is quite adequate for you to record content directly from the Bravia Tv, only if it is a Bravia. The device has USB as interface.

Security and back-up:

The Sony HD-PG5 Portable Hard Drive does come with a security and back-up software. The Password Protection Manager, using the very potent AES 256-bit data encryption is the kind of security you get. The Backup Manager Software protects all your files and data making regular automated schedule backups. The FAT32 formatter software feature lets you re-format the drive from NTFS to provide support to the Direct Copy feature in the handycam.

TV- recording:

With the USB interface, the HD-PG5 will be able to extract content not only from the telly’s tuner, but also from a set top box. You do get set boxes sporting a record function of their own, however, by having the recording in this portable hard drive, you get to take it wherever you want.

Direct from Handycam:

Having a Handycam camcorder, you will be able to transfer the content off it without having to connect it to a PC, with this storage toy. This is made possible with the supplied USB adaptor as well as the Sony Handycams that possess the Direct Copy functionality, such as the latest DCR SR21 and DCR SX21E models.

Connect to your PS3:

As we mentioned in the introduction, the HD-PG5 also connects to your PS3, which allows you to look at your AVCHD movies and images through the Filmy app, which can again be done without the need for a computer.

A normal external hard drive too:

With all this bells and whistles, you might be wondering if at all the Sony HD-PG5 can ever be employed as a normal external hard drive, well yes. Sony has included USB3.0 support to offer you some lightning speed data transfers, and those who only have USB 2.0 will have the advantage of the included Data Transfer Accelerator software that will fetch you twice the transfer rate.

Warranty:

Sony offers its first external portable hard drive, HD-PG5 three years limited warranty for parts and labour.

Verdict:

The Sony HD-PG5 Portable Hard Drive just sounds like a perfect gift for the dad who keeps missing his shows. Another biggest advantage of the device is that, it does not have any sort of a steep learning curve. Yes, it is gets a ‘recommended’ from us, externalharddrives.org.uk.

Sony HD-PG5 External Hard Drive – Technical Specification Table

The My Book Live Duo Personal Cloud Storage is the latest and hottest product from the storage giants Western Digital. This product is, as the name indicates, a two bay personal cloud storage expanding on the company’s range of single bay My Book Live. With this device, the engineers have clubbed the advantages of remote access and shared storage by having a double safe backup and boosted capacity of a dual system with RAID.

Design:

Design wise, we hope that you are aware this Western Digital My Book Live Duo is no portable storage. It is not only one of the chunkiest we have seen, but the strongest to live for a while. It is quite big with dimensions of (H x W x D) 165mm x 157mm x 99mm. As you might be aware, the device connects directly to your router using gigabit Ethernet, to share everything in the drive using home network. The package includes a USB2.0 port to extended its capacity further or just transfer the files.

Capacity:

The Western Digital My Book Live Duo Personal Cloud Storage is currently available in two flavours of capacities of 4TB and 6TB.

Features:

The My Book Live Duo Personal Cloud Storage sports an 800MHz CPU providing automatic backup for the Windows users through the Western Digital SmartWare Software. The Mac users too have not been left in the cold, as they can use Apple Time Machine.

The Duo Personal Cloud Storage:

While the original version, the Western Digital My Book Live impressed the market with its great deal of functionality as well as mobile app support, for that kind of money, it came under criticism for the absence of any built-in back-up support in case of a crashed backup. It left the experts in dilemma considering the fact that the Applied Micro APM82181 NAS Platform was definitely more than just capable of the ordinary NAS functionalities.

One of the major advantages of having the Western Digital My Book Live Duo External Hard Drive is its double safe backup which always maintains another copy of all of your data for real-time back-up in mirrored mode, which is RAID1. While one half of the available storage is used to store the user’s data, the second half if used for the storage of the duplicate copy. In case one of your drives fail, then all of your data will be protected as all of it is duplicated on the second drive. If you are not a big fan of having two copies, Western Digital has the Spanning mode, with which you will be able to combine both of the drives into one huge storage space for making the most of the available space.

Media server:

One of the bells and whistles that Western Digital My Book Live Duo has to offer is its built-in media server, using which you will be able to stream in photos, videos, movies as well as audio to any of the DLNA approved multimedia device. The choice of DLNA certified multimedia devices are huge, you get the WD TV Live Streaming media player, PS3, Xbox 360, Blu-ray players as well as smart TVs. One sweet advantage of the media server is that, you will be able to stream your tablet and smartphone right from the MyBook Live Duo with the WD 2go mobile app which you can purchase from iTunes as well as the Android markets.

Warranty:

Western Digital offers three years warranty for My Book Live Duo Personal Cloud’s parts and labour.

Verdict:

The WD My Book Live Duo Personal Storage lives up to the words of Chris Bull, director of marketing for Western Digital. It is the ideal, overall entertainment and storage solution for today’s fully connected consumer. The device provides safe back-up and also access and share data from anywhere from your tablet or smartphone.
For the complete detailed review of the WD My Book Live Duo Personal Storage, check back soon.

Western Digital My Book Live Duo – Technical Specification Table