External Hard Drives

ExtremeTech's reviews are outstanding in all regards. Testing is thorough, reviews cover all important considerations and ratings are appropriate. In an August 2007 roundup review, Joel Durham directly… compares five eSATA external hard drives. Although Seagate and Western Digital drives fare best in most reviews, they come in last here. Durham says, "In their zeal to reduce power usage and noise, these drives are also slower than the rest." The lesser-known Cavalry CAXM37500 is the best of the batch. ExtremeTech also reviews individual drives and conducts roundup reviews of other closely related types of drives, including NAS boxes.

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Tom's Hardware regularly reviews a full variety of external storage options. At least two products are directly compared in each review. Testing and evaluation are very thorough. Review conclusions weigh… all important buying considerations. Important pros and cons are addressed for each contender, but drives aren't rated and the reviewers are usually reluctant to express a preference. We were particularly impressed with the reviews of dual-drive products from LaCie and SimpleTech. The reviewers helpfully conclude that they don't justify being more expensive than two separate external eSATA drives.

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X-bit Labs is a prolific reviewer of external hard drives. Fairly recent roundup reviews cover nine 160 GB drives and 30 250 GB drives. Testing is incredibly comprehensive, but overly focused on speed.… Aleksey Meyev reports that USB 2.0 and FireWire are limiting bottlenecks that decrease the maximum throughput speeds between computers and external hard drives. As a result, he measures few performance differences. The reviews are balanced and decisive, but products aren't rated or ranked. Still, Meyev often manages to pick winners in head-to-head roundups of multiple drives.

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In many categories, Digital Trends' reviews are cursory and advertorial, and they focus on sounding hip. However, hard drive reviews are much more substantive. Still, testing is shallow. Speed is not… formally measured or even really addressed. On the other hand, heat and noise observations (but not measurements) are reported, which makes Digital Trends a fine source in conjunction with the majority of reviews that take an opposite approach. One Buffalo drive is not recommended due to myriad installation issues. Screenshots of bundled software are very helpful. Reviews are objectively balanced.

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This lengthy article evaluates high-capacity portable backup drives, and includes tests and evaluation of the Startech Infosafe SATCASE250TG and Thecus Yes Nano N1050. These drives are particularly marketed… for transferring data (images) from memory cards while "on the go." Marcel Binder concludes that the drives work satisfactorily, but slowly, when attached to PCs, and that functionality is as advertised. In spite of that, he says the battery life is inadequate for practical use in the field. Carrying more memory cards makes more sense than carrying extra batteries, he believes.

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This retail site allows users to review products. Because Newegg sells to computer builders, user reviewers are more knowledgeable than on other sites. A Western Digital home and a Western Digital portable… drive have the highest average ratings with no completely dissatisfied customers as of our last visit. Seagate drives scores are just a little lower, but with many dissatisfied customers. Maxtor drives get only middling ratings, and product failure and noise are very common complaints. Fatom and Cavalry drives have many reviews and satisfaction levels on par with Seagate. This is a good site to visit when you have your choices narrowed.

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ThinkComputers seems to find reasons to give every product a very high rating. However, for hard drives, this specialty website offers some variation in ratings and some generic comparisons. Testing is very… similar to PC Magazine's (see below), but better documented. These reviews are of average usefulness, but shallow enough that readers will need another source before making a fully informed buying decision.

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Benchmark Reviews both reviews products and links to other reviews. Site navigation is very awkward, but when you can find the in-house reviews, they are worth reading. Reviews incorporate solid testing, a… balanced approach and good context. They conclude with pro/con lists and overall ratings, as well as subcategory ratings for presentation, appearance, construction, functionality and value. We'd like to see more reviews and an easier way to find them.

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PC Magazine regularly tests individual hard drives, and rates all of them. Testing and evaluation are competent, but far less comprehensive than testing and evaluation conducted by some other reviewers.… Reviews do not address some key buying considerations, such as noise and heat/projected reliability. Ratings are overly based on outdated perceptions of speed and considerations such as aesthetics. These average quality reviews are productively comparative, and Joel Santo Domingo identifies the best choices for each type of product.

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We rarely give any credence to out-of-context single-product reviews, but GCN is a credible source, and a 250 GB drive with the potential to use minimal power is worthy of attention. Other reviewers are… unimpressed with the performance of other Kanguru Eco Drives, but all examine smaller drives. The Kanguru Eco Drive is easily portable and excels in all regards, according to GCN. In thorough testing, GCN found that drive is fast and runs cool, which should prolong its life.

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PC World charts and ranks ten previously reviewed external hard drives. The reviews here are mostly limited to charted data or opinion, though one drive -- the Seagate FreeAgent Pro External 750 GB Hard… Drive -- gets a little longer treatment. In other cases, a category score that encompasses factors such as ease of setup and use, and quality of bundled software, is not very helpful without explanation. The magazine is a prolific reviewer, but that is offset by its absence of recent reviews. Most products were reviewed in 2007.

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ITReviews conducts minimal testing and doesn't always document it. Reviews are balanced and occasionally cover factors not addressed in other reviews. Reviews can be substantive, in spite of their short… length. The shortcoming is minimal testing and the absence of ratings. Some products earn recommended awards, including one current drive: the Seagate FreeAgent Pro. Other sources with weaker reviews are more valuable because they include a method of comparison.

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