In this group, the Toshiba Canvio initially came across as
the vanilla stepchild-nothing to get excited about, at least in this company,
given its bland exterior and specs. We tested the 1.5TB version of the dive,
which is the highest capacity offered by Toshiba. Surprisingly, it’s almost as
thick as the 2TB WD drive despite its 500GB capacity deficit, so the lesson
here is that if you’re going big on a USB drive, prepare to be toting around a
Hot Pocket-size enclosure. The 1.5TB drive is only available in black, a
decision we are just fine with since we don’t need nor want fancy a splash of
color attached to your USB port, you’ll have to get by with lass capacity, as
only the 500GB and 1TB models are available in red, blue, and gray (as well as
black, natch).
Toshiba Canvio
plus 3.0 1.5TB
On the software front, the Canvio comes with a well-rounded
package that includes backup software with encryption, drive utilities, a cloud
storage option, and a movie-editing app called Muvee Reveal. The NTI Backup Now
EZ backup software is for Windows only, though the drive includes an NTFS
driver that lets you use it with both Macs and PCs. Despite the software’s odd
name, it’s actually our favorite of this roundup, simply because it offers an
intuitive interface and many options for configuring backups, whether you want
to back up to the Canvio drive itself or to the cloud. You can also choose to
back up categories of files, individually selected files and folders, or entire
you want to back up and let it run. You can also schedule backups, and see the
status of the drive onscreen in the software, which is handy. It’s also easy to
password-protect the drive. The only problem we had in our test was that the
cloud option didn’t work for us – you get a 30-day free trial of cloud storage
with the drive but we couldn’t activate ours. Note: The Basic model of this
drive does not offer cloud storage as an option.
In our file-copy test, whereby we hustle 30GB of data over
its fat USB 3.0 pipe, the Toshiba took second place overall with a time of 10
minutes, 34 seconds, which was almost two minutes slower than the WD drive, but
faster than the Adata unit.
All in all, this is an excellent all-around backup drive.
It’s not the highest-capacity or the thinnest drive ever, but it has great
software, decent capacity, and is affordable – we don’t ask for much more in a
USB storage device.
Verdict Toshiba Canvio Plus 3.0 1.5TB: 9
Information
·
Price: $110
·
Website: www.toshiba.com
Specifications
·
Color: Black
·
Capacity: 1.5TB
·
Interface: USB 3.0 with up to 5Gb/s2 transfer rate
·
Rotational Speed: Up to 5,400rpm
·
Average Seek Time: 12ms
·
Cache Buffer: 8MB
·
Dimensions & Weight: 3.1” W x 4.7” D x 0.65” H; 6.3oz
Adata Dashdrive Elite 500GB HE720
The Adata drive is one of the sexiest USB drives we have
ever tested, and is certainly the thinnest USB drive too, at just 8.9mm thick.
It might not sound like much in today’s world of super-thin everything, but
this puppy is thin. In fact, our research indicates it is the thinnest USB
drive currently available.
Adata Dashdrive
Elite 500GB HE720
Since life isn’t fair, there’s a major downside to the
drive’s flatness, which is that its single-platter capacity is limited to
500GB. When compared to it’s a morsel, really, but that’s the price you pay for
its slim form factor. To that, point, 500GB is the only capacity available for
this model.
Despite its HE720 model name, which to our eyes suggests a
7,200rpm hard drive, this puppy sports a 5,400rpm drive inside its stainless
steel chassis. Its physical size is 4.6 inches long and 3.1 inches wide, and
it’s less than a half-inch tall. Its exterior shell is made with 9H stainless
steel, which is resistant to scratches and looks slick but is too prone to
fingerprints. The drive itself has only two mildly interesting features: a
small, blue LED for activity and a tiny button located next to the USB 3.0 plug
labeled “Backup”. Tapping the button triggers the included syncing software to
open so you can configure and run backup routines. It would be handy if the
backup button were in a more easily accessible location, as putting it right
next to the USB plug makes it hard to reach.
The included Adata Sync software is PC-only and gets the job
done for syncing, restoring, and backing up files, but it’s easily the most
unpolished software in this roundup. As an example, if you try to open the
software when it’s running in the background, you’ll see a pop-up error that
contains what we can only assume is either a foreign language or gibberish. The
Window also looks like it was built for Windows 98 and lacks the ease of use
and look-and-feel of modern software, as it just gives you a split-window with
“Source” on the left and “Destination” on the right, and you have to check
boxes in a Windows Explorer interface to get it configured. This is not
software we’d want our parents to use, that’s for sure. That said, we actually
appreciate its unvarnished nature. You just tell it which folders you’re
interested in and choose Backup, Restore, or Sync. You can then either manually
back up everything you want or just schedule the software to run. It’s not
glamorous or grandma-friendly, but we did it.
During testing, the drive was the slowest here by a small
margin, taking 11 minutes and 31 seconds to move 30 gigs of data onto its lone
platter. We know people don’t buy these drives for speed, and they are all
relatively slow compared to our desktop HDDs and SSDs, but we do take speed
into consideration.
The DashDrive is a decent package despite its flaws. We like
its simple software, hard steel shell, and thin size a lot, making it a solid
drive, both literally and figuratively.
Verdict Adata DashDrive Elite 500GB HE720: 7
Information
·
Price: $80
·
Website: www.adata-group.com
Specifications
·
Capcity: 500GB
·
Color: Titanium
·
Dimensions (L x W x H): 117 x 79 x 8.9mm (4.6 x 3.1 x 0.4in)
·
Weight: 164g (0.4 lb)
·
Interface (USB): SuperSpeed USB 3.0 (backward compatible with USB
2.0)
·
Interface (HDD): 2.5” SATA II
·
System requirements: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7/ Mac OS
X 10.6 or later/ Linux Kernel 2.6 or later
·
Temperature: Operating 50C ~ 500C; Storage -400C ~ 600C
·
Accessories: USB 3.0 cable; Quick Start Guide
·
Texture: Stainless steel metal brushed surface, plus mirror-like
polish
·
Warranty: 3 years
