Plextor have a 500GB portable hard drive that can be connected via eSATA for quicker transfer speeds.
Having a portable hard drive can be useful for so many different reasons, including storing off-site backups of your data easily, or just carrying additional data around with you.
However, some of the biggest problems with portable drives have been the size of the drive (not the storage size but the physical size) and the drive speed itself.
Over the years I have used many different portable drives, and I have got the stage where a lot of the time I just accept that transfer speeds can sometimes be slower than I would like.
The Plextor PX-PH500US portable drive, as well as having a USB connection, also has an eSATA port on it, which means I can connect it up to most modern laptops, my desktop or even my Windows Home Server and get faster transfer speeds.
SPECIFICATIONS
Capacity : 500 GB
OS : Windows 2000/XP/Vista (works with Windows 7), Mac OS 8.6/9.x/10.x and higher
Interface : USB 2.0 / 1.1, eSATA
Transfer rate :
USB 2.0 Max 480 Mbps
USB 1.1 Max 12 Mbps
Weight : approx. 190 g
Dimensions : 81 (W) x 130 (D) x 17 (H) mm
Hard Drive : Buffer size: 8 MB
RPM: 5400
Fast Warranty
2 year (Collect & Return) Warranty in the EU, Norway and Switzerland; 1 year in other countries: Carry-in
WHATS IN THE BOX
Apart from the PX-PH500US drive, there is a USB cable, an eSATA cable, an installation guide and a black leather carrying pouch.
USING THE PX-PH500US
Connecting up the drive to my computer was simple. Because I wanted to connect via eSATA and the drive doesn’t come with a power supply, I still had to connect the drive to the computer via USB (in fact, via 2 USB connects on the cable). Might be worth investigating a power supply if you would prefer not to connect via USB at all.
When the computer found the drive, it showed as Toshiba – you have to love Toshiba!
On the drive itself is some Plextor software called PlexTools Professional LE, which is used for various tasks, and can be installed by running the setup program.
You can get all sorts of information about the drive via the tools.
Running some tests with HD Tune Pro showed some fairly good results, although nowhere near what Plextor say of up to 480 Mbs (but different equipment used will show different results).
FINAL THOUGHTS
The drive performed as expected and I was happy with the transfer speeds. I liked that Plextor included a carry pouch as the drive will easily become dirty or scratched without one just because of the materials used to create the drive.
Cost wise, the 500GB drive costs around £100, depending on where you look, so you are paying for the eSATA connectivity.
