The Freecom 56067 2TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive Quattro is one of the few external hard drives on the market that supports 4 connection types -hence Quattro presumably – namely FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 3.0 and eSATA. For its capacity, it’s really not that big, and will sit fairly innocuously on your desk, either flat or upright. Cleverly, the Quattro has been designed in such a way as to do away with the cooling fan, with heat absorbed through its aluminium frame instead, which is a neat solution and means the drive is virtually silent.

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Main Features of the Freecom 56067 2TB USB 3.0  Quattro external drive

• Multiple connection interfaces: the “Quattro” comes with 4 different types of connection interface: Firewire 400, Firewire 800 (both suited for Mac users), eSATA and USB 3.0. Each of these provides faster transfer rates than standard USB 2.0 connection speeds – for eSATA this is up to 6 times as fast.

• 2TB disk capacity: the 2TB capacity of this drive will allow you to store up to 150 hours of film, 400,000 photos, or 500,000 songs, which is more than plenty for most people! This drive is ideal therefore if you’re backing up a significant number of large digital files, for instance if you’re backing up your entire hard drive.

• Flexible desktop drive: the Freecom 56067 Quattro can be stored either horizontally or vertically, and has no cooling fan meaning it’s incredibly quiet when running.

Technical Features of the Freecom 56067 2TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive Quattro:

• Multiple connection interfaces: FireWire 400 & 800, USB 3.0, eSATA
• USB 2.0 backwards compatible
• eSATA connection 6x faster than standard USB 2.0
• 2TB drive capacity (also available in 1TB capacity)
• Can be positioned both horizontally and vertically
• Optimal internal airflow management
• No cooling fan to minimise noise
• Stylish aluminium enclosure
• 24 month manufacturer’s warranty included
• Unlimited free helpdesk support
• Manual & NeroBackItUp software comes pre-loaded
• Preformatted in FAT-32
• AC adapter included
• Product Size (WxDxH): 14.8 x 15.5 x 4.3 cm
• Weight: 2.2kg
• Compatible with PC and Mac (FireWire interface ideally suited for Mac users)
• Comes with eSATA, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and USB connection cables
  

What do people who have bought the Freecom 56067 2TB USB 3.0  Quattro desktop drive think of it?

The Freecom 56067 2TB Quattro external drive is recognised by buyers for 2 main reasons – firstly the amount of data it can hold (being a 2TB drive gives it immense capacity), and secondly the file transfer speeds across multiple connections.

 Here are a few comments from people who’ve bought the Freecom 56067 2TB Quattro:

• “works like a dream”
• “a silent, fast drive with lots of connection options”
• “fast, silent, has a great capacity and has a lot of connection options”
• “rely on for reliability and dependability… an excellent product”
•  “the quality of product is well worth that price”
• “speed is excellent”
• “really impressed with its speed so much I bought another”

 For more on these and other buyer reviews, click here.

Who is the Freecom 56067 2TB Quattro external drive perfect for?

The Freecom 56067 Quattro is an external drive designed for use as a desktop drive, and so is better suited to those planning to keep it in one place. It can be positioned both horizontally and vertically, so will slot into most working environments without much bother. If you’re looking to store a lot of files the 2TB storage capacity will really appeal, but the strength of this drive over others are the 4 different types of connection interface you can use. USB 3.0 will transfer files at a much faster rate than standard USB 2.0, and the Firewire connection is ideal if you’re using a Mac. If you really want to bring out the big guns, the eSATA connection performs up to 6x times faster than a standard USB 2.0 hard drive and is ideal for professional Audio/Video streaming and editing (given the lack of fan the drive is virtually silent), and authoring of large, uncompressed files.

Where to find the best deal online for the Freecom Quattro 2TB external drive?

Amazon have a deal on this drive currently, reduced by 40% from the standard £300 price tag to about £120 which is an absolute bargain for the size of the drive and connectivity options provided. If you feel that the 2TB option will either be too much or too little, Freecom do also provide a 500GB (click here), 1TB (click here) and a whopping 3TB (click here) version of this drive as well.

Click here to visit Amazon

 The LaCie P’9230 2TB (Porsche Design) external hard drive is a desktop drive, so typically built to stay in one place and not be carried about with you like a portable drive (see Starck designed portable hard drive from Lacie here). It has been designed in collaboration with Porsche, hence the sharp edges and brushed aluminium, turning a standard computer accessory into a thing of beauty! And at 2TB, the P9230 desktop drive will store all of your music, photos, films and documents… and then some, with room to spare. Plus the USB 3.0 connection means getting them onto your drive will be “superspeed” (provided you have a USB 3.0 port of course).

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Main Features of the LaCie P’9230 2TB external hard drive

• Porsche Design: the LaCie P9230 has been designed in collaboration with Porsche (LaCie are well known for their design collaborations – see Philippe Starck designed portable hard drive here) and it really shows in the sleek, brushed aluminium exterior for this drive.

• Superspeed USB 3.0: data transfer speeds are up to 3 times as fast as USB 2.0 connectivity at up to 5 Gbps, meaning, for example, that you could back up a 700MB video file in just 7 seconds! Perfect if you don’t want to hang around when you’re transferring large files.

• 2TB capacity: the LaCie P’9230 is a 2TB desktop drive, meaning it can hold up to 150 hours of film, 400,000 photos, or 500,000 songs, which is more than plenty for most people! This drive is ideal therefore if you’re backing up a significant number of chunky digital files, for instance if you’re backing up your entire hard drive.

Technical Features of the LaCie P’9230 2TB (Porsche Design) desktop drive:

• USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface (5.0 Gbps)
• USB 2.0 backward compatabile
• 2TB drive capacity
• 4-step Quick install Guide
• Sleek aluminium exterior
• Power on/off button
• Password protected partitioning
• Pre-loaded with LaCie Backup Assistant software
• AC adapter included
• Compatible with PC and Mac
• 24 month manufacturer’s warranty included
• Product Size (WxDxH): 12 x 19 x 3.8 cm
• Weight: 1 kg
• Rubber feet for grip and stability

What do people who have bought the LaCie P9230 external hard drive think of it?

According to buyers, the LaCie P’9230 external hard drive strikes an excellent balance between function and style. No doubt this has something to do with the appeal of the design by Porsche, and buyers also comment on how easy it is to set up and use, and on the value you get when buying online.

 Here are a few comments from people who’ve bought the LaCie Porsche P9230 drive:

• “I don’t think I’ve ever set up a drive quicker than this one”
• “All in all, a very nice buy: simple, quiet, and a lot cheaper than you’d think”
• “The design of this drive is absolutely stunning!”
• “You never thought an external HD would be something you could show off to your friends!”
• “excellent piece of kit”
• “Best external hard drive I have bought to date… masses of space.”
• “Easy to set up, fast, very quiet, and looks great”

 For more on these and other buyer reviews, click here.

Who is the LaCie P9230 2TB Porsche Design Desktop Drive perfect for?

The LaCie P9230 is a desktop drive, so much better suited for someone who needs their drive to stay in one place, for example someone working from a home office. The collaboration with Porsche on the design of the drive makes it appealing to those who want a stylish looking drive in their office, and don’t want one in the ubiquitous black design most manufacturers churn out. Given its capacity, this drive is also ideal for anyone with a large number of big files (for example if you’re backing up more than one computer/ laptop, or have lots of HD films you want to store somewhere), as a 2TB drive will give you an enormous amount of space.

Where can you find the best deals for the LaCie P9230 2TB Porsche Design Desktop Drive online?

This drive is great value for money on Amazon right now, at a massive 56% discount at about £120 at time of writing (down from nearer £300!). If you think you’ll need it, Amazon also suggests getting hold of a 2m extension cable to give you more flexibility with where you position your external hard drive, a good idea given it’s likely to stay in one place.

Click here to visit Amazon

Our rating:

Main Features of the Samsung S2 USB 2.0 1TB Ultraslim external drive

• Highly Portable: as it says on the box, it’s “ultraslim”! Smaller and lighter than almost any other external hard drive on the market, the Samsung S2 Portable matches desktop-sized capacity with a portable solution for those who need to carry massive amounts of digital content when they’re on the go.

• Protection built in: the Samsung S2 features two forms of protection for your data: “SafetyKey” safeguards your back-up data with a password while “SecretZone” creates a virtual drive which encrypts your data.

• Automated back-up: you can back-up on demand or use a pre-scheduled process to run in the background, making sure you have a back-up now matter how busy you are. The drive has a built in capacity gauge to let you see how much storage space has been used, how much is left and what is designated as backup.

Technical Features of the Samsung S2 USB 2.0 1TB Ultraslim Portable Hard Drive:

• Plug and play straight from the box for easy installation
• Inclusion of a USB on-board controller
• Streamlined for comfortable handling
• USB 2.0 powered, so no power supply required
• Compatible with PC and Mac
• 12 month manufacturer’s warranty included
• Anti-slip texture for secure gripping
• Built in capacity gauge
• Pre-loaded with back-up software
• Product Size (WxDxH): 82 x 111 x 19.5 mm
• Weight: 195 g
• Preformatted in NFTS (rather than FAT-32)
• Drive also comes with Galaxy Tab 8.9 Leather Pouch
• Available in a range of colours to match your personal taste

What do people who have bought the Samsung S2 external hard drive think of it?

The Samsung S2 1TB drive is considered excellent value for money for the size of drive, and buyers comment specifically on how quiet it is when running. It is also highlighted as a great drive for Mac users, working seamlessly with Time Machine.

 Here are a few comments from people who’ve bought the Samsung S2 Ultraslim drive:

• “A great little device”
• “Makes no noise at all”
• “Excellent hard drive!”
• “Extremely happy because of its ergonomics, size, quietness, and fast speed!”
• “Buy it. Excellent value.”
• “Syncs with Time machine seamlessly… If you have a mac, buy this to give you peace of mind.”

 For more on these and other buyer reviews from Amazon, click here.

Who is the Samsung S2 Ultraslim perfect for?

If you find that you need to take a lot of digital files with you for work, study or personal reasons, the benefits of the Samsung S2 USB 2.0 1TB Ultraslim Portable Hard Drive should be obvious. It’s lightweight, relatively small and USB powered, but can handle up to 1TB of data which is a massive amount (we’re talking 200,000 photos, 76 hours of film or 250,000 songs!). It’s also ideal for people who find themselves distracted or annoyed by the whirring of an external hard drive, as the S2 is pretty much silent when running. This drive is also great for plugging straight into a laptop (or Smart TV for that matter) to run films off, without clogging up your hard drive – useful for say a long flight or train journey.

Where to find the best deal online for the Samsung S2 USB 2.0 1TB Ultraslim Portable Hard Drive?

Amazon seems to have a permanent sale on for this drive, ranging anywhere from 15 – 40% at any time, currently pricing the drive at about £130. The S2 does come with a leather pouch, but if you expect to throw it into a laptop or handbag to take it out and about with you, you may be after a more protective case like the IOMAX Protective EVA Case for this size of drive, also available at Amazon.

Click here to visit Amazon

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Main Features of the Western Digital My Passport Essential SE Portable Hard Drive 1TB

• Save time with USB 3.0 transfer speed: Imagine being able to access and save files 3 times as fast as usual – think how much time you’d save! Well, the WD My Passport Essential SE 1TB comes with USB 3.0 connectivity to do just this offering a mega quick 5Gbps transfer rate.

• Automatic, Continuous Backup: The Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1TB runs automatic, continuous backup in the background, meaning that files are updated as you work on them. So if you were to accidentally delete that important report, you’d have an instant back up!

• Incredible portability: Being USB powered, just 200g and not much bigger than a passport, the WD My Passport Essential 1TB external hard drive is incredibly portable, and will slip into any jacket, handbag or laptop bag without any trouble.

Technical Features of the Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1TB external hard drive:

• 1TB memory
• Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibility
• Data transfer rate up to 5GBps in USB 3.0 mode
• Hardware encryption and password protection
• Available in 4 colours: black, silver, red, blue
• Automatic, continuous backup
• Product Size: 18.2 x 15.4 x 4.8 cm
• Weight: 200 g
• Plug’n’play, no drivers required
• 12 month manufacturer’s warranty included
• Compatible with Windows or Mac 

What do people who have bought the WD My Passport Essential SE 1TB think of it?

The Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1TB is considered an excellent buy for 3 main reasons: it’s highly portable, has rapid file transfer speed in USB3.0 mode and is considered great value for money. Buyers also like the continuous back-up that runs automatically in the background, meaning that any updates you make are copied onto the drive instantaneously.

 Here are a few comments from people who’ve bought this external hard drive:

• “Excellent back-up choice”
• “the best of the lot”
• “the best portable or desktop drive I have purchased to date”
• “neat small size and huge capacity”
• “I would strongly recommend this product to anyone looking for a highly portable yet capacious external storage solution”
• “TARDIS like capacity”
• “Perfect for a fast, pocketable backup drive for Mac”

Click here to check out what other buyers are saying on Amazon.

Who is the Western Digital My Passport Essential SE (1TB) perfect for?

The WD My Passport Essential SE (1TB) will meet the needs of the most demanding users, as is particularly suited to anyone who regularly needs to carry, transfer or back up large, media based files (such as high resolution photos, HD movies, large music libraries) due to both the size of the hard drive and the ability to transfer over USB 3.0. The password protection will also appeal to those who carry sensitive data on their external hard drive.

Where to find the best deal online for the Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1TB?

For the best price online for the WD My Passport Essential SE 1TB, take a look on Amazon where you can pick one up for around £100 (at the time of writing this is a 40% discount). You may also consider getting an IOMAX Black EVA Hard Case Bag, designed for the WD My Passport Essential range.

Click here to visit Amazon

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Main Features of the Buffalo Drivestation

• Simple to install and simple to use

The Buffalo Drivestation is right up there with the simplest external hard drives available – you just connect via USB to your laptop or computer, and it’s pre-formatted to use straight out of the box, saving all the frustration of fiddling around with installation packs, drivers, back-up software, etc.

• Compact for a desktop drive

The Buffalo Drivestation is designed to stand either upright or horizontally, so will fit into most locations you might need it (desk, office shelf, etc) for an efficient use of space.

• Very quiet whilst in use

If you’re trying to concentrate the last thing you need is the constant buzzing and whining of your external hard drive to distract you! The Drivestation is noted for its quietness, not having a noisy internal fan firing up every few moments when the drive is in use.

Technical Features of the Buffalo Drivestation external hard drive:

• USB 2.0 Interface (Data Transfer Rate Max 480 Mbps)
• SATA interface
• Pre-formatted drive for immediate use
• Auto installation, easy set-up,
• Plug’n’play, no drivers required
• Auto power on/off function
• Product Size: 3.9 x 12.2 x 18.9 cm
• Weight: 950g
• Power Supply AC100-240V 50/60Hz
• Works on Windows or Mac OS

What do people who have bought the Buffalo Drivestation think of it?

The Buffalo Drivestation is considered a simple and straightforward external hard drive to use, with proven reliability. Buyers note the quietness of the drive, the auto on/off functionality which switches it on and off with your computer or laptop, and the value that it offers versus other models on the market.

 Here are a few comments from people who’ve bought the Buffalo Drivestation:

• “as simple and straightforward as external storage could be”
• “easy to use and reliable”
• “Don’t hestitate… tomorrow it may be too late!”
• “a reliable piece of kit at a very reasonable price”
• “it’s been a great value buy and I continue to be very happy with it”
• “VERY quick to save huge documents”
• “a great value way to store and/or backup your data”

 For more on these and other buyer reviews, click here.

Who is the Buffalo Drivestation perfect for?

The Buffalo Drivestation is a good all-rounder, simple to install and simple to use. It’s not a portable external hard drive, so best suited to those who want or need to leave their external drive in one place (e.g. home office). If you need a reliable external hard drive for something like backing up photos, the Buffalo Drivestation would fit the bill. It can also be used to provide PVR functionality for pausing, rewinding, fast-forwarding and recording live TV.

Where to find the best deal online for the Buffalo Drivestation?

For the best price online for the Buffalo Drivestation, take a look on Amazon where you can pick one up for as little as £85. Depending on how and where you’ll be using your drive, you might also want to get hold of a 1.8m AmazonBasics USB A-Male to B-Male Cable (the drive comes with a shorter USB cable about 1m in length).

Click here to visit Amazon

Our rating:

Main Features of the Toshiba Stor.e external drive

• SuperSpeed file transfer

Always on the go? No time to stop and wait for your files to transfer to and from your hard drives? The Toshiba Stor.e offers SuperSpeed transfer of up to 5 Gbps using USB 3.0 technology.

•  Back-up software pre-installed

Let your drive take the strain when it comes to running regular back-ups – the Toshiba Stor.e comes pre-installed with Nero BackItUp & Burn Essentials software to back up and restore files, and recover damaged or accidentally deleted data

• Stylish looks

The Toshiba Stor.e is designed with metallic reflections, engraved dots and rubber texture to match Toshiba netbook series young and fresh looks with subtle. The range comes in 4 different colours – green, blue, orange and the ubiquitous black. 

Technical Features of the Toshiba PA4272E-1HE0 Stor.e Partner (500GB) external hard drive:

• SuperSpeed file transfer up to 5.0 Gbps with USB 3
• Backwards compatibility with USB 2.0
• USB powered – no external power source required
• Ready to use straight out of the box, no installation required
• Pre-loaded with NERO BackItUp & Burn software (optional to use)
• Robust casing with engraved dots and rubber texture
• Product Size: 12 x 8 x 1.5 cm
• Weight: 159 g
• 55cm USB connection cord

What do people who have bought the Toshiba PA4272E-1HE0 Stor.e Partner (500GB) external hard drive think of it?

The Toshiba Stor.e Partner 500GB drive is considered a robust and reliable external hard drive that provides extremely good value for money. Buyers also remark how easy to set up this drive is, making it convenient to use straight out of the box without any installation hassles.

 Here are a few comments from people who’ve bought the Toshiba Stor.e 500GB drive:

• “A good buy, I highly recommend it!!!”
• “Simple, well built”
•  “perfect for all you home data needs”
• “rarely have I been so pleased with a purchase”
• “Light, extremely easy to use, elegant, excellent finishing, fast”
• “finished beautifully, feels robust and well built”

 For more on these and other buyer reviews, click here.

Who is the Toshiba Stor.e Partner perfect for?

The Toshiba Stor.e PA4272E-1HEO is perfect for people who want a simple, value for money external hard drive that is lightweight and small enough to slip into a jacket, laptop bag or handbag without any bother. Being USB powered, it can simply be plugged into any laptop or computer to access or back up your files, and the 500GB model is ideally sized for backing up photos, songs, videos and files for regular requirements.

Where to find the best deal online for the Toshiba PA4272E-1HE0 Stor.e Partner (500GB)?

For the best price online for this drive, check out Amazon – it’s currently discounted by 40% down to under £70. All colour options are available from different suppliers, and Amazon show that the Duronic HDC2 Small Black EVA Case is a popular buy for people purchasing the Toshiba PA4272E-1HE0 Stor.e Partner (500GB) external hard drive.

Click here to visit Amazon

Western Digital describe this external hard drive as “perfect for active and mobile creative professionals including photographers, videographers, graphic artists, and others who need the speed, capacity, and flexibility to access content anytime or anywhere”, noting that the “My Passport Studio’s two high performance FireWire 800 ports…provide blazing fast upload and transfer speeds while also allowing users to daisy chain additional drives or other peripherals such as HD camcorders”. It should be noted that this drive also includes USB2.0 connectivity as well as FireWire 800 (rather than USB3.0 as Macs tend not to support USB3.0).

WD hope Mac users will be impressed with the style of the drive, the sleek and scratch-resistant design is meant to complement the MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. However, they may be less overwhelmed by the price, which at almost $300 is a fair whack more expensive than the Windows formatted external hard drive released a couple of weeks back, and current lack of availability in the UK. All in all though, this release can only be a good thing for those who use Macs, and the WD 2TB My Passport Studio is certainly likely to become one of the best external hard drives dedicated for the Mac very quickly.

“Our goal in launching the next-generation of the popular My Passport drives is to encourage more consumers to protect their data before something happens,” said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of branded products at WD. “More than money, jewellery and other valuables, the item most missed if ever lost or stolen is ones computer – and everything on it – so our goal in launching the next-generation of the popular My Passport drives is to encourage more consumers to protect their data before something happens…it’s the perfect blend of monstrous capacity, reliability and user-friendly technology.”

Don’t be expecting any more “monstrous capacity” in this form any time soon though, as Dong Ngo at CNET notes:

“It’s predicted that 2TB is about the maximum capacity of 2.5-inch internal hard drives that use the current perpendicular magnetic recording technology. In order to further increase the storage space–a technique that involves shrinking the platter’s data bits and tightening the data tracks–a new recording method… is necessary.”

All in all though, this is an exciting new release from Western Digital. Be warned though that this portability inevitably comes at a premium – the My Passport 2TB model comes in at aprox. £200, roughly double what the 2TB My Book drive will cost you.

A couple of key things to note:

• the bigger the capacity, the greater the need for power to drive it, so these supersized models need external power rather than USB to run, which means that anything 2TB or over will be desk-based type drive. There are some decent portable 1TB models around, a couple of which are covered below
• some large drives come pre-formatted in FAT32 – which in English means that they will only receive maximum file transfers of 4GB, not ideal for the types of drive we’re talking about here! Your best approach would be to reformat the drive to the NTFS file system, enabling transfer of much larger files (see here for How-To Geek guide…)
• for safety’s sake, you may want to consider a combination of drives (e.g. 2 x 2TB drives rather than a 4TB one) to make sure you have multiple copies of your files. 2TB of data is a lot (equivalent to 2,500 movies, 250,000 songs or 650,000 photos), and the last thing you want to do is risk losing everything without recourse to another backup

With all this in mind, the below external hard drives really stand out from the crowd:

WD My Passport Essential SE 1 TB Portable Hard Drive (USB 3.0/2.0):

I have reviewed this drive elsewhere (see Best for… Value for Money), but it really does deserve another brief mention here, as it really stands out as a high performing external hard drive. For its capacity, this 1TB size model is extremely portable, easy to set up and use and sports phenomenal transfer speeds when used in USB 3.0 mode. It does come with pre-loaded Western Digital software, but you don’t have to use it, and can simply be used as a drag and drop drive instead. Currently a bargain on amazon.co.uk at over 40% off (approx. £100)! Read more >>>

Freecom 56067 2TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive Quattro:

This drive from Freecom supports 4 connection types -hence Quattro presumably – namely FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 3.0 and eSATA (and is also backward compatible with USB 2.0). For it’s capacity, it’s really not that big, and will sit fairly innocuously on your desk, but does need external power to run (comes with the drive). Cleverly, the Quattro has been designed in such a way as to do away with the cooling fan, with heat absorbed through its aluminium frame instead, which is a neat solution and means the drive is silent (no annoying whirring sound…). The model below is the 2TB one, but also comes as 1TB or 3TB as well. Read more>>>

Buffalo DriveStation 2.0TB USB 2.0 External Hard Disk Drive:

Retailing at around £100 at time of review, this drive from Buffalo is probably best described as a solid midfielder, not going to get much in the way of goals, but plays a vital role for the team. Included here as a highly rated external hard drive that provides great value for money. Does the job it’s there for, is plug and play out of the box and doesn’t make a lot of noise. Solid.

Western Digital 2.0TB USB 2.0 MyBook Studio: (Mac) (PC)

I know I’ve included a review of a WD drive here already, but the MyBook Studio drive also merits a mention – if only for Mac users. The lack of USB 3.0 connection means a reliance on slower USB 2.0 to transfer files for PCs, however the manufacturer blurb does explicitly state that this drive is designed for Macs, and does include FireWire 800 connection for rapid file transfer. It also has a clever display window that usefully shows you how much space you have left and can be configured to show what you have stored on the drive.

LaCie Starck Desktop Hard Drive 2TB:

We know that LaCie are big into their design collaborations (see Best for… Style for the collaboratively designed portable external hard drive), and this drive is no exception. Based on size and weight, it’s definitely a desktop drive, and has a clever touch sensitive surface which launches the bundled Genie Backup Assistant or a backup program of your own choosing depending on whether you use a short tap or long touch. Unfortunately it only comes with USB 2.0 transfer, or it would have got a 5 star rating…

So there you have it – if you’re after a bigger drive than the average Joe, these are my picks from the best external hard drives available to buy today.

Here – through my eyes and in my most humble opinion – are some of the most stylish and best external hard drives on the market today:

LaCie USB 3.0/ USB 2.0 500GB Mobile Drive by Starck:

We start with perhaps an unexpected collaboration between world famous designer Philippe Starck and hard drive manufacturer LaCie. There’s no doubt that this drive has a unique look versus other external hard drives, about as far from an ugly black box as you can get! You don’t need to worry about the the performance specs either – that SuperSpeed USB 3.0 will transfer your files at approx. 10 times the speed of USB 2.0 devices, whilst continuing to be USB 2.0 compatible means that connectivity with older devices won’t be an issue. Nice drive, great looks – as you’d expect from M. Starck!

Platinum MyDrive Portable External Hard Drive Range:

Next up is a whole range of drives from from Platinum, the MyDrive range. It’s fair to say you’d probably struggle to find a more colourful set of external hard drives anywhere else – so if it’s colour you’re after this might be the right drive for you. This drive comes in (ready for it…) red, blue, yellow, green, white, violet, silver, transparent red, transparent blue, transparent yellow, transparent green, transparent orange and just plain transparent! Oh, and you can get it in black, if you really want to. The range comes in sizes from the relatively small 750GB drive to a chunky 1TB one, and a mix of USB2.0 and 3.o connection, to suit different needs.

A-Data ASH14-1TU3-CRD: 

Yes it’s quite a mouthful, but this drive from A-Data is worth the effort. You can choose the external silicone casing in either “passion” red or “serene” black, it’s lightweight and relatively small in comparison to some other drives. Not only does this drive look great, it’s been water and shockproof to military standards so will be able to withstand the most active of lifestyles… not sure if you’re planning on canyoning to work any time soon, but if you are this is the drive I’d recommend! The SH14 boasts USB 3.0 transfer speeds up to 5GB/sec and comes in 500MB, 750MB and 1TB sizes.

Prestigio Data Safe II:

Prestigio have finally produced a classy looking external hard drive that would look nicely at home in any professional environment. The Data Safe II drive comes in a brown or black “leatherette” case to complete the pro look, is small and lightweight, and is a remarkable leap forward from earlier more peculiar looking models! It has one-touch backup functionality, is simply plug and play to use and comes in a variety of sizes from 250 to 750MB.

LaCie P’9230 Porsche Design:

As we’ve already seen, LaCie really seem to have pushed the boat out when it comes to design collaboration(see Philippe Starck designed drive above). This model has been designed in partnership with Porsche and whilst still probably too boxy for some will appeal to lovers of brushed aluminium and sleek, sharp edges. Fast cars means fast drives, and the marketing chat describes this one as “built for speed”, using SuperSpeed USB 3.0 transfer for your files, claiming to be able to copy across a 700MB video in just 7 seconds. It’s got decent storage too, either 1TB or 2TB depending on the model, but on the downside does require an external power source. Read more >>>

As you can see, when it comes to the best external hard drives, at least some manufacturers are putting in a bit of effort and coming up with something a bit more original than a dull black box… so get out there and dare to be different!