USB 3.0 promises twice the speed of the current USB 2.0 standard. And now that these new ports are starting to show up on notebooks, storage makers have begun producing external drives that take advantage of these blazing transfer rates. But before shelling out any money to upgrade your storage solution, we’ve put four of the newest models through the wringer to find out which one offers the fastest speeds, best utilities, and stylish looks. In order to measure their performance, we connected each drive to a Lenovo W710 workstation, then ran read and write speed tests with a 4.97GB folder of multimedia and a 1.66GB MPEG-4 file. Check our slideshow to find out which one is speediest.
Buffalo’s latest portable drive is small and light, but it’s not as fast as the competition. Read The Review
| Pros Sleek and stylish designMac and PC compatible Three-year warranty | Cons Not the fastest drive Scratches easily Mediocre utilities |
Not only is this portable hard drive super-fast, it can take its share of abuse, too. Read The Review
| Pros Fast transfer speeds Online storage included Durable design | Cons Bulky |
This stylish, fast, and sturdy USB 3.0 hard drive has it all. Read The Review
| Pros Fast transfer speedsAttractive design Rugged Affordable | Cons Cloning software only Windows compatible |
This USB 3.0 hard drive has an innovative and versatile connecting system that makes it future-proof. Read The Review
| Pros Innovative connecting system Stylish design Desktop stand included with capacity meter Three-year warranty | Cons Connectors add to cost Not the fastest drive |
