Best Portable USB 3 Hard drive?

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Level 1

14 points

Best Portable USB 3 Hard drive?

Just ordered myself a new Macbook Air, but I'm defo going to need a fast external hard drive. I know exactly what I want but I'm concerned with a few things.

- I want a reliable hard drive that can take a knock as I need it for traveling.

- Must be USB 3 compatible speed at least. However, I've heard that while a hard drive might say it is usb 3 it really isnt on macs so is there any point in buying one? The Macbook Air I got has usb 3 so it should work in theory at least.

- Must be at least 1TB in size

- Must be small and portable and only need one port to power it on the Macbook Air.

- Willing to pay up to €150 for one so the price shouldnt be an issue. I just need a recommendation. Thanks

Posted on Nov 13, 2012 5:25 PM

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Answer 1

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SP Forsythe

Level 5

5,448 points

Nov 13, 2012 9:20 PM in response to Randomer

I buy more external hard drives and SSD's than my wife can stand. I am always buying one every couple of weeks or so. I have every brand I know of, and most good models, except for Toshiba Canvio, which I avoid like the plague.

Here's my rundown of favorites:

Best combination of reaonable speed, style and price: Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro You can pick up a 1 TB, 7200 RPM, Good USB 3.0 speed for less than $90. I would recommend this to fit all your parameters.

Best Speed (no holds barred), pricey and cludgey: A bare M4 Crucial SSD hooked to a Seagate portable Thunderbolt adapter. Smoking fast - near as fast as the internal SSD. You can also mount the MS SSD in a USB 3.0 case and get about 1/2 the speed of the T-Bolt connection.

You can do pretty well to make up your own drive by putting a fast drive in an inexpensive USB 3.0 enclosure, but some prefer not to turn this into a project.

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Answer 2

Randomer Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 14, 2012 8:18 AM in response to SP Forsythe

Great thank you. One other thing is I'm hoping to be able to put a password on the hard drive so if it gets lost on my travels I'm not worried about it. Can I do that with that Hitachi? Also, can it take a hard knock/fall?

Cheers again

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Answer 3

Nov 14, 2012 8:58 AM in response to Randomer

You can secure the drive in a few ways. Consider File Vault, built into the OS or using TrueCrypt. It depends on whether you want to encrypt the whole drive, or just keep sections encrypted.

To your second question, no, the Hitachi Touro is no what I would call a "ruggedized" drive. In order to make it somewhat "drop-safe", you would need a decent drive case or cover.

If you need an inherent "drop-safe" drive, the main question gets a little more complicated. LaCie makes a decent "drop-safe" drive, just don't consider the new Thunderbolt HDD, unless you want the smaller capacity SSD. The HDD version is slow as molasses, as the drive itself is a slow 5400 RPM (I have one and it's slow). They do have some fine triple interface (USB2, USB3, Firewire) with 7200 RPM drives, However I can't attest to their speed. They also have one USB 3.0 drive with a 7200. I don't trust LaCie on their speed specifications, as they choose to publish the fastest compontent's speed and equate it to the speed of the device, which is erroneous. It is the slowest part of the chain (drive/interface/controller) that is the limiting factor.

I would still favor the Touro for you, as it meets the majority of your requirements, and you can meet the durability aspect with a case for it.

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Answer 4

Randomer Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 15, 2012 5:37 AM in response to SP Forsythe

Hi,

Yes I definately want to encrpt the information on the hard drive, but not my OS. I would go for the Hitachi but its not drop safe and not encrypted. I was also looking at the Storejet by Transcend which meets both of those requirements but its says in the sales text that its only usb 2 with macs at the moment. Thats a major blow for me. I looked on the apple website and seen a WD my passport that has encryption on it and is usb 3 but again is not drop safe. I'm finding it impossible to find something that has good reviews in terms of reliability and meets all of the specs I require. Fast, drop proof, reliable and encryption ready on the hard drive.

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