portable hard drives

Make your portable hard drive faster by upgrading to USB 3.0

The most common portable hard drives have USB 2.0 connections, which are great for compatibility, but terrible for performance. If you have an old USB 2.0 portable hard drive, you can increase its transfer rates by upgrading it to USB 3.0. For as little as $15, you can double your drive's real-world performance. Here's how:

Disclaimer: Opening your portable hard drive's enclosure will likely void your warranty. It's also possible that you'll damage the original enclosure and or the internal hard drive. We recommend you back up any data that may be … Read more

Get a 1TB portable USB 3.0 hard drive for $39.99

How much do you hate rebates?

They're as bad as root canals and tax returns. A lot, but if it's an especially good deal, I'll deal with it. Don't mind them at all. They're a great way to save!

If you answered with No. 1, thanks for stopping by, I'll see you tomorrow. Everyone else, listen up.

For a limited time, and while supplies last, TigerDirect has one of the best hard-drive deals I've ever seen: The Western Digital Elements 1TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive for $39.99, plus around $4 … Read more

Get a 320GB portable USB 3.0 hard drive for $39

Let's do some math, shall we?

When it comes to portable storage, you can get a 64GB USB 3.0 flash drive for $39.99 shipped. Or you can take advantage of RedTag's today-only deal: a Western Digital My Passport 320GB USB 3.0 hard drive for $39 (plus $1.95 for shipping).

Update: Dang! Already sold out. It's worth checking back throughout the day in case RedTag releases more inventory. But, interestingly, I'd say few people were scared off by the drive being a refurb.

Pricewise, they're a wash. But the Western Digital drive … Read more

Get a Seagate Backup Plus 1TB portable hard drive for $79.99

Most external hard drives are on the big, bulky side, and they require their own power supply, which is a hassle to say the least.

Portable external drives run off USB power, which is convenient -- but it usually means a lower-capacity drive and higher price.

Not today. Newegg has the Seagate Backup Plus 1TB portable USB 3.0 hard drive for $79.99 shipped. That's after applying coupon code EMCXWVV26 at checkout.

Now, anyone who follows hard drives like I do needs to get a hobby knows that 80 bucks for a 1TB drive isn't all that … Read more

How to build your own external hard drive

External hard drives are great for storing photos, music, videos, and backup files. Not only can they can be used with a PC, but also with media devices to add streaming storage, and with Wi-Fi routers as cheap NAS solutions.

Off-the-shelf external hard drives often contain mystery drives inside and the enclosures aren't meant to be reused. Building your own external hard drive can sometimes be a cheaper, more flexible solution. And if you already have an old internal hard drive lying around, you can turn it into a cool external drive, for as little as $10.

Choosing your … Read more

Get a 500GB portable USB 3.0 hard drive for $79

Ever wonder why USB 3.0 hasn't really caught on? Most flash drives and external hard drives are still chugging along on USB 2.0, and most of the latest laptops have just one USB 3.0 port. Some have none at all. (I'm looking at you, brand-new Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5511.)

That's a shame, because in real-world tests, USB 3.0 has proven to be around 3.5 times faster than USB 2.0. That means a full-system backup that previously took an hour should get done in less than 20 minutes.

Maybe things will change now … Read more

Iomega releases eGo portable drive for Mac

If the LaCie Little Big Disk SSD is just too expensive for you (and it has to be), here's an alternative.

Iomega announced today a new portable hard drive for Mac, the eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive, that offers up to 1TB of storage in a compact and a drop-resistant design. The new drive joins the company's existing lineup of Mac-oriented storage products, such as the Mac Companion Hard Drive that came out earlier this year.

Iomega says the new drive offers 256-bit hardware encryption and supports both USB 2.0 and FireWire. It doesn't offer USB 3.0, but this is normal, as Apple doesn't seem likely to support this standard anytime soon. The new drive is bus-powered and comes with three cables for USB 2.0, FireWire 800, and FireWire 400 connections.

The Iomega eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive comes with a three-year warranty and is available now in 500GB and 1TB capacities, costing $179.99 and $229.99, respectively, making them much more affordable than LaCie's Thunderbolt drive.

Earlier this year, WD released the My Passport Studio for Mac portable drive, which offers a similar port configuration and is available in the 750GB capacity.… Read more

HP Portable Hard Drive review: Best when stationary

The HP Portable Hard Drive, while indeed quite portable, is a mild oxymoron: it wants to remain plugged in all the time.

And that's not because it's heavy or bulky--it's not--but because its built-in SimpleSave backup software is designed to automatically make backups only when the connected computer has been idle for 5 minutes or so. In other words, the drive works best when you plug it in, run the backup software, and forget about it. Now that seems more suitable for a bulky desktop external hard drive than for a compact device that's designed to … Read more

WD Nomad makes your portable hard drive harder

If you regularly travel with a portable hard drive, you'll want to check this out. It's the WD Nomad, a $30 case designed to protect Western Digital's line of My Passport portable hard drives from 7-foot drops, dust, and moisture. The polycarbonate shell shields your hard drive while a shock-absorbing elastomer cushion inside keeps it snug, and a heavy-duty latch and silicon liner seals the whole thing up.

What's also nice about this case is that once your drive is inside, there's little reason to open it up again. There's an opening for connecting a USB cable and an exterior ring for attaching a carabiner, cable, or strap to secure it to a bag.

The WD Nomad rugged case is compatible with My Passport drives including My Passport Essential, My Passport Essential SE, My Passport Elite, My Passport for Mac, and My Passport SE for Mac. I really wish I had one of these a year ago when I dropped my portable drive causing irreparable damage and costing me 250GB of photos, videos, and documents as well as the purchase price of a new drive.… Read more