Why You Can Trust CNET Plextor Shock-proof Portable Hard Drive review: Plextor Shock-proof Portable Hard Drive
The Plextor Shock-Proof Hard Drive is a great addition to your laptop bag: the drive is rugged and speedy and doesn't require a separate power cable. The only thing it's lacking is backup software.
Plextor Shock-proof Portable Hard Drive
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
- Drive type: Portable hard disk drive
- Capacity: 80GB; 120GB (5,400rpm)
- Capacity of test unit: 80GB (PX-SP08U)
- Cache: 8MB
- Dimension: 3.33 by 0.74 by 5.51 inches (WHD); 0.47 pounds
- Notable design features: silicon bumper that protects the drive from high-impact drops
- Connection options: USB 2.0/1.1
- OSs supported: Windows 98 SE/Me/2000/XP and Mac OS X 10.2.8+
- Software included (on drive): None
- Service/support: Two-year warranty; Toll-free phone support available 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. PT on weekdays; e-mail to tech support available; Web site provides downloads, FAQs, compatibility information, a trouble-shooting guide, and links to additional resources.
On CNET Labs' test bench, the 80GB Plextor Shock-Proof Portable Hard Drive took only 16 minutes to write our 5GB test folder of mixed file types. For a 5,200rpm low-profile hard drive, this score is very impressive. But there's more: the Plextor took only 8.2 minutes to read back that same folder, about 2 minutes faster than many of the 7,200rpm hard drives we've tested. The Plextor Shock-Proof Portable Hard Drive exceeded our expectations for a drive of its size and specs.
Apart from the silicon and aluminum casing, we also really like the fact that the Plextor drive uses only one cable. The low-profile, standard USB cable is used both to transfer data and to draw power from the computer. This makes the device truly portable. It also requires no drivers for setup, making it simple to begin using. Plextor acknowledges that the drive is incompatible with some laptop computers and lists the incompatible products right on its site.