The most useful external hard drives in the market are the portable hard drives. They are easy to carry and come in handy. Even though they are small in size, their storage capacity is quite big.

Physical Size

Portable external hard drives and laptop hard drives are the same in size (2.5 inch) compared to the bigger hard drives (3.5 inch).

Capacity

A portable hard drives capacity varies between 20GB – 500GB.

Disadvantages

Firstly, compact sized hard drives are costly compared to the bulky 3.5" hard drives. This means that a bigger hard drive is cheaper compared to a portable one as it charges more per Gigabyte.

Secondly, the speed of the portable hard drives usually run at 5400 RPMs which is quite less compared to the internal hard drives speed, which runs up to 7200 RPMs. Hence, portable hard drives run slightly slower, therefore, taking longer to run programs and transfer files.

Buying a Portable Hard Drive

Considering purchasing a portable hard drive? With higher storage, it is the best alternative to backing up your data instead of using a flash drive.

Listed below are some of recommended portable external hard drives available in the market.

Simpletech FS-U25/500E 500GB Portable Hard Drive with usb 2.0

A powerful hard drive with one USB connection which is used for both power supply and file transfer. It is a compact device that can be carried around easily and can connect to any system to access data.

Western Digital Elements Portable 400GB 2.5" External Hard Drive

A high quality product that is compact in size, fitting in your pockets easily. It has no power cable either.

iomega eGo Portable 33941 Hard Drive, FireWire 400/USB 2.0, 250GB Cherry Red

Access your data on the go with this stylish cherry red and chrome exterior hard drive, holding 250GB protected by the patent pending DropGaurd protection system. Having dual connection the drive uses either a USB or FireWire connection making it a great choice for mixed platform environments.

iomega Prestige Portable 160 GB 2.5"

Out of drive slots in your computer? Need temporary or portable data storage? iomega's got a beautiful line of external drives to meet your needs.

Having the USB 2.0 interface for plug and play simplicity, this 160 GB add-on drive with an 8MB cache, surely is a catch. Its stylish, compact and rugged aluminum case makes it easier to carry around with slipping it in to your shirt pocket. Easy to use, portable, stylish and inexpensive makes the demands meet.

Written by David Procurepod