external

Data backup: Top portable drives for home users (roundup)

Having up-to-date backups of your data is like insurance, we all need it and at the same time never want to have to resort to it.

Though backing up data is not required by law, the consequences of not doing it are often so huge that it's fair to call those who don't frequently back up their important data, well, reckless, irresponsible, or just simply foolish. The truth is, when you realize that the originals of your important documents or photos are gone because of a hard-drive crash or losing your laptop, being called names is the least of your worries.

Now there's an easy fix. Here's a list of our top portable hard drives that make backing up data a no-brainer. Take a look and get yourself one if you don't already have a backup solution in place. … Read more

Get a 2TB external hard drive for $69.99 shipped

It's been a while since my last "oh my god can you believe how cheap hard drives have gotten?!" post, and today's deal definitely fits the mold.

While supplies last, Newegg has the Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 2.0 external hard drive for $69.99 shipped. That's after applying coupon code EMCJKHK36 at checkout--and tied for the best price I've ever seen for a drive of this size.

Let me say right up front that user reviews for the Expansion are decidedly mixed. For whatever reason, there seems to be a higher-than-average … Read more

Seagate GoFlex Desk review: Hitting the 4TB mark

It's been a little over a year since Seagate Technology announced the FreeAgent GoFlex Desk, which offered up to 3TB of storage, and today, the company once again broke the storage barrier by introducing its first 4TB single-volume external hard drive, the 4TB GoFlex Desk.

Four terabytes of storage is equivalent to about 160 Blu-ray Discs' worth of storage space. When used to host compressed digital content, the new drive can store about 2,000 HD movies or millions of digital photos.

Other than the substantial increase in capacity, the new GoFlex Desk is very similar to the previous … Read more

Must-have MacBook Air accessories

The MacBook Air is Apple's new mainstream MacBook, and though the latest version is undoubtedly the best, there are still aspects of this slim laptop that could do with accessories. The Air achieves an excellent balance of design, performance, and battery life, but it still leaves out some features that many people consider essential to their laptop experience.

Consider these accessories a way of mending the missing pieces and providing true MacBook Air road warriors with all the tools needed for a worry-free Air-based lifestyle.

Click through for our picks. Did we miss any? Are there even better examples … Read more

Seagate adds Turbo to its GoFlex family

If you've been in the market for a portable hard drive, you've surely heard of Seagate's GoFlex family. These portable drives offer not just storage space and portability, but also flexibility that others can't even come close to.

Today, the company adds another member to that series, the GoFlex Turbo Performance drive.

The new portable drive is similar, if not basically the same, as other drives in the family, such as the GoFlex Pro and the GoFlex Ultraportable, with one big difference. Its internal drive now spins at 7,200rpm (as opposed to 5,400rpm or slower as with previous models). Seagate says this helps boosts the drive's performance.

I got a hold of one a couple of days ago, and in our testing, the drive was indeed faster than previous models via USB 3.0. It wasn't the fastest we've seen, however, and when used with USB 2.0, the drive could use some improving. To make up for this, Seagate, for the first time, bundles with the drive's two-year warranty its SafetyNet data recovery services, similar to what ioSafe has for its disaster-proof external hard drives. … Read more

Thunderbolt vs. USB 3.0: Why it's a lose-lose

Ever since Intel announced Thunderbolt and made it exclusively available to Macs, Windows users have been wondering if they are missing out. The truth is: yes, they are, big-time. I've been working with the first Thunderbolt storage device, the Pegasus R6 from Promise, and find it to be the fastest consumer-grade storage device out there, period. (Stay tuned for my full review, coming up soon.)

On the other hand, since Macs generally don't support USB 3.0, which has been out for a long time and is becoming more and more popular in the PC world, Mac users have also been missing out quite a bit. Many people are wondering which is better, Thunderbolt or USB 3.0. This is a hard question, as Thunderbolt is about more than data storage; it's also about video transport, connectivity, expandability, and synced audio. However, strictly in terms of storage applications, neither is better. Consumers should really have both. The current separation of the two standards is a lose-lose situation for Windows and Mac users alike. … Read more

Iomega unveils Mac external hard drive with USB hub

Your iMac is running out of peripheral ports, and you still want to add an external hard drive and a few other devices to it? Iomega has something for you.

The company introduced today its first external hard drive, called Iomega Mac Companion Hard Drive, that also comes with two USB ports that you can plug your iOS-based devices into to charge and sync with the Mac. The ports can also be used with other USB devices, such as printers or other external storage devices.

Basically, the Iomega Mac Companion Hard Drive is an external desktop hard drive that also … Read more

Get a 2TB external hard drive for $69.99 shipped

Are you a new Cheapskate reader/subscriber? If so, welcome! Here are a few quick things you should know:

I have no control over when products sell out, prices go up, and so on. Everything is accurate at the time I write it. Many deals are available only to U.S. customers, and unfortunately there's no easy way for me to know (or indicate) if a deal is also available in Canada or elsewhere. If you subscribe to the Cheapskate newsletter, it should arrive daily around 1 p.m. ET. Alas, sometimes deals are over or out of stock … Read more

Hitachi Touro portable drive review: More sex appeal than capacity

Capping at just 750GB, the Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro portable hard drive is rather disappointing in terms of storage space when compared with the 1.5TB Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Ultra-portable. But what it lacks in capacity, it more than makes up in sexiness. The eye-catching portable drive looks very much like an iPhone 4 with black top and bottom and aluminum at the edges.

As an external hard drive, the Touro features USB 3.0 and is backward-compatible with USB 2.0. On the inside, it's based on a 2.5-inch internal hard drive that spins at 7,200rpm (as opposed to the 5,400rpm of most drives) and offered very good performance in CNET Labs' testing. … Read more