Verbatim External Hard Drive review

Straight from the storage stalwarts

7 May 2008 16:00 GMT / By Stephen Patrick

With 2.5-inch notebook hard drives constantly rising in capacity and dropping in price, it seems easy to forget that for low-cost but high-capacity storage, the desktop drive is still a viable option. While we were expecting the Verbatim drive to be larger, it measures a compact 114 x 200 x 35mm.

It’s a desktop unit, so needs to be connected to the mains in order to run. The drive has a simple design made from steel and is finished in matt black, so won’t look out of place hooked up to your PC or living room recorder.

Our test unit had a 500GB capacity, which is more than enough for the average home. However, there is also a 1TB version available, which costs £70 (inc. VAT) for those who need even more space.

The disc inside the enclosure is a Western Digital, with a rotation speed of 7200rpm and 8MB of cache, so data transfers are quick – we found it easily swap 1GB of data in 82 seconds.

Along with a power switch, there is a power cable and USB connection to your PC. Connecting it is simple and it works with Windows and Mac OS. Switch it on and it’ll immediately set itself up. With only a single green LED light to signify it’s up and running, this drive is simple and discreet.

To help you manage synchronisation with your main hard drive, there is Nero BackItUp 2 software installed for use with Windows only.

Verdict

The Verbatim External Hard Drive is a great all-round external hard drive. It’s compact, fast and offers easy connection, making it ideal for any home user.

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Review Recap

Made by: Verbatim
Price as reviewed: £70
The good: Compact, fast, good value
The bad: Needs mains power
Quick verdict: It has a nice design that is simple and compact and the cost per GB makes this a great purchase
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