Freecom Mobile Drive XXS review

Rubber sheath meets hard drive

16 September 2008 14:00 GMT / By Stephen Patrick

Freecom is calling this drive the world's smallest 2.5-inch external hard drive and measuring 110 x 80 x 13.5mm it's slightly larger than the drive itself.

However, it’s not the most robust as in order to make it this size Freecom has done away with the usual plastic casing. Instead the hard drive is housed in a rubber slip. One end is exposed so if you want to upgrade the drive you can just slide the drive and its controller board out.

It connects to your notebook using a Mini-USB port, which is the only port on the device. There isn't even an LED light to signify drive activity. Simply connecting it to your notebook will have the drivers loaded, with the device appearing as any other drive.

Weighing 155g, this is the lightest portable hard drive you're likely to find. There are three capacities available – 160GB (£45), 250GB (£80) and 320GB (£80) prices all inclusive of VAT.

We tested the cheapest version and found that it could write 1GB of data in 86 seconds, which is very much in keeping with similar 5400rpm notebook drives. Reading is typically slower, as we could read the same 1GB of files back to our host machine in 158 seconds, which is almost twice as long.

Verdict

If you're worried about keeping your data safe, the Freecom Mobile Drive XXS isn't the drive for you, as the rubber slip approach simply isn't robust enough. However, if you simply need a small and simply drive for sharing large data files, this is as compact as you'll find in this format.

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Review Recap

Made by: Freecom
Price as reviewed: £45
Latest price: Compare prices
The good: Small, compact, quick
The bad: Lacks protection, rubber sleeve
Quick verdict: A hard drive in a rubber sleeve may not be the most robust drive on the market but it's quick and lightweight
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