Comparison of 6 external hard drives

This version comes with a metal case which allows for better heat dispersion then when using a plastic one. You should be careful though as edges can be sharp. The support I also made of aluminium and, unlike other products, presents the advantage of being solidly screwed to the case and not simply placed. When the hard drive has activity then a LED light under the grill will light up blue.

In this Buffalo DriveStation Combo4 version you will find an integrated 1TB hard drive which is efficient and silent. The drive is a Samsung HD103UJ with 32 MB or memory cache providing it with very good performance.

The Combo4 name means the device comes with all of the connectivity options. USB 2.0, eSATA, FireWire 400 and even 800 (rare on PCS’s, although present on all recent Mac’s). The case comes with all cables except the eSATA, which is a bit of a shame. Besides this, the provided CDROM gives you access to some interesting programs: The TurboUSB program which improves your performance in USB mode by 20%, SecureLockWare which encrypts your data under Windows and Memeo AutoBackup for backing up your documents and all files.

Manufacturer's website
Average price seen
Compatible OS: Windows 200/XP/Vista and Mac OS X 10.3 or later

USB 2.0 Transfer speeds (without Turbo USB):

• Access time: 15.9 MB/s
• Average: 33.2 MB/s
• Maximum: 33.3 MB/s
• Minimum: 32.2 MB/s
• CP usage: 9.1%

USB 2.0 Transfer speeds (with Turbo USB):

• Access time: 16MB/s
• Average: 40.5 MB/s
• Maximum: 40.5 MB/s
• Minimum: 38 MB/s
• CP usage: 5.1%

FireWire 400 Transfer Speeds:

• Access time: 15.8 MB/s
• Average: 37.7 MB/s
• Maximum: 37.7 MB/s
• Minimum: 37.1 MB/s
• CP usage: 0.5%

eSATA Transfer Speeds:

• Access time: 15.8 MB/s
• Average: 93.8 MB/s
• Maximum: 116.8 MB/s
• Minimum: 54.8 MB/s
• CP usage: 1.9%