Product Reviews

External hard disks are ideal for carting round your music, photo and video collections or for backing up your work, and petite models such as the FireLite are especially suited for carrying files from one PC to another. Like most drives of this type, it's based on a 2.5in hard disk - the same kind that's used inside notebook PCs. Like all good ones, it can be powered directly using just its USB connection, eliminating the need to carry a power adapter (not to mention the struggle to find a socket for it). You can plug it into any PC running Windows XP, 2000 or Me or a Mac running OS 8.6 or later - you don't even need to install driver software. If you have Windows 98 SE, drivers are provided on the accompanying CD.

What's unusual about this drive is its capacity. At 80GB it's by no means the largest external hard disk available. But at present, 80GB is the largest capacity available from a 2.5in hard disk. The FireLite is also pretty fast, reading large files at an average speed of 19.2MB/s - a great result for a 2.5in disk. It actually

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managed to read files at 23.2MB/s in the first 5GB of its capacity; this is because reading data from the physical platters inside the disk is quicker towards their outside edge than in the centre.

Performance was a little slower when writing the same files, averaging 16.4MB/s. Its ability to read and write small files, however, was a bit disappointing. It wrote folders of tiny system files at 2.47MB/s, and read them at 5.32MB/s. This is about half the speed of the best external hard disks, though still reasonable for a highly portable model.

In a device that's meant to be lugged about, sturdy construction is just as important as speed - and the FireLite doesn't disappoint here either. Its magnesium alloy housing is curved for added rigidity, and there are no protruding parts to get knocked off. Still, we'd advise you to unplug the USB cable while in transit to avoid damaging the socket, and we'd recommend you find some kind of case or pouch - none is supplied.

We had no problems powering the FireLite via its USB connection, but as some USB sockets may not give sufficient power, a PS/2 adapter cable is also included. No backup software is supplied, but anyone looking for an external backup device will be better off spending less on a bulkier model.

The FireLite is great if you want to take files on the move. You can get much cheaper hard disks, but not ones this small. Some highly portable models cost two to three times as much - although, because of its large capacity, the FireLite still costs a fair old whack. Still, you'd better be sure you really need 80 gigs before you shell out 200 quid.