Maxtor's 500GB OneTouch 4 Plus hard disk looks classy when positioned vertically, but its odd shape means it can't be stacked easily with other storage peripherals.
The OneTouch has FireWire 400 and USB Hi-Speed ports. Unfortunately, it was by far the slowest desktop disk when writing small files, managing just 6.5MB/s when connected via FireWire and 6.19MB/s over its USB connection. It was the fastest desktop drive when writing large files, however, at 24.9MB/s.
We liked the included software. You can back up your files according to a schedule or by pressing the front-mounted button. The utility can even clone your internal hard disk to the external drive.
At 17p per gigabyte, Maxtor's One Touch 4 is inexpensive. We were also impressed with its bundled software, but its slow small-file copy speeds make it hard to recommend.
By Alan Lu
SPECIFICATIONS:
500GB capacity, USB Hi-Speed, FireWire 400 interfaces
