Product Reviews

Hard disks

Verbatim 2.5" Portable Hard Drive USB 2.0 500GB [Computer Shopper]
COMPANY: Verbatim	PRICE: £147 inc VAT
RATING:	ISSUE: 249 DATE: Nov 08

Verbatim's latest portable USB hard disk has a capacity of 500GB. It's an impressive amount of storage, previously only available on desktop hard disks. It's chunkier than other portable disks we've seen, but it feels cheap.

It performed well in our file-transfer tests, although its speed of 8.2MB/s when writing small files wasn't as fast as its rivals. If you regularly transfer lots of data, Plextor's PX-PH320US is better. Otherwise, this disk is fast enough for most tasks.

It costs a reasonable 29p per gigabyte, but is still one of the most expensive portable disks we've seen. If you need its huge capacity in a portable disk, it's your only choice. If you don't, the PX-PH320US is better value, while the DriveStation Combo4 has the same capacity and costs £93.

By Alan Lu

SPECIFICATIONS:
500GB capacity (465GB formatted), 5,400rpm spindle speed, USB Hi-Speed interface, 24x87x135mm, 162g, two years' RTB warranty