TOP 5 fast and large external hard drives with USB 3.1 gen1 support

WD Elements Portable 3.0 is the perfect companion when it comes to storing high-quality movies, transferring music libraries, or backing up data from a PC or laptop.

The device has a minimalist design. The case of the drive is made of strong plastic, in which the front side is matte with a small edging, and the back is rougher, so that it does not slip on the surface of the table or in the hands. Outwardly, the disc looks quite restrained, not without originality. Connection to a computer is carried out using USB ports of the third version.

The basis of Elements Portable is the HDD of WD 's own production with a capacity of 2 TB. In synthetic tests, the drive performs well at 108 MB/s for both reading and writing. It is worth noting that even with a strong and prolonged load (for example, backing up the entire system), the device operates almost silently.

The device is equipped with a set of SmartWare Pro software, which makes it easy to back up from a computer and simultaneously upload the necessary data to cloud services a la Dropbox and Google Drive, as well as encrypt the data on the disk and protect it from prying eyes with a password.

Seagate Backup Plus Slim is a purely functional drive, the essence of which is revealed in the name. This is one of the thinnest external HDDs on the market (12mm) with 2TB of storage, making it capable of holding enough data for 95% of people. And it can be easily carried, for example, in the pocket of a jacket or jacket.

The top cover made of aluminium with traces of polishing gives the drive a pleasant appearance. The surface is quite practical: prints on the body of the carrier are almost invisible. The lower part of the novelty is made of durable ABS plastic. At the end of the drive is a link indicator that glows when the drive is connected to the computer and blinks during data transfer. The drive is connected to a computer using a USB 3.1 gen1 interface, which is backwards compatible with its predecessor version 2.0.

By tradition, the drive is equipped with proprietary software from Seagate, which allows you to optimize the process of archiving and backing up data, as well as set up time windows for automatic backups. For those who value maximum security, you can enable automatic copying of the same data to the cloud storage from Seagate (4 GB). You can also connect data backup from your smartphone there. Overall, the Seagate Dashboard leaves a very pleasant impression, surpassing most competing applications in terms of flexibility and functionality.

In addition, the disc comes with a three-month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, which gives access to all Adobe products, and a one-year subscription to the Mylio photo archive organizing service. A trifle, but nice.

The history of external hard drives is a story about volumes and protection measures. And very rarely it goes into the plane of appearance. Canvio Alu New from Toshiba stands out from this row - outwardly, it does not look like a rectangle sealed in rubber, but a laptop that is pleasant to the eye in a light brown leather cover. Although there are also black and silver color options in the lineup, Toshiba focuses on this color option because it looks really cool.

The body of the disc is made of two metal parts, interconnected by a thin white plastic insert. Moreover, these are not just two plates at the top and bottom of the disk, but in fact a reliably assembled aluminium case that protects the disk from accidental drops. Aluminium is rough to the touch, so the case lies securely in the hand. Additional protection measures include a built-in shock sensor that prevents accidental drive head failures and support for Ramp Loading technology, which prevents the drive head from touching the drive while being carried.

Inside a thin aluminium case (only 12 mm!) Hidden HDD from Toshiba with a capacity of 3 TB with a spindle speed of 5400 rpm. You can't find fault with the quality of the disk - the volume is enough to store even very large archives, and a decent write and read speed of 120 - 125 MB / s will not let you get bored while copying data. All of the above makes sense only if connected using USB 3.1 gen1.

As a small bonus, when buying a drive from the Toshiba website, you can download the NTI Backup Now programme, with which you can automate data backup. You just need to set the necessary folders or disk partitions for copying, then set the parameters for intervals and time for copying, after which the automation will take care of all the work. Well, the icing on the cake is the low price by the standards of competitors - Canvio Alu New 3 TB is cheaper than many competitors 2 TB.

Transcend has eaten more than one dog in the production of external hard drives, and its products are always full of pleasant surprises. The hero of today's review, the Transcend StoreJet 25A3, combines a nice design, shock-resistant body, large capacity and the ability to work almost silently.

The body of the drive is made of nice glossy plastic, which quickly picks up handprints. Under the layer of plastic is a thick rubber suspension that protects the disc from accidental bumps and drops. And inside the rubber armor hides a 2 TB laptop HDD with a standard spindle speed of 5400 rpm for this class and an 8 MB cache. In synthetic tests, the drive shows good performance: the average read speed is 88.3 MB / s, the write speed is kept at 84.8 MB / s. The maximum read and write rates are 115.7 MB/s and 114.4 MB/s. However, most external HDDs with third generation USB support show approximately the same speed.

The Transcend StoreJet 25A3 has several proprietary features that make it stand out from other external hard drives. Firstly, it is an intelligent power management system, thanks to which the drive will automatically switch to power saving mode if no data is transferred for a set period of time. This allows you to extend the life cycle of the disk.

Secondly, at the end of the disk there is a backup button that starts automatic data backup. It works in conjunction with the Transcend Elite application, which allows you to create specific data backup templates, such as backing up data from specific folders and at specific times. It is worth noting that Transcend Elite can do a lot more, including recovering accidentally deleted data or returning disk health after irreversible errors.

There is a joke among professional photographers that in the case of storing photo archives, every professional sooner or later comes to the conclusion that he will have to spend money on LaCie. Don't be surprised if you haven't heard of this brand, because LaCie is Seagate 's premium sub-brand aimed at photographers, designers and other creative people.

The unspoken credo of the company is high reliability combined with excellent design. In the case of reliability, this lies in the durable aluminium housing that protects the drive from bumps and drops. As for appearance, this issue was dealt with by employees of the Porsche design bureau, who do not just eat their bread.

Outwardly, the disk seems to be designed to work in conjunction with Apple technology. And this is no accident, because initially the disk was developed precisely as a companion to the desktop iMac and MacBook, which is easily integrated into the proprietary Apple Time Machine application for data backup. The drive is also compatible with Windows, but the integration there is not as deep as with MacOS. As for the 2 TB drive itself, its average read and write speed is 120 MB / s. This is a very decent indicator, which is enough to, for example, edit video in FinalCut directly from the hard drive.

The disk comes with a free three-month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, which allows you to store photo archives in RAW and process them using Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.