Monitored Alarm Systems

three USB drives: WD My Passport vs. Toshiba Canvio more vs Adata DashDrive Elite

There are times when a USB drive does not support the action we take on the issue and we need something big to step in and do the job. As an agent of the police reinforcements, it is in these moments that appeal to USB 3.0

external hard drive . This last batch of units offers something for everyone from the enormous 2TB WD jobbie super-thin, small Adata sexy thang. Toshiba 1.5TB drive is thrown into the mix, too, for those looking for a basic and affordable solution for high capacity.

Hello, sexy. We speak of their ability, not their appearance.

The software provided with the My Passport is well rounded and includes backup software, an encryption tool and a diagnostic tool. It should be noted that the Mac and PC software are included, of course, we only test the PC version. The backup software called WD SmartWare and is based on Memeo backup copy of all instantly, without user intervention, so they just said to keep an eye on "Documents", for example, and is automatically copied files show these are documents. We learned the hard way, however, "Documents" means. Doc, not just the files in the Documents folder, which is confusing. Adding to the confusion is whether the lack of a backup took place once the new files have been added to a monitored directory. Nor can create a backup image of the entire disk, which is another flaw. Rarely use software included, so it's not a big problem for us, but there is a strike against WD though. The software includes a service file recovery in case of data loss, and works well, allowing you to put the files to their original location or simply empty into a default folder. Additional software includes the use of password protection that requires a password to access the unit and unit health monitor, which is useful.

to test the mettle of the 30GB unit copy media from your desktop PC with a Samsung 830 SSD boot disk files, and took top honors, taking eight minutes and 46 seconds finish the job. This is the fastest rate in our assessment of these units, although all units are more or less the same characteristics, so congratulations to WD for victory. His time was nearly three minutes faster than the Adata drive and two minutes faster than the Toshiba, so that the difference in performance is significant.

In general, there is much to say about the WD, but we hung quite difficult to have a puff backup software. The protective function of password is good, but our favorite two things about this is that the USB drive is the largest available, and these three, which is also the fastest.

2TB WD My Passport

Passport

huge capacity, high-speed software with all features

backup software is not reliable or for advanced users, you can make backup images

$ 150 www.wd.com

In this group,

Toshiba Canvio initially presented as the son-vanilla, nothing special, at least in the business account Because of its soft exterior and specifications. We tested the 1.5TB version of the unit, which is the maximum capacity offered by Toshiba. Surprisingly, it is almost as thick as the WD 2TB despite its lack of capacity of 500 GB, so the lesson here is that if you go on a big USB key, ready to be bringing a pocket area hot. The 1.5TB drive is available only in black, a decision that we have reason to need or want fancy colors our USB storage. If you prefer a splash of color connected to your USB port, you'll have to make do with less capacity, since only the 500 GB and 1 TB are available in red, blue and gray (black, of course).

Toshiba Unit
won the competition for the lamest names of devices and software, but still the best car here.

On the software side, the Canvio comes with a comprehensive package that includes backup software with encryption, public transport services, a variety of cloud storage and application Mounting called muvee Reveal. NTI Backup Now EZ backup software is only for Windows, but the unit includes an NTFS driver that allows you to use both Mac and PC. Despite the strange name of the software, it is actually our favorite of the rodeo, simply because it offers an intuitive interface and many options for saving the configuration, if you want to make a backup Canvio unit itself or in the cloud. You can also choose to support the types of files selected individually or entire disk image folders or files. Simply select the files you want to back up and let it run. You can also schedule backups, and see the status of the display unit in the software, which is convenient. It is also easy to password protect the device. The only problem we had during our tests is that the option of cloud did not work for us, you get a free 30-day trial of cloud storage with the unit, but we could not our turn. Note: The base model of this unit does not offer cloud storage as an option.

In our test of copying files, which we Hustle 30GB of data via USB 3.0 tube of grease, Toshiba took second place overall with a time of 10 minutes, 34 seconds which is nearly two minutes longer than the WD, but faster than the Adata drive.

Overall, this is an all around excellent backup unit. It is the largest capacity unit or thin, but it has a great software, decent and affordable capacity, do not ask for much more in a USB storage device.

Toshiba 1.5TB Canvio Plus 3.0