Transfer a torrent to an external drive using USB 3.0 and you will NEVER go back to USB 2.0.
It will be at least three times faster, often more. We pick the top USB 3.0 drives.
Nowhere has the introduction of USB 3.0, or super-speed USB, had more of a profound impact than in the external hard drive market. In one fell swoop this single technology has made obsolete any drive that doesn’t include this magical little port. Promising to increase drive performance tenfold, do these new drives live up to the hype?
In two words, not quite. While USB 3.0 drives are quicker than the USB 2.0 drives of old, our real-world performance tests show that on average they’re about three times the speed of their predecessors. In worst case scenarios, with slower USB 3.0 drives competing against faster USB 2.0 drives, the difference is a doubling in speed. It might not sound like much, but when this halves a 45-minute file copy, it’s still a massive saving in time.
When buying a USB 3.0 drive, there are certain things to look for. Firstly, do you want a large desk-bound drive, or a smaller portable drive that won’t weigh your mobile lifestyle down? If you’re taking the mobile route, is the drive hardy enough to handle a few bumps and scrapes? While prices vary massively depending on capacity, an easy formula to test value for money is to multiply the dollar price by 100, then divide by the total number of MB of storage. This will give you the price per MB, and anything under 30c/MB is respectable.
Finally, does your chosen drive include its own suite of backup software? While many users will be more than happy with the included backup tools in their OS of choice, some of the newer drives include automatic, instant backup — as soon as you change a file, it’s backed up, promising to-the-second mirrors.
In two words, not quite. While USB 3.0 drives are quicker than the USB 2.0 drives of old, our real-world performance tests show that on average they’re about three times the speed of their predecessors. In worst case scenarios, with slower USB 3.0 drives competing against faster USB 2.0 drives, the difference is a doubling in speed. It might not sound like much, but when this halves a 45-minute file copy, it’s still a massive saving in time.
When buying a USB 3.0 drive, there are certain things to look for. Firstly, do you want a large desk-bound drive, or a smaller portable drive that won’t weigh your mobile lifestyle down? If you’re taking the mobile route, is the drive hardy enough to handle a few bumps and scrapes? While prices vary massively depending on capacity, an easy formula to test value for money is to multiply the dollar price by 100, then divide by the total number of MB of storage. This will give you the price per MB, and anything under 30c/MB is respectable.
Finally, does your chosen drive include its own suite of backup software? While many users will be more than happy with the included backup tools in their OS of choice, some of the newer drives include automatic, instant backup — as soon as you change a file, it’s backed up, promising to-the-second mirrors.
