SimpleTech Signature Mini (160GB, blue)

The good: Large capacity for a travel drive; very compact and light; bus powered; good bundled backup software; cool and quiet in operation; three-year warranty; two free gigabytes of online storage.

The bad: No FireWire; doesn't ship with power cord.

The bottom line: The SimpleTech Signature Mini Black Cherry is a compact, USB-only external hard drive that will tempt you with its sleek design, and then win you over with its capacity, performance, and price.

Read full review

Description: This Simpletech Signature Mini is a 160GB, external hard disk drive. Compared to other external hard drives on the market, it is very inexpensive at around $100. This drive attaches to a system though a USB 2.0 port. This is a 5400 rpm drive and comes with an 8MB buffer.

Pros: Has a 160GB capacity, which is larger than some similarly priced hard drives. In fact, the typical cost of a product with this large a capacity is $230.

Cons: Spins at only 5400 rpm. This is not out of line with the product's price, but is slower than the average hard drive on the market today.

Suitability: An external hard drive, suited for convenient plug-and-play with most desktop or notebook computers.

Value: Given its very inexpensive price, this hard drive has good features for the money.