Top 20 Portable Hard Drives – The Best 500GB & 1TB External Hard disks

There a lot of Top External Hard drives in the market today. But finding them all at a single place is very difficult for most of us. Generally most of us will have a lot of queries while buying a portable hard drive, like what will be the size, how good the performance is and how good the service will be and etc. Keeping this in in mind, we made a list of most popular 500Gb and 1 TB hard drives with our own rating and review, so that this review will help you to choose a better hard drive. Now-a-days, most of us are confused with different variety of models available in market. All these External Hard drives will have same functionalities when compared to each other, but the prices will differ in most of the cases.

The biggest problem for any common user to buy a portable drive is its improper review. There are millions of pages which give reviews on selected hard drives in market. But the problem is, some may rate good and some may rate average and some may rate worst. Seeing all these reviews, any common man would definitely be confused before he buys a portable drive. Today, i will guide you people to select a amazing external hard drive for you both PC and Laptop with amazing features. Check out our previous article on Be Smart In Selecting a Hard drive, which helped many people to buy a better hard drive and also gave us many hits. Now coming to the Top External Hard Drives, we will give you a list of 10 best portable hard drives in each 500GB and 1TB category, which are presently available in the market.

Top External Hard Drives – 1 TB :

In this first part, we will give you the 10 popular portable external hard drives with capacities of both 1 TB. So here goes the list which has a list of popular 1TB hard drives which you can trust on. Note that there will be huge difference in 1TB and 500GB when compared with each other. Not only in size, but also in the production, quality and efficiency of the drive. So choose wisely, here goes the list below.

1) WD My Passport Essential SE (WDBACX0010BBK) : The world famous WD My Passport Essential SE is very reliable. This drives ensures the safety of all your valuable data at any cost. This 1TB hard drive comes with a automatic backup feature which saves your time and money. The drive can produce a super speed data transfer of upto 5Gb/sec. It comes with the maximum drive capacity of 1TB, where most of the hard drive end up with 930GB. This super speed drive supports USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports. The amazing password protection and encryption tools in the drive make it more trust worthy. Check out the specifications below.

Brand : Western Digital

Model : WDBACX0010BBK.

Color : Black

Capacity : 1 TB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB 3.0, USB v2.0

Dimensions : 110 x 83 x 18 mm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X v10.4, or greater.

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 200g

Star Feature : Maximum capacity, Eco-Friendly.

Approx Price : Rs – 6800/-

Our Rating : 5/5

2) IOmega EGo SuperSpeed (35254) : The Iomega Ego 35254 is an 2.5 inch, 1 TB hard drive, which is a stylish super speed hard drive with an amazing 3.0 USB speed and data transfer of upto 5 GB/sec. This portable hard drive is very well known for its amazing design and a ruby red band. It gives a solid protection to the hard drive from physical damage. The hard drive can survive a 7 feet fall from the air with this ruby band around it. The IOmega 35254 comes with a IOmega protection suite software which includes Trend Micro Internet Security, Roxio, Retrospect express backup software, IOmega Quick Protect, Online backup service which protects your data. It has an AES 256 bit hardware encryption built into USB 3.0 port.

Brand : IOmega

Model : 35254.

Color : Ruby Red With Band, Black.

Capacity : 1TB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB v2.0 , USB v3.0

Dimensions : 13.1 x 9.3 x 2.6 cm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X v10.5, or greater.

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Transfer Speed : 5 GB/sec.

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 230g

Star Features : 256-Bit AES Encrypted Storage Controller.

Approx Price : Rs – 6000/-

Our Rating : 5/5

3) Transcend StoreJet (TS1TSJ25H3P) : The transcend storejet series is very famous for its advanced super speed data transfer. The drive has a multifunctional button on the top, which lights up by an LED light, which indicates the data transfer.Also its compact body is made of silicon outer-shell ensuring it never slips from your hands. The drive has a Elite backup and security software which protects your hard drive from data loss and unauthorized access, the elite software comes with powerful 256 bit AES encryption to secure the data. The drive is made of durable anti-shock silicone outer shell which protects you from hard drops and vibrations.

Brand : Transcend

Model : TS1TSJ25H3P.

Color : Purple

Capacity : 1 TB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB 3.0, USB v2.0

Dimensions : 80.8 x 21.7 x 130.8 mm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X v10.4, or greater.

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 256g

Star Feature : Built-in Power Management.

Approx Price : Rs – 7500/-

Our Rating : 5/5

4) Seagate Expansion Portable(ST910004EXM101-RK) : The Seagate Expansion portable 1TB hard drive is very compact and easy to carry. You can easily interchange the hard drive in both Windows and Mac PC’s. This drive support only USB 2.0 port. But the data transfer is pretty good where you can just drag and drop the data into the drive. There is no need of any external power supply, which saves the power consumption. It also has an built-in power management feature for efficient energy operations. You can check the specifications of the drive below.

Brand : Seagate

Model : ST910004EXM101-RK.

Color : Black

Capacity : 1 TB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB 3.0, USB v2.0

Dimensions : 80.01 x 17.6 x 141.29 mm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X v10.4, or greater.

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 160g

Star Feature : Built-in Power Management.

Approx Price : Rs – 5400/-

Our Rating : 4.8/5

5) Verbatim Portable (53018) : The verbatim portable is a USB 3.0 super speed drive with amazing features. The drive comes with a Nero Backitup and Burn Essentials software. The drive comes with a Green button energy saving software. The super speed data transfer speed will go up to 4800 Mb/sec. Very less weight and compact in design. Supports, all operating systems like Window, Mac, and Linux. You can check the specifications below.

Brand : Verbatim

Model : 53018.

Color : Black.

Capacity : 1TB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB v2.0 , USB v3.0

Dimensions : 127 x 82 x 20 mm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X v10.5, or greater, Linux kernal 2.6 or higher.

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Transfer Speed : 4.8 GB/sec.

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 185g

Star Features : 256-Bit AES Encrypted Storage Controller.

Approx Price : Rs – 5600/-

Our Rating : 5/5

These are the top 5 portable hard drives in 1TB range. There are 5 more 1TB hard drives with amazing features, which you can check below.

6) Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex (STAA1000302) : Rs: 4400, Rating: 4.8/5 (USB 3.0)

7) Silicon Power (Stream S20) : Rs: 4400, Rating: 4.8/5 (USB 3.0)

8 ) Toshiba Canvio Basics (E05A100BBU2AK) : Rs: 5900, Rating: 4.8/5 (USB 2.0)

9) Buffalo MiniStation (HD-PC1TU2/BB) : Rs: 6100, Rating: 4.5/5 (USB 2.0)

10) Imation EA APOLLO : Rs: 4700, Rating: 4.0/5 (USB 2.0)

This completes our list of 1TB popular external drives. Now, lets check out the best portable external drives in 500 GB. As mentioned above, i will review the top 5 hard drives from 500 GB and list out the remaining hard drives with model names, price, rating and USB port type. Just like above top 10 1 TB hard drives.

Top External Hard Drives – 500 GB :

1) WD Essential USB Passport Edition (WDBACY5000ABK) : To be frank, the WD essential hard drive is the most amazing portable drive i have ever seen. The western digital USB passport edition is the most advanced portable drive which stands no: 1 in the top external hard drives in market today. This amazing hard drive comes with a 3.0 USB speed and needs no external power. This 2.5inch, 500GB WD essential hard drive has amazing features like simple plug and play, ultra simple portability and may more. Check out the specifications below to know more about this hard drive.

Brand : Western Digital

Model : WDBACY5000ABK.

Color : Black

Capacity : 500 GB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB v2.0 , USB v3.0

Dimensions : 110 x 15 x 83 mm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X v10.5, v10.6, v10.7

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Transfer Speed : 5 GB/sec.

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 140g

Star Feature : Ultra Slim Portability.

Approx Price : Rs – 4800/-

Our Rating : 5/5

2) IOmega EGo SuperSpeed (35250) : The Iomega Ego 35250 hard drive is a stylish super speed hard drive with an amazing 3.0 USB speed and data transfer of upto 5 GB/sec. This portable hard drive is very well known for its amazing design and a ruby red band. There will be a rubber power grip around the hard drive, which gives a solid protection to the hard drive from physical damage. The hard drive can survive a 7 feet fall from the air with this ruby band around it. The IOmega 35250 comes with a IOmega protection suite software which includes Trend Micro Internet Security, Roxio, Retrospect express backup software, IOmega Quick Protect, Online backup service which protects your data. It has an AES 256 bit hardware encryption built into USB 3.0 port.

Brand : IOmega

Model : 35250.

Color : Ruby Red With Band, Black.

Capacity : 500 GB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB v2.0 , USB v3.0

Dimensions : 129 x 90 x 22 mm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X v10.5, or greater.

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Transfer Speed : 5 GB/sec.

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 200g

Star Features : Encryption to protect data.

Approx Price : Rs – 4300/-

Our Rating : 5/5

3) Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex (STAA500301) : Seagate is well known as a popular and successful hard drive company in Asia. The FreeAgent GoFlex is one of its amazing product which is featured with easy sync, super fast transfer and an pre-built backup software, it offers reliable and safe data storage. This 2.5inch, 500 GB Seagate hard drive is an ultra portable drive which can work efficiently on both Windows and Mac Operating systems. This hard drive has an amazing security with triple DES encryption feature which secures data from unauthorized access. The hard drive comes with a Seagate dashboard management tool, which enables you to manage the backup schedules, file encryption and drive stats when ever required.

Brand : Seagate

Model : STAA500301.

Color : Black, Silver, Red

Capacity : 500 GB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB v2.0

Dimensions : 83 x 111 x 14 mm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X v10.4, or greater.

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Encryption : 192 bit triple DES

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 150g

Star Feature : Power management system to save energy.

Approx Price : Rs – 4000/-

Our Rating : 5/5

4) Buffalo MiniStation (PC500U2/BK) : The buffalo mini station is well known for its compact design. This hard drive is as small as any normal Nokia c3 phone. The drive has an amazing performance and price when compared to other hard drives in market. It comes with inbuilt tools like Turbo copy, secure lock, eco manager and an amazing tool called the Ramdisk utility, which provides faster disk space within your RAM. The hard drive comes with a plug and play feature where you need to install any drivers in your PC. This tiny hard drive is very popular for its data transfer speed at an amazing price. Check out the more specifications below to know more.

Brand : Buffalo

Model : PC500U2/BK

Color : Black.

Capacity : 500 GB

Buffer : 8MB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB v2.0

Dimensions : 77 x 114 x 14 mm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X v10.5, or greater, Linux kernal 2.4 or higher.

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Transfer Speed : upto 480 Mb/sec.

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 165g

Star Features : Power saving mode (10mins)

Approx Price : Rs – 3500/-

Our Rating : 4.5/5

5) Transcend StoreJet (TS500GSJ25M2) : The Transcend Store Jet is a very popular model from the transcend family. It has an outstanding design and safety features. This 2.5 inch, 500 GB hard drive comes with a unique safety to protect your data and centralize all your information in a single unit to make your data easily accessible. You can find a power button at the top of the hard drive indicating the data transfer activities. The drive comes with a 3 stage shock protection system that combines vibration absorbing silicone outer shell, reinforced hard casing and an internal hard drive suspension damper which protects you from incidental knocks and excessive jolts and drops.

Brand : Transcend

Model : TS500GSJ25M2

Color : Black.

Capacity : 500 GB

Buffer : 8MB

RPM : 5400 (Revolutions Per Minute)

Connectivity : USB v2.0

Dimensions : 82.5 x 20.4 x 126.25 mm

HDD Type : Portable.

Operating System : Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X v10.5, or greater, Linux kernal 2.4 or higher.

Power : No AC adapter needed.

Transfer Speed : upto 480 Mb/sec.

Warranty : 36 months (3 years)

Weight : 206g

Star Features : Durable anti-shock silicone outer shell, One Touch auto backup button.

Approx Price : Rs – 4200/-

Our Rating : 4.5/5

These are the top 5 Hard drives in 500 GB range. There are 5 more hard drives in 500 GB. If you want to check them out, here they are. Note that, all these below service centers may not be available in your city.

6) Adata (CH94) – Rs: 4900, Rating: 4.5/5 (USB 2.0)

7) Acer (LC.EXH01.010) – Rs: 4300, Rating: 4.5/5 (USB 2.0)

8 ) Hitachi Touro Mobile – Rs: 4000, Rating: 4.3/5 (USB 2.0)

9) Imation 500 GB Apollo – Rs: 3500, Rating: 4.2/5 (USB 2.0)

10) Toshiba Canvio Basics (E05A050BAU2AK) – Rs : 3400, Rating: 4.0/5 (USB 2.0)

These are the top 10 popular hard drives in 500 GB. If you have any queries on these 20 hard drives, you can comment below to clear them. Hope you liked our review on most top external hard drives.

Everything You Need To Know About Android

Android is all the rage these days, smartphones and tablet PC’s both use this versatile operating system and deliver fantastic performance that only gets better with each successive update. So how did it come to be? Currently it is developed by The Open Handset Alliance, an alliance of 84 firms to develop open standards for mobile devices. It includes mobile handset makers, software developers, chipset developers and many other firms including LG, Intel, Motorola, Dell, Nvidia, HTC and much more. The OHA was established on 5 November 2007 and is led by Google. Android is the brainchild and flagship product of this alliance. The first mobile device to use Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, released in October 2008. In its short lifespan Android has become extremely popular and is now the bestselling smartphone platform in the world!

Android uses a modified Linux kernel, its application programming interface is written in C and application framework is based on Apache Harmony, which itself is a open source implementation of Java. Majority of the apps available for Android devices are Java based. Although the parent company Android inc., started out as an independent venture in 2003, the namesake operating system wasn’t actually developed until Google acquired Android inc. in 2005. Soon, Google designated a team to work on mobile phone platform, this would be the beginning of Android as we know it. Google sought to develop a mobile platform was was flexible, easy to use, customizable and most of all, open source. It showed prototypes to manufacturers around the world and made partnerships with various hardware and software manufacturers to develop this new platform, with varying levels of co-operation, which would go on to be named Android. Needless to say, investing in a brand new open source platform wasn’t what most companies were looking for. Thus these previews, so to speak, helped Google test the waters and also gain feedback from some of the respected companies already in the mobile devices game. In 2007 the OHA was established and finally their flagship product, Android was unveiled.

As a side note, all the Android versions are named after dessert items, starting from 2.0, named Eclair. This quirky naming policy is also interesting because successive versions and/or builds are in alphabetical order (Banana bread, Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread etc.).

Android 1.0

After much speculation, preview builds and whatnot, the first commercial version of Android was released in 2008. HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1 was the first phone to use Android, version 1.0. This version had all the basic functionality of a smartphone, camera, media support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, messaging etc. It also included Google apps like Google Maps, Sync, Mail and the like. The next version, 1.1 (Banana bread) just added a few fixed and minor features. Version 1.5 (Cupcake) was the first update that added new features and UI updates. It introduced virtual keyboard support, widgets, video recording and playback, additional Bluetooth functionality, photo and video uploading and animated screen transitions. Version 1.6 (Donut) included new features like voice and text search, better integration for the camera, gesture recognition, support for higher resolution screens and support for newer communication and mobile protocols.

Android 2.0-2.2

Next came version 2.0 (Eclair), it included an updated UI, a more functional web browser with HTML5 support, support for Bluetooth 2.1, new camera functions, animated wallpapers and several fixes that enabled the OS to run more efficiently and optimize operation times. Version 2.0.1 and 2.1 were minor releases that mostly included API changes and bug fixes. By this time Android was already a force to reckon with. It was efficient, customizable and had fun features. Also, it was user friendly and minimalistic. Version 2.2 (Froyo) had more speed, memory and performance optimizations, along with various other new features. The most significant of those features were USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality, Adobe Flash support and support for HD screens.

Android 2.3

Version 2.3 (Gingerbread), the current version as of today, had even more system optimizations for more efficiency, an updated UI, better power management, new audio effects for the player, a new file system (ext4), support for more sensors like gyroscopes, barometers and enhanced audio/video input for developers. The next versions 2.3.3, 2.3.4, 2.3.5 and 2.3.6 were just incremental updates that included bug fixes.

So the main reason for Android being so popular is accessibility. You have a platform that can rival any other, but you aren’t limited to buying only a single product. There’s choices of so many handset brands with different colors, screens, keyboards, features etc. The consumer has choice, and choice drives competition. Moreover, Android is open source, so one can customize it as one sees fit. The whole idea of your phone adapting to you instead of you adapting to it is a fantastic selling point. With new apps that offer so many functionalities available on the Android market and new apps pouring in all the time, there’s always something for everyone. Plus, the OS itself is open source, so you’re not going to pay for the software. You pay what the phone handset is worth, an efficient and flexible platform, regular updates & bug fixes and vast user generated content, what else would a consumer want? If you have any queries on Android, please leave a comment below.

iPhone 4S and iOS 5 – What’s new?

When Apple announced its “Let’s talk iPhone” event to be held on October 4th 2011, everyone expected the launch of iPhone 5. Although there wasn’t an iPhone 5, there was something with ’5′ in its name, the iOS 5. This new operating system is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch 3rd Generation, iPod Touch 4th Generation, iPad and iPad 2. Also, Apple launched an upgraded version of its flagship smartphone instead of a completely new model, called the iPhone 4S. So what’s new? Read on to find out:

Hardware – iPhone 4S now uses the dual core Apple A5 processor, the very same that powers the iPad 2, albeit slightly underclocked to 800MHz. A new variant with 64GB of memory is now available along with the previous 16GB and 32GB variants. The camera has been upgraded as well and is now capable of taking still photographs at 8MP and capturing full 1080P HD video, up from iPhone 4′s 720P HD video recording. Due to complaints regarding loss of signals while holding the iPhone 4 in certain ways, the iPhone 4S now features an antenna split into two parts for cellular data. The phone automatically uses the antenna part which is receiving/transmitting data optimally. The new Apple A5 processor also allows for better interactive multimedia applications and higher data rates of upto 14.4 Mbps with HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access). Apple claims higher battery life on talktime but reportedly the standby time is less compared to iPhone 4. Last but not least is the addition of Bluetooth 4.0 support.

Other features – While most new features are tied to iOS 5 and are available on previous generation devices that can run it, iPhone 4S has some neat tricks of its own too! The most interesting new feature exclusive, as of now, to iPhone 4S is ‘Siri’. Siri is an adaptive voice control system that allows users to give commands to the phone. According to early reports, the results are fantastic and Siri has proven to be responsive and helpful with a small margin of error. Along with ease of use for most, Siri makes it much easier for visually impaired people to use the phone as well. As of now Siri supports English, German and French, but more languages will most probably be added in the near future. Unlike the voice control systems on some phones these days, Siri can be programmed for custom responses and inputs and can also answer questions according to present data, such as weather conditions, addresses and the like.

Apple also positions the iPhone 4S as a serious handheld gaming device on par with PlayStation Vita and Nintendo DS/3DS. It claims that the iPhone 4S is capable of processing 35 million polygons per second. That’s quite a number, considering current home consoles with far more powerful hardware are capable of processing about 300-500 million polygons per second. Along with fantastic graphics, the iPhone 4S can also integrate voice control into the games. This could prove be quite troublesome for the other handheld gaming devices in competition even though its basically a smartphone with gaming as a second capability.

iOS 5:

Apple’s new mobile operating system was launched with the iPhone 4S, but it can be used on previous generation devices as well. Although some features remain exclusive to the new device, users of the previous generation devices can enjoy the plethora of new features as well:

iMessage – Here it is, Apple’s very own version of BlackBerry Messenger. Now users with devices capable of running iOS 5 can message each other unlimited, absolutely free! Along with the usual text messages, iMessage allows users to share photos, videos and even contacts. Another fun feature is that conversations can be continued on multiple devices. Let’s say you suddenly stop a conversation on your iPhone. Fret not, you can pick it up from wherever you left it on an iPad or iPod too. Furthermore, iMessage supports voice control, so you can keep speaking and it will be sent as text, even in multiple languages.

Notification center – The older iOS versions used to notify users of events via popups that frankly, could be a little annoying. The new notification center condenses all the events you want to be notified for into a nifty little screen that can be customized and configured. These notifications can be set to display on the lock screen too. Even widgets like news feeds and weather conditions can be added to notifications.

Camera enhancements – The camera can now be accessed directly from the lock screen instead of unlocking and switching to camera mode. Sometimes the whole process of switching to camera mode could make one lose that perfect moment, but no more! iOS 5 also includes a new camera app that allows for basic photo editing such as red eye reduction, sharpness enhancing, cropping, photo effects and more.

Twitter integration and new Safari – iOS 5 now sports Twitter integration in messaging and contacts. Also, a new version of Safari, Apple’s web browser is included which promises faster and more efficient browsing. Apple claims switching between tabs and loading pages is now much faster as well. On the fly page editing allows users to rearrange text, remove pictures or ads and reformat pages so they look better depending on user device and preferences.

New game center – The new game center goes the Xbox Live way with avatars, achievement points, game downloads and enhanced multiplayer gaming.

Advanced touch gestures – While previous iOS versions are already renown for their amazing multi touch interfaces, iOS 5 implements new advanced gestures that can be used to navigate through and control your device.

PC free usage – Previously a PC was required to sync data, download updates and initialize iOS devices. iOS 5 brings the biggest change by not requiring connection to a PC, ever. Users can initialize their devices, download updates wirelessly now. Although PC connection is optional, wireless sync is also possible now as well. Start up a new iOS 5 device and you’re good to go, no more syncing required, everything can be now done over 3G or Wi-Fi.

These are just some of the noteworthy features, iOS 5 is said to have over 200 new features ! We have previously written a post on Top 30 Free Music iPhone, iPad & iPod Apps You Must Have Hope you will share this information with your friends about iPhone 4s and iOS5.