List Price: $117.99
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Transcend 750 GB 2.5-Inch USB 3.0 Military-Grade Shock Resistance Portable External Hard Drive for Mac and PC TS750GSJ25M3
I have owned and used a number of portable USB 2.5in external hard drives over the years. This one looks like the best of the bunch, out of the box. It is by far the most solidly constructed, whisper quiet, and hardly gets luke-warm to the touch.
I had some concerns about USB 3.0 because it requires a separate power cable to give the drive enough juice to take advantage of the speed. I don't yet have a computer with USB 3.0, so I did not want to have to use the power cable for USB 2.0 transfers. Sure enough, the drive worked just fine on my old Dell E1505 laptop with just the data cable attached. The surprise came with my ASUS netbook. I often have to use a power cable to keep an external HDD connected. The Transcend works first time, every time, even when the netbook is on battery. In my experience, this is outstanding!
My only issue thus far: I can't change the drive name from "Local Disk" to something more distinctive. I have not explored the "Elite" support software, so maybe the answer lies somewhere in there. If not, it will be part of my next contact with Transcend tech support. (UPDATE: No joy so far; I emailed Tech Support about this)
Before purchasing, I called Transcend's branch in Maryland, and got through to a human being on the second try. Tech support assured me that if I was willing to violate the 3-year warranty, I could insert a 2.5in 1Tb or even a 1.5Tb drive in the enclosure, and it should recognise the drive. I will probably not be trying that for at least part of the warranty period, but it is comforting to know that I can get the anti-shock benefits of this product with a larger drive. It appears that there is still work to be done on the 1Tb+ 2.5in drives until they become genuinely reliable, so waiting awhile seems a good bet.
UPDATE: One other possible weak point is the USB 3.0 aka SuperSpeed USB cable. It appears to be standard -that is, it is not proprietary to the drive. However, these cables are still hard to come by, and they are costly. Best deal I could find online is about $20 for a very short cable. That's 20% of the cost of the drive! I imagine price will fall and availability will rise over the next year or so. In the meantime, it will be important to treat the cable very gently. It is by far the most vulnerable part of the package.
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