Portable hard drives Reviews
13,670 Reviews

Toshiba HDDR500E03X review

£78 inc VAT

Manufacturer: Toshiba

Our Rating: We rate this 3.5 out of 5

By | PC Advisor | 15 July 09

If you want cheap and lightweight portable storage, try the Toshiba HDDR500E03X 500GB USB hard drive.

If you want cheap and lightweight portable storage, try the Toshiba HDDR500E03X 500GB USB hard drive

Related Articles

Inside and out, this Toshiba HDDR500E03X 500GB compact external USB hard drive is billed as 100% Toshiba. And since the Japanese company is renowned for its hard drives, in this case a 2.5in notebook SATA drive spinning at 5400rpm, this should bode well for well-made external storage solution.

The notebook hard disk inside spins at 5400rpm and promises low power consumption and quiet operation. In practice, we found the Toshiba HDDR500E03X 500GB worked with whichever laptop USB port we plugged it into, without requiring additional power, and it was certainly exceptionally quiet in use.

More reviews of hard drives: click here

While quite attractive to look at, the Toshiba HDDR500E03X 500GB casework is a very cheap and simple construct comprising two pieces of plastic that clip together, with a tiny circuit board inside to provide the crucial USB-to-SATA interface. Excepting the hard disk itself, there isn't one screw used in the entire unit.

One mini-USB socket is the only connector, and a white LED flashes through the Toshiba HDDR500E03X 500GB plastic case to show disk operations.

We benchmarked the Toshiba HDDR500E03X 500GB drive with HDTach, and recorded average read speeds of 29Mb/s and writing at 17Mb/s. It could hit bursts of 36Mb/s, and its random access (RA) time was 17.5ms. These read/write speeds are slow by comparison with the capabilities of a raw hard disk on a native SATA interface but typical when used via a USB 2.0 connection.

NEXT PAGE: Our expert verdict >>

Toshiba HDDR500E03X Expert Verdict »
Post Review
500GB external hard drive
Toshiba MK5055GSX 2.5in SATA 5400rpm hard disk
mini-USB connector
mini-USB to USB cable
127x81x16mm
151g
  • Build Quality: We give this item 5 of 10 for build quality
  • Features: We give this item 6 of 10 for features
  • Value for Money: We give this item 9 of 10 for value for money
  • Overall: We give this item 7 of 10 overall

The Toshiba is a very lightweight, functional and neatly styled external drive, but the construction is fragile to the point of being easily breakable after a few knocks. In fact on our sample, a plastic clip had snapped off inside leaving an annoying rattle when the unit was picked up. In its favour, this is a helluva lot of portable storage for not a lot of money.

There are currently no price comparisons for this product.
  • Toshiba Satellite U500 review

    Toshiba Satellite U500

    Toshiba calls the 13.3in Toshiba Satellite U500 its 'hero' notebook because it combines a small size with powerful performance, and it has almost all the features that are found on bigger laptops in the Satellite range.

  • Toshiba Portege R500-126 ultraportable laptop

    Toshiba Portege R500-126 ultraportable laptop

    Apple may get all the headlines with its super-thin MacBook Air (reviewed here), but Toshiba's Portege R500-126 trumps it in many areas.

  • Toshiba Satellite A500 review

    Toshiba Satellite A500

    The Toshiba Satellite A500 is packed with features that not only make it a suitable desktop replacement notebook but also a credible home entertainment hub.

  • Toshiba Satellite L630-13M review

    Toshiba Satellite L630-13M

    Toshiba’s 13.3in screen Satellite L630-13M is a highly portable laptop that will suit both style-conscious consumers and business users.

  • LaCie Rikiki Go review

    LaCie Rikiki Go

    The LaCie Rikiki Go is a 2.5in ultraportable external hard drive that boasts the smallest dimensions in its class (75x109x13mm). The version we tested came with 500GB of storage (a 1TB version is also available) and a USB 2.0 interface. According to LaCie, speeds can be increased by up to 33 per cent via the company's USB Boost driver.

Share this article



Comments

Send to a friend

Email this article to a friend or colleague:

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.