Toshiba 200GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive Review

On the front of the unit is a large silver bump with a blue LED to indicate drive activity, similar to what we've seen with the old Maxtor OneTouch drives. With the Toshiba drive however, this does not actually double as a button, as the bundled backup software is fully automated. Unlike many hard drives out there the light does not get brighter or activate a second LED while transfers are taking place. Rather, it actually dims while in use, being just as informative with none of the distraction.

The connections on the backside of the drive are decidedly simple, featuring only a USB mini-B jack and a +5V DC port, in case your computer can't provide enough current over the main USB 2.0 connection. (Odds are it can, unless you're using USB 1.1). Unfortunately for those who do need to use auxiliary power, you'll need to commandeer a second USB port for the provided USB to DC cable, as an AC power supply was not included. No power switch exists on the unit, not that one is actually needed or missed.

NTI Shadow Backups
Included with the 200GB USB 2.0 External Portable Hard Drive is NTI Shadow 3.5, a simple to use set-and-forget backup system that in many ways is similar to the Memeo AutoBackup software I covered in a previous review for Seagate's FreeAgent drives. Naturally, the first step is simply selecting the files and folders you wish to backup by marking checkboxes in an Explorer-like environment, practically identical to NTBackup and countless other backup systems.

After those have been selected, you have the option of enabling filters that include or exclude files based on their filename extensions. Pre-defined groups exist for Audio, Pictures, Videos, and Documents, although most likely you'll need to define your own custom extensions since many popular formats such as M4A and M4P (iTunes music), PNG graphics and RTF documents were neglected.

Next, tell Shadow where to backup your files and how often to back them up. A backup can occur instantly, every XX minutes/hours/days, or on a traditional schedule at a certain time on certain days of the week. If you're backing up to a removable device such as the Toshiba drive, the backup job will be suspended every time the drive is removed (and show you an error message), and will re-enable itself once it detects the same drive has been plugged in again. Unfortunately no option for backing up to optical media exists, as this functionality is only found in the Dragon Disc-enabled version of Shadow available for purchase on NTI's website.

Finally, define how many previous file revisions for Shadow to save, if any, of your files. This is especially handy when you accidentally overwrite a file or make some bad changes and need to revert to a previous version. In the options menu here, it's also possible to specify if files should be deleted from the backup when removed from the source location, although unfortunately there's no way to tell it to wait X number of days before doing so.

That's basically the extent of Shadow's capabilities. While incredibly easy to setup and maintain, there are a few shortcomings to the program however. Backed up files are stored as carbon copies in the same folder hierarchy as the source files, which makes drag-n-drop restoration a cinch although unfortunately there are no means to enable file and folder compression, and there is no ability to encrypt the backed up files with a password. For the Mac version, the program is identical feature-wise to the Windows version, although it can't hide itself in the Menu Extras area next to the clock as it can in the System Tray on Windows. The program must be remain open or minimized, always appearing as an item in the Dock and Command-Tab window.

As an added bonus to Windows users, the installation disc comes with the optional NTI Ripper and Digital Jack (DJ) music programs. NTI Ripper is an especially lightweight but solid CD ripper without the bloat of iTunes or Windows Media Player, while Digital Jack is a library-less player with a playlist that can read from individual files, folders or a CD, similar to VLC player. Both support MP3 and WMA up to 320kbps, as well as WAV and OGG Vorbis up to Q10.

Performance
For a 4200rpm drive, Toshiba's 200GB USB 2.0 External Portable Hard Drive actually scored pretty well in the benchmarks, aided by the high bit density of the two platters and limited only by the relatively slow USB interface. In SimpliSoftware's HDTach RW, the drive managed average read and write speeds of 32.6MB/s and 26.6MB/s respectively, with an impressive burst speed of 37.5MB/s. Random access time was calculated at 19.3ms.

Real-world testing was equally positive while the drive was still formatted as FAT32, taking 25 seconds to copy a 621.6MB CD image to the drive using Microsoft Robocopy, approximately 24.4MB/s. Copying the same file back to the computer took 21 seconds, which breaks down to 29.6MB/s.

Recap
Toshiba's 200GB USB 2.0 External Portable Hard Drive has a lightweight yet robust enclosure that maintains a minimalist appearance, and the speeds are above average for USB, reaching 37.5MB/s. The NTI Shadow backup software does a good job for those who want to quickly backup their files immediately with multiple revisions, but advanced features like compression, security and backups to optical media are unfortunately missing, plus the software can't be truly hidden away on Mac. Despite the minor flaws in NTI's software, I must say that I'm quite impressed with Toshiba's first USB hard drive offering, and highly recommend it to those looking for a pocket sized high-capacity drive on the cheap.