REVIEW: Toshiba Store.E Canvio 500GB external hard drive
Name: Toshiba Store.E Canvio 500GB (HDTC705ER3AA)
Type: External hard drive
Review Model Specifications: Click here for full specs
Price: From £55.99
A tidy, small and speedy USB 3.0 drive, Toshiba’s latest Store.E Canvio gets the job done nicely. Read our review for the full lowdown.
If you’re storing important files on an external hard drive, one designed to be portable enough to be pocketable, you’re going to want it to be as sturdy as it is good-looking. Toshiba’s Store.E Canvio manages to be both. Though not a rugged drive specifically, it’s red gloss plastic shell has a thick black band of tougher plastic around its edge, which should go someway towards protecting it should it fall foul of a drop or two.
Finished by four rubber feet on its bottom side, it measures roughly 15mm 80mm x 115cm, with a USB 3.0 port on its top edge, and a blue indicator light showing connectivity and file transfer status on the top flat edge. Bus-powered, you wont require a separate power pack for the Store.E Canvio, drawing its power from the foot-long USB 3.0 cable supplied with the drive. We’re not wholly convinced by the quality of the port on the drive itself however – the cable needed to be wiggled into place rather than clicking in satisfyingly. Though we experienced no connectivity problems with the cable, there’s a chance the port may wear loose over extended use.
The hard drive achieves solid write and read speeds, averaging a sequential read speed of 105.8MB/s and write speed of 105.6MB/s through the CrystalDiskMark 1000MB benchmark test.
That number dropped slightly when trying the Mac-based BlackMagic Disk Speed Test app, writing at an average of 97.7 MB/s and reading at an average of 85.5 MB/s during a 5GB test. Across both the Mac and PC tests however, the Store.E Canvio proved to be one of the speedier portable external drives out there, and at just over £55 for 500GB, is reasonably priced too.
A lifetime license to 10GB of PogoPlug cloud storage is also included, adding a little further value for those that have not yet found a cloud-based storage service to suit their needs.
Verdict:
Fast, sturdy, good looking and relatively inexpensive, the Store.E Canvio is a solid purchase for those on the hunt for some extra storage space.
