Toshiba Canvio Desktop

It feels like an age since a Toshiba external hard drive was available for testing, as the company appears to be winding down the external drive production in favour of consumer home entertainment electronics. Obviously, that's not the case here.

The Canvio Desktop is a part of Toshiba's Store.E range of drives, which offer a cloud backup solution through the included version of NTI Backup Now EZ - which we assume covers the .E part of the title. The drive itself comes in various capacities, from a single terabyte through to an extremely capable 6TB In this instance we managed to get our hands on the 3TB black-and-white model.

iStorage diskAshur Pro

If security of data is something you're concerned about, especially with regard to data being stored on a portable external drive, then you're not going to find anything quite as impressive as the solutions from iStorage.

In particular, the diskAshur Pro looks like it may well be used by the likes of MI5. Here we have a portable hard drive measuring 19 x 84.5 x 120mm and weighing just 190g. A built-in USB 3.0 cable extends to a reasonable 120mm from the unit, and the toughened, rubberised finish adds an element of water-proofing and ruggedness. It's available in a range of capacities, from 500GB to 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB, with the 1TB version being reviewed here.

WD Elements 5TB

We couldn't do a group test of external hard drives without at least one appearance from Western Digital. The company seems to release a new external drive model every ten minutes, and it's quite a chore trying to keep up with what's new. More to the fact, the previous models are generally of such a decent build that they're still around and being sold despite being released some years ago.

The WD Elements Desktop line has been around for quite some time and ranges in size from 500GB through to a whopping 5TB, which is what we're reviewing in this instance. This is a usual WD-looking product, one that resembles a book on a shelf and is about as big as a novel, measuring 165 x 48 x 135mm.

Samsung D3 Station

The D3 Station range from Samsung is a little misleading. Although it clearly states Samsung on the top of the drive and on the box too, the D3 Station range of external drives are actually manufactured by Seagate.

The issue of joint ownership when it comes to support of a product is one that often rears its ugly head in the technology industry. Usually you'll simply return the product back to the shop you purchased it from, but occasionally you may require something a little extra from the manufacturer. This is where the D3 Station fails from the off, as neither company appears to want to admit to owning it.

Lacie Christofle Sphere

Every so often we get something through our door that defies the norm. It could be the latest and greatest device or something so radically expensive it comes accompanied with a pair of ex-sumo wrestler bodyguards. More often than not, though, it's the design of the device that makes it stand out from the crowd.

The Lacie Christofle Sphere is, at first glance, more of a desktop ornament than technical product. However, this isn't just a work of art; it's also a 1TB, USB 3.0 external drive, which is why it's in this group and not in a copy of House & Home.

Transcend StoreJet 25H3

Transcend has over the years proved itself to be quite the formidable player in the external storage market. The StoreJet range of portable drives are one such example and have won just about every award going.

The Transcend StoreJet 25H3 is an impressive looking external hard drive with a number of features that makes it stand out from the crowd. For starters, this is a rugged device that's capable of withstanding impacts and falls thanks to the rubberised, anti-shock outer case and advance internal drive suspension. Basically, this is all thanks to an extra layer of silicone that encases the drive itself, which is then encased in a hard plastic shell. It may sound extreme, but it's actually a very good selling point.