Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL (Liquid Blue)

I have half a dozen Toshiba portable drives and some of them have served me well for several years. They are reliable and fast -- with the 500GB portable drive I get about 20MB/s read and write speeds (tested on two recent HP laptops, one with Intel and the other with AMD both running Vista), which is half of USB 2.0 high-speed's theoretical max throughput. The drives can be used with the PS3 and Macs out-of-box, but for best results with XP/Vista/Win7 you can convert it to NTFS without reformatting or losing existing data via a DOS command: convert g: /fs:ntfs [where g: is the drive letter, or you can use a volume name like "tosh_500g" if your drive is already named tosh_500g].

Because this drive (like other portable drives) does not use a separate power line -- it draws power directly from the USB port -- your computer must have a powered USB port to use this. Almost all recent desktops and laptops have this feature, but if you experience any problem, it may be due to an insufficiently powered USB port (or USB hub), so try another port or another computer.

In addition to being a fast 5,400RPM drive, this Toshiba includes some valuable features:

- Backup software that backs up system files in addition to regular files and folders (great for system recovery!)
- Password-protect your data through encryption
- Drive space alert lets you know when free space is running low
- Toshiba's famous shock-absorbing technology, also used in iPods.

BTW, this drive is also a great value because at present a 320GB Seagate portable drive costs over [...], plus tax.

This hard drive is great! I had a previous clunker that took up a lot of space. The Toshiba 500 GB easily plugs into a USB port and doesn't require an additional power source. It is very small and easily fits into my computer bag. I recommend this hard drive for anyone looking for a way to store a lot of material and not take up a lot of space.

I was looking for a good portable external hard-drive for sometime (only online and not only at Amazon.com). Eventually, I basically slimmed my options down to wanting a Toshiba. User specs seemed about the best to me and recommendations were all good. I found different variations from various sellers. Amazon had the latest and newest version, which appears to be the one I am writing the review for, at a lesser price than what the other vendors were selling out-dated-models of 500Gd Toshiba hard-drives for. That I liked. Be careful not to buy the old models from on-line sellers, they usually do not specify between the older models and the latest released models. Service was very prompt too, and shipping was handled well.

I really don't know a lot about hard drives, space, or even computers. The drive itself works well. The instillation process was confusing if one does not understand the difference or benefits between using the drive as a FAT32 or NTFS. Even without formatting it to NTFS apparently it still can be used FAT32 on Windows. Sometimes when I plug unrelated external storage units into my computer, like my 1Gb Flash disk, the BackUp Now EZ software attempts to use them to backup my computer. Maybe, their is an easy way to make the software function only with the external storage units that I select, that I simply have not yet discovered.

I purchased the Caselogic brand hard-drive case that Amazon recommend along with the drive. The drive does fit with some extra room. The small elastic type material strap inside the case keeps the drive from moving. After looking at the drive I am happy I bought a case. I would recommend that anyone who does travel, to get a case for it.

I consider it a good investment made and money well spent.

I've only just received this, listed as "Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive" in the 500GB size. It has a very cool design, the case is similar to my 5G 30GB iPod - a smooth, flat front/top with a rounded back. It has a nice discreet blue activity light in one corner of the top (i.e. front) surface that is on for power and blinks for activity. The USB2 connection is a micro style and contrary to another review is a standard cable - this micro style is quite common, I have it on my GPS and camera so can use the same cable for all 3. The cable supplied is a short single cable (i.e. not a "Y"), and my Asus netbook powers it with a single USB port. The drive (like all of them) is just plug & play - plug it in, the computer sees it, and you're off. I reformatted it to a single large NTFS partition, 465GB (drives are always sold with powers of 10 "GB", i.e. 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes (10 to the 9th power), whereas computers use powers of 2 "GB", where 1GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes (2 to the 30th power). I don't like this sales speak, but Toshiba do clearly state the difference in the very short instruction sheet - to their credit.

The drive comes with NTI Backup Now EZ. I already have a backup strategy (using xxcopy, I recommend it!) so have no need for this. It's well reviewed though.

4 stars rather than 5 because I don't know its reliability yet, and it's not quite as fast as I'd hoped (but still fine).

The main reason I got this particular drive is that Toshiba have a 3 year warranty, and the others all have just 1 year. And $90 with free shipping is a great deal!

I also got the Kroo Portable Hard Drive EVA Case, it fits well - just enough space for the drive and short USB cable. It's a semi-hard case, but very little padding. Much better than leaving the drive naked but I wouldn't want to drop it!

Quick transfers on XP (usb 1.0) and Vista (usb 2.0).
Comes in Fat32 so it's ready for PS3 out the box.
Very short firewire to USB cable so be prepared.It's not too bad.
It does get warm quickly so I wouldn't leave it plugged in for
extended periods. Transfer yo data. Get in, get out...
Great price and function.