Toshiba MK3252GSX

Good looks and brains to match?

Simple and effective the Toshiba 500GB hard drive does the job that it sets out to do, while looking funky. In our tests using it in a public space, amazingly we did get "that looks cool" comments, something we weren't expecting.

Simple and effective the Toshiba 500GB hard drive does the job that it sets out to do, while looking funky. In our tests using it in a public space, amazingly we did get "that looks cool" comments, something we weren't expecting.

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

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...

The MK5055GSX isn't yet stocked in the UK as we go to press, but various online retailers are already listing it at prices around £105.

Toshiba's 320GB portable USB hard disk looks attractive and feels well made.

Like Western Digital's Scorpio above, Toshiba's MK3252GSX is a 320GB SATA/300 hard disk for laptops. Even if your laptop only supports SATA/150, you'll still be able to use a SATA/300 disk.

The current trend is for hard drive manufacturers to include backup software, but Toshiba hasn't bothered. Other manufacturers include useful tools that allow you to encrypt your data or automatically sync your files between computers.

External design ; Good read speeds ; Capacity: 500 GB

Write speeds below average ; No software included ; Only USB 2.0 connection ; Acces time: 17.8 ms

Toshiba's HDDR500E03E external hard drive looks good and its read speeds are higher than average. It's not all good news, though: the manufacturer doesn't include any software, and the write speeds are below average.

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

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...

With digital media playing such an important role in the modern home, it's important to have a couple of backup devices handy to avoid the annoyance and potential replacement expense involved in losing data. Additionally, games ...

The Toshiba 500GB drive distinguishes itself from the competition through its visual design, but aside from this there's nothing particularly special about it and, being priced at just above average for this sort of product, there's no real reason to...

The Toshiba HDDR500E03E is a light, stylish portable hard drive.

Award: Editor's Choice!

Toshiba's latest storage solution offers backup and fast read speeds, but its write speeds trail the competition.

Fast read speed ; Good backup software for Windows and Mac

Flexes under pressure ; Slow write speeds

The The $149 Toshiba 500GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive boasts a best-in-class read speed and easy backup software, but it suffers from below-average write speeds and a design that doesn49 Toshiba 500GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive...

In my line of work, we use a lot of portable hard drives and have over the years bought just about every make and model available at some time or another.

When I initially bought this drive, I was initially impressed with it, as it was ok speed wise, but very silent. However, I was soon extremely disappointed by the build quality. The connections are simply pathetic. Now in order to use the device, I...

I bought this recently with a view to putting most of my CDs on to it. Instead, for the time being at least, I've experimented with doing a complete backup using Time Machine of my iMac. This took around 7 hours for over 500 Gbytes, which in the end...

Absolutely a bargain and very fast! Not noisy at all, it also includes an extra protection at its border. I'm thinking to get another one. USB 3.0 is future proof!

I've had mine since november 2010 (it's september 2011 now) and there were no issues yet (knock on wood).

Bought this to replace my old HDD in my laptop. I did some research before buying this and Toshiba certainly lives up to all expectations. The quality is excellent and it's really hard to find anything bad to say about it.

the HDD reached in good packaging..the quality of this HDD is better than my early HDD which was installed in my toshiba notebook..It was made in China where as MK6476GSX is made in Japan..

Was pleasantly surprised when this arrived in only 4 days once I ordered it. It is tiny, not much bigger than an Iphone or Ipod, and relatively light. The USB cable is simply enough to use, simply plug in and it auto installs any software and you are...

Firstly, the device looks great and is very small and compact. The design looks very smart and the encasing seems sturdy (hard black plastic). It is light and does not get very hot when in use for an extended period of time. The USB wire provided is...

I bought this disk for use as a backup for my system files, looking to have enough space for incremental backups. I was attracted by the faster speed offered by USB3, and was looking forward to setting it up ASAP. However, the enclosed cable was...