Having used other Toshiba Stor.e products and many other hard drives I can confirm this is a cut above the rest. With the appearance on my desk of the Stor.E Steel S, I can see the same concerns crossed the designers at Toshiba, which they addressed this gorgeous all metal construction.
The metal on this drive is so highly polished it's possible to use it as a mirror, and Toshiba even provides a nice leather pouch to keep it looking good and a cloth to keep it fingerprint free.
The performance of the drive is close to what I'd expect from a 5400rpm unit, clocking a write speed of nearly 66MB/S and a read performance not far from 70MB/S. An SSD is quicker, but for most people this is a big jump from what they'd expect from the best USB 2.0 device, and it could easily make the difference between making that commute journey home on time or not.
As with the Stor.E Edition, Toshiba has bundled the excellent Nero BackltUp & Burn Essentials package, which comes on the drive ready for you to install from there. It also offers the same first year data recovery deal, which is a major selling point of the Stor.E series for this writer.
The only downside I can detect to this over its plastic brother is the additional weight that the metal case adds. The Steel S weights about 190g, whereas the Edition was a good 50g less That might not seem much, but if you're looking to reduce the overall weight you carry around, it might be worth noting.
I have only one other concern, and it's something that impacts the Stor.E Edition too. I've noticed a few people who've been experiencing issues with these drives on some laptops that refuse to work due to the 900mA that the unit draws. It's possible to get a Y' connector that steals power from another USB port, but Toshiba doesn't include one as part of the deal.
In terms of appearance, robustness and general aesthetics, I like the Steel S much more than Toshiba's Stor.E Edition. The price isn't substantially more, and you can get the bigger 1TB version of the Steel S for around £100.
Just be prepared to use the polishing cloth plenty after you've touched it. if you want it to look its best at all times.
Toshiba Stor.E Steel S Titanium 500GB Specifications
Interface | USB 3.0 (USB 2.0 compatible) |
Max. transfer rate | ~ 5.0 Gbs |
Enclosure | Stainless Steel Casing |
Color | titanium |
Capacity | 500GB |
File system | NTFS (MS Windows) *The drive can be re-formatted to HFS+ file system for full Mac compatibility. |
Power | USB bus power (max. 900mA) |
Dimensions | 11(H) x 75.8(W) x 121.5(L) mm |
Backup Software | Nero BackItUp & Burn Essentials |
Media Software | Nero Kwik Media |
Data Recovery Service | 1-year data recovery service |
System Requirements | Windows® XP / VISTA® / Windows® 7 CPU with 750 MHz or faster, 10MB system hard disk space, 256MB system memory, one free port of USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 |
Box Content | STOR.E STEEL S Nero BackItUp & Burn Essentials software (pre-loaded) Nero Kwik Media (pre-loaded) USB 3.0 micro-B cable Leather pouch Quick Start Guide User's Manual (pre-installed on the hard drive) Warranty Leaflet Data Recovery Service Guide (pre-installed on the hard drive) |
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2 comments
Click here for commentsHad it for over 4 weeks now and havent noticed anything unusual. It just works as you expect it to work. I use it to store HD movies and watch them on TV by connecting it directly to TV. I also have a toshiba laptop so its a good match.
ReplyYes, a great hard drive, on the small size which is good and comes with a snug pouch for it to sit in. cable is about a foot long. would recommend it more than say WD drives which are not bad.
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