Full Review

A protective rubberized casing and one-touch backup button make this Transcend StoreJet drive (model number TS320GSJ25M) quite a good purchase. The price of this drive is lower than the others, but it also has a shorter warranty period. There are no sharp edges on its casing, it feels slightly rubberized to the touch, and is probably capable of surviving a few shocks that the others can’t. An activity LED on the drive lets you clearly know when the drive is on, and when data is being transferred. This drive comes with Transcend’s StoreJet elite software, to assist with functions such as backup. When the software is fully setup, pressing the one-touch button is all you need to do to sync important folders from your hard disk to this drive.

A Y-cable is provided for USB connectivity even to older PCs/laptops that can’t supply enough power for the drive from a single USB port.

In synthetic benchmarks, this StoreJet gave some of the best numbers but that isn’t saying much, considering the limitations of the USB interface (all drives top out at a certain point, even if the HDD used internally is capable of higher speeds). A read speed average of 31.1 MB/s, write speed average of 30.6 MB/s and read access time average of 17.34 ms marks it as a good drive. Real-world tests that test drives in the way a user does in the course of everyday usage, again showed that the limitation was the USB interface (a FireWire interface might be able to transfer at faster speeds). Using Windows Explorer, writing small files and a large file to the drive averaged at 24 MB/s and 31 MB/s respectively. Read speeds (from portable drive to desktop HDD) averaged 31 MB/s.

A Y-cable is provided for USB connectivity. You only need to connect the main cable to your USB port on the PC. But those with older PCs/laptops that can’t supply enough power for the drive from a single port, will appreciate the option of being able to connect the second connector to be able to use this new drive even on older machines. Transcend offers a two year warranty on this drive.

Bottom Line

The casing has a button for one-touch backup, and feels slightly rubberized to the touch and might even survive a few shocks that the others can’t. The fact that it comes with a Y-cable for USB connectivity is good too, but the two year warranty lets it down.