DANE-ELEC SoMobile 500GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive SO-MB500UB-CD

Pros: - quiet, good performing drive
- has extra power connector
- easy to take the enclosure apart (screws, not snaps)

Cons: - useless manual
- junkware on drive (not much though)
- vendor website is terrible

Other Thoughts: - warranty is actually 2 years
- drive comes formatted NTFS

Pros: Just works.
Small footprint.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I needed a drive to backup some information on a linux server so I could do some dangerous things manipulating data, I burned the supplied software to a cd so I'd have it later, then formatted the drive to ext3 and backed everything up. Pretty fast, worked as expected. I then installed a copy of arch linux on the drive and can now boot my laptop to linux without having had to do much to the main hard drive.

Pros: Nice looking strong aluminium case, cool running hard drive, external power connector in case you equipment does not provide the rated power for USB ports.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: This is a much better product than some suggest. The aluminum enclosure looks good and is soft to your touch.

The built-in Toshiba MK5055GSX drive is a decent, silent drive that uses less power than the avarage. It means longer and cooler running. The bare MK5055GSX drive sells for more than the Dane-Elec SO-MB500UB-CD external drive while it is on sale. It is definitely a good deal.

For complaints of missing power supply: I have not seen a 2.5" external drive with power supply. Many does not even have power connector. This one has and comes with an adapter which powers it from a second USB port if YOUR EQUIPMENT can't provide the rated power on one USB port. Some mobile media player can't.

Neweggs is still the best.

Do not open the case or you may loose the warranty.

Pros: NONE!

Cons: Stop working the 3rd day I use it. BAD quality and support.

Pros: Non -

Cons: It lasted about a month then just died. Lost 100's GB of data with a new Dane-Elec. Spend $20 more and get something else if your data is worth anything to you.

No power supply comes with it and it wont work with several laptops because of power draw.

Pros: Hard drive is simple to set up. Just plug in USB and it works just like a flash drive. Unit has adjustable backup settings to customize for your preferences. It can be set to back up all files or just the ones that have changed. Unit is small, portable and works great.

Cons: The help files for the back up software (PC clone EX Lite) are written in broken English and are difficult to interpret. Also the hard copy documentation included with the HD is out of date.

Other Thoughts: Documentation states that there is some bonus software included that is not. Also states that the HD is formatted in FAT32 which it is not. Also came with an extra USB cable that appears to fit the HD battery jack which is separate from the computer cable - unknown what this is for.

Pros: Rugged case with nice rubberized outer skin. Easy to set up and use. Already formatted for NTFS. Good speed for downloading and transferring data. Runs quite cool. A huge amount of storage for a very minimal price. Like it so well, I bought a second one.

Cons: Instruction manual is wrong in stating that it is FAT32 format.

Other Thoughts: Second cable is a nice touch.

Pros: Solid case, nice finish, Toshiba MK5055GSX drive, extra USB power cable is a nice touch. Came formatted NTFS, Speed is similar to other external drives and reports SMART data to disk utility. Seems to be a very good value.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Don't use Windows, but would rely on other backup software if I did.