Until last year Seagate had restricted its operations to the desktop arena. However, it now offers a range of drives for laptops and the Pocket Hard Drive (£139 inc. VAT) is the first drive of its type the company has made available.

The price of portable hard drives is falling all the time but at this price point, the Pocket Hard Drive is on the expensive side. However, as it sits neatly in the palm of the hand, it is possibly one of the more stylishly designed units around. While looking more like a yoyo than a hard drive, Seagate has neatly made the casing revolving, so that it can safely hide away the USB port. With 130mm of extendable cord, connecting the drive to your laptop, regardless of the position of your USB port, is simple.

Plugging the drive in forces it to act like any other drive, with an icon appearing in the My Computer window. Being USB 2.0 based, data speeds are quick and reliable. As with all drives, if you’re running Windows XP the OS will identify it and setup the relevant profile. If you’re still running Windows 98, you’ll be able to load drivers from the supplied CD-ROM.

The drive inside has a rotational speed of 3600rpm, making it on the slow side, even for a mobile drive, but we found it reliable for easy file sharing. The tough plastic shell can withstand the shocks of portable life. As a neat and compact unit, we were impressed with the Pocket Drive.

RATING 8
PRICE £118/£139 (EX/INC. VAT)
REQUIREMENTS USB 2.0 port/Windows XP/2000 (without drivers)
Windows 98/ME (drivers supplied)
CONTACT
www.seagate.com