Freecom Hard Drive XS 500GB review

Gallery

Verdict:

Freecom's XS is fast and affordable, but its rubber case gave us cause for concern.

Review Date: 21 Sep 2009

Price when reviewed: £55

Buy it now for: £55
(see more store prices)

Supplier: http://www.pixmania.co.uk

Reviewed By: Alan Lu

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Freecom's Hard Drive XS is a 500GB external desktop hard disk that's not much bigger than a paperback.

Its slenderness is due to its case, which is made of a thin layer of rubber instead of the usual metal or plastic. Its soft velvety texture is pleasing to handle, but it gets dirty easily and doesn't feel especially sturdy.

Although it didn't become noticeably hot during our tests, we're still a little concerned about the possibility of overheating given the lack of cooling vents and a fan. However, because of the absence of a fan this hard disk is blissfully quiet.

The XS was fast at copying large and small files. It's good value at 12p per gigabyte, but no backup software is included. Buffalo's 500GB DriveStation costs £5 less, comes with useful backup software and has cooling vents, so there are no worries about overheating. If you have more to spend, Samsung's 1TB Story Station offers twice the capacity for just £20 more.

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