Latest Storage Reviews
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Reviews
WD My Passport Wireless review: This hard drive is lightweight and affordable, but short on endurance
WD is a bit late to the wireless storage party, but its new drive brings some goodies.Reviews
Western Digital My Cloud EX2 review: Fabulous features; pedestrian performance
A pro feature set, a marvelous Web interface, and remote access via a portal makes the My Cloud EX2 is easy as it gets. But it’s a slow performer.Reviews
Best portable hard drives: These models earned our highest ratings
Here are PCWorld's four favorite portable drives, for PC users. All of them have been tested in the PCWorld labs.Reviews
Seagate Backup Plus Fast review: Double the capacity, double the speed
With two 2TB hard drives striped in RAID 0, this portable hard drive provides twice the capacity, and nearly twice the speed of single-drive products.Reviews
Western Digital Black2 Dual Drive review: Not the killer storage upgrade it could be
Kudos to WD for combining SSD read performance and hard-drive capacity in a single package, but a high price tag and slow SSD write performance complicate the buying decision.Reviews
Review: The Toshiba Q Series Pro SSD delivers top performance at a discount
Though a couple of ticks slower than the Samsung 840 Pro, the Q Series SSDs are still top performers, and they're heavily discounted online.Reviews
HDDerase.exe review: Freeware utility securely erases drives the old-fashioned way
This command-line utility is an oldie, but that's just because it doesn't need to change. If your drive's not in a frozen security state, it works like a charm to invoke the ATA secure erase command.Reviews
WD My Cloud review: A better, more secure alternative to cloud storage
Who needs Dropbox when you can get 2TB of web-accessible storage this cheap?Reviews
Review: Buffalo’s DriveStation DDR caches for superfast write performance
This external USB 3.0 hard drive boasts write performance rivaling that of an external SSD.Reviews
Review: The Patriot Aero streams media without wires—not even a power cable
The Patriot Aero creates a Wi-Fi hotspot for multimedia streaming, and it works well. In battery life and performance, however, it's a step behind the competition.Reviews
Review: Seagate Laptop Ultrathin HDD brings big storage to tight spaces
The Laptop Ultrathin HDD's name says it all: Just 5mm thick, this hard drive with decent performance will allow thinner laptop form factors and could be used in tablets, too.Reviews
Review: Active@ Boot Disk 7 is a jack-of-all-trades repair and imaging utility
This super-handy, Windows-environment boot disk is great for backup, recovery, and repair. You can even change passwords with it.Reviews
Review: The Seagate 600 SSD is a great consumer-oriented first effort
Seagate's makes a solid entry into the consumer SSD fray.Reviews
Review: Disc Soft takes on virtual hard drives with Daemon Tools Ultra
Daemon Tools Ultra does a fair job expanding the functionality of Disc Soft's flagship product, but the high price and sleazy installation antics don't do it any favors.Reviews
Review: Find out what’s taking up space on your drive in seconds with WizTree
Using some NTFS wizardry, WizTree maps out what's taking space on your drive in mere seconds.Reviews
Review: R-Drive Image backs up anything
A svelte and super capable imaging program with very reliable performance.Reviews
Review: Apricorn’s Aegis Bio makes securing your data finger-swipe simple
This 1TB USB hard drive secures your data with an onboard biometric finger scanner.Reviews
Wi-Fi hard drive showdown: Corsair Voyager vs. Seagate Wireless Plus
A new class of portable hard drive creates its own Wi-Fi hotspot, so you can stream media or transfer files from a PC, notebook, tablet, or smartphone without a cable. Which one's best?Reviews
In honor of World Backup Day: How to protect your data
Looking to finally protect your data as part of World Backup Day? First, you'll need a hard drive. Here's what to look for and which specific models have impressed us.Reviews
Review: BleachBit offers free, comprehensive disk cleaning and privacy protection
BleachBit isn't as polished as some of its commercial rivals, but for business users on a budget, it gets the job done.Reviews
QNAP TS-269 Pro review: A fast and powerful NAS box with a steep learning curve
While pricey, excellent performance, copious software features, and state-of-the-art connectivity render this two-bay NAS box a good deal for small offices and work groups.Reviews
Crucial M4 (512GB) review: A fast-reading, slow-writing, high-capacity SSD
The M4 has a great price per gigabyte and is also a great reader. Write performance, however, is mediocre at best.Reviews
Ultimate guide to SSDs (plus reviews of 7 new drives!)
Is your PC still relying on an old-school hard drive? Installing a solid-state drive is the best upgrade investment you can make.Reviews
Velocity Solo X2 review: Teach an old PC new SATA 6-gbps tricks
If your PC doesn’t have a SATA 6-gbps interface, this device will add it and let you attach one drive (it also has a second interface to host another drive).Reviews
How to buy the best portable hard drive
Sometimes a USB key just isn't roomy enough. We describe the portable hard drive specs and features that matter most, and name five of our favorite models.Reviews
Storage on the go: We test five fast portable hard drives
Think all portable drives are the same? We discovered some compelling differences—both in features and in performance—when we evaluated this batch.Reviews
Review: Intel’s Series 335 delivers more SSD for less money
Intel’s faster NAND flash renders the Series 335 a step up from Intel’s earlier solid-state drives, but the aggressive pricing is probably the better news for consumers.Reviews
Hybrid hard drives: How they work and why they matter
Meet the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of the storage world: Hybrid hard drives promise to deliver the speed of an SSD plus the capacity of a mechanical drive. We explain how they work, and evaluate their performance.Reviews
Pogoplug Series 4 Review: Remote Drive Access Made Simpler and Faster
Equipped with USB 3.0, the latest Pogoplug provides a fast, easy way to share any hard drive over the Internet; but the Web portal for access needs some work.Reviews
Lenovo Thinkpad USB 3.0 Secure Hard Drive Review: A High-Flying Performer
Encryption and PIN key entry safeguards your data, without sacrificing performance.Reviews
Iomega StorCenter ix2-dl Review: Network-Attached Storage Can Be Used for Video Surveillance, Too
This NAS packs a solid punch and has a slew of features, but is unimpressive at writing small data sets.Reviews
Network-Attached Storage: Today’s Best Boxes
Ethernet-attached storage boxes look much as they did two years ago, but their speed, interfaces, and features have evolved.Reviews
Western Digital Sentinel DX4000: An Easy-to-Configure NAS Box
A beefy, well-designed piece of hardware, the Sentinel DX4000 constitutes a good effort by Western Digital, but it doesn't deliver on its promise in performance or features.Reviews
Iomega StorCenter PX6-300d Review: Great Performance, Great Features
This NAS box has six bays and excellent software features, and it’s a strong performer, too.Reviews
LaCie 2Big Network 2 2TB Review: Attractive Design, Basic Function
This box looks great on your desk, attaches via USB or ethernet, and handles all the basics well–at a very basic pace.Reviews
LaCie 5Big Network 2 Review: Large Capacity, Mediocre Performance
Slow performance hinders this otherwise well-designed and capacious NAS box.Reviews
QNAP TS-879 Pro Review: Massive NAS Box Offers Terrific Capacity and Performance, for a Price
Eight drive bays and lightning speed highlight this unit, which is easily the fastest–and most expensive–network-attached storage box we’ve tested to date.Reviews
Western Digital My Book Live Duo 4TB Review: Limited Features, Lots of Capacity
This two-bay NAS box offers plenty of capacity for the buck, and it streams large files very well, but in other respects its features are limited.Reviews
Synology DiskStation DS212+ Review: A Fast Two-Bay NAS Box
This nonexpandable, two-bay consumer NAS box is fast and has a useful, feature-packed operating system.Reviews
Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ v2 (RND4000) Review: Plenty of Functionality, but Slow Performance
Four bays and USB 3.0 highlight a NAS box that is a bit shy on software features and performance, but easier than many on the wallet.Reviews
Synology DiskStation DS712+ Review: Speedy Two-Bay NAS Box Is Built for Expansion
Expandable and outfitted with a great operating system and tons of features, this two-bay NAS unit also moves data rapidly.Reviews
QNAP TS-459 Pro II Review: High-Performance, Four-Bay NAS Drive Has a High Price to Match
Super performance, four bays, USB 3.0, and a wealth of software features make this box a dream for small and medium-size businesses, albeit a very expensive one.Reviews
LaCie CloudBox: Compact Drive Tightly Integrates With Cloud Storage, But It’s Smallish and Slow
Device offers undeniably simple combined NAS and offsite backup, but the 100GB local capacity is too limited, and it's a poky performer.Reviews
Easeus ToDo Backup: The Best Free Backup Tool in Existence
Easeus Todo Backup Free is the best free backup solution available…and close to being the best, period.Reviews
Make Your Own NAS Box
Choose your own hard drives to add to these network-attached storage boxes.Reviews
QNAP TurboNAS TS-259 Pro+: A Speedy NAS Enclosure for Home and Office
This pricey 2-bay NAS enclosure packs in features for home and office use, and it's fast, too.Reviews
Synology DiskStation DS211+ 2-Bay NAS Packs in the Features
Synology's fast but pricey 2-bay NAS box is loaded with features and useful software.Reviews
Synology DiskStation DS411slim: Compact, Speedy 4-Bay Network-Attached Storage
This good-performing NAS enclosure is parsimonious in its power usage and fits in tight spaces.Reviews