Toshiba Stor.e Slim 500 GB in the test: compact hard drive in an aluminum robe

introduction

There are plenty of external hard drives. How fast they are, however, is usually not apparent at first glance. Because where it says USB 3.0, high transfer rates are not offered per se. Although this applies above all to USB sticks, manufacturers often do not specify what performance the customer can expect even with external hard drives. In our current test, the Toshiba Stor.e Slim with 500 GB storage capacity in aluminum robe and numerous software additions is able to show how fast it is.

overview

Toshiba's Stor.e Slim presents itself simply and elegantly: The nine millimeter thin housing is made of brushed aluminum – optionally in silver or black – and besides the USB connection only has a status LED on the corner. Inside the case is a 500 gigabyte 2.5-inch hard drive from Toshiba, various storage capacities are not currently available. The scope of delivery also includes a USB 3.0 cable, which also provides the power supply, as well as a quick start guide. The more detailed manual is in PDF form on the hard disk.

There are also some software additions on this. Most interesting for Mac users is Tuxera NTFS for Mac. With the NTFS driver for OS X, the hard drive formatted ex works in the NTFS file system can also be operated on a Mac without any problems, or, of course, it can also be reformatted directly.

Toshiba also supplies the HDD Password Tool, which is available for both Windows and OS X. It can be used to provide the hard drive with an access password. Access to the Stor.e Slim is then only possible after entering the password, for which purpose the tool must be installed on the computer. If you have forgotten the password, there is the option of securely deleting the disk for further use – however, the data will then be lost. Windows users can also install NTI Backup Now EZ, with which individual files, folders or the entire system can be backed up externally.

On the next page: test results