Simpletech SimpleDrive Portable 250GB - TechRadar UK

This external hard drive enclosure may be slim, but it can hold a Samsung hard drive up to 250GB.

The drive inside this one is a 5,400rpm Samsung SATA HM250JI, which is one of the company's SpinPoint drives. Without boring you, it's a respectable model that runs quietly and doesn't heat up too much in this enclosure, and it runs as well as it should do for a drive of this rpm.

Cheap and discreet

Buying this Samsung drive on its own will cost around the same price as it does with this caddy, and Simpletech will have done the wiring for you.

It's a testament to how far the personal storage market has developed in recent times, that this 250GB drive can be bus powered. It also has a power socket for an AC/DC supply (adaptor not included) and can happily run off USB power (cable included).

It's a slim model which, when combined with the USB power cable, makes it a good choice for laptop workers looking for extra storage.

Distinguished designers

With external drives performing in a largely uniform way across brands, it's things like the design of the caddy that become a distinguishing sales point.

This caddy was designed by the Pininfarina design house, the same studio responsible for many a refined car down the years - not least, the Ferrari. Squint hard at the photo and we think you will agree that the design magic is missing from this fairly pedestrian caddy.

We instead see a rather generic design spoiled by the Simpletech logo shoehorned onto the top panel.

The drive is also available in 80GB, 100GB and 160GB models and there's a choice of colours.

All in this is a fair offering that's based on a reliable drive, aided by a convenient setup.