

Or, if travel weight and absolute form factor are important, a premium can be paid for a slimmer, sexier unit. So why would you pay extra? More capacity is a good reason these 2.5in drives can be had in up to 4TB packages.

There's little need for the faster USB 3.1 conduit because mechanical drives aren't able to saturate the real-world 400MB/s available on the older standard. Laying down £60 is enough budget to secure a 2TB 2.5in external drive connecting to the system via ubiquitous USB 3.0. That said, the humble, usurped mechanical disk still holds sway where capacity is key, most notably in NAS devices and external storage. Reasons are simple enough: electric speed, great response times, shockproof construction and, now, usable capacities at reasonable prices. We've been staunch advocates of solid-state drives.
