Best-Designed External Desktop Drives

External desktop hard drives used to be whiny, butt-ugly things that took up precious desk space. One of the very first ones had a plain beige casing that made it look exactly like a plain beige PC. Talk about no-frills design. Today, though, external hard drives are looking better than they ever have. They're also much faster and much more reliable.

I define good design as a marriage of form and function. Not only does a drive have to look good, it has to perform well, too. Lots of drives these days come in nice enclosures that are similar to those of LaCie's drives, but they don't have the track record and reputation for reliability that LaCie drives do. One reviewer on Amazon, who claimed to be a US military guy stationed in Iraq, said that LaCie drives seemed to take the abuse of the desert climate better than other brands.

If you're like me, then here are three of the best-designed external desktop drives currently available. And what do you know? They're all from LaCie.

1. LaCie d2 Hard Drive Extreme with Triple Interface

This little thing still has traces of a regular hard drive in its design, but it's the sleekest one in its class. The entire d2 line was designed by Neil Poulton, which is why this hard drive matches LaCie's d2 external CD and DVD burners. Like them, the d2 Hard Drive Extreme has a matte white-silver exterior and a blue LED light on one side that blinks to show activity. Its ability to stand upright or be mounted on a rack is a definite plus for anyone who needs to conserve desk space. You also won't have to worry about compatibility issues; the triple interface lets you connect to any computer that has USB 2.0, Firewire 400, or Firewire 800. If you're running Mac OS X or Windows XP/2000, you won't even need to install any drivers. It runs at 7200 rpm with an 8MB cache, so you can be assured of snappy performance. A "smart" fan keeps the system cool, with settings that automatically vary depending on temperature. The drive is also roomy enough for most people, coming in capacities of 160, 250, 300, and 500GB. With specs like these, it's not hard to see why the d2 Hard Drive Extreme has a loyal following among digital professionals.

2. LaCie mini Hard Drive & Hub

Ah, the mini. No other external hard drive has been more tailor-made for a Mac than this baby. Designed to stack perfectly underneath your Mac Mini, it has a four-corner crown on the top that keeps the Mac raised just a little bit above the drive to allow cooling airflow between the two machines. There's no mention of an internal fan, which is why this drive is so quiet. I'd be a bit concerned about heat build-up, though, because the drive may need more than a small airflow space to keep cool in a tropical country like the Philippines.

Nevertheless, the LaCie mini drive is a nifty little thing. It functions as both an external hard drive and a desktop hub, a feature I find really useful. The hub allows you to connect all your hardware peripherals at once instead of rationing the limited ports at the back of the Mac Mini. It sports a dual interface, so you can connect it to your Mac via Firewire 400 or USB 2.0. As with the d2 line, you don't need drivers if you're running Mac OS X or Windows XP/2000. Rpm is also 7200 with an 8MB cache. Storage capacity choices are generous; you can choose from either 250, 300, or 500GB.

LaCie also makes a mini Hard Drive, which looks exactly like the one previously mentioned. The only difference is that it functions solely as a hard drive. You can stack multiple LaCie mini drives underneath your Mac Mini and LaCie mini hub to make a little Mini tower of your own.

3. LaCie Hard Drive (Design by F.A. Porsche)

This hard drive is a bit too plain-looking for my taste. It resembles a plain brushed-steel box that takes up quite a bit of desk space, since it can't stand upright like the d2 drive. You also don't have the luxury of having more than one interface in the drive; you either have to choose one with USB 2.0, or one with Firewire 400. The Firewire model comes in capacities of 80, 160, and 250GB, while the USB model comes in only 160 and 250GB. Nevertheless, the LaCie Porsche drive makes the cut for its clean lines and elegant simplicity. Lots of other people seem to like it, too; it's a top seller on Amazon. Its performance is at par with other LaCie drives, with speeds of 7200 rpm and a maximum sustained transfer rate of 41 MB/s on the Firewire model (34 MB/s on the USB one). If you're a fan of the Porsche style, then this may be the drive for you.

The Mini Cooper VS the Suzuki Swift

The new Suzuki Swift is cute, compact, and looks a lot like the Mini Cooper... or does it? Take a look at some front, rear, and side views of both cars for comparison.

Front View

From the front, it’s already obvious that the Swift is considerably more box-like than the Mini. It lacks certain sleek features that have made the Mini a design favorite. Notice that the bumper bottom of the Mini slopes downward gracefully, while that of the Swift is rather straight. The Mini’s side view mirrors are beautifully curved, while the Swift’s are hard and angular. The horizontal chrome grills of the Mini are also more elegant and prominent than those of the Swift, which are black and recessed.

The Mini also has distinctive round headlights that are slightly set apart from the hood. The signal lights are located in a separate area underneath the headlights. The Swift, on the other hand, has the signal lights placed next to the headlights like most other cars. Its headlights have slightly curved rectangular shapes that seem very Asian. If you were to compare the car to a human being, think of a cute little Asian kid with sharp almond-shaped eyes.

Rear View

Save for the similar placements of the rear lights on the roofs and below the bumpers of the two cars, it’s easy to tell the Swift apart from the Mini.

The angular design of the Swift is, perhaps, most obvious from the back. Its tail lights are also a lot larger than those of the Mini, and they curve over the rear end of the car in a way that makes them clearly visible from the side. (See side view picture below). Now that’s just overkill; what do you need huge tail lights for, anyway? Red is already an attention-grabbing color.

Side View

Strangely enough, from the side the Mini appears more box-like than the Swift. The roof of the Swift has a gentle curve, and so does the front end. The overbearing tail lights remain an eyesore, though.

We also see another design feature that makes the Swift very Asian: shorter front doors. The Mini was obviously built for taller people with longer legs, hence the roomier front area for the driver. The compact front area of the Swift, however, makes it possible to include a second set of doors for the backseat passengers. Of course, it lacks the roominess and ease of entry for the driver that the Mini provides.

Now let’s do a quick comparison of dimensions. The Mini was designed to fit an average British man, so let’s see how the Swift stacks up.

Swift: 3695 mm long, 1690 mm wide, and 1500 mm tall
Mini: 3635 mm long, 1925 mm wide, and 1408 mm tall

That makes the Mini slightly shorter in height and length, but a lot wider. Looks like it could be quite roomy in there.

Interiors

Although the Swift has a three-spoke leather steering wheel with mounted audio controls, the interiors of the Swift look rather bland and outdated. The Mini trumps it with a slicker dashboard layout.

What about roominess? The Swift was designed to fit three people in the back seat, which looks like quite a squeeze for anyone over twelve. On the other hand, the Mini was reasonably designed to fit two adults. The softly padded seats of the Mini also look quite cushy; they're a far cry from the foam seats of the Swift, which look rather stiff with unergonomic head rests. I reckon there's a market out there for replacing Swift car seats.

The Final Word

Without a doubt, the Mini is irreplaceable. You can't hold a candle to millions of loyal fans who consider their Minis as their very own babies. But the Swift is the best-looking compact car to enter the midrange market to date, and bears a fairly good resemblance to the Mini. Whether you choose to consider it a rip-off or a tribute to the design influence of the Mini, it’s a nifty little car that should make a lot of budget-conscious people happy.

Girliest Flash Drive: the Petito

I suppose it was only a matter of time before somebody would decide to bring a little bling to the world of flash drives. A newcomer called the Petito is as fast and as flashy as they come. It's also just slightly bigger than a quarter, making it the world's smallest flash drive ever.

Portability is always a good thing, since that's what most people are looking for when they shop for flash drives. But the Petito has yet another edge over the competition: it's fast. Really fast. It transfers data up to 30 MB/s, faster than even the Corsair Flash Voyager which maxes out at 19 MB/s. Its storage capacity is pretty average, though, with a maximum of 1 GB. Many flash drives already offer up to 4 GB.

ATP, the company that makes the Petito, claims it was designed "for mobile professionals". One look at it, though, and you'd think that it was designed for ladies. The promotional pictures depicting it in jewelry boxes don't help, either. The Petito has super shiny chrome-like trimmings and comes in four colors: silver, gold, titanium (which actually looks more like plain black), and blue. It looks like a glamorous miniature whisky flask with "Petito" etched onto it in script. ATP claims that the Petito is small and stylish enough to wear as a pendant on your necklace, or attach to your mobile phone. Tell me, how many guys would be up for something like that? Even with all the great tech specs, the girly features of the drive would scare away a lot of potential consumers. I'm a girl and even I find it a bit too girly. It's a shame, because the interiors seem like pretty good stuff. Perhaps if it was marketed in an enclosure more like that of the Cruzer Titanium, I'd consider getting one. For now, though, the Petito should more than satisfy the more fashionable and bling-savvy crowd.

Best-designed Flash Drive: the Cruzer Titanium

By all respects, the Cruzer Titanium from SanDisk is a beauty. This is a USB 2.0 flash drive that comes in capacities of 512 MB, 1 GB, and 2 GB. I've got the 512 MB version, which should be roomy enough for most people. Why do I like it? Well, as the name suggests, it's made of titanium. Yep, titanium. It's not just some cheesy name that the marketing department thought up to make the product appear sturdier and more reliable. The shell of this nifty flash drive is made of real, honest-to-goodness titanium. Uncrushable up to 2,000 lbs. How's that for data security? This thing was built to last. Even the graphics and body markings are laser-etched, so you can be sure they won't rub off after constant use (or abuse).

Another cool thing about this flash drive is that it doesn't have a cap over the USB connector that can fall off and get lost. Instead, there's a white plastic sliding mechanism in the middle of the flash drive's body. You push down lightly on the white button, and slide it forward along the length of the opening in the titanium case, and the USB connector slides out easily through another opening at the right end. When you're done using it, you can retract the USB connector to keep it protected inside the titanium shell. This means, of course, that the connector is still exposed to air and moisture from the environment. I used to worry that not having the USB connector covered would compromise the performance of the flash drive by letting dust particles enter. But I've had my drive for about a year already, and it has yet to give me that kind of problem. (Of course, I wasn't daring enough to let water get into the drive).

Like most of the good flash drives of today, the Cruzer Titanium is backwards-compatible with USB 1.0 drives and works in both Macintosh and Windows environments. You don't need to install any drivers, except if you're using Windows 98SE. You just plug it in, and it works. A bright blue LED light switches on when you plug the drive in, and it blinks to show activity. I've used my Cruzer to transfer files from my iBook to the family PCs countless times without a hitch.

This flash drive is also one of the faster ones on the market with read speeds of 15 MB/s and write speeds of 13 MB/s. (The cheaper flash drives usually don't go past 10 MB/s). Last year, it was the fastest one on the market. But since then, other flash drives like the Corsair Flash Voyager have trumped it with speeds of 19 MB/s.

In terms of aesthetics in design, though, I think the Cruzer Titanium is still the best-looking one on the market with its simple, sleek lines and gently rounded edges. I'm expecting SanDisk to release faster versions of their Cruzer Titaniums in the near future. It's definitely too much of a good product to be left in the dark.