Maxtor OneTouch 300GB FireWire/USB2.0
A bigger box this time around, heavy too. The anodised aluminium enclosure around the 300GB disk sees to that, making it weigh in at a hefty 1.38Kg (3 pounds) without PSU. And since it's tied to its PSU, you can't get away with not carrying it with the drive. I'd also like to see two supplies shipped with external drives, so that you can leave one at home and one in the office, or another such scenario, since it seems like a common usage for such a disk. Maybe you just want a bunch of external disks because your case is full, or maybe you do take it from home to office and back again every day. But being able to leave a spare PSU in its most common place of residence and still have a spare to power it on the move, is a semi-decent idea in my opinion.
The front shows the customisable OneTouch button, utility software and drivers for which are included in the box. The back of the drive shows its dual interface nature. Up and downstream FireWire ports are present and you're able to daisy chain them without a problem, hooking up multiple disks to one FireWire port on the host system. AC adaptor port and a power switch are last. The power switch is handier than it first appears; pulling out the cable to fully power down the drive is suboptimal, although it does spin down intelligently when not accessed for a while.
Elsewhere in the box you'll find a copy of Dantz® Restrospect® Express, the backup software that can be launched via the OneTouch button, the AC adaptor, a fat manual that explains hardware installation and the software components, and a pair of data cables, USB2.0 and FireWire.
The extra software adds a bit of value for those without existing backup capability and in general the package and bundle feels polished. It's not the most portable of external disks, but the capacity helps soften the blow.
