G-Technology G-Drive Mobile: Review and giveaway

TUAW Steven Sande

It's been a while since TUAW reviewed a hard drive. Recently, G-Technology sent one of their 1 TB G-Drive Mobile USB 3.0/2.0/FW drives (US$179.95) to run through the paces. That relatively low price is a result of not having a Thunderbolt interface, and since all of the new Macs are coming with USB 3.0, I thought it would be a good drive to test out. I don't currently own a USB 3.0-equipped Mac, so the benchmarks listed below were provided by my colleague Erica Sadun.

Design

As the name implies, the G-Drive Mobile is designed for use with laptops. The enclosure is made to match the color of your favorite aluminum MacBook, broken only by a big "G" logo on the top, an LED on the front, and the ports on the back. The drive weighs just 10 ounces but for some reason seems more solid than that light weight would indicate.

Size-wise, the G-Drive Mobile is quite compact, taking up a space 5 inches long x 3.27 inches wide x only 0.39 inch tall.

Three ports line the back of the drive; two FireWire 800 ports (also compatible with FW 400 with the proper cable), and one USB 3.0 port. The drive is bus-powered and does not need an external power source. read more...