LG XD2 500GB

Half-a-terabyte of storage in your palm

If your machine's USB ports don't individually push out enough juice, LG has included a double-headed USB cable. The two standard USB connectors are spaced widely enough apart so that you're not forced to use two adjacent ports on your PC.

Not a bad looker

The XD2 isn't as sexy as Samsung's S1 Mini and S2, but it's still a big step up from so many no-name drives. In addition to the black model, it's also available in white. Both measure 126 x 80 x 15mm, but the way the edges angle inward makes them seem thinner than they are.

That said, there's a little give in the plastic shell, so the XD2 doesn't feel quite as solid as we'd like. Small hard drives can be fragile and they're not for chucking around, though being portable they tend to be often thrown in and out of bags.

Expect scratches at the very least, and it's a shame LG didn't follow Samsung's example and include a slipcase to keep the XD2 in while it's travelling.

The bundled back-up app works, but there's plenty of room for improvement

Samsung's bundled software is better too. It provides auto-backup and data encryption tools - LG provides the NTFS-formatted XD2 with a rudimentary file backup app, PC Clone EX Lite, that does the job provided you don't expect to much of it. For instance, we set it to only back-up changed files, but it copied over the whole lot afresh every time nonetheless. It's Windows only, too.