Designed to be both durable and portable, the Smartdisk Firelite is housed in a curved magnesium alloy case that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. In theory, as well as defending it against knocks, the metal helps prolong the life of the drive by dissipating heat away from it.

The Firelite is quiet and only gets slightly warm to the touch during operation. Our review unit came with a 80GB Fujitsu hard drive, but Smartdisk offers 40GB or 60GB capacities for those who don't need as much storage.

The unit can be powered from the host via USB, as with our model, or Firewire, depending on your configuration. An additional PS/2 power adapter cable is also provided. If this combination fails to provide enough juice you'll need to purchase an external power supply from Firelite. A small switch at the rear flicks between host power and the external power adapter. You'll also need to buy this if you're using a 4pin Firewire port, or when daisy-chaining Firewire peripherals.

Surprisingly, the USB models aren't bundled with any software. Firewire drives ship with Smartdisk Tools, but this is only for Mac users.

In tests, the Firelite proved a good performer, outpacing both the Freecom and the Siwara, and it boasts one of the lowest costs per gigabyte. However, its low price is reflected in the lack of software included with the drive.

Contact: Smartdisk 01252 530 960
www.smartdisk.com

Specifications:

• Capacity: 80Gb
• Spin speed (rpm): 4,200
• Buffer size (MB): 2
• USB 2
• Firewire model
• Size (mm) w x d x h: 84 x 129 x 18
• Weight (g): 174
• Warranty (years): 2