G-Technology’s G-Drive Mobile is both stylish and fast, though its $200 price tag places it above many other 1TB portable hard drives. However, the inclusion of USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt connection options does make it very useful for people that are looking for a speedy drive.
Design
It may work with both Mac and PC but the G-Drive’s aluminum finish makes it perfect as an accessory for Apple computers. Since the drive is bus-powered and never needs to be plugged into an AC power supply, there are only two ports on the entire device, one for USB 3.0 and the other for Thunderbolt.
Size-wise, the G-Drive Mobile has similar dimensions to those of a smartphone, except for its thickness and weight. That being said, it is still a drive that is very easy to carry around and if you have a bag with you, then you won’t even notice that the G-Drive is in there.
There is one light on the front of the device that lets you know if the drive is plugged in and functional. Since the light is white, it blends in with the aluminum finish and does not stand out, meaning that it is not a nuisance to have sitting next to your computer.
Performance
When it comes to speed, the G-Drive Mobile USB 3.0 is definitely fast. While there are other portable drives that are cheaper than this one, the G-Drive uses 7200RPM hard drives, which means that both read and write performance is very good.
During our USB 3.0 tests, the results were 124.0 MB/s for write and 124.7 MB/s for read. In some tests, those speeds were a little bit higher and they will definitely vary for you as well. When we hooked up the drive via Thunderbolt instead of USB 3.0, the speeds were 126.6 MB/s for write and 124.9 MB/s for read.
As you can tell, the actual difference between Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 is not substantial, so if you are buying the drive for use with a PC, things should be fine.
Conclusion
The G-Technology G-Drive USB 3.0 (1TB) is one of the best looking portable hard drives on the market and although its price tag is a little bit high, we found that it was worth the cost.
Performance with the hard drive was great and was on-par with other portable drives. Plus, since reformatting is easy, you can use the device with both Mac and PC.
Price/Availability
