Seagate

Though it’s the same basic size and weight as the aforementioned X Vault (approximately 7.35-inches long, 5.1-inches wide, 1.5-inches tall, and 2.5 pounds), the One Touch is styled differently. It’s two-tone dark gray and pewter, sporting the wavy sculpted lines you’ll find on some of the company’s 2.5-inch USB HDDs. Which look you prefer will depend on, well… which you prefer. I lean towards the One Touch. The One Touch features a single Type-C port on one end, that is offset to the left (when facing that end of the drive). Directly above it is a small power/activity light. That’s it. There’s

Only the 8TB version of the One Touch was available at the time of this writing. It’s priced $10 less than the X Vault at $260. As you’ll see from the extremely similar performance numbers below, I’m wondering why. Note that HDDs are mechanical and more prone to failure than SSDs. Because of that, I always run them in mirrored pairs if there’s anything important on them that’s otherwise not backed up. Of course, as the reviewer of the backup beat, mine aways are and yours should be too. In fact, I always back up my SSDs, as well. Too many reader horror stories, plus a few of my own (including

The One Touch performed right on par with the recently reviewed X Vault — slightly faster with synthetic benchmarks, and slightly slower with real-world transfers. Basically, a standoff. You’ll never notice the difference without a very granular stopwatch. Both the One Touch and X Vault are roughly 80MBps faster than the average 2.5-inch HDD, but 60MBps slower than the previously covered Seagate Expansion Desktop with its higher-grade internal HDD — and AC adapter! Okay, AC may have its advantages, but I’m still impressed that Seagate makes any 3.5-inch HHD that requires only 15 watts. The One

If you’re interested more in capacity than speed, then the Seagate One Touch provides a ton of space for far less money than an SSD, while freeing you from AC adapter misery that plagues most of the 3.5-inch competition. Okay, misery is perhaps a bit harsh. But self-contained is better. Personally, I’d take it over the X Vault based on looks and possible savings. Yes, I can be that shallow and cheap, err… frugal.