Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0

The Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 is the first USB 3.0 external hard drive we've reviewed and it proved itself to be an excellent storage device. The drive is bus-powered and works with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connections. Externally, the Black Armor PS110 USB 3.0 looks the same as the USB 2.0-based BlackArmor PS110--that is to say it's very sleek and portable. The only difference is its USB 3.0 Mini-USB port on its back. On the inside, the new BlackArmor PS110 USB 3.0 has a 7,200rpm hard drive (as opposed to a 5,400rpm drive in the USB 2.0 version).

Regardless of whether your computer has USB 3.0 built-in, the Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 is worth its $180 price tag, which is just slightly more expensive than the USB 2.0 version. As a bonus, it comes with an add-in USB 3.0 PC card for laptop users.

Design and features
The Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 looks great and feels sturdy. The drive is thin and compact enough to be easily tucked in your pocket to carry on the go. Unlike many other sleek-looking devices we've seen, the BlackArmor's cover doesn't attract fingerprints, which while not really important, affords the drive a clean look all the time.

As USB 3.0 is new technology that officially debuted during CES 2010, most existing computers don't have the technology built-in. However, the Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 comes in a kit that includes a USB 3.0 add-in card for laptop users. This card uses the laptop's PC Express slot to add a USB 3.0 port to the computer. However, the BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 is fully compatible with USB 2.0 and you can use it like any other external hard drive. Since the drive is bus-powered, you need only to plug it into the computer via a USB port to start using it.

The Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 comes with one Mini-USB 3.0 port on the back. This port isn't compatible with USB 2.0 and you will need to use the included Mini-USB 3.0 cable that comes with the drive. The drive doesn't offer any other connection options such as FireWire or eSATA; however, since USB 3.0 is faster than any other connection on the market--up to 5Gbps--this lack of connection options makes sense.

Out of the box, the drive is formatted using the NTFS file system and is intended to be used with Windows computers; however, it can be easily reformatted for Macs. Unfortunately, the included PC Express card only has drivers for Windows.

Like the USB 2.0 version, the Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 comes with Acronis-based backup software that allows for easy backing up and restoring of data. You can choose to back up the computer's main hard drive and restore the whole system to the point when the backup was created, or you can restore a few single files by mounting a backup as a virtual drive. The software also allows for encrypting the backups with AES 256-bit encryption to keep your data safe in case the drive is lost or stolen. Unfortunately, the backup software only works for Windows. If you have a Mac, you'll need to get another third-party backup software or use Time Machine, Apple's proprietary backup solution available in OS X 10.5 or later.