Page 3: Titan XS 320GB, Use, Conclusion
Titan XS 320GB
The Titan XS portable drive appears to be a standard 2.5" laptop drive wrapped in 1/8" or so with the rubber protective sleeve, so it is roughly the size of a 2.5" drive plus 1/4" of an inch or so in each direction. Put another way, the drive is roughly the same size as an iPhone, but half again wider. The rubber sleeve itself seems like it would offer adequate enough protection for anything that the drive would face including a mild amount of shock resistance. The surface also allows the drive to be stable when placed on a flat surface, staying in place where you put it.
Use
The Titan XS is pretty straightforward to use. It came formatted to FAT32 out of the box, as is typical of external storage, and it included the Nero BackItUp & Burn Essentials software mentioned on the box in the drive. Even though this is the norm for packaged software, we at ASE Labs think that Verbatim should have included the software on some sort of optical media separate from the drive. Combined, the software only takes up 350MB, so they even could have included it on the CD if cost was that much of a concern.
The drive uses the more recent single USB cord for power and for connection. The connector itself looks like a standard Mini-B USB jack, and our tests with different cords confirms that the cord included with the drive is indeed a standard (though very short!) Mini-B connector. We applaud Verbatim sticking to standardization when other companies tend to stick proprietary connectors on their drives, and the ability to use any Mini-B USB cable with the Titan XS greatly extends the usability of the drive.
We also tested the drive with various electronic equipment. One thing that must be kept in mind for portable drives like the Titan XS is that the drive drawing power from the same USB jack as it does file operations from means it is less flexible than dedicated external hard drives and external enclosures. Any electronic device that you plug the drive into needs to be powered for the drive to function, so unpowered USB hubs and keyboard USB jacks that would work with typical flash drives and separately-powered external drives would be right out. With that said, the drive was compatible with everything it was tested on.
The drive was tested on a computer with Windows XP and a computer with Windows 7. It was also tested on a 4-USB PlayStation 3 system and a Netgear WNDR3700 wireless router. In all cases, the drive booted up and ran fine with no hiccups whatsoever. On Windows 7, it only took about 15 seconds or so for the drive to spool up and be ready for use. Windows XP took a bit longer, and it took a little over 30 seconds for the drive to be ready for use on the PS3 and the router.
Conclusion
Verbatim has another winner on their hands with the Titan XS. It offers a compact design with a flair for durability, and the included Nero software could be a great bonus for Windows users. At press time, the drive retails for about $66 (Amazon), which is pretty well in line with the rest of the market. While we would prefer that the software was included on separate media, that is by no means a deal-breaker for this drive. We at ASE Labs recommend the Verbatim Titan XS 320GB portable hard drive.
ASE Labs would like to thank Verbatim for making this review possible.
The Titan XS portable drive appears to be a standard 2.5" laptop drive wrapped in 1/8" or so with the rubber protective sleeve, so it is roughly the size of a 2.5" drive plus 1/4" of an inch or so in each direction. Put another way, the drive is roughly the same size as an iPhone, but half again wider. The rubber sleeve itself seems like it would offer adequate enough protection for anything that the drive would face including a mild amount of shock resistance. The surface also allows the drive to be stable when placed on a flat surface, staying in place where you put it.
Use
The Titan XS is pretty straightforward to use. It came formatted to FAT32 out of the box, as is typical of external storage, and it included the Nero BackItUp & Burn Essentials software mentioned on the box in the drive. Even though this is the norm for packaged software, we at ASE Labs think that Verbatim should have included the software on some sort of optical media separate from the drive. Combined, the software only takes up 350MB, so they even could have included it on the CD if cost was that much of a concern.
The drive uses the more recent single USB cord for power and for connection. The connector itself looks like a standard Mini-B USB jack, and our tests with different cords confirms that the cord included with the drive is indeed a standard (though very short!) Mini-B connector. We applaud Verbatim sticking to standardization when other companies tend to stick proprietary connectors on their drives, and the ability to use any Mini-B USB cable with the Titan XS greatly extends the usability of the drive.
We also tested the drive with various electronic equipment. One thing that must be kept in mind for portable drives like the Titan XS is that the drive drawing power from the same USB jack as it does file operations from means it is less flexible than dedicated external hard drives and external enclosures. Any electronic device that you plug the drive into needs to be powered for the drive to function, so unpowered USB hubs and keyboard USB jacks that would work with typical flash drives and separately-powered external drives would be right out. With that said, the drive was compatible with everything it was tested on.
The drive was tested on a computer with Windows XP and a computer with Windows 7. It was also tested on a 4-USB PlayStation 3 system and a Netgear WNDR3700 wireless router. In all cases, the drive booted up and ran fine with no hiccups whatsoever. On Windows 7, it only took about 15 seconds or so for the drive to spool up and be ready for use. Windows XP took a bit longer, and it took a little over 30 seconds for the drive to be ready for use on the PS3 and the router.
Conclusion
Verbatim has another winner on their hands with the Titan XS. It offers a compact design with a flair for durability, and the included Nero software could be a great bonus for Windows users. At press time, the drive retails for about $66 (Amazon), which is pretty well in line with the rest of the market. While we would prefer that the software was included on separate media, that is by no means a deal-breaker for this drive. We at ASE Labs recommend the Verbatim Titan XS 320GB portable hard drive.
ASE Labs would like to thank Verbatim for making this review possible.