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Toshiba Canvio Slim II review: Not so slim, but excellent nonetheless

Looking for a compact and fast USB 3.0 portable drive? The Toshiba Canvio Slim II is about as good as it gets.

Headshot of Dong Ngo
Headshot of Dong Ngo
Dong Ngo Former SF Labs Manager, Editor
Former CNET editor Dong Ngo has been involved with technology since 2000, starting with testing gadgets and writing code for CNET Labs' benchmarks. He managed CNET's San Francisco Labs, reviews 3D printers, networking/storage devices, and also wrote about other topics from online security to new gadgets and how technology impacts the life of people around the world.
Dong Ngo
5 min read

I wouldn't call the Toshiba Canvio Slim II skinny, but that's my only major complaint about the new USB 3.0 portable external hard drive.

8.1

Toshiba Canvio Slim II

The Good

The <b>Toshiba Canvio Slim II</b> offers fast USB 3.0 speed, good bundled software and comes in a well-thought-out, sturdy design.

The Bad

The Toshiba Canvio Slim II could be a bit slimmer, and its USB 2.0 performance is just average.

The Bottom Line

For anyone owning a USB 3.0-ready laptop, the speedy and compact Toshiba Canvio Slim II makes an excellent companion for both storage expansion and data backup purposes.

The drive inherits all the goodies that come with its older brother, the compact Toshiba Canvio Connect, including great backup software, Mac NTFS driver -- plus it's now the fastest platter-based USB 3.0 portable drive I've tested. Design-wise, the storage device also looks good and feels sturdy, thanks to its aluminum casing.

In all, at the current price of around $100 for 1TB or $75 for 500GB, the Toshiba Canvio Slim II is an easy recommendation for anybody who needs a quick storage solution, either to expand their laptop capacity or to backup important data. For more choices on great portable drives, including those that are slimmer than the Slim II, check out this list.

Quite compact but the Canvio Slim II is somewhat thicker than other slim portable drives, such as the Seagate GoFlex Slim, shown here.
Quite compact but the Canvio Slim II is somewhat thicker than other slim portable drives, such as the Seagate GoFlex Slim, shown here. Dong Ngo/CNET

Compact, sturdy and well-thought-out design
Measuring 4.2 x 3 x 0.5 inches, the Slim II is is very compact. It's not the slimmest drive on the market, however. The Seagate GoFlex Slim that came out two years ago is a bit thinner at .32-inch.

And like the GoFlex Slim, the Canvio Slim II's casing is made of aluminum instead of plastic, making it look expensive and feel sturdy. Still, the drive is light, just 5.4 ounces. On one side, it has a Micro-USB 3.0 port, which works with any standard Micro USB 3.0 cable (there's one included). The drive is bus-powered, meaning it draws its electricity through the USB port to which it's connected.

In my trials, the drive worked with all USB 3.0 ports and USB 2.0 ports without problems. It has one interesting feature, which is its status light in one corner. This light turns on when the drive is plugged in, turns off when it's not in use, and and flashes to indicate data activity. The color of the light changes to white if you use it with a USB 2.0 port and to blue when it's plugged into a USB 3.0 port. This is very helpful for folks who don't know which type of USB port they're using.

8.1

Toshiba Canvio Slim II

Score Breakdown

Setup 9Features 8Performance 8Support 7