Rank #7 in Best 2TB External Hard Drive: 8 Ranked, and the Speeds That Don't Add Up
Sonnics 2TB Silver Desktop External Hard Drive
Price and rating as shown on Amazon when we collected them. Both change.
The Sonnics 2TB Silver External Desktop Hard Drive is seventh in this guide at £69.99, rated 4.1 out of 5 from 2,249 ratings. It is a 3.5-inch mechanical disk spinning at 5400 RPM, mains powered and built to sit on a desk rather than travel in a bag — the product name itself says "Mains Powered Not portable".
The listing quotes a speed five separate ways. The bullet text offers "ultra high speed data transfer of up to 5GBPS". The spec table then lists Read Speed as 5 Gigabytes Per Second, Data Transfer Rate as 5 Gigabits Per Second and Media Speed as "Around 640 MB/s". Two of those differ by a factor of eight on the unit alone, and neither matches the third. Elsewhere the same listing's Product Features field reads "Portable", while the 3.5-inch form factor and mains power say otherwise. Everything on this page comes from the Amazon advert as it is written; none of it comes from testing by us.
How those 2,249 ratings break down
An average hides its own shape. This is the spread behind the 4.1 stars.
Specification
Exactly as published on the Amazon listing, field for field.
| Price | £69.99 |
|---|---|
| Rating | 4.1 out of 5 from 2,249 ratings |
| Capacity | 2 TB, formatted to FAT32 |
| Drive | 3.5-inch mechanical hard disk, 5400 RPM |
| Read Speed (as listed) | 5 Gigabytes Per Second |
| Data Transfer Rate (as listed) | 5 Gigabits Per Second |
| Media Speed (as listed) | Around 640 MB/s |
| Product Features (as listed) | Portable |
What buyers actually say
Quoted from customer reviews on Amazon
Verified purchase“I have bought the external disc to back up my laptop, because I have been infected with a virus and need to restore the system. The drive works fine and I backed up 600GB very quickly. I have not tried restoring yet, but I am confident that it will be fine. This product is very reasonably priced, yet it looks and works not less than more expensive discs.”
Verified purchase“Works well, but annoyed as I didn't read it where it said it wasnt portable...still good either or”
What it is up against
The rivals it was ranked against in Best 2TB External Hard Drive: 8 Ranked, and the Speeds That Don't Add Up.
Questions people ask
Is the Sonnics 2TB drive portable?
The product name says "Mains Powered Not portable" and it is a 3.5-inch enclosure. The Product Features field in the same listing says "Portable". It is listed as a mains powered external hard drive, so it needs a power socket wherever it goes.
How fast does the Sonnics 2TB drive move data?
The listing gives four answers. The bullets say up to 5GBPS over USB 3.0, the Read Speed field says 5 Gigabytes Per Second, the Data Transfer Rate field says 5 Gigabits Per Second, and the Media Speed field says "Around 640 MB/s". The advert does not reconcile them. The drive itself is listed as a 5400 RPM mechanical disk.
How much can I store on it?
2 TB, listed as formatted to the FAT32 file system. Sonnics says you can reformat it to NTFS or exFAT if you prefer.
Does it work with Xbox One and PlayStation 4?
The listing says it is compatible with both, and that you can plug it in for instant extra storage and install games directly to the drive. It also claims, in the advert's own words, that games load faster on external drives.
Does it need its own power supply?
Yes. Sonnics lists it as a mains powered external hard drive, so it draws power from the wall rather than from the USB port.
What do buyers say about it?
The listing carries a 4.1 out of 5 rating from 2,249 ratings. The largest group of those ratings is five stars (62) and 12 are one star.
Comments
Reader comments are not checked against the manufacturer's claims above.
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