As with most of the current crop of external drives, the Toshiba U.S.B. 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive is as much about style as it is about substance.

Substance, in this case, means speed. Hard drives in new desktops run at 7,200 revolutions per minute, while the Toshiba operates at a slower but still respectable 5,400 r.p.m.

The drive comes in capacities of 100, 120 and 160 gigabytes, and prices start under $140. It comes with Shadow software from NTI for making backups. One advantage of Shadow is that it stores copies of the actual files instead of converting them to a proprietary format, making it simple to restore them if you no longer have the software.

The hard drive gets its power from the U.S.B. port on the computer; those with older U.S.B. 1.1 ports will need a second cable, which Toshiba provides. Plugging both cables into separate ports will power the drive. Another option is a five-volt external power supply (not included).

As for style, the sturdy, sleek case is black and the size of a personal digital assistant, and the drive activity L.E.D. blinks in that electric-blue color that seems so popular nowadays.