INTRODUCTION

   I think we can all agree to the fact that storage capacity needs increase every day especially as long as people get faster internet connections allowing them to download huge chunks of data from the Internet in surprisingly small periods of time. Luckily all the leading HDD manufacturers have released several 4TB hard disk drive models during the last year including mainstream models targeted towards casual users and gamers, high end models aimed at enthusiasts and of course enterprise class models for professionals. Unfortunately although we have that variety in standalone internal hard disk drives the same doesn’t apply in external hard disk drives since for that purpose most manufacturers choose to use their mainstream models to keep the cost down. G-Technology by HGST (Former Hitachi GST) is amongst the very few companies that not only uses the high end and enterprise class models HGST has to offer but they also use some of the highest quality and performance external HDD enclosures we've seen to date and the latest USB 3.0 compatible version of the G-DRIVE is no exception.

   G-Technology storage solutions are engineered specifically to meet the needs of the content creation and Apple Mac communities, including heavy users of multimedia content, Final Cut Pro® and Adobe® Premiere® Pro audio/video specialists, and other pre/post production professionals. From portable drives to ultra-fast, multi-drive RAID storage, G-Technology’s USB, FireWire, eSATA, SAS and wireless storage solutions support virtually all levels of A/V production and can be found in post-production facilities worldwide.    HGST (formerly known as Hitachi Global Storage Technologies or Hitachi GST), a Western Digital company (NASDAQ: WDC), develops advanced hard disk drives, enterprise class solid state drives, innovative external storage solutions and services used to store, preserve and manage the world’s most valued data. Founded by the pioneers of hard drives, HGST provides high value storage for a broad range of market segments, including Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, Consumer Electronics and Personal Storage. HGST was established in 2003 and maintains its U.S. headquarters in San Jose, California. For more information, please visit the company’s website at http://www.hgst.com.

   Some of you may recall that i did have the G-DRIVE 2TB USB 2.0-eSATA-FW400/800 model on my test bench roughly 3 years ago which i still use on a daily basis without a single issue, at least not to date. Back then when designing the G-DRIVE G-Technology decided to house an HGST Deskstar 7K2000 SATA II HDD inside an fully aluminum enclosure which kept the drive at extremely low temperatures even during heavy use. So naturally when HGST announced the upcoming 4TB USB 3.0 compatible version a few months ago i was very curious to see just how it would perform compared to all the other USB 3.0 compatible external 3.5" HDD enclosures we've tested so far. Needless to say we were not disappointed one bit.