With green tech still in its infancy, new products touted as energy efficient are unpredictable in terms of performance. The Kanguru Eco Drive (80GB) is not the fastest or roomiest hard drive around, but its unique power-management technology reduces power consumption and extends the life of the drive.

The Eco Drive (80GB) operates in three power-saving states—Power Down, Standby, and Idle—along with a full power Access mode. The hard drive’s internal circuitry monitors activity and automatically switches between modes accordingly. Each step down represents a 5 to 20 percent power savings over Access mode. The included power management utility lets you alter the power schemes, but the software does not work on Windows Vista or Mac OS X.

The remaining apps, including a format transfer utility (to change from the default FAT32 to NTFS), are Windows only. The backup software is user-friendly and allows you to select which files to copy, to which location, and how often (using the scheduling option). Transfer speeds were so-so, ranging from 1 minute 4 seconds using drag-and-drop to 7:37 with the included software.

Despite disappointing overall performance, the Kanguru Eco Drive (80 GB) deserves a look for its power-management abilities and design.

Kanguru Eco Drive (80GB) Review
Price Range: $94.95 direct
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