Storage devices for the holidays

The Starck Desktop Hard Drive (4 mice) is a creatively designed USB drive that features an unconventional aluminum case design and some equally distinct features. You can customize the touch-sensitive front panel to open an application of your choosing. Read our full review. [$130 (Get best current price); LaCie]—CHRIS HOLT

While other drives seem more fashionable, the Rocpro 850 (4 mice) has speed on its side. It also offers versatile connection options (two FireWire 800 ports, an eSATA port, and a USB 2.0 port) and a competitive price. Read our full review. [$130 (Get best current price); Rocstor]—CHRIS HOLT

Audio/visual professionals will enjoy the flexibility of the Thunder Pro A/V Quad Interface (4 mice). In addition to the speedy 7200 rpm Hitachi mechanism, the drive’s fanless design allows the Thunder Pro to perform more quietly than other drives. Read our full review. [$279 (Get best current price); EZQuest]—CHRIS HOLT

The front of the aluminum enclosure on the iStoragePro Pocket (4 mice) is reminiscent of the Mac Pro’s trademark perforated front. Equipped with a 7200 rpm mechanism, the drive produced some of the fastest connection speeds we’ve ever recorded on a portable drive Read our full review. [$159; Ci Design]—CHRIS HOLT

Well-detailed, shiny, and compact, the eGo Mac Edition (4 mice) portable hard drive injects some style into a sea of grey brick-shaped external drives. The eGo isn’t the fastest portable drive on today’s market, but it has a rock-solid warranty and versatile backup options. Read our full review. [$150 (Get best current price); Iomega]—CHRIS HOLT

The SureFire FireWire 800/USB (4 mice) is an unassuming but speedy portable hard drive. We tested the 500GB model and came away generally impressed. Verbatim also provides a three-year limited warranty and a protective carrying case Read our full review. [$180 (Get best current price); Verbatim]—CHRIS HOLT

Designed for content creators, the VR mini (4 mice) can be set up as a RAID 0, 1, or JBOD. In our tests, the quad-interface VR mini performed exceptionally fast, making it a pricey but high-performance storage device. Read our full review. [$629 (Get best current price); CalDigit]—CHRIS HOLT

Sure to please audio/visual professionals and high-end users, the quad interface DeckRAID DR4 (3.5 mice) is a four-bay, hot swappable external RAID 5 array that can provide up to 6TB of easily installed storage. You’ll need to provide your own SATA II drives, however. Read our full review. [$500; Raidon]—CHRIS HOLT

If you’re replacing an older wireless router and want to use Time Machine, Time Capsule (4.5 mice) is well worth the money. The beauty of Time Capsule is that it just works, silently backing up your Mac over your network without your having to remember a thing. Read our full review. [$499 for 1TB (Get best current price); Apple]—SCOTT MC NULTY

The Home Media Network Hard Drive (4 mice) has a simple setup process, advanced features, and an easy-to-use interface. Of the home media servers currently on the market that are Mac friendly (it supports Time Machine), the Iomega stands out among its peers. Read our full review. [$200 (Get best current price); Iomega]—CHRIS HOLT

Ideally suited for home networks, the My Book World Edition (4 mice) is a simple, intuitive, and great introductory network-storage device for home users. It’s a good device for backing up files or sharing media over a network. Read our full review. [$210 (Get best current price); Western Digital]—CHRIS HOLT

Need to burn a few optical discs? They say that you can’t tell a book by its cover, and that is definitely true for Buffalo’s MediaStation 8X External Blu-ray Writer (4 mice). But it gets the job done quickly, and all via a USB connection. Read our full review. [$350 (Get best current price); Buffalo Technolgy]—JAMES GALBRAITH