What could be better than a portable hard drive? A battery-powered portable hard drive that provides its own Wi-Fi hotspot, of course. Corsair’s Voyager Air and Seagate’s Wireless Plus command hefty price premiums compared to more ordinary drives, but they are also extremely convenient.
The usage models are as varied as your imagination: You can use them to wirelessly stream music and video around a small area, operate them as wireless NAS boxes, or provide business guests access to educational or entertainment materials on a grid that’s completely isolated from your business network.
The two drives also vary in terms of performance, features, and price. Read on to find out which—if either—might suit your needs.
Corsair Voyager Air
In terms of connectivity options, the Voyager Air is as versatile as can be. It can create its own Wi-Fi hotspot, so you can transfer files over a wireless network, but it can also connect to a public hotspot and pass that Internet connection through to its own clients. Other wireless hard drives we’ve tested have required you to log out of their network in order to switch to an Internet hotspot. The Voyager Air is also outfitted with a USB 3.0 port, for direct connection to a PC, and a gigabit ethernet port, so you can use it as either a wired or wireless NAS. ((Internet pass-through does not work when a client is connected to the ethernet port.) I tested the $220 1TB model. Corsair also offers a 500GB model for $180.
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