In a recent “Tech View” column, I suggested that readers with a small business or home office avail themselves of hard drives as an inexpensive data insurance policy. The same goes for the new crop of low-priced USB 3.0-ready external drives.

Our team looked at two popular external drives, a 2-TB GoFlex system from Seagate and the 3-TB MyBook from Western Digital. (They were priced at $90 and $140 at Costco.) Both were tested on desktop units with Windows XP and Windows 7 operating systems. Both units come with software that automatically backs up files. (I preferred Western Digital’s backup software.) Both drives were quiet, dependable and, with USB 3.0, were roughly 10 times faster transferring data than the older 2.0 standard. (To get this speed you’ll need a USB 3.0 card installed.)

There are design differences between the units. The Seagate is constructed with two components: a main drive and a stand, which is attached by clips, housing the power and USB 3.0 ports. Local IT consultant Tony Stanford noted that transporting the GoFlex must be done carefully, or the stand could dislodge from the main drive. The Western Digital unit is constructed with an all-in-one housing and is more robust. If you don’t plan to move the Seagate often, this is not an issue.

The new Windows 7 OS had no problem “recognizing” the big new drives, and installing both of them was pretty much plug and play.

However, with the XP OS there were compatibility issues. Running the new drives caused the XP computers we tested to slow down. Both Seagate and Western Digital have designed the drives to be backward-compatible with XP, but as Stanford said, “They are backwards-compatible at a price.”

To get the blazing speed, you’ll need a USB 3.0 card, and in a future column we’ll discuss how to install one.

For backing up laptops or storing music/video, consider the 500 GB Seagate Expansion portable drive. Slightly larger than an iPhone, it’s meant for travel. I loaded it up with a bunch of movies tested on a recent flight to the mainland. It’s powered through a single data/power USB cable so you don’t have to worry about plugging it into the wall. It ran flawlessly and was cool-running.