Toshiba has just announced an update to its Canvio external USB storage line-up with the addition of a 1.5TB Canvio 3.0 hard drive. This model comes pre-formatted using the NTFS Windows file system, but Toshiba has included an NTFS driver so that Mac users can read and write to it. Of course, Mac users can always reformat the drive to the Mac file system and use it with Time Machine, but on the other hand, they wouldn’t be able to share files with a PC anymore.
The Toshiba Canvio 3.0 has a version that costs $10 more, which includes software to perform backups. The user has the options of building file backups, full disk backups, or both. If using full-disk backups, it will be possible to boot directly from the USB drive into the disk-restoration utility. I typically see the full-disk backup as the quickest way to recover from a critical disk error.
Now, the Canvio line has many storage capacity options: 500GB/700GB/1TB/1.5TB, and the price for this new 1.5TB is $199.99 (with software) or $189.99 (without software).