One by one, all of the manufacturers are releasing 2.5'' external hard drives.  LG has made a great start with the XD2, whose 500 GB version is available for under £75.  Three different sizes are available: 250, 320 and 500 GB, in your choice of white or black.

At this price point, you can't expect to have a wide range of connectors.  The XD2 has a single USB 2.0 port, with a second cable to power it.  We were, however, pleasantly surprised by the finish of the outside of the case.  It's mostly plastic with a thin layer of brushed aluminium, and the whole thing is relatively compact.

Speeds: slow at writing data

Iomega eGo FW400/USB 250 GB LG XD2 500 GB

The LG XD2 comes in just below average for 2.5'' external hard drives.  For writing both large and medium-sized files, it reached an average speed of 23.4 MB/s, while the best drives get to 27.8 MB/s.  On the other hand, the read speed was much better at 31.6 MB/s.