21.8.2015

Seagate have a great reputation (on the whole!) as a hard drive manufacturer, so how does this 4TB portable drive perform?Positives:======- Powered directly by the USB connection so no separate power supply/cable needed.- Extremely quiet in use, even when transferring data at full speed.- Smart case design, in a mix of gloss and matt finish black plastic.- Supports both USB 3.0 and 2.0 standards.- Comes with 200GB of free space on Microsoft's "OneDrive" cloud storage for 2 years, subject to online registration (which must be done by June 30th 2017).- Plug-and-play on Windows 8.1 64bit and Windows 10 64 bit (i.e. no drivers needed).- Fairly good average transfer speeds.When tested on a Windows 10 64bit PC with a USB 2.0 socket, I got an average of 27-28MB/sec write speed and 33-34MB/sec read speeds when transferring large files of around 4GB in size. That's nowhere near the theoretical limit for USB 2.0 of 60MB/sec, but that could be because the USB controller is optimised for the newer USB 3.0 standard. Other reviewers have reported much higher transfer speeds on newer USB 3.0 machines, so I can accept that this is just because my PC is getting old. These speeds are still pretty good.Negatives:=======- Slightly bulkier than the average 2.5" USB drive - noticeably deeper by a few millimetres, probably because it has 5 disk platters inside to make up the 4TB of storage space. I'd recommend the Black Case Logic QHDC-101 Hard Drive Case, which is a good (if slightly tight) fit for this drive with just enough room for the supplied USB cable. It's still very compact for a 4TB drive, but it won't fit in all standard cases so keep that in mind.- The supplied USB cable is very short at around 14" so it may not reach if your PC/laptop is not very accessible.- There are no rubber feet on the bottom of the case, so it will slide around easily on smooth surfaces and you should place it down gently to avoid any shocks.- The accompanying Seagate Dashboard software is lacking a key feature that I use all the time on my other drives: drive lock password protection. My old Western Digital My Book Elite Edition 1TB Drive from back in 2010 came with free WD SmartWare software that provides a simple drive lock capability that prevents the drive from even being recognised within Windows without the right password. Obviously you can still encrypt individual files using any standard software tool before copying to this drive, or encrypt the entire partition using something like TrueCrypt, but it seems ridiculous to me that a drive intended to store backups does not provide even basic password protection facilities. If you lose this drive or it gets stolen and you haven't taken your own encryption precautions, you can kiss your data goodbye. Disappointing.Notes:====- As with *all* hard drives, the free space reported within your operating system will be significantly less than the capacity described by the manufacturer, due to the different definitions of a Megabyte! Just Google it if you want the details. My Windows 10 64bit reports a capacity of 3.63TB for this drive, as opposed to the advertised capacity of 4TB. This is *not* a fault or anything specific to this drive.Summary:======This drive seems pretty good value for a 4TB portable (although you should check out the Samsung M3 Slimline 4TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive if you want to compare a very similarly priced alternative). I didn't find any real problems or reasons to avoid this drive, other than the rather basic feature set of the Seagate Dashboard software with no built-in password protection. I think most people would be very satisfied with this drive as a day-to-day storage or backup solution. It's too soon to comment on robustness or longevity but assuming it lasts a few years this should be a good investment. It gets a solid 4 stars from me.

19.11.2016

I purchased this product as I needed a way to carry around my University notes, and programs without having to carry my laptop everywhere I went. I purchased this product from a high street shop after a recommendation. It is also very slim, so I am able to carry it around in my pocket, and it is like carrying my phone. This makes it easy for me to be able to take my files anywhere I go without any problems.When I purchased the Seagate Backup Plus (SBP), the store advisor informed me that it came with 200GB OneDrive account, which because my university uses Outlook and OneDrive, I thought this would be helpful for me. The SBP also comes standard with USB 3.0, so transfer speeds are brilliant,even for high memory files.When I first connected the SBP into my computer, I found that there was a couple of files already on it. These files were the warranty, program and the link for the OneDrive account. This made it very easy to be able to set everything up and be ready to go straight away. The version I purchased was the 1TB version in black. I am slightly disappointed that the place in which I purchased my SBP, they did not supply any white ones. I like to match my colours, so having to go for a black was a little bit of a disappointment, however this is of course a personal choice, and makes absolutely no impact at all to the product and its brilliance.I use this hard drive every day, both for University and my regular day to day life which needs file transfers. The fact it is capable being used with both PC and Mac is fantastic, as I personally own a PC, but regularly work on a Mac, so being able to use the same device is brilliant. I also, as stated previously can carry this in my pocket without any issues.There are one or two issues which I personally have experienced. Firstly, I find the wire a little 'flimsy'. Because the wire is short, it means I have to have the SBP very close to the computer when I am using it. This is a bit of a problem for me in particular, because I am often using a laptop, which is on my knees and I run programs which save straight to the hard drive, which means I am constantly trying to balance the device in a way not to break the wire. This brings up the issue of the connection from the wire to the actual hard drive. When it is plugged in, it feels weak, and I feel if I pull the wire out too hard, the metal at the end will break off, or if it is moved too far up or down while plugged in, as it does not feel very sturdy. However, in the past two weeks, I have used it everyday, and have not actually had any breakages, especially seeing as I have had a few instances where I thought the connection should have broken. But I still feel it is a little fragile.To improve the device, I would suggest a slightly longer wire, and a connection that feels a little more sturdy. Also, possibly some rubber on the bottom to stop it sliding around, as it is very slippy when on a smooth surface.Overall however, I believe this product is fantastic, and would recommend it. I would not however say that this is the best hard drive which I have seen, but at the price which you are paying it is very very good. Like I say, I use this everyday, and I have had very few problems. The program that comes with it, is good, however isn't mind blowing, as it does very little. If you want a program to manage files I'd suggest some other third party one, even though the Seagate Dashboard Agent is still useful for the few things it can do. I would recommend the Seagate Backup Plus, if you are looking for a small, slim hard drive to carry around easily, and to be used quickly with ease. If you are looking for something with a bit more security, and something a little tougher, it may be an idea, to shop around a look at something a little different. Overall though, I am definately happy with this product.

28.10.2017

For basic external storage, this is a good, even great, disk well recommended by The Wirecutter (a very good source of advice) and is the latest generation of a product live I already own and trust. Seagate have backup software for both Mac and PC. On Mac, you can use it as a host for the Time Machine functionality. There's even some cloud cleverness made available. I didn't buy this for any of that... but, before I get there...ALL MAC USERS Despite claiming to be Mac friendly, this disk is formatted using the Windows filing system (NTFS). Macs can read this but not write to it. You MUST reformat it to be useful to you.• Open an app 'Disk Utility' that is installed on your computer.• In the left column,you will see "Seagate Backup Plus Drive". Right click it and 'Erase...'.• In the dialogue window, change the name if you want to and use the 'Format:' drop down to select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' then click erase. Ignore the 'Security Options...' because the disk came blank.Now it's usable for backup applications, Time Machine etc.Getting geeky now...Everything that follows is for Mac users wanting a BOOTABLE backup. A bootable backup is one where you can take the backup disk and plug it into any recent Mac and boot from it as if you were running your own machine at the moment you did the backup. This might get you past a disk failure, theft or some other catastrophic problem.I use a multi-layered approach to data preserving my data: cloud sync services (OneDrive / Dropbox / Creative Cloud etc) for data in real time & cross device sync; Time Machine for changes / versions available locally; and, finally, point in time bootable backups that might save massive rebuilding exercises and are a catchall safety net. I bought a pair of these disks for that last layer of defence - bootable backups - and use SuperDuper (but shifting to Carbon Copy Cloner) to create them.Out of the box, the disks were partitioned using FDisk (Microsoft again) which enables use on Windows and Mac. This partition type will not boot on Macs and is incompatible with a plan to use bootable backups. Previous to macOS High Sierra (10.13), Mac's 'Disk Utility' allowed a partition map to be changed when erasing a disk. This is no longer available so you'll need to do some terminal-fu if you want to use it with either SuperDuper or CCC. I can't post a link to it (Amazon's rules) but there is a great guide on what to do if you search for "Disk Management From the Command-Line, Part 2".Also, with High Sierra the new disk formatting system AFPS has arrived (except if you have an iMac with a Fusion Disk). This changes the rules on how data is stored (you can have more logical data than the drive has physical capacity for). Read the blogs at ShirtPocket (who make SuperDuper) and Bombich (who make CCC) (again, my first draft was refused for link gin directly). A few things I have learnt...• SuperDuper cannot read APFS yet. CCC can appear to have down extensive testing.• For maximum compatibility, it's probably better not to format the external disk to APFS. High Sierra writes a firmware change to read APFS. If your disk is APFS and you try to use it on a Mac that hasn't moved to High Sierra, it won't boot.On that last point, I'm testing if a High Sierra iMac which cannot itself use APFS can boot an APFS disk. I will update the review.

3.12.2014

My daughter and I had that discussion last evening. She is in the "Mac World"; poor old dad stodgily plods along in the Windows based systems. Should one back up all one's precious files in "the cloud" or on a hard drive? Being a belt and suspenders sort of guy, I argued that the "vs." should be removed, replaced by an "and." And with the continued improvements in technology, both are readily viable solutions. Trust, if you will, some provider to operate and maintain "the cloud" securely for you, but also verify that you have the files available, even if the Internet is not, say in the Gila Wilderness. Of course, as my daughter perceptively noted,why would you want to look at your "files" in the Gila Wilderness?Seagate has produced a wonderful "belt and suspenders" type of external hard drive. First of all, although designed for the Mac World, with minor effort, it also can be configured to work with the Windows based systems. Please note the "also," meaning that it will function with both systems. It comes with a USB cable that will work with both the newer (and naturally faster) USB 3.0 ports as well as the older USB 2.0 ports.If you have a Mac, as the name of the product implies, simply pop it out of the box (and pry it out of the plastic), plug it in, and it works. If you have a Windows based system, you need to look at the directions, (conveniently printed in 327 languages- OK, I exaggerate slightly). You obtain Seagate's URL for the Windows "app," go there, download and install on your Windows system. It is about as straightforward and "foolproof" as possible. It took me a couple of minutes only to load it onto my "Dell Inspiron i3147-3750sLV 11.6-Inch 2 in 1 Convertible Touchscreen Laptop" which I also received via the Vine program. I then verified I could move a picture file from the Laptop to the Seagate hard drive via the USB 3.0 port. Yes, it was "lighting fast." I then attempted to connect the Seagate hard drive to my desk top Windows system, via the USB 2.0 port. It did not recognize the hard drive. So, that is the cautionary point. If you intend to use it for Windows systems, you have to download the app onto each computer you will use - no real problem though, at a couple of minutes per computer. And then I transferred a picture file via the USB 2.0 port - also, very fast.No secret there have been enormous improvements in technology. This drive is probably one one-hundredth the size of the clunky external hard drive I purchased seven years ago, and has a hundred thousand times the capacity. At 2 terabytes (that's a million million bytes), sometimes expressed as 10 to the 12th power, it could be used to store all the files both my daughter and I will ever produce. At a little more than 5 ounces, it is meant to be portable, whether your destination is the Gila Wilderness or the Calanque National Park. 5-stars, plus.

2.10.2014

Firstly let me say, i didn't buy this from amazon as I had vouchers for argos i got it there!I now have two of these guys (one grey one blue) the grey one which i have had for almost a year now, which I use for time machine backups. really works well with this no problems so far. I like the little light that lights up on the top left through an etch in the metal cover. one thing I don't like with macs is they don't show disk activity without a download. This is a nice touchI bought the second one because I was looking for a 2gb internal laptop drive, (Do this at your own risk) this item includes the samsung spinpoint M9T, I have seen many youtube videos that show people opening this device,

26.12.2013

Owner of several Seagate hard drives it has to be said they're coming out with an ever more attractive range of hard drives for consumers, with the drive available in four colours to suit!** Please note that the Amazon listing price on the different colours of this hard drive appear to vary when I checked pricing for different sizes - don't get caught out **12.1mm in depth this back up drive is slim as a biro casing a 2.5 inch hard drive (smaller width that standard 3.5 inch hard drives found inside PCs), powered by the USB and is easily pocketable, if you can excuse the sticky-outy cable you need to carry too.As with most Seagate portable drives it comes with Seagate software loaded on the

22.3.2018

Despite many stating this disk is not Mac Friendly this took all of Two Minutes to configure, Seagate provide a fantastic set of applications for Mac and PC and although it ships NTFS they even provide PARAGON NTFS for Mac so you can read and write to it.However for those of you using for Mac predominatly its advised to set up as a Mac Osx drive or ExFat This can be done easily using the Seagate application or by going to Applications/ Utilities/ Disk Utilities select the Seagate drive delete the current partitions and then create whichever partitions you want : Suggestion if you are using for Time Machine and Data Storage (Docs etc) its worth Splitting the drive in a 50 /

17.7.2015

This Seagate hard drive is a lot smaller than I imagined. The first thing to note is it's based on a 2.5" drive which is the sort they put in laptops, whereas PC drives are more chunky. I don't think its a standard laptop hard drive inside though, because the unit is deeper than I'd expect it to be, at around 1.5cm thick, same as a "light reading train station bookshop paperback" or I suppose for those of you who don't remember those, it's something like the dimensions of a couple of chocolate bars side by side.The case looks slick but is just plastic. Personally I have no problem with that but it's not as "sleek" as some I've seen. But I would assume those aren't 4TB.Windows reports it as "3.63TB free" by the way.

24.3.2016

The Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB USB 3.0 Portable 2.5 Inch External Hard Drive for PC and Mac was purchased as a replacement for a similar device now dedicated to use with a PVR in order to expand its storage capacity. This will be used with a PC and to move larger amounts of data between several computers and for which a memory stick would be slower in its transfers and offer far less capacity.Seagate hard drives of various capacities, models, ages and formats are in current and concurrent use for several purposes. Certain models are also used in RAID arrays in daily use and have been found to be generally reliable. Seagate was also one of the earliest brands of drive in use and they have absorbed many of their once competing brands.

14.9.2014

Seems to work flawlessly in the PS4.Carefully prize the drive case open (I started at one corner with a small screwdriver, there are three clips down either side and two at the bottom) and you can get it open with only minor damage along the join. You can then simply slot your old 500gb PS4 drive in here, so the added bonus of another portable drive- all at much less cost than buying the Samsung drive that is in here as a stand alone drive (around a £25 saving).Make sure your PS4 is updated to the latest firmware before you start.Go to Sony's website and download the firmware, put it on a USB stick making sure you follow the instructions in terms of putting it in 2 folders (correctly named in capitals)

24.12.2013

The best thing about this drive is its size. From the pictures I expected something bigger, but this is the same sort of size as some larger smartphones. It's easily pocketed and incredibly convenient.It's got a very decent read-and-write speed (haven't tested with actual figures, sorry), considering that its only power source is through the USB3 cable- there's no other way of powering it.The blue metallic colour is a little bit unusual, I don't see it matching many PC colour schemes- it looks more like shiny car paint than a normal IT colour. It's fairly nice though, so as long as you're not planning some sort of colour-sensitive feng-shui based desk around it,

23.12.2013

My setup Mobo M5A7Bl-M, Quad Core 8mb3.40 Phenon 11x4 965 CPU, 16 Gig DDR3 Ram, Win 7 64bit,AMD Radeon Dh600 series, PSU ATX 12v P4 750w.Pluged in the drive and it booted up fine within 4 seconds and ready for use. There is a white LED on top of the drive indicating its on and there is no power adaptor to worry about it powers from the PCs USB 3.0 socket (it can also work with USB 2.0 but slower and firewire and Thunderbird). The cable that comes with the kit is so small about 6" that you will either have to buy a longer one or plug it in and leave it on top of your PC as long as its not a hot spot otherwise could overheat (no problem if your using a laptop though)

29.12.2013

Seagate 1TB USB 3.0 2.5 inch Backup Plus External Hard Drive-BlueThis is the second 1TB drive I have reviewed (the 1st was the VoyagerAir back in July 2013).Both have their merits but the most striking comparison is their respective size; the Seagate is approximately one third of the size!As I continue to be amazed at the amount you can store/back up on something this small:That's - 320,000 high resolution digital photos - or- 1000 hours of digital video - or- 17,000 hours of music - or- 250 DVD films (2 hours in length) (all of these are estimates)I rechecked Moore's Law (not really a law) that computer capacity doubles every 2 years - it may slow down - but on this evidence - I wouldn't bet

1.1.2016

I was in need of a large capacity portable drive to use as backups and found the 4TB Backup Plus from Seagate. It worked after connecting it to the laptop and I began work on it. I removed all of the preloaded automated rubbish and encrypted the whole drive with Truecrypt. Having to rely on something automated to pack away valuable data into storage is foreign to me. Drag and drop is the way forward. I use Windows 7/10 OS. Over an hour later from my break, 257GB was successfully transferred without a hitch.I've learned of the disadvantages of drives configured to RAID 0 as it allows for total data loss if one of the two internal drives fails. With that in mind,

25.10.2015

Purchased this just over a year ago and I'm quite happy with it.In fact, I've just purchased the 2 terabyte version.However, I did encounter problems that others should beware of.I needed it for backing up my Windows Vista PC, which only has USB 2 ports.I accepted that I would not get the benefits of the drive's USB 3 status but did not expect it to be too bad.However, my backups turned out to be considerably slower; taking over 4 days in fact!I purchased an Inateck PCI-E USB 3 Expansion Card, hoping to resolve the problem.In one sense it did. Backups now took around 4 to 5 hours.Unfortunately, after a few successes, the PC kept losing its connection to the drive. As this did not happen straight away,

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