21.9.2019

First off, the delivery. Spot on, could even track the package right to my doorstep. Nice feature! Packaging was typical - INADEQUATE. Seriously... How many times does Azn need telling? These are sensitive devices. The reason I mention this will appear later in my review.Internal packaging by Toshiba is the reasonable inflated bubble wrap. The USB3 cable was folded up 4 times and as a result has 4 kinks in it, 2 of which are pretty brutal. The drive socket wasn't completely firm, a small bit of play was felt inserting and removing the cable. A bit more research revealed this type of socket is usually soldered to the drive's board and looking at the size of the drive (a footprint slightly SMALLER than a 50g tobacco tin!)it's very likely this socket is soldered to the drive, so if you're thinking you can remove the case if it fails at a later date and stick the drive in another case or computer, think again. This alone is why I removed a star. If the socket fails, a new one typically costs a fiver and that's before you learn to solder or pay someone else to do it. I'll probably wrap some tape around the end of the drive to limit the cable movement too but that's just me being paranoid, since during a file transfer to the Toshiba external drive, one of my internal drives kicked out a couple of Command Timeout errors in the SMART readout, something I've never seen in 18 months of owning my system. A thorough geek-esque system check revealed the Toshiba was totally blame-free :)CrystalDiskMark & CrystalDiskInfo reveal more information. According to CDI, the drive is a SATA II drive. Not really an issue since USB3 speeds on my laptop max out around 130MB/s but is it really a SATA II? I hope it's not an old drive inside, I haven't seen anything but SATA III and NVMe in years. Still, CDM speed tests were pretty much what I hoped for - at best 131MB/s writing a 1GB file, 130MB/s writing and reading a 2GB file (I ran this test several times). SMART codes seemed perfectly normal at this point. Most of the time the speed hovered between 120-130MB/s whilst writing large files, occasionally it would drop to 80-90MB/s. A large folder of image files gave the typical snails pace you get from a HDD. All files transferred ok, although I discovered the transferred folder (42.2GB) was 5MB smaller than the source, despite being identical file systems (right down to cluster and sector size, on NTFS). No files are missing... Never seen that before in an identical setup but during the backups, I had a lot of "firsts" (and in 26 years of computing, I just wanted to put it down to my age lol).Finally, the reason for the packaging comment at the start. During tests, I noticed the "Disk Shift" SMART output changing a few times. Exhaustive reading threw out several possibilities, not least one being external force - a package being tossed around, for example. I've had parcels from here that looked like they'd been kicked about. It's unacceptable and it likely reduces the lifespan of most sensitive devices. Idling, the Disk Shift output returns to zero. Whilst active, I've seen values from 1 up to 22, 14 has appeared a few times. It seems like the drive is shifting when running at full speed but no other errors have emerged yet.Phew. Lastly, The auto power-off (1min or so) is a little annoying but considering how hot it gets (45C from 25C after a 10 minute file transfer) it's probably a good thing. Also, yesterday this drive was cheaper than the Seagate/Maxtor equivalents, today they're the same price - Something to bear in mind if, like me, you were comparing several drives and cost was a deciding factor. The drive seems to be exactly what it would be, great size, plenty of care needed to keep it in working condition but always treat your external drives with great care regardless. 1TB of course will show as approx 931GB in Windows. I run a dual-boot system (Win/Linux) and the drive works fine in both operating systems. Would I trust it with critical data? I don't know yet.

10.8.2015

Great little piece of kit. I really like the small, compact form factor - easily fits in your trouser pocket if necessary. Very easy to begin using - just plug in to your computer, wait for Windows to install the drivers automatically, and begin backing up - no need to format as this has been done by the manufacturer. The USB lead that comes with the hard drive is fairly small in length, so if your USB connection is located on top of your PC, you'll have to rest the hard drive on top whilst it's in use. This can be a problem for certain enthusiast PC cases like mine (NZXT Phantom), but it's not a big deal for me personally, as I use the USB 3.0 connection located at the back of my PC where the hard drive can sit flat on the desk.

16.1.2019

At the end of the day it’s an external hard drive and like any other 3.0 with a usb they will work for Playstation or Xbox. If they have their own format tool which they do you won’t have any problems. The first thing that comes up once you’ve connected it and powered on the console a message saying “Not Compatable”. Well it actually is it’s just that it’s not formatted and more like it’s been pre formatted to NTFS which is what windows use. Once you have formatted it, it takes literally seconds that’s it.Once you go to your system settings scroll down to Devices, USB Storage Devices, External USB 3.0 Toshiba. There it will ask you to format to an extended storage.Please note,

23.10.2015

There’s not much to say about hard drives these days. They’re cheap, not that fast, and come in ever increasing capacities. The Toshiba Canvio Basics follows those trends. It doesn’t stand out; you could choose any other hard drive and probably be just as happy. However, this is a rather cheap external hard drive that isn’t very attractive but will happily blend into the rest of your devices. Attached to my Xbox One I never need to see it again. One feature that I like quite a bit is the LED indicator. If it’s connected to a USB 3 port the light goes blue and if connected to a USB 2 port it goes white. This is a nice visual subtly, but it can also be really handy if troubleshooting.This drive isn’t super-fast.

26.12.2018

A small unit with real power! Arrived quickly and in perfect order. Initially connected to computer using a short (10 inch) extension cable from my USB 3 socket. Created a shortcut on the desktop and then proceeded to Windows control panel where I opened the back-up icon. Clicked on 'back-up' and away it went, only to stop after about 14% completed. Tried to repeat with similar results. Gave up and retired to think and study 'troubleshooting' advice. Realised that using the little extension cable was the problem. Dispensed with the cable and plugged the unit into the computer using only the supplied connecter - bingo! Recorded 97% and then seemed to go ino a loop without end.

2.4.2020

Due to my ineptitude, while tinkering with the partitions on this hard disk drive I managed to 'brick' the drive - to the extent that it wasn't displayed as a new drive when plugged into a USB port.Fearing the worst, I phoned the hotline at Toshiba Storage Solutions, fully expecting a barrage of keypad menus and hours of muzak before perhaps finally reaching a human who could help. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when within three seconds I got through directly to an extremely pleasant, knowledgeable and good-humoured Toshiba technician in Germany. He patiently guided me through the steps needed to resuscitate the drive and also offered some very useful tips.I cannot recommend the support I received highly enough.

7.6.2018

Perfect for purpose.Basically I bought a new LG 2018 4K Smart TV and needed the option to record. (I'm relying a lot on the built in tuner etc rather than a dedicated box.) This item came with some good reviews.Have tried and tested (just plugged and played into USB port 1) No formatting needed. If your smart TV has the feature of being able to record then an HDD like this should be perfectly suitable for you. Once recorded you can have option to pause/rewind. Very nice and essentially completes the setup for me (I am trying to avoid bulky set top boxes)This item is also much smaller than I thought. Am currently looking at a way to secure it to the back of the television (similar to an HDD bracket for PC)

28.8.2015

I am very pleased I bought this external HDD. It seems to be performing as advertised and up till now it has posed me no problem whatsoever on any of my three computers with numerous USB 3.0 ports.Before receiving this drive, I was using an old spare internal HDD dating 2008 to transfer files from one computer to another, and between the two there’s a enormous difference in many respects. While the latter needed a power supply, a huge adaptor and a Sata to USB 2.0 cable, the former just plugs into a USB 3.0 port and sits unobtrusively on the top of the computer.Size wise, the Toshiba is much thinner and smaller than an ordinary 3.5” HDD and weighs hardly anything in comparison. Moreover,

14.7.2018

Arrived extremely quick just the next morning even though tracking said it would come around 9pm, so really happy with delivery. Postman just threw it through the slot, so at first I was a bit concerned about the drive being damaged by the fall, but it had really thick, poofy protection in the box, so I hope it'll be fine.The box came damaged, with the cardboard of the amazon packaging intact, so it must've happened before delivery. Still everything okay inside, I just thought it be noteworthy.The drive itself is nicely small and light-weight, the usb cable is about 40 cm long. The noise is minimal, just the barest humming when it's connected. It does get quite warm though,

23.1.2019

I trust Toshiba, having previously purchased laptops, TVs and hard drives, no reason to lose that trust with this product! Its a great size, probably about the length of an old cassette, and little taller, and I had no problems plugging into my VAIO laptop, about 5 years old running Windows 8. The drivers uploaded easily, and even with USB 2.0 the speed of upload was pretty good. I've only used this once to this point, but I can't think I will encounter any problems (famous last words!) No problems or issues, and so I'm giving this a double "5*" rating for functionality and ease. Given I've only had this about a month, I can't comment more fully on durability,

8.11.2019

I bought this to attach to a Raspberry Pi that was storing images from other Pi cameras around the home with MotionEyeOS.Setup was just plugging it in to the Pi's USB slot. The Pi has the official 2.5amp supply and no additional power was required and the performance of the Pi didn't decrease at all. MotionEye found the drive and labelled it correctly right away, no formatting or mounting of the drive manually required. It just worked.It's compact and very quiet, didn't seem to get hot at all while it was running on my desk. It's now hidden away in the home doing a vital job and I'm considering getting another one to use as portable storage with my laptop.I can't really find any faults with it,

2.12.2018

Using this with aforementioned laptop. It's very sleek and modern. I cannot believe how tiny it is. I guess my mind is still in the USB drive era. Really good. Just connect it to your laptop and something pops up asking whether you want to back up using this external drive using time machine. Then, whenever this external drive is connected to your laptop (and I believe the power adapter is connected), at certain intervals time machine will record changes in the drive. And when you look at this drive's folder, you will see all the backups from when you first backed up using time machine. You can restored to any of the backups (identified by date and time of backup).

10.2.2018

In hindsight, I should not have bought this particular drive. I really wanted a 2.5" SATA HDD for my PVR upgrade and USB3 to SATA converter (and this appeared to be offered both at a tempting price). The drive is fine, case a bit plasticky but no issues with performance. When I opened it up to extract the drive, I was baffled by the lack of a SATA connector (given the Amazon tech specs said "Hard Drive Interface - Serial ATA-300"), and discovered a USB3 to SATA converter was actually built into the PCB **of the drive itself**! I have never come across this before, and having opened it up, now won't be able to return it. The drive itself seems fine,

10.11.2019

Honestly this little portable hard drive has saved my bacon. The internal HDD on my iMac fully died on my so I picked this drive up as a temporary fix. As expected it arrives formatted for windows, but it's easy enough to reformat and partition appropriately for a mac. I was able to do a full system restore from a time machine backup which took about 3 hours to load in (also expected).What is unexpected is how well this little machine is running my entire computer. I'm experiencing little to no speed decrease in the general use of my computer which does include causally playing WoW and LoL.I'm unsure of the longevity of this hard drive has I doubt they were designed for this kind of intensive use,

8.1.2016

I am extremely happy with this product. It is fast, durable and does exactly what it should. I bought this to create some space on my laptop, transferring about 100mb of files took no time at all compared to some USB sticks i have bought in the past. It is fairly heavy which makes me think it is very durable. You can tell just by holding it that it is well made, with a strong outer case. I like the fact that you can take out the usb, as if it ever breaks it can be easily replaces. It also makes it easier to store.Something that would be nice would be if it came with a little case to protect it, it does not.Overall, this product is great, i used it to store files and also handed in my university dissertation on it,

Toshiba Canvio Slim (2018) - Reviews

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