Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD – Black USB 3.0 for PC Laptop and Mac, 2 Months Adobe CC Photography (STDR2000100)

Large size and it is very small and light (about 5.5 oz) which is a plus as I use this when I travel with my laptop. It has a small LED light (as seen in the upper left of the product picture) which lights up when it is active. It has a nice feature that the drive turns off when you are not using it so it does not drain your laptop battery while idle. The power usage is around 2.25 watts at full usage. I never had an issue with the speed of the drive and I occasionally run HD movies off of the drive which is a read speed of about 10 MB/s which is not much of a load on the drive. I assume it can read much faster as I transferred a mixture of files and movies to the drive at an average speed of 80 MB/s from my laptop. It is hard to tell what exactly was limiting the speed to 80 MB/s but that still is impressive as I was transferring 160 GB in just about a half hour. and i did not notice any noise or heat coming from it. I do not need the back up software so I do not have any comments on that Key Points: Small (only a half inch thick) Light weight (just a tad heavier than you average cell phone if not the same) Fast speed (over 80 MB/s transfer speed on USB 3.0) Very quiet and does not heat up noticeably I recommend to any one who needs the extra room in their computer. One thing to remember: The more files you have on your primary drive on you computer the slower it will start up so save any files on this drive and your computer will run smoother, also you have the benefit of ease of transporting files between computers. Update: After testing I have reached a maximum write speed of 115 MB/s and read of 117 MB/s. This seems to be the highest I can get out of this. It is not the fastest drive, but for the majority of people this should be enough speed.

This is a fantastic lightweight and portable external hard drive. I use it for archiving my media that I want quick access to. I cannot personally speak for longevity of the 2TB model (as I have only had it for a couple weeks), but my friend had the 1TB version of this model and it died after only a month of use. I believe it had something to do with a faulty SATA controller and not the hard drive itself, but he has yet to put it in a new enclosure. That being said, I have faith in the Seagate brand and I have mainly used their hard drives in my gaming computer and for my external storage for the past 12 years or so and I have never had a single issue. I even am using a 1.5 TB desktop drive from them for the past 7 years and it still runs well and has never pulled up an error with regular checks. The highlights here are that this drive is fast (about 50-60mb per sec on average transfer on USB 3.0 for me, this will vary from computer to computer. The hard drive is extremely portable and the case feels durable. The Seagate brand is reliable in terms of the hard drive, but if the drive stops reading it is almost assuredly the SATA card at which point you should just buy an enclosure off of Amazon for a few bucks and then do a quick swap. There are many tutorials online how to do this and it is far cheaper than paying someone for data recovery.

I upgraded my stars because the product seems to work okay, but Im still irritated with all the work I had to do to get this going as I stated below This is what the product said BEFORE I bought it: Works interchangeably on PC and Mac computers—without needing to reformat - This is what the installations directions said: Using the drive with Mac: For Mac you will need to reformat the drive prior to using it. Once complete, the drive should be detected allowing you to manually move files to the drive or set it up with Time Machine automatic backup. IT REALLY IRRITATES ME WHEN A SELLER SAYS ONE THING TO GET YOU TO BUY, THEN ANOTHER TO INSTALL. In addition, to register the thing, you MUST enter an email address that will be used as follows: (basically, theyll sell your email and youll be bombarded with more spam you dont want and didnt ask for: Information Sharing In order to carry out your requests, to make various features, services and materials available to you through this Site, to respond to your inquiries, and/or to provide our Offerings to you or enable an affiliate (as described above) or third party service provider to provide Offerings to you, we may share your PII. Such third parties are companies or individuals that perform functions on our behalf (or on behalf of our partners), such as companies or individuals that analyze data, provide customer service or other Offerings, advertisers, sponsors or other third parties that participate in or administer our promotions or provide marketing or promotional assistance (but such information will be shared only to the extent they need such information to perform their functions). These service providers may use these technologies to help us deliver our own content and advertising, and compile anonymous site metrics and analytics. We do not permit any of these service providers to collect any of your personal information on our sites or in our services, applications, or tools for their own purposes. These service providers are subject to confidentiality agreements with us and other legal restrictions on their use or collection of any personal information. Your PII may also be used by us or shared with our subsidiaries, affiliates, sponsors, partners, advertisers or other third parties to provide you with services, product information and promotional and other offers. We may use third parties, such as advertising networks and exchanges, to allow us to serve you advertisements. These third-party ad networks and exchange providers may use third-party cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies to collect information. They may also collect your device identifier, IP address, or identifier for advertising (IDFA). The information that these third parties collect may be used to assist us in providing you with more relevant advertising that we serve on our sites or elsewhere on the web.

Initial impressions after getting the drive the other day. I have had one archive drive fail since the first of the year and another one is showing signs of issues. I also need a larger backup drive which I connect, backup and then disconnect from the system. Each are only 2TB each so I was looking for something bigger. The one I got is the 4TB version. Pros: o Very small, much smaller than I thought, was thinking it was a larger form factor like the older archive drives I have. Nice. o Quiet, literally... I wasnt sure it was actually working until I started moving files to it and saw it moving data. Above the normal noise of the room, I couldnt hear it at while it was reading/writing. o Fairly fast, fast enough for the purposes that intend them for. Cons: o It has a power light but no activity light. Not really a big issue since where it will be located I wouldnt be able to see the activity light anyways. o shorter cable, but not really a big issue. It has one of the special Micro-USB Type B USB3 connectors to the drive and a normal USB Type A USB 3 (blue) connector on the other side. Bonus: It comes with a 200GB 2yr Upgrade for OneDrive. While I use OneDrive for work and have a very large drive, I really dont use OneDrive for my own stuff. I have an account but it was limited to 5GB.. I added this to that account and now have 205GB for the next two years. If you use it, not bad. Right now I am using this for the manual backup drive so when done I disconnect it from the computer and store it. When ejecting the drive the computer says it is in use but the drive is setup for quick removal so that is not an issue, just unplug it. Will update as time goes by. I plan on getting 2 more of these in about a week if this one doesnt present any issues.

I was looking for a 2TB 9mm 2.5 drive for my laptop, and there arent any. Then I ran across this Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB External Hard Drive. I ordered one and it works perfectly. Heres what you have to do to use it in a Windows PC: If you are going to use this drive as your boot drive, first you will have to load an image of your boot drive onto it with software such as Aconis True Image, then proceed to the next step. If you are using it as a second drive, it is already ready to go. Next, pry open the case at the seam with the edge of a knife. It is stuck together wit some sticky glue, and comes apart without too much effort. The hard part is getting the first bite. From there, just work your way all the way around the case. Then carefully peel the foil back that is holding the drive in. (This foil has an adhesive on it, but comes off pretty easily without leaving a residue on the drive.) Just be patient through these steps, and avoid putting any pressure on the drive itself. Once those two steps are accomplished, the drive and controller come out with a little coaxing by prying very slightly on the non-controller end of the drive and case. Then all you have to do is unplug the drive from the controller and mount it into your laptop. Viola! You have a 2GB laptop drive! If you have another 9mm 2.5 drive laying around, use it in your now-empty external USB case by assembling in the reverse order of disassembly. Works fine with the WD drive I put in it.

Has worked great so far as a Extended Storage hard drive on my PS4. Has been great to add the extra space. First off it ONLY stores the game applications and nothing else. Which is fine by me as I already have two sony usb drives for transfering my ps3 and ps4 stuff on plus the online storage from PS+ so no big deal. It was easy to install just plugged it in clicked to format let the ps4 set it up as Extended Storage and thats it. It is also great as it allows you to use the games stored on it on another system as long as you are logged in on the profile it saved it as or switch that profile as Primary so anybody can use it. It also allows more then one profile and more then one systems games on it as well as loading more then one user profile for the same game. Which is great for using it on someone elses system as it does not need to be stored on the other plugged in systems either. Allows easier use of it without taking the whole ps4 system to someone else who already has one. So I now have a 4 TB drive plus my 1 TB system makes 5 and boy do you need the space nowdays if you like a good selection of games lol. I have loaded it up with over a tb already and still works great. I left my huge space disc games on my ps4 and everything else is on the Seagate. The games on the Seagate crash less and load easier and faster if it is a downloaded game then on my ps4. Might sound strange but its true as a game my ps4 would not play wirhout crashing never has since being on my seagate still. Great buy and great compatability with the PS4 system saving you lots of hassle with the bonus of free roaming to other systems easily. The first time you plug it into a new system it takes it a minute to read it again as it connects to the system but in the long haul is well worth the short wait. Great choice for when you need space and for those who have friends with systems to connect to when visiting or being visited. Highly recommend using as a PS4 Extended Storage device. Will update if anything changes in a bad way which I dont forsee happening.

An update: Sadly, I did lean back the other day in my chair, with my laptop, and overlooked that this was attached! It slipped off the desk, dangled by the USB cable, and then stopped working! Now makes beeps, then goes quiet. There are some great videos on the web that show how to take this apart. Sure enough, the head was stuck, but freeing that up has not helped. Now, it just clicks. I wonder if there are other small, external drives that are more fall resistant. I remember reading that the hard drives inside Macs automatically lift the head (or park it) when they fall… thatd be great to have in an external HD. I did notice that, unlike some of the videos of the HD, this had no side bumpers inside the case and no side screws. Assembly line issue? Or, newer design? In any event, as I noted in my original review, the drive is slim, lightweight, and fast-- and a tad noisy. Im not taking off a star for this (operator error! :-) ), but its worth highlighting how short the cable is and how smart it is to unplug it after backing up with it! Original review: This is a very fast external drive. Its also small (3 x 4 ½ by ), making it quite portable (easily tossed into a briefcase or backpack). The blue color is great looking. If youre getting more than one of these (as I did) be sure to get different colors, so you can easily tell which is which, especially for a backup rotation. (I got blue and black. The black is fine, but the blue, special, deep and rich.) On the downside, there is a noticeable noise when its in operation--a combination of swooshing and a higher pitch. Ive had other external drives whose noise is virtually undetectable. If your hearing is average or you are insensitive to noises, its likely no big deal. (Or, if you work in an office or like having music on, those should drown this out.) However, if you have good hearing, are sensitive to noises, and work in a quiet environment, it is a distraction. The USB cord is also short, meaning that the drive is right beside you and your ears (well, at least one of them!). I also could see music aficionados not liking the noise in the background of the songs or classical music they are listening to! Im in the good hearing, prefer quiet group, but the drive is fast enough (updating backups of, say, 1 gb in about 7 minutes) that its too bad a problem. One can leave the room or try to ignore it! OTOH, watch out! That short USB cord means that when you lean back in your chair with your laptop, you will likely pull the drive off your desktop! The only solution is to religiously unplug the drive after it finishes its backup.

For the most part, theres really not a lot to say about this drive in comparison to others. Everything one would expect is here: solid transfer speeds, quality build, svelte looks, and reliability (some will disagree with this last but, in my experience, Seagate is just as good as the rest). What makes this drive a go to drive is the size. If you own Seagates 500Gb Slim, you know what Im talking about (this 1Tb version is a bit thicker). if you dont, dig around for whatever 1Tb portable drive you have handy. Now, cut the thickness of that drive into almost half and youve got this drive (the actual dimensions are listed below). What makes this drive worth the price (if you can get it on sale) is that you get the same storage as other 1Tb drives, but at half the thickness. For many, this wont matter, and I can certainly understand that. For those who are packing things tight, though, saving 1/4 on the thickness of a portable drive can be a big difference. I can now easily carry this portable drive in its own pocket my messenger bag, rather than having it rattle around in the larger pocket with all the other doodads that dont have a good spot. Combined with the fact that this drive will run off a standard Micro USB cable (albeit at USB 2.0 speeds), this winds up being a big advantage for road warriors and geeks. Is the drive worth the cost? Thats hard to say. If you can get this on a decent sale, I would say yes. I have all sorts of portable drives, but since getting this one I find many of them are gathering dust. Its just hard to pass over the tinned form factor for this drive. I will, however, point out that the Toshiba Canvio Slim is more or less the same price, but manages to shave 1/2 off the length. Personally, I trust Seagate a bit more, but thats personal preference (I also like the look of this drive more).

You gotta love the ever increasing capacity of portable external hard drives! My last 2 were 2TB each and I nearly filled one up already and the other is well past half way now. When it comes to storage you can NEVER have enough! I owned 2 of the WD My Passport Ultras and love them. I love the fact that they dont need an external power supply and that theyre just so damn portable yet holds a lot for something so small. I recently go this in the mail and it is a little thicker as is described than the WDs but not by a whole bunch. Its still considerably less thick than stacking 2 of the WD drives on top of each other. While I do love the storage capacity on this device for not much more thickness than the WD drives, I do have one big gripe about it. Now this might be something on my end, or even the limits of my TV but I have one 2TB WD HDD pretty much committed for only movies. That HDD stays hooked up to my Samsung TV about 95% of the time so we can watch my gigantic collection of movies anytime without having to hook up a laptop or computer to it. So assuming that since that worked perfectly fine, I expected the Seagate 4TB HDD to work the same once I copied all my movies over. Sadly that was not the case at all. The TV wont even recognize the device. So Im now stuck with the dilemma of what to do. I can hook up my laptop to my TV via HDMI and play movies that way, which is a pain and reason why I loved my WD 2TB HDDs so much, or get one of those mini HTPC for about $100 and hookup this to that, or even maybe Chromecast. Either way its sadly no plug and play anymore for me. Like I said, maybe theres something that I need to do in order to get it to work but I havent had time to research it or figure out how to make it work. Because of the above reason, I dropped it 1 star otherwise I wouldve given this a 5 without any problems. If there are any updates or changes, Ill be back to add to my review.

I am buying the Backup Plus 4TB. The Plus is one Seagate/Samsung ST4000LM016 4TB SMR drive. The Plus FAST is 2 Seagate/Samsung 2TB SpinPoint M9T ST2000LM003 . The Plus 4TB drive is 15mms so it wont fit in most laptops or 2.5 containers. I am pulling them out of the container and using them in a RaidZ for files that I rarely if ever will access again, but need to keep. Low Power, Low Heat, Small size make them ideal for what I need. You can put 12 of these in 3x5.25 bays, which in a RaidZ2 gives you 36.4TB usable space. I attached 2 pictures of the speeds hooked up to USB 3.0 port. The pictures are with the drive empty. My experience with the drives so far is, as they fill up, they slow. One screen shot is stressing it with 1GB files the other is with 5GB files. Generally they seem to be faster with Larger files. Update Dec 31st 2016 My motherboard started kicking out all kinds of ACHI errors on some of the ports so Ive decided to replace the motherboard and to be safe replace the drives with 6TB 3.5 drives. The 2.5 drives worked good for the most part. I did have a 50% failure rate on the drives. Though all of the drives that failed, failed within the first 3 weeks. I had bought some of the drives from Best Buy, they had a sale on them and they were cheaper than Amazon, Best Buy was cool exchanging the bad drives without question, which surprised the hell out of me since I had pulled them out of the case, damaging the cases in the process. Ive gifted the surviving drives to friends and family, they work great and are reliable, with 2 minor exceptions. 1 has a constant temp reading of 89c (192F) so the sensor is bad and a second one, a couple months ago, had a lot of sectors go bad over the course of a few days. The drive was still useable, and if I wasnt in a RaidZ2 config I would of replaced it immediately. Over all they worked and did the job once the problem drives were weeded out. ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard 2x Kingston KVR16E11/8 HighPoint Rocket 620 Dual Port SATA 6Gb/s Controller 10x Seagate STDR4000100