Seagate OneTouch 300GB External Hard Drive - Decent Expansion for Your PC
Written: Jan 04 '07 (Updated May 01 '08)
Product Rating:
Pros: Tons of space. Piece of mind WHEN your hard drive goes, you have the data.
Cons: Software's useless. 3rd party software solves the problem, makes it worthwhile. FAT32 formatted!!
The Bottom Line: I would give it an above average if not for the software/documentation issues, which, again, are resolved by using a program you likely have on your PC or 3rd party.
mongomad1's Full Review: Seagate OneTouchâ„¢ III T01H300 300 GB USB 2.0 Har...
Frankly, the only reason I bought the Maxtor OneTouch III 300 GB USB 2.0 Hard Drive was that I had a $100 coupon for Dell and this was just under $150 on their site. It also seemed like a value for the other price tags I see on the web as Dell tends to take advantage of you when you buy non-Dell products through their site.
My needs were: #1 to have more storage space - I run cable through my PC and use it as a DVR and use it to make home movies from my mini-DVD Sony Handy Cam and #2 to back-up my hard disks "auto-magically" - burning the important stuff to CD/DVD was/is TIME CONSUMING.
I have learned the hard way that it is not if but when a hard drive will become a paperweight. Fortunately, I lost nothing of importance as I did have CD's and DVD's with the things I really could not replace, namely family videos and pictures along with business information.
This plain Jane device that I have had for only two days has already had its ups and downs. Here are its specs:
Hard Drive 3.5 inch ATA
Capacity 300GB
RPM 7200
Cache Buffer 16MB
Seek Time 9.0 ms
Interface USB 2.0/1.1
Sustained Transfer Rate USB 2.0 - 33 MB/sec
Bus Transfer Rate USB 2.0 - 480 Mb/sec
Operating Temp 5C to 35C (41F to 95F)
Dimensions 5.3 x 2.6 x 8.5 inches (136 x 65 x 217 mm)
Weight 3.2 lbs (1.45 Kgrams)
AC Voltage 100-240 VAC
Input Frequency 47-63 Hz AC
Compatibility PC
PC Requirements Pentium III, 500 MHz equivalent processor or higher
Windows 2000 Professional, XP Professional, or XP Home Edition
128MB (256 recommended) RAM or more as required by operating system
CD-ROM drive
Easy to describe as it is a rectangular box as the dimensions above state, with one button on the front (can be made to open an application other than Maxtor's software as is the default when you press it), and on the back you have your power cord, USB connection and power toggle. Its simplicity is wonderful and is a lovely bluish green on the two largest sides and silver everywhere else.
The greenish part is soft plastic, covering an otherwise completely silver box. It has a lovely light around the OneTouch button that alternates top and bottom when in use and stays solid when on but nothing is being accessed from it or info being sent to it. This is positive as it does not make any noise other than the internal fan that runs constantly.
The bad: Software. It is very basic and I see no way to use it if you want to back up anything other than the one machine to which it is attached by USB. I ran a back-up using it and it REALLY dogs the hard drive in your PC basically the entire time, which is eerily reminiscent of how hard drives would sound just before the Blue Screen of Death on 2000, NT machines and their predecessors. It truly concerned me that it may be sucking the data off with far too much authority! See Consumer reports, they agree.
Based on about 70GB or so being backed up, this took a good 2.5 hours after which it did not complete the job. As I browsed its contents, it skipped files in folders and even entire folders that were selected. I was irritated, but figured if it works as an external hard drive, Windows has the answer to bypass Maxtor's poor software.
I then used "Backup" from Windows XP-Pro (Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Backup). I notice on my wife's PC that this option exists as well which means that you should be all set with XP-Home Edition and I know it is on 2000 as well. If not, it is on the disk for these OS's and you can visit Maxtor's site or Microsoft's for instructions for installing.
Windows Backup is FAR more robust than the pitiful mess included that has no advantages in Maxtor's favor that I see. In fact, the only way you will be able to back up other pc's on your home network not directly attached is with this MS program or some other 3rd party software. Backup will allow you to schedule, identify exactly what you want to back up, including System State, incremental back-ups, full back-ups, differential, etc...
It also does this and wraps it up in one file with the extension of .bkf. Find that on the Maxtor drive, double click it and Windows will open it with all the capabilities of restoring single files to an entire PC's worth of data. You can also set the one button on the Maxtor's face to open Windows Backup under "Customize Maxtor OneTouch" button. Just click on it and hit the selection for "Application" then select browse and find C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\NTBACKUP.exe or just type that in.
When this method was used instead of Maxtor's software, the hard drive did not seem to strain nearly as much and the length of time to complete was nearly the same.
I am not sure the novice PC user would have the greatest success with this other than added space for files, but those that are moderate to advanced will make excellent use of this extra space and confidently leave their PC running 24 X 7 with no care of the hard drive frying (well, less care).
The only other issue I have with it is the heat it produces while on and not in use. Not burning up hot, but warmer than I'd like. For now I will use it cautiously as far as having files on it exclusively and will have it run every night, alternating incremental and full each day. I will update any problems or features I may have missed.
Well, it would be very nice for the folks at Maxtor to let you know that their product is formatted FAT32 and not NTFS. The documentation is minimalistic at best as are the details on their website.
For those that do not know what that means, FAT32 was the original File System design for Windows 98 and is compatible with all newer versions of Windows, including XP. It has a FEW pluses, but NTFS is what will allow for the most efficient use of space, unless you are backing up small files on a small hard drive (why would you need 300GB for that?).
There are many other benefits to NTFS over FAT32 and you can copy and paste this URL into your browser for more info: http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm
The thing that bit me in the backup process using Maxtor as is was the fact I have some files over 4GB (Video). FAT32 can not handle this. It made the thing go a bit haywire, with an endless folder tree.
Again, Microsoft to the rescue. Using Computer Management's Disk Management tool, (Control Panel-Administrative Tools-Computer Management-then expand Storage, I formatted the volume (Maxtor) to NTFS. I needed it to erase what was on there along with convert it to NTFS. If you have info on it, there are command prompts you can enter that will format the drive NTFS without losing data.
You could also format it part FAT32 and the rest NTFS in the beginning. Please note that moving to NTFS is easy, going back to FAT32 is not when you have data you can not store elsewhere temporarily.
BEWARE THAT YOU CHOOSE THE CORRECT DRIVE LETTER/DISK # ASSIGNED TO MAXTOR OR YOU WILL CURSE ME FOR THE ADVICE WHEN YOU ERASED SOME OTHER STORAGE DEVICE.
Since the format, I have successfully run a back-up using the Microsoft solution detailed earlier. I will update any further issues of significance that I experience. Watch out for IDtenT errors by reading my rant!
For some reason my scheduled backups would not kick off and when I ran them manually, I would get errors. By creating test documents that were not part of the original, I also saw it was not getting the job done as they were nowhere to be seen. I checked my power settings (where screen saver is and in control panel - Power Options) to make sure I was not turning off my hard disk and that no hibernation or standby existed.
I purchased Nero 7 for other reasons (video editing and DVD burning), but it too has a backup tool. So far it has been flawless as I suspect many 3rd party softwares may be. Nero offers as robust a back-up tool as MS, including incremental, full, differential and update backup. The interface is much nicer as well and allows for scheduling.
I am doing Full at 3am Sat. and Incremental every day except Sat at 3am. This means if my hard drive blew up on a Friday, I'd need to load the last full back up and the Incrementals up to Friday if the machine blew up after the backup in order to be back in bidness. Incrementals cause less strain on the equipment than if you did a full every night.
If I have problems with it, I will let you know. Also, I would sincerely plan on just using this as an expansion for more data. Even though you reduce the chance of losing it all, based on the fact the two pieces of equipment are in the same house leaves you with a lot of risk. If lightning strikes and fries one, it will likely fry the other. Same with natural disasters, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, plumbing leaks etc...
Your best bet for foolproof back up is to choose a vendor that has reasonable rates and ensure they are fault tolerant (not only in their hardware but also send data to another part of the country). Most users do not need all this unless you have irreplaceable, cherished items on your PC, like business/client info, video & pics of loved ones or code you may have created to be the next Bill Gates.
If you run a small business, concentrate on your core product or service. Vendors will provide better answers more cheaply and certainly more reliably than you SHOULD afford yourself. Do your homework!
Plus, you can easily discontinue service as many have only month-to-month contracts and another great reason to look at other solutions versus letting someone go from your employment (unemployment costs, finding a replacement, hardware costs as well).
If IT is not your main source of revenue where you already have pros and equipment, do a cost benefit analysis. 2003 Exchange Server is 32-bit and 2007 Exchange Server is 64-bit which means to upgrade you must buy/lease all new equipment.
At a minimum, I'd have two back-up devices if I was in business and carry one home each night (the one that updated most recently). Still, you are at risk somewhat.
If this review was informative, please feel free to visit my other Computer Hardware reviews:
MODEL- T01H300 VENDOR- MAXTOR FEATURES- Maxtor OneTouch III, USB 2.0- 300GB Your photos, your home videos, your music files and your work projects. It...More at Amazon Marketplace
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