unheimlich's Full Review: Seagate OneTouch 4 1 TB USB 2.0 Hard Drive
When you unbox the Maxtor (i.e. Seagate) OneTough 4 1000MB model it comes in a bag that is sealed with a sticker that says "Save Your Life". And that's exactly what these ominous-looking obelisks are able to do. With its roomy 1TB size, you can mirror your desktop or laptop hard drive without worry (though it does take a little time). Or, if you're like me, you only need to back up the data you save and create -- which is easy, armed with backup software.
In fact, I use this external device to back up the data on ALL the computers in my house: two networked PCs, a laptop, and a netbook. I gave them all their own partition (even a Mac -- a partition I had to format separately), and it has been working without a hitch. Well, there's one minor one, but I can live with it. More on that in a second.
The Maxtor OneTouch 4 is a speedy little demon. Heck, it feels like it's swallowing up data faster than my desktop harddrive can spit it out! The usb 2.0 connection makes it a breeze, and it runs really well. It's faster on the Mac, because Windows will spend time autoreading the drive to pull up its contents, whereas my Mac seems to be able to read it lickety-split due to the way the mac os works.
I've found the USB 2.0 style really makes this a snap. Plug and play! And you can rest safe that you've got an extra copy somewhere. (I recommend you don't stop backing up to DVD and other places as well -- you don't want to put all your eggs into just one basket).
It's unplugging it that gives me that 'minor problem' I mentioned above. With a mac, I can just 'eject.' When I try to 'eject' using Windows, the OS seems to get confused, thinking the external unit is a part of the system, rather than a USB peripheral. There are two solutions: 1) leave it connected (i don't like to), or, 2) reboot the machine and unplug it when the system is down (before the rebooting 'beep'). If you just pull the USB out, it will work, but it marks the changes as 'dirty' and can cause problems eventually.
The 'OneTouch' software that comes with the device allows you to use the big horizontal button on the base of the unit, to instantly run an assigned backup routine. The light on this thing is a little annoying, but I'm happy to have that readout so I know when it is actually writing to disk. But I never use the button to do anything and I chose my own software for backups, so it's useless to me, personally.
I'm a consumer...I don't know all the ins-and-outs. But it does what I expected it to do -- save my life. I have recovered a corrupted Outlook email database by pulling it off the Maxtor backup -- and breathed a very loud sigh of relief.
Perfect for storing a lot of media files (like mp3s or photo albums) -- especially if you want to take them off your hard drive. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED UNIT.
For consumers who need a simple solution with a classic design for Mac or PC, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 makes it easier to set up and manage data backup, ...More at Nu-Image Corporation
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