Maxtor Personal Storage 5000LE 80 GB Hard Drive; Silent, Reliable Performance
Written: Jul 01 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quite, reliable high capacity drive.
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: An excellent value; high capacity USB 2.0 drive for a reasonable price.
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| vemartin's Full Review: Seagate Personal Storage 5000LE 80 GB USB 2.0 Hard... |
There has been a virtual explosion in the popularity and availability of external hard drive. Perhaps the phenomenon can be blamed on the ever-increasing proliferation of Universal Serial Bus (USB), Firewire, and plug-n-play technologies, or the need for users to store more and more music, video, and graphics files on their computers. In the final analysis however, the “why” matters less then the fact that they are here and available in a range of sizes and price points to suit almost any storage need and budget.
Even though I back-up my files to tape twice a month, up until recently I did see the need to archive them. That all changed when I needed to re-write a research paper I had written for my undergrad degree, a year ago. The file was stored on my server’s hard drive, but I discovered to my dismay that it had become corrupt and I couldn’t open it no matter how hard I tried, what methods I tried to pry it open. Sure, I had backed it up, but had long since overwritten that particular tape. So now I needed a way to archive my data files and keep them around for two or three years. Both of my data servers already have two large capacity hard drives in them, so I turned to the Maxtor Personal Storage 5000LE 80 GB Hard Drive for help.
Before I purchased the Maxtor Personal Storage 5000LE 80 GB Hard Drive I did my research both here and other various on-line sights. Western Digital and Iomega both also offer external hard drives, but I have had problems with their product lines in the past, so I decided to go with Maxtor, a brand I have always been able to trust.
Maxtor offer an entire line of external hard drives, from 40GB to 250GB, most featuring the “One Touch” backup solution (via a backup button on the front of the case), from Dantz, namely Retrospect Express Backup Software (more on this later). All of the drive feature either USB 2.0, or Firewire connectivity, some offer both.
Installation
The Personal Storage 5000LE 80 GB Hard Drive is encased in a handsome blue and white case with vents on the sides and front to keep the drive cool. Two LED’s on the front panel indicate that the drive is on and or is being written to. The Personal Storage 5000LE 80 GB Hard Drive is rated at 7200RPM.
The Personal Storage 5000LE 80 GB Hard Drive ships is a very rugged cardboard box which contains: the drive itself, a silver USB cable encased in clear plastic (very attractive), two part external power adapter, software CD, a very colorful users guide, and a vertical stand. The documentation includes an installation guide for the drive and one sheet to walk you through the “One Touch” backup process utilizing the front panel button. The installation guide is well laid out and is well illustrated making both hardware and software installation easy.
Maxtor Personal Storage 5000LE 80 GB Hard Drive utilizes a USB 2.0 connection, but it is backward compatible with USB 1.0/1.2. However I do not recommend connecting the drive to a USB 1.0/1.2 port because it will slow the drive down considerably; i.e. 12Mbps vs. 450Mbps. I purchased a $25.00 five port USB PCI card for the server I connected the drive to.
Once the software is installed connect the external power supply and then the USB cable, and Windows will recognize the drive as removable hard drive and assign it the next available drive letter. The Personal Storage 5000LE ships already formatted with a 80GB Fat32 partition, but of course this can be changed. The drive can mount horizontally or you may use the vertical stand, but be sure to orient the drive so that the vents are not covered. I have mine mounted vertically with the “One Touch” button facing downward, thus exposing the vents on the right hand side of the drive.
I installed the drive on a server running Windows 2000 Advanced Server. Note: Dantz Retrospect Express Backup Software will not work with Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server. During the installation process you can opt out of the software installation altogether; Windows will detect the drive and assign it a drive letter.
The software is meant for stand-alone Windows 98/Me/XP systems, and in that capacity, the software is designed to work with the “One Touch” button to provide seamless backups of your data. In conjunction the “One Touch” button the Dantz Retrospect Express Software will provide automated, unattended backups. Pushing the “One Touch” button opens the Dantz software and makes an exact copy of the source drive files. Open files will not be copied, and should be closed during the backup process. Again Maxtor includes a one-sheet explanation for using the “One Touch” feature set.
Practical Use:
I did have a slight performance issue with the drive before I installed the USB 2.0 PCI card, because as I stated above, although the drive is backward compatible with USB 1.0/1.2, there will be a performance hit. In my case the server the Personal Storage 5000LE is connect to is part of my 100Mbps wired network. Transferring files from one of the other servers to this drive caused a bottleneck at the USB port and consequently slowed the drive down, which in turn slowed the server down.
Once I switched to USB 2.0, it has been smooth sailing. I have had the Personal Storage 5000LE for almost a month now and it make barely a whisper even when written to; I love it, a quite dependable hard drive. What computer geek could ask for more?
Recommended:
Yes
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vemartin
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Member: Vincent
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