Seagate 3TB Expansion Desktop Ext HDD

OK so I have seen other reviews about failures etc. but hey....things fail...that's why we back up in the first place isn't it (and I never trust just one backup for precious files)?? Anyway, I already have two 2TB portable Seagate expansion drives for my movie and TV collection, and for my backups. However, an ever increasing movie and TV collection meant I needed even more capacity. I decided on this one purely because of the price point, the capacity, and the fact it was a Seagate! Straight out of the box it feels like quality. It is nicely heavy and comes with a decent length Mains adaptor and USB 3.0 cable (if you are new to USB 3.0 be aware that a normal USB cable does not have the same fitting at the equipment end as a USB 3.0 cable). So what did I do? I put the drive on my desk behind my PC. I connected the drive via the USB cable to a vacant USB3.0 port (the blue ones) on the back of my PC (I would say NEVER plug a backup HDD in to a HUB....always use a dedicated direct socket). And I plugged it in. Within a couple of seconds a window popped up showing that the drive is active. And that's it really! I leave it plugged into the mains since it automatically goes to sleep with the PC. Noise? well, I happen to like hearing that positive little whirring sound that lets you know something is happening when I copy a file to a backup (at other times it is, as far as I can tell, silent....or at least quieter than the whisper of my PC fan). If you have the hearing of a Fenec Fox and get annoyed by the sound of a cockroach running across a carpet 10 feet away then maybe this drive is too noisy....! It is backwards compatible to USB 2.0 if you need it to connect via that method but bear in mind that USB 3.0 is some large number of times faster than USB 2.0! Transfer times?? Well, as we all know, different file types take different times to copy and big files copy at a much faster rate than lots of small files. I have seen 130MBps during copying a large archive of video files from my PC (i5 processor) to it, but copying my custom icons file (yeah I am a movie geek and the folder icons just have to portray the movies they contain ;-)) of hundreds of files less than 1MB each managed only around 20MBps. I don't know what else to tell you really.... I will watch out for questions and try to answer if I can. I will say that I paid 74 quid for this and the same drive was 119 elsewhere online! Yeah it could fail next week...or never...but no backup is perfect which is why you should have at least 2 backups of all of your precious files as well as your in-use version on your PC.....don't be like me and learn the hard way by losing 2 years worth of irreplaceable family pictures and videos!!!!

This was just great. Solid and reliable and easy to use, until it suddenly, according to my PC, ceased to exist. Now, I realize that I've had it just over two years, and I've taken it for granted. It was just there, in the background, saving all my stuff, lots of it. As I said above, I don't know how long I was supposed to think it would last. It was my main backup. I've still got most of my stuff, almost all of it, scattered about on small external drives and the hard drives of an old PC and laptop. I'd like to put all that stuff back on the big one, but I can't even format it. My computer just tells me to insert a disc into drive I. The only hopeful sign I see is a post by another user who had the same experience as me. He said that Seagates customer service was pure fab and they actually got his drive working again. I'm on here writing this in the hope that someone at Seagate sees it and I end up as happy as that guy. I would have contacted Seagate directly, but Amazon have not provided a link to 'contact the seller'. Presumably because they were the seller, but the folk I need to talk to are the guys n gals who made the thing. I repeat; it's been a great thing, till now, and I just want it back doing its thing and letting me take it for granted.

Seagate comes with a big reputation, and for me personally they will always be an extremely solid choice. The fact that all Mac hardrives are supplied by Seagate is a big box tick for me. This drive is no different, it's really fast, reliable, small (smaller than you think) and is really great value for money. I use this drive to back up really large photo and video projects and so far I have nothing to complain about! Pros - Huge storage - Well made - USB 3.0 is very fast - Really pretty new design - Small and discreet Cons - Can be slightly loud, however, it's a physical HD so these will always make noise as there is a disc physically spinning inside! Seagate doesn't have it's reputation for reliability and value for money for no good reason. I would recommend any Seagate product and will be a fan for life!

If you want this drive to suspend when not in use or when you switch off a device it's connected to you will need to download the "Seagate Drive Settings" tool from here: [...] (Link removed by Amazon!! - Just search for 'Seagate Drive Settings' and make sure it's the tool for external drives.) For some bizarre reason my 3TB drive was set to be permanently on/spinning! This software tool didn't work on Windows 10, even in Win 7 emulation mode, but did work on my Windows 7 Professional PC. You can turn off the LED as well as set how long before the drive switches off when idle, starts from 3 min, I set mine to 5 min. I also noticed that it now turns off when I suspend my media box which it didn't before I changed the settings. I was going to send this back as it isn't silent although to be honest it's pretty quiet but it's seeming inability to suspend when not in use really annoyed me. Luckily I found the Seagate settings tool and all seems fine now, fingers crossed it has performance and longevity as well. I almost gave this 4 Stars because I had to p*** about but now I've figured out the fix, for all of us, I've decided to give it 5 as it is cheap and seems to be working fine, and it's pretty quiet. May update in the event of anything good or bad!

This is about as simple as an external drive gets. And that's mostly a good thing, because for most people (using a modern version of Windows) it will be plug and play. The extra software supplied with more fancy drives for things like backup and encryption is at best unnecessary (since there are better alternatives freely available) and at worst a source of errors and frustration. My only criticisms, and why it loses one star, are where the simplicity and cost-cutting has perhaps gone too far. Unlike my previous Toshiba external drives, these have no power switch on the unit, which means (after using your operating system's Eject function) power down relies on you physically pulling the power plug or, if you have one, using the switch on your mains power socket. Another aspect I question is the use of a micro USB 3.0 socket on the unit rather than the larger and more robust looking full size socket. It's still a standard, but tracking down a replacement lead if you lose the one supplied will be a little harder than one with a full size plug at both ends. We will see how well it lasts, but no disk drive lasts forever. That's why a sensible backup strategy uses TWO external drives, one onsite and regularly updated, and one offsite with a friend or relative. Periodically swap the two around. Pros: - simple to use - cheap - widely compatible - docs mention Windows and Mac, and I have it working with Linux fine. Cons - no power switch - micro USB 3.0 socket on drive rather than full size USB 3.0 size

This drive came a lot faster than expected, 2 days before its estimated arrival. So far, had it a few days, it's great. Using it primarily as an Xbox One storage upgrade and it's working like a charm, can practically install my whole game library on this thing with reasonable space left over. It's loading everything perfectly fine, and takes little time to move things from the internal to this drive. I'm not sure if it's made a difference in writing/loading times, I realise there are very detailed and specific writing times which can only be millisecond differences to other drives, which, in my opinion, doesn't matter. As long as it loads everything without problems, which it does, I'm not bothered about 'faster' writing/loading times. Physically, it's a really nice shape, super subtle and clean looking, the fact that it requires mains power is completely fine with me, but may not be with others. My only criticism so far is if it's placed on some kind of wood surface, especially something like a TV stand, you can hear the humming coming from it, although this is EASILY solvable by putting something underneath it to stop the sound completely. Now it's completely quiet. Overall, great product so far, I'm loving it. Definitely worth the price, would recommend.

A god send for my 500gb PS4. Works perfectly and currently leaving all my games installed is quality. The set up is straight forward and you can get all the help you need online through YouTube or forums. It does require a socket to power, and must been connected to the PS4 using a USB cable, which will take up one of your ports permanently. The only problem I've encountered is not being able to wear my gaming headset and play guitar hero at the same time, as both require a USB port. Other than that, it's well worth the money. Size is nice as well, and looks like a decent bit of kit. Been using for about a month now, would recommend to any PS4 gamer who wants more than 4 games installed at once.

3 TB version Review Purchased to use as part of a media hub to use with an Android Media box, reformatted ( ExFat ) so the Android OS can access it and it works a treat. Un formatted the Android box will ask to reformat it in some weird android file system and it want be able to be accessed by anything else so no connecting it to a PC etc ie android only and it only sees 750GB of space initially, as i said easily rectified on a windows PC or Tablet,plenty of info on the web how to do this NOISE Level, i have seen some reviews say its noisy, if placed on a wooden shelf or desk top this will amplify the "chugging" and "clicking", i couldn't hear any real noise when 5 foot away from it and any audible noise was because i was listening for it, but this ( Noise ) is easily rectified by placing some small rubber/foam/cloth furniture protector pads underneath it, see the link, so overall the noise level is minimal. WHY do they use super bright Blue LEDs, more of an irritant to me was the flashing blue LED light as it works its way thro your films or music, i simply minimised the light by placing a piece of black electricians tape over the light. LOOKS, it looks really smart with its embossed case which is why i think you may be happy to have it on show on your desk or TV shelf, or easily hidden away in a cupboard. POSITION, It can be laid flat on its side, (height on side placing is approx 1.5" 3.75 cm ) this again is where the furniture pads come in to use by A, the noise dampening effect B, allowing air flow under the main body of the units. just make sure there is ample space at the rear where you connect power and USB in as this is where the air vents are. USEABLE CAPACITY, i have just over 2.7 TB available on the drive for storage, which is more than enough and at £75 delivered USB 3 and Power Socket are placed on the rear of the hard drive Protective rubber feet are on the bottom do offer a minimal amount of sound deadening. I had 2 other External Hard drives, one Toshiba which is still going after 4 years used as a MAIN back up etc on my Imac and a western digital ( 2nd back up ) that seems to be failing after 18 months, luckily i could see it was on its way out and transfered the data I will be buying another Seagate to run as my 2nd back up, after a few months, just making sure that this one performs as i expect it to I DID NOT receive this as a review product, this was purchased at full cost for myself

I recommend this item if you need a real industrial grade performance. This item comes without a power adapter, which makes the perfect sense to me. For general purpose it works without a power adapter as usual passive USB HUB. To take advantage of the surge protection of this item you need to power it up. As described in the technical details you may use DC power supply from 7V to 48V, which obviously makes a difference in the cost, so the customer can choose the right one. I specifically needed an industrial grade of performance, as previously I had about a dozen of USB HUBs, but even a best one of them still "kicks out" some connected devices when I connect a Dual-Dock with 2 14GB disks in it. I bought power supply (DC 48 V, 3.5 V, 120 W). Following instructions - it took 20 minutes to connect power to this item. I am using this item for the first day, very intensively. So far - even under the extreme conditions, utilizing all 7 ports, including the Dual-Dock with 2 x 3.5" disks - no "kick outs". I bought another (4-port) StarTech.com 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub - for my other PC. Both HUBs work at industrial grade performance.

Works fine. Fast shipping.

I like the mounting options, the device is very solid and I bought the extra power supply (sold separately). The only con to me are the « loose » usb ports. It is normally not so easy to connect a usb port in reverse, but this hub allows inserting the usb in the wrong position. I mean, we shall all look before, but who never had multiple attempts while connecting a usb port before? Anyway, I would (and likely) buy this product again for any electronic manufacturing stations or lab desks.

Great quality, no issues with any of the attached usb devices attached. Consistently functioning as described. Would buy again.

Great product. Can't beat the price.