April 2010 : Buff external hard disk drives

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5 TB 3.5-inch Hard Drive (7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache) Reviews

Technical Details

"Hard work when installing on Linux and 3 year old BIOS" 2010-04-07
By D. Brennan (Marlbrough, Wiltshire England)
I chose Seagate as that was what the existing system disk was on my Linux server. After installation the system showed it as a 500GB disk.
I have been here before and know that you have to download the Seagate tools and set the max block size on the disk. I searched and found a Linux version. It took me a long time and much Googling to find out the Linux tools will not work with a SATA disk. So I downloaded the bootable image. This worked fine and I set the max block count and after that it all worked.

Was Seagate the right choice? Probably at leased its the devil I know.

"Speedy Gonzales" 2010-03-22
By JK132 (York, UK)
Not much I can say about a hard drive - apart from that it is quiet and allows me to carry out a 300 GB backup almost exactly twice the data rate (and half the time) as my Hitachi 1.5TB did...

"Lots of issues" 2010-03-09
By Tellitlikeitis (UK)
I have many drives, which run most of the time.

My Western Digital Green 1.5TB drives have been flawless.

However this Seagate 1.5TB was a disaster. The first failed after 2 months and got replaced by Amazon directly - they sent the new one and I returned the broken one in the packaging they sent - great service.

The replacement has now broken 2 more months in - that is 2 for 2 dead drives. Now I have to phone Seagate, pay for returns packing and shipping myself and wait for them to check this drive before sending me another one.

When a WD drive fails, they send you a new one first then you return the broken, they also pay for it.

With Seagate you pay and you wait.

I won't be buying Seagate again and have in any case ordered another 1.5TB WD to keep me going whilst I wait for Seagate to receive, process and then dispatch a new drive (which hopefully will last longer than my current 2 months MTBF!).

"Seagate 1.5TB Hard Disk" 2010-03-04
By Mr. R. D. Wilson (UK)
I bought this Hard Disk as a Cache Disk for my Video editing and it has met my requirements, I have no complaints regarding the performance of the disk and would not hesitate to buy another if required.Seagate OEM 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Disk Drive (7200RPM, 32MB Cache)

"Seagate 1.5TB Disk" 2010-02-25
By Mr. A. Cheal (UK)
Bought this to install in a media player - Sumvision Cyclone MKV Enclosure

The drive is working without problems in the enclosure which doesn't have any active cooling, meaning the drive does get hot. Despite this, it has worked flawlessly streaming large video files with no problems

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Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5 TB 3.5-inch Hard Drive (7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache)

Iomega Prestige 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive 34807 Reviews
At just over 4 inches long, the super-compact, light-weight Iomega Prestige Portable Hard Drive, Compact Edition is perfect to carry in your pocket, backpack or laptop bag. It requires no external power supply - just plug it in and go. And with the Drop Shock feature, the Prestige Portable Hard Drive is rugged enough to safely store data for travel environments. It includes Iomega Protection Suite software with Iomega v.Clone, Trend Micro Internet Security (1 year subscription), Iomega QuikProtect, EMC Retrospect, and MozyHome Online Backup service. v.Clone software lets you take your PC virtually anywhere including files, settings, and applications. Available in 320 GB, 500 GB, and 1 TB capacities.

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Technical Details

- Easy-to-use - USB 2.0, just plug and play
- Compact - Super-compact drive easily fits in a pocket
- Secure - Iomega Protection Suite software
- Durable - Classic brushed silver aluminum enclosure
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"Just works" 2010-03-31
By G. M. Arnold (Palo Alto, CA USA)
There's not a lot to say about this product: it simply works, unobtrusively and according to spec. I have a number of other USB hard drives from various vendors, and they all perform pretty much the same. The Iomega includes a cable with two USB connectors, so that if the USB port on your computer doesn't produce enough power, you can get some extra juice from another port. I never needed the extra amps in my Mac Mini. The drive also ships with some bonus software pre-installed on it, but since I planned to use it with my Mac the first thing I did was reformat the drive, So, no comments on the bonus software.

I did try some simple performance tests, copying around 75GB of data between the various hard drives attached to my system (built-in, USB, and FireWire). The Iomega produced the same numbers as the other USB drives, suggesting that perhaps the USB bus is the limiting factor.

The vendors may not like this, but today these items have become commodities. Avoid lemons, buy on price. The Iomega is as good as any other. (And who would have thought a couple of years ago that one could slip half a terabyte into a shirt pocket. We may take it for granted, but it's pretty cool.)

"Attractive and Functional" 2010-03-28
By K. Schultz (USA)
This product is for people that need more storage than a reasonably priced thumb drive contains, but still need that data to be portable. Having lugged standard-sized external hard drives to and from work many times, I can really appreciate this product. It is a bit difficult to get your head around the size, and it may be a bit bigger than you are expecting. Think of a typical wallet size, but much taller. It is pocketable, but you probably wouldn't want to do that, both because it is too big to be comfortable and because it might not last long with that abuse. This is simply a hard drive in an enclosure, after all. However, this is the perfect size for a messenger bag or purse. Keeping it with the laptop or netbook is easy if you want to carry pictures or movies with you. Also, this is perfect for making regular system backups and carrying them to a different location in case of emergency, such as a house fire.

For a hard drive, this looks surprisingly sleek, primarily because of its brushed-metal exterior. Build quality feels good. I was skeptical of the Iomega brand, but this seems like a good option. The speed was typical for a standard laptop-style hard drive. It does take two USB plugs, which is simply to give ample power to the drive without requiring an AC adapter.

Presuming the price for this drive remains competitive, I recommend it. It is stylish and does exactly what it is supposed to.

"Attractive Little Drive" 2010-03-23
By Mute208 (SF Bay Area, CA)
In my stubbornness, I have only ever built my own external drives by placing internal drives inside external enclosures. This has served me well over the years but the benefits of a DIY external drive have greatly diminished mainly due to a drop in prices, nearly comparable warranties, and attractive yet durable enclosures. The Iomega Prestige Compact hard drive is the first pre-built external drive I've ever owned.

PROS:
- Attractive and compact design
- Drop Shock protection
- Good Seagate ST9500325AS drive inside (500GB model)
- No external power supply required
- 3 Year warranty w/registration

CONS:
- More expensive than the competition
- Ho hum software bundle

Honestly, I still think of Iomega as the Zip Drive company who's claim to fame were faulty drives and their "click of deaths." Still, I owned three of their Zip drives over the years and hadn't really paid attention to their products since flash memory made Zip, obsolete. Apparently EMC now owns Iomega and they have a large selection of external hard disk solutions as well as a hodge podge of other products. The Iomega Prestige USB external hard drive is one of their more compelling offerings.

DESIGN
There is no question that the enclosure is attractive with the brushed metal and slim profile. The most noteworthy design element of the drive is it's size. It is probably smaller than most other portable drives on the market. The soft white glow of the power/activity LED works well in the overall appearance of the drive without being blinding or annoying. Oddly, the USB connector is on the left side of the drive, rather than in the rear. There are no rubber feet on the bottom of the drive so it doesn't stay in place that well. The instructions state that one of the 2 USB connectors is the aux power but I only needed the primary connector to power up the drive on my Dell laptop. Also, the photos make the drive look almost black, but it is more of a carbon or gunmetal gray.

PERFORMANCE
Needless to say, most portable and desktop external drives are of the 5400RPM and slower variety. This is optimal mainly to reduce heat, which then allows more flexibility in creating a sleek, portable enclosure without the use of bulky fans. The trade-off is obviously performance. Still, if you are not regularly dumping hundreds of GB of data back and forth at the same time on a regular basis, you shouldn't notice too much of a difference. I copied 1.5GB of data (2 files) in 1 minute and 21 seconds. Not too shabby. The following are benchmark results using HDTunePro for the internal version of the Seagate ST9500325AS (500GB) drive and the Iomega USB version. I found the internal SATA benchmarks on the Internet and I performed the USB benchmark using the Iomega drive on my Dell laptop.

Read transfer rate INTERNAL SATA
Transfer Rate Minimum : 38.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 80.1 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 63.3 MB/sec
Access Time : 19.0 ms
Burst Rate : 51.7 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 8.3%

Read transfer rate EXTERNAL USB2.0
Transfer Rate Minimum: 26.3 MB/s
Transfer Rate Maximum: 30.7 MB/s
Transfer Rate Average: 27.8 MB/s
Access Time: 24.7 ms
Burst Rate: 27.6 MB/s
CPU Usage: -1.0%

The Prestige drives have a "feature" called Drop Shock protection. "Feature" is really a misnomer because it's really just an internal standard that Iomega created for their drives being able to withstand a 36" drop on industrial carpet. This is of course, while the drive is not running. There is no internal cushioning for shock protection, though some of their other drives have it for 51" and 84" drop protection. My desk is about 30" high and on low pile carpet, so it IS reassuring that the drive is at least rated for drops from my own desk.

The 500GB drive comes pre-formatted in NTFS with 465GB of available space. There are some devices that require FAT formatted drives to be able to see them so if you have problems with your device seeing the drive, that might be the issue. Mac users will need to reformat it.

SOFTWARE
I did not install any of the software applications that are available with the Iomega Prestige Compact Hard Disk. They do not come on the drive, which I actually appreciated. They are available to download on Iomega's website and the licenses for the EMC Retrospect app is included in the box. I don't find any of the apps especially useful. I personally use TrueImage and SyncToy for my backups.

WARRANTY
Hard disk manufacturers keep changing their warranties around so it's always a good thing to check before buying. And everyone knows that hard disks can and will go bad at some point so having a good warranty is important. Iomega will warranty their drives for 3 years as long as you register the drive. I don't have personal experience in their RMA process so I don't know how good they are at replacing faulty drives. I've RMA'd with most of the major disk manufacturers and always got good support.

SUMMARY
I like the Iomega Prestige Compact Hard Disk for the size and attractive enclosure. It does not have any other differentiating features and costs more than other drives of the same capacity, but if you want a good portable drive(Seagate) that really is portable, then the Prestige is the drive for you.

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