Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD – Black USB 3.0 for PC Laptop and Mac, 2 Months Adobe CC Photography (STDR2000100)

I bought an HP Stream 13 so that I would have a way to browse the web, work, and watch movies on my downtime while away from home. If you have a laptop similar to this, you surely understand that you don’t have a lot in the way of internal storage. You can install a micro SD card, but anything above 128GB starts to get too expensive. This leads us to the solution of an external hard drive just like this one. I have been using the hard drive for about a week now and am very pleased with the way that it has been performing. The main features that I like about it is its portability. It is very small, very light, and requires no external power source. This means that it is powered by the USB port on the laptop. It isn’t the fastest external hard drive on the market, but to get 4TB of storage for this price, it is pretty amazing. I have also noticed that this hard drive runs very quiet, in fact, I can’t hear it at all. It doesn’t even vibrate much or produce hardly any heat. It is just a little warm to the touch which is great. I also really like the color options available. I got a blue one because it matches the color of my laptop. The construction of the hard drive seems to be of good quality. The majority of its casing is made of aluminum. I have been able to run full PC programs from this drive to my little netbook which is great. I have noticed that the programs don’t run quite as fast as if they were installed on the internal SSD. But hey, if I can get all of my programs to work on my netbook without compromising the storage on the factory SSD, then I call that a win. Here is how I have been installing programs to my external hard drive and running them on my netbook. 1: Make a folder in your external hard drive. I prefer to name the file Program Files (x86) because that is what the file is named where you normally save programs to anyway. 2: Get your program, you need to either have a download code from the internet, or since this laptop has no disk drive, you need an external disc drive to initially install the program you want. Treat it as you are installing anything else you would normally install. 3: When installing the program, it will ask you where you want to install it which is set at Drive (C:) Program Files (x86) by default. All you have to do is change the location of the programs installation which now will be on your external hard drive under the new file you named Program Files (x86) 4: Proceed with the rest of the install. 5: Repeat these steps for other programs it is literally that easy. Seagate Hard Drive Reliability: Obviously I have not had this hard drive long enough to say anything about its reliability. However, every hard drive I currently own are made by Seagate. This includes 4 external hard drives, a hybrid SSD, and a 3.5” desktop hard drive. I have yet to have any of them fail. The oldest one I have is 7 years old, but I don’t use it all that often. The 3.5” internal hard drive has been in my custom built gaming PC for about 4 years. It is under use quite often and is still holding up well. The one that is used the most is the External hard drive on my Xbox One. Between my wife and I, it will run for hours every single day. That has been working well for almost 2 years now. As you can see, I have had a great experience when it comes to using Seagate hard drives. This is why I have so many of them. Over the course of 7 years using multiple different hard drives under varying conditions, I have yet to have a failure. Obviously any hard drive will fail, it is an eventuality. It is nice to have them work for a while before they do though, and Seagate has impressed me.

++++++++++++++++Updated 02/11/2014 ++++++++++++++++ Seagate got back to me almost immediately and solved this issue of backing up my email. Seems the Appdata folder was hidden....so the backup could not get to those files... here is a copy of my response to Seagate support Thanks for your response and I stand corrected.... You are absolutely correct. The problem was that the top level AppData folder was hidden, but not any folder under it ......Once I changed the property of that folder to unhidden, I was able to drill down and see that Dashboard did check each of the subfolders..... The method I used was as follows: Home > Protect >Edit >Select Files...where you can see the file structure.....and I had to look in Local > Microsoft >Window Live Mail where all the email files where located in separate folders like inbox, send, draft, etc. all where checked...than I simply ran a another backup.... I will be happy to correct my rating and note a 5 star rating....and very happy you found and communicated the solution so thoroughly and accurately -- and Quickly. I have to and will take back all the negative things I reported... Thank You very much ===============================================Original Comment================================================== The hardware is fine and a good value. But the built-in software called the Dashboard has some serious flaws. First the in-the-box setup literature shows the Dashboard as Version 3.0, yet what gets installed in version 2.2.42. Version 3.0 is delayed at least another month, said the Seagate rep I spoke with. V 3.0 is the one that would do the Mobile backups too, so this feature is not in V 2.2.42 - Strike one (Therefore the product description is incorrect, since it does not do Mobile B/U thru the interface-YET). 2.) E-mails are NOT backed-up. This s/w doesnt support your client e-mail database(s) -- thats crazy. Perhaps V3.0 will...I certainly hope so. Dashboard gives you the navigation tool (select files - to be backed-up), but it doesnt allow you to drill down to the file structure where your email data is located (contacts, emails, calendar, etc). For example, I want to B/U my Windows Live Mail structure -- yes I know I can export this stuff, but what I want is for Dashboard to allow navigation to these folders(and select them for B/U)....they are not hidden, but Dashboard wont let you go there to select them...In this case, the navigation would be something like this C;>Users>name>APPDATA>local>Microsoft>Windows Live Mail I dont understand why Dashboard is so restrictive -- sure the default B/U folders are good, but APPDATA items are inaccessible....not only for WLM, but for any MS appdata program files/data. I sure hope Version 3.00 will fix this shortcoming. Im happy I have Carbonite B/U running that does backup all MS(and other) program data files. IMHO, this really needs to be addressed and fixed. There really should be no reason that Seagate restricts what gets backup - for experts, this kind of advance function(visibility to the entire computer files structure) is needed and for novice, email b/u should be a minimum requirement(for those with client based email configurations).

Great for travel

I bought this drive in Aug 2019, and have been using it for 9 months (as of this writing). So far it works perfectly. Of course, I treat it like its made out of glass. (Ive had bad luck with these little USB drives in the past--they dont handle bumps or drops very well.) This one is 5T--which is very useful. Im a photographer, and need a place to dump my image files. This drive works perfectly for that purpose. My only complaint is that since its a spinning disk drive, its slow when compared to SSDs. Im saving up for a larger scale SSD storage unit. Until then, spinning disk will have to do. I realize slow is subjective--so let me tell you what I mean: I import my raw image files directly from my cameras SD card, right into this USB drive using Lightroom. The reason I do this, is because my Lightroom library catalog is massive. My laptop only has a 1T SSD drive in it--which (while faster), isnt large enough to accommodate the whole library, plus all the other software Ive got loaded... So--my tradeoff for keeping my laptop from getting clogged is a slower, external, USB drive--but its 5T. So theres that. I think next time, Ill have to splurge and pick up an SSD drive--for a couple of reasons: 1. The can survive getting dropped or bumped--so I wont be so stressed about dropping it 2. SSDs are much, much faster than spinning disks--so my workflow will measurably speed up If you dont drop or bump this little Seagate drive though, itll do you just fine--and 5T of storage is pretty vast. You probably wont fill it up anytime soon.

I upgraded my stars because the product seems to work okay, but Im still irritated with all the work I had to do to get this going as I stated below This is what the product said BEFORE I bought it: Works interchangeably on PC and Mac computers—without needing to reformat - This is what the installations directions said: Using the drive with Mac: For Mac you will need to reformat the drive prior to using it. Once complete, the drive should be detected allowing you to manually move files to the drive or set it up with Time Machine automatic backup. IT REALLY IRRITATES ME WHEN A SELLER SAYS ONE THING TO GET YOU TO BUY, THEN ANOTHER TO INSTALL. In addition, to register the thing, you MUST enter an email address that will be used as follows: (basically, theyll sell your email and youll be bombarded with more spam you dont want and didnt ask for: Information Sharing In order to carry out your requests, to make various features, services and materials available to you through this Site, to respond to your inquiries, and/or to provide our Offerings to you or enable an affiliate (as described above) or third party service provider to provide Offerings to you, we may share your PII. Such third parties are companies or individuals that perform functions on our behalf (or on behalf of our partners), such as companies or individuals that analyze data, provide customer service or other Offerings, advertisers, sponsors or other third parties that participate in or administer our promotions or provide marketing or promotional assistance (but such information will be shared only to the extent they need such information to perform their functions). These service providers may use these technologies to help us deliver our own content and advertising, and compile anonymous site metrics and analytics. We do not permit any of these service providers to collect any of your personal information on our sites or in our services, applications, or tools for their own purposes. These service providers are subject to confidentiality agreements with us and other legal restrictions on their use or collection of any personal information. Your PII may also be used by us or shared with our subsidiaries, affiliates, sponsors, partners, advertisers or other third parties to provide you with services, product information and promotional and other offers. We may use third parties, such as advertising networks and exchanges, to allow us to serve you advertisements. These third-party ad networks and exchange providers may use third-party cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies to collect information. They may also collect your device identifier, IP address, or identifier for advertising (IDFA). The information that these third parties collect may be used to assist us in providing you with more relevant advertising that we serve on our sites or elsewhere on the web.

I have had this HDD unit since 2019 to back up my computers, USBs, backups, etc. No problems at all, no loss in data, and pretty okay transfer speeds! Way better than the Toshiba crap, that legit starts internally clicking 10 minutes into a transfer! HOWEVER, I do suggest you buy the Samsung SSD 2 TB, it is more expensive, but you will never have to worry about the internal disk of an HDD failing!! Overall, super cute, durable, and holds everything!

I purchased this drive on 29 May 2016 and use it extensively almost everyday for adding to, and playing, my massive inventory of media files collected in numerous formats over the past 25 years. It has worked flawlessly during the past 5+ years. 2 points. 1) Never move your files from one place to another but rather copy them until you can verify the copied files and drive are workable. If you move the files and there is a problem you have no means to get your files back. 2) Treat all media storage in accordance with the value you place in what is being stored. If you throw your storage medium around or do not handle it gently it will most likely break your heart. Our 7 yo grand daughter learned this easily. I actually have 2 of these drives (2tb, 1 silver, 1 black) and both have performed just as Id expect and am happy with my purchases. Highly recommend.

I usually buy WD Element drives for backups, but they are just too expensive at the moment. I wanted to expand my backup storage, and this time I wanted to get USB3 external drives and these seem to fit the bill. With that being said, heres my initial impressions: Pros: 1. Small Form Factor. 2. Nice Finish 3. Very good performance over USB3 copying files. 4. Bus powered, no need for an additional power supply, although some USB2 ports may not offer enough power so it wont work with those. Cons: 1. Short USB 3 Cable. Wow, could they have made the USB cable any shorter? I can barely plug this into my desktop back USB port without it hanging because of the very short cable length. Amazon has the basics USB 3 cable for this currently $5.49 for 3 feet, so figure the cost of that into this unit if you need something longer. 2. Vibration: I bought two of these drives to act as a dual back up for each other, and one is barely noticeable with vibration and the other is vibrating like a vibrator. I think I may return that one because I dont trust the longevity/reliability of it with the way its vibrating. Other: For the price of this unit, they really should have thrown in a protective sleeve (and a longer USB 3 cable.) But, great work on the form factor and capacity/price point...I just hope these prove reliable beyond the 2 year warranty -- I hope to get at least 6-8 years of service life out of them. Update 12/16/2015 -- Since I bought the original drives over a year ago, they are still working very well. I bought some more of them during Black Friday 2015 and very happy with their performance -- but the USB3 cable is still short on the new drives I bought this year, they havent increased the length since last year.

So, it was great while it lasted. Very fast usb-3 R/W speeds (comparatively) on my older Lenovo x220. This was to be the main backup/overflow drive for my Lenovo x220 development box (Manjaro, 4.10 kernel), but unfortunately it died about a month after delivery, exactly THREE DAYS(!) after my return window expired. April 4th was right around the time the drive actually failed, but I made the mistake of working on it for a few days to no avail, trying to recover files. Arrrgggh! And yes, it is the drive; the ports fine. Other drives function as expected, but this one refuses to mount, wont accept known-good superblocks, cant reformat, repeated i/o errors, etc. Everything points to drive failure. While perhaps unrelated to quality, I notice the price continues to decline. Hopefully thats a false correlative. I wasnt expecting this from Seagate. Frustrating that it failed and that I likely could have returned/exchanged in time had I started the process immediately instead of mucking about. *** Updating my 1-star review based purely on my support experience with Daryl. There are quite a few negative reports of Seagate Customer Service reps here, but Daryl was incredibly helpful, knowledgable, and resolved my issue quickly: In my case that was a return ticket which he processed promptly without issue. Plus were both veterans... ** Return shipping was modest, but I bought on sale, so that wasnt as issue for me. I get that it stinks for someone whos just dumped their entiere life on a backup drive that dies. That stinks. (And is why multiple backup vectors are encouraged.) Anything produced in quantity and discounted for the market will have modest failure rates. Seagate seems prety solid overall. Of course, i could be cursing Daryl if my replacement arrives DOA. But get this, he went out--during the call--to make sure that I received the same color (because I use RED for DEAD drives, etc). Great support! Great service.

I purchased this specifically because I wanted to use it on two separate computers , both running Windows 10. On December 25, I copied my files from my last external hard drive to the Seagate, and then began using it as my storage drive for all my working files. For two weeks, it worked great except for one problem - I could never get it to eject. Every time I tried to eject it, I was told that the drive was still in use, even though all my programs were off and the light on the hard drive was off. After two weeks, I decided to work on my Surface Pro 4 so I removed the USB connection from my other computer, which was off. My Surface Pro did not recognize the hard drive and I could not access anything. I powered down the Surface Pro and tried to open my files on my original computer. That computer suddenly said that access to the external hard drive was denied, and it also switched port names from H to I - meaning that somehow it no longer recognized H as being an available/active port. Now I could not access my files on either computer. I was very upset as I had my last two weeks of graphic design work on the hard drive. My husband tried to access the files on his computer, which runs Windows 7. We were able to see the files, but could not access them. Unfortunately, it was the weekend and, guess what? SEAGATE SUPPORT IS NOT OPEN ON WEEKENDS - which is totally ridiculous because people should not have to wait two days to get help accessing their files. On Monday, I called Seagate support and for the next two hours, a support tech took over my computer. He finally was able to re-establish connection to my files, but he told me to copy them to another hard drive somewhere and then to re-format the Seagate hard drive, thereby wiping it clean, and re-using it. He said that the problem with the drive not ejecting was probably that back ground programs were still running. He had me shut down the move files to the recycle bin and instead have deleted files automatically permanently be deleted (so no chance to save them if you mistakenly delete). He said that the recycle bin working in the background could be why the drive could not be ejected and why I had to wait until the entire computer was turned off to remove the drive. While in my computer - via remote link - he checked all the permissions. I had full permissions to access the drive, so that wasnt the problem. He checked the ports and all were fine. The problem was with the Seagate. He told me that the hard drive was corrupt but that re-formatting it would fix it. He assured me that could use the hard drive on different computers. So, for the past week, I have been working using the drive, which seemed to be fine. Until I tried to eject it on Friday night to use on my Surface Pro. No go. Even after waiting an hour, it would not eject. So, I shut down the computer and waited. Later, I turned on the Surface Pro wtih the Seagate attached and, guess what? Access was denied. Not only that, but I could not even find reference to 90% of the files I had copied to it - nor to the new files I had created over the past week. Because we could see the files on my husbands Windows 7 computer, I took the Seagate to it. Unfortunately, it did not show any of the files either. AND BECAUSE SEAGATE SUPPORT IS CLOSED ON THE WEEKENDS, I had to resolve myself to wait until Monday morning to get help. I did write to Seagate - and got a very nice email back from their overseas support that said I should probably send the drive in for an exchange as obviously something is wrong with it. The email then went on to explain that I could ask Seagate to recover my lost files for me - FOR $550.00 plus a $40.00 access fee!!!! So I waited until Monday morning and called Seagate Support - and listened to a message that said basically, Sorry, were closed for the holiday (MLK Day). Call back tomorrow. Click. Absolutely the WORST customer support for any computer related company, IMO. Meanwhile, I went to Staples and spoke with their techs. They reassured me that Seagate makes good products (which I had believed) and agreed with the first Seagate tech support person I spoke with the first time the thing broke down that I had probably received a bad drive (a lemon). It is now Monday afternoon and I not only have not been able to work because I need the files I created last week, but I am afraid to install the new personal cloud storage on my home network I purchased because I dont want to change anything that might affect the Seagate - which I am hoping a service tech will be able to access tomorrow (3 days later) and save my work for me before I wipe the thing clean and send it back for a re-fund.