Seagate (STEB8000100) Expansion Desktop 8TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop

Hooked up to my ps4 pro. Watched a short YouTube video where the guy showed how to format it (took about a minute) and move the files already on your hard drive, no tech savvy needed. I live in a place with spotty slow internet (and I personally only use my cell phone hotspot), so having to delete and reinstall full games digitally is really not feasible. I have now accumulated most of the games from this console generation I plan to play; with dlc and updates (my saintly best friend let me hook it up to his tv for 3 days to install all this using his internet), I still have about half the space left for any other media I later acquire for it. Also, it cost me less than the smaller 2 or 4T ps4 (or xbox1) specific version but works just as well. Bought another one for my laptop too.

Normally I dont review things until Ive had them for a long enough time to make useful comments. In this case, I wanted to comment on a couple things about it working with Windows 7 and Windows Backup. First, the disk is formatted MBR (I just bought this June 2015 from Amazon) Im running Window 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, with latest updates (as of 7/3/2015). I plugged the drive into a USB 2.0 port and Windows Explorer told me there were 3.63 TB available (no 2 TB limitation on how much Windows 7 can access). -File backup works fine. After completing, Im able to browse for files in the back up that were part of those selected for backing up. I havent tried a restore, but it looks like it would work. -Image backup fails with an I/O error. Time to try other software--Ill start with Macrium Reflect Ive now added a USB 3.0 PCI-e card (Anker USB 3.0 PCI-E 4 port card) to my desktop system and tried copying a couple 2 GB files to check what speeds I see: -USB 2.0 built into my Gateway DX4840: 27-40 MB/sec -USB 3.0 (Anker USB 3.0 without UASP mode): 60-80 MB/sec -USB 3.0 (Anker USB 3.0 with UASP mode on): 98-102 MB/sec -Copying 160 GB of picture files (75K files in 2.5K directories), started about 30 MB/sec and rose to 59 MB/sec after a couple minutes. These speeds are probably more dependent on what USB 3.0 card you have and what you are copying than the capabilities of the Seagate disk.

This is an excellent storage device. I have had no problems with it. It is reasonably fast, quiet, runs cool and has been very dependable with not an issue during the months I have had it. I have used 4 terabytes so far on this drive without an issue. It has been very dependable and a very good drive. My understanding (through a Youtube review) is that this is the same drive sold for internal use in computers. It has been fitted in a case and plugs into an adaptor within the case for use with a USB in my computer. Initially being an internal computer drive it can be removed from the case and used as an internal drive should you wish to do so. Mounting screws are included on the drive. To keep it cool I have removed the top part of the case to allow better circulation (which voids what warrantee it has I am sure). My understanding is with drives such as this is that they become very hot inside their cases and so I removed the top part of the case to keep it cool. After hours of use it is barely warm to the touch, just a very small amount of heat...just enough to be slightly warm to the touch. This is an excellent drive and I highly recommend it.

5TB is the current sweet spot for external USB 3.0 HDDs. I used the free Amazon program, Camel, Camel, Camel to monitor the price changes over several weeks and set it to email me when the price dropped to $109.99. I ordered the Seagate drive on a Tuesday for $109.99 and it arrived in good condition at my door three days later on Friday afternoon. It was a factory sealed retail box in a cardboard shipping box with adequate inflated air-bag padding to limit movement during shipping. Even though its supposed to be hot plug n play, I like to turn my Windows 7 Pro computer completely off before I plug the HDD power cable into the AC outlet and then the USB 3.0 cable from the HDD into the motherboard PCI-E to USB 3.0 4 port expansion card connection. After the system boots up, Windows 7 Pro should notice the new device and load the driver for it. Of course it renames a lot of the other drives in the process, so you will have to re-label accordingly. You have to use Windows 7 Pro Disk Management to format and partition the drive if desired. I usually make one big primary partition because I just use the HDD for extra storage. Thats pretty much all there is to it.

listen, there are some thing you need to know before you buy this, first of all, perfection is a tall order, it will have a bug or two here and there, i bought this in late december and as of the time i am writing this, it has given me but one problem, every know and then when i plug it it nothing will happen, all i have to do is unplug it, wait about 20 - 30 seconds, and then plug it back in, problem solved, also, for the people whining about data corruption or unrecognized device, that means youre just pulling the damn thing out of your computer, if you want to avoid both of those, (windows only, i dont have a mac) 1. go to the bottom right corner and right click on the little USB stick (if you dont see it click the arrow) 2. after right clicking click the text that says something along the lines of eject seagate expansion drive wait a moment, and all connections to it will be cut off 3. unplug it 4. if it comes up with a message saying can not eject while in use that means you have something still open, close it then repeat steps 1 - 3 or if you have a laptop like i do, close out of all your programs and close your laptop, and make sure it goes into sleep mode then unplug it all in all, this thing has given me the ability to play even more games and not have to worry about any kind of memory issues

I purchased a seagate expansion drive on Amazon in October 2020. A month ago while I attempting to backup my data into the cloud the USB connection stopped working on the drive so I was unable to back my newly completedprojects and personal data. The usb would not register on my Mac or any computer. After many attempts contacting and speaking with several Seagate reps. giving me the run around and getting nowhere. I reached out to Amazon who was able to connect me with someone at seagate who was finally able to help me. My purchase came with a data retrieval program. If anything happened I could send in my drive and Seagate would try to retrieve my data and send back on a brand new drive. The rep. at Seagate said he would send me a drive-in new drive right away so I did not have to wait and he was also including a shipping label along with it and I was to ship my old drive back to Seagate so they could retreat my data and then send my data back on a another drive. A couple of weeks ago I contacted Seagate to find out the status only to be told they destroyed my drive. First they tried to lie and say I agree to a send my drive in for a new drive and not have my data retrieve in return which was a boldface lie. They corrected themselve after I informed them that the Amazon rep. stayed on the call as I spoke with Seagate so it had all been recorded. Thank God for the Amazon representative recording the conversation because rep. try to lie. Now Ive been in talks with both Jasmine and her supervisor Daniyal, whove apologised. However, Im out thousands of dollars because I have to make it right with my clients for their videos and audio footage being destroyed by Seagate. After several times speak with them they want to send me 2 drives but it still doesnt come close to what my loses due to Seagates negligence. They also offered a software that will help retrieve data on any SD cards or drive that I may have had my data on prior to transferING to the drive they destroyed. Heres the thing, I was in the process of backing up the new information and final projects when the USB connection stop working. So all is loss, gone, destroyed, forever thanks to Seagates negligence. So mine and my now former clients data are completely gone and now I have to make it right with my client and one now former client, due to Seagates negligence. I really dont want anything to do with Seagate because it seems as though they know they screwed up because at 1st they attempted to lie. They can do more but they are just hoping that I settle for the scraps they are tossing my way. With that said I dont recommend anyone to use Seagates products unless youre ok with them mishandling/destroying your important data and throwing you scraps just to Pacify you and hope you go away. So the supervisor Daniyal promised me 1 drive only to send the wrong drive he explained he did not want to send a refurbished drive a brand new drive. Which is understandable, Only now they want me to return the drive the that drive before sending the correct upgraded drive/hub. I have not only lost important data but my time they dont seen to mind wasting. After thinking about all of this I am totally out and it doesnt feel right. Buyers beware! Do not purchase Seagate products and expect them to deliver anything but but scraps especially if your out thousands of dollars and a client, not to mention your own personal data. So thanks alot, Seagate. You have lost a customer and now I am letting others know what has happened. To the Seagate rep that cause all of this, I would like to thank you as well sir! I am a small business and I count on every single job that comes my way and as well as my clients word of mouth, to keep my business going. I dont know what else to do at this point. Twitter is my last resort. Thanks Jasmine and Daniyal but you guys really dont get just how much Seagate has affected my business. It is disheartening when youre told no more can be done and being made to feel as though my little business does not matter to a large corporations like Seagate.

Really, really fast delivery. Product as advertised. One of the largest drives you can buy at an affordable price point. There are 8TB drives out there as of this writing but the cost-premium does not make as much sense because prices on those even-larger devces have not dropped yet due to the relative infancy of these new device product cycle. Simple installation (the installation guide is a single picture), and the device booted and formatted within minutes. Only 4.5TB available after formatting but adequate for moving files off of several lower-capacity drives into this newer, more-reliable device - and that should allow most users for a few more years of reliabilty for their storage needs. The connector wire appears to be a USB 3.0 Type A Male Connector 2 on the computer side to a USB 3.0 Type Micro B Male on the drive end. The cable is backward compatable to older USB formats such as USB 2.0 which was my application. Write speeds were around 18MBs/sec while drive was still relatively empty, but this was on a USB 2.0 port. The drive is slightly smaller and lighter than previous versions of consumer external storage devices. The performance appears to be fast and solid. The properties showed that the device was pre-formatted NTFS. I always copy the pre-loaded files that come with the drive to another location and then do a quick format with NTFS before moving the files back. I learned the hard way that filling a humongous drive on the factory format is a recipe for disaster because after the drive gets filled up, those files suddenlybecome unavailable right when you dont, of course, have an even-larger drive to move them to before the drive fails because you just bought the largest drive available. This is also known as a storage disaster. My sage advice: format that puppy when you first receive it - and avoid mucho-heartburn down the road. My pleasure,

You will need a USB 3.0 interface, but at 8TB, it is cheaper than bare drives, and will store EVERYTHING. You need to backup. Cloud? Can you really restore terabytes of data? Backup needs multiple different media, and saved in different places. With this you can easily buy two and swap between them, backing up every bit of your data on two redundant drives (Im not even talking RAID here). You dont have to worry about deleting older versions. Beyond that, it just works. Plug in power and USB and you get a full drive. Suggestions: If you are on windows using NTFS, turn on compression immediately so you can store more than 8TB raw, and the transfers might even be faster. Copy everything to it (even if you are rotating two, you can sync them monthly), even if you dont think you need the old docs, you have the space. Defragment once a month - it will take a while the first time, but be easier after that. It is storing very high density, so make sure there isnt a lot of noise or vibration, and watch it if youve left it in a very warm or cold area since it gets confused until it is nearer room temprature.

Bought 2 of these (8TB) almost 2 years ago, no problems at all. 1 holds videos, the other is a back up for it. I have a few 5TB other Seagates as well, and over the past 7 years, 1 drive went bad but of course I had a back up running on it. Always buy 2 drives when you need only 1 is my motto. I dont know how Seagate stacks up against other brands, the price per storage cant be beat though. Back in the 90s all the brands had high failure rates, not so much anymore I suppose. Over time theyve gotten better. I must stress that Im running a Plex video server so the slow writing to it isnt a big deal, and reading from it is just fine. Videos play fine across my network and family that streams them once in a while. If youre putting anything important on them do yourself a favor and get an extra drive as a back up and have one of those free software programs do a nightly or weekly back up. Should be done no matter what brand you go with.

I run a small business studio where I keep my clients footage from years passed. This has been a reliable storage unit that doesnt rely on power from my computer.