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

I bought this as a replacement for an older Seagate drive that died on me. Its one of three external drives that I use for backup. I gave some thought to the reliability of the old drive, but I really have no way of judging between brands. There arent that many manufacturers of the actual mechanisms, and thats what failed in this case. Ive had plenty of other brands fail on me. I was disappointed that the warranty is only one year. The form factor surprised me. I was expecting it to be bigger, and was very happy that I didnt have to rearrange my gear. Its about the size of a trade paperback. The physical design is minimalist: its a black box with inconspicuous ventilation on the sides (it looks like a diamond texture), a single blue light on the top, and two jacks (power and USB 3) on the back. As for installation, it comes with a picture that shows you how to plug it in. The Start Here program helps you register the drive and brings you to a document describing how to move files to your new drive. You have to know to look on the drive to find that program, since it isnt mentioned in the instructions. The drive is preformatted with NTFS, but there is a Mac version of the Start Here program. I took off one star because I think a novice would not notice the program. Other than the registration helper, this drive comes with no software. If you want SeaTools, youll have to download them yourself. Again, a novice would probably never find them.

You were brought to this product because you are in search of a new extended storage. Well, the Seagate Expansion 5TB Desktop External Hard Drive is fast, mobile, durable, and very cost friendly. While the primary purpose of the expansion is to be used for desktop computers, I use mine for my PS4. After having just a few games downloaded on my PS4, my storage was already getting full. This is when I started to search for a new type of storage, and stumbled upon the Seagate expansion. A few aspects that can sway your decision when buying this product are, as stated earlier, speed, mobility, durability, and cost. 1. Speed is a very important aspect for external hard drives. I was surprised at how fast this product could transfer over games from my current hard drive. Depending on the speed of the Wi-Fi, it would take about 10 minutes to complete a transfer. For a comparison, if you have a baseline 65 mb/s internet speed, the average game would take you 30 minutes to download. 2. Most external hard drives are not easy to move around since they will most likely sit in once spot. The length, width, and height of the expansion are 7.1 x 4.7 x 1.5 inches. It also only weighs 2.1 pounds, where competitors usually weigh more. I move this product from my hometown house to my college house frequently and it is very easy to find space for it. 3. I do take very good care of products that I purchase, but I have dropped this product a few times. It did not skip a beat when I would start it back up and it ran as quick and as smooth as it had previously. 4. The cost is what makes this product so appealing. I bought it for $130 at the time, and have had it since the beginning of May 2017. You will find princes for 5TB extended storages ranging anywhere from $100 to $500. The price of the Seagate 5TB extended storage is very reasonable, especially for the quality of the product. If you are searching for a new extended storage for your PlayStation, or any system, I would highly recommend purchasing the Seagate Expansion. This product is Fast, mobile, durable and very cost efficient. It will be very tough to find a product as good as it on the market, with the same functions.

UPDATE: Okay, so I waited a long while to update this review. Im switching from 1 star to 5. I know, thats drastic, but Amazon did send me a replacement and in theta time, this hard drive has worked marvelously. Im pretty sure I got a lemon, but no issues at all since I got the replacement, and I use my Xbox pretty consistently. Needless to say, Im pretty happy with it now as I have over 3TB of games on there. Im still a tad weary and backed all my saves to the MS cloud, but so far, I couldnt be happier with how this is working over the last year. Im a little furious here. I was using this for my external hard drive on my Xbox One for extra storage. It was working marvelously for about 3 weeks, then all of a sudden, it stopped. Not sure exactly what happened, but thats almost 2TB of games AND game saves gone... The hard drive was never moved or anything, just sat next to the Xbox One working as a hard drive should, and then it has completely stopped working for me. Needless to say, Im a little furious. It was working marvelously prior to, but I guess I knew it was too good to be true. Amazon is graciously sending me a second one, I will change my review should it function as intended, but so far, Id beware. I shouldnt have to back up my back up drive...

Had this for over 6 years and it still works. I should have reviewed a long time ago, now I want to buy a another soon.

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,

Up to this point Ive owned Western Digital MyBooks. Many of them ranging in capacities from 500GB to 8TB. However they changed the design of the new 8TB and it sucks. Their new enclosure is cheaply made, top heavy (tips over easily) and lacks any indicator light whatsoever. I also realized that in the years Ive owned the MyBooks Ive had to warranty replace three of them. So upon recently buying the most recent 8TB MyBook, being very disappointed and returning it, I decided to try this. Id been hesitant because of the negative reviews Ive read. Honestly, I love it. The enclosure feels more substantial, is smaller, the drive is oriented on its side, not end, so it isnt top heavy, has an LED status indicator, is less expensive, and is fast. Here is the unexpected best part... The MyBooks have a very buggy power management/sleep function. Maybe Im missing something but they dont wake up until you try to access them. They go to sleep per the power management scheme you choose on your Mac or PC but when you try to access them for the first time, you have to wait for seconds while the drive wakes and spins up. Very frustrating. With this unit, all that is gone. When I open the drive within Windows file explorer/My Computer its there ready, accessing as fast as any internal drive. As for long term durability well see but so far so good.

Don’t remember when I bought this, but it was years ago & still works w/o any problems. I usually keep it on, however in the last couple years haven’t been using it as much as it just houses mostly movies and tv shows for my digital library that was filled up years ago and more into streaming last few years. However still works fine hooked up to newest PC.

Great capacity, no tech support needed; worked first time out of the box.

Ive had this hard drive for 2 years now and it hasnt missed a beat. I use it as a storage expansion for my PS4. With 4TB, I still havent run out of storage. I never experience any freezing, slowness, or hitches playing games off of it. I guess the only complaint I would have with this drive is the size. It is a little big, but not big enough to be a problem. I very much appreciate the indicator light to show me that its powered up. Its so silent that youd never know it was on. Lol I was so impressed with this drive and its longevity, that I purchased another drive from Seagate for my Xbox! Id say absolutely go for it if youre looking for reliability and performance for gaming!