 |
Iomega Portable Hard Drive Black Series 250 GB
by user789
You my think that nowadays you may not need an external hard drive as technological advancements in computers and laptops means that most come with internal hard drives of 500 GB of memory or more, but what happens when your laptop falls on the floor and your hard work and treasured family photos are gone????? This is precisely why I ... bought this portable hard drive.
When I got it out of the box a realised the word "portable" really did do its job as this Iomega portable hard drive is very light to pick up and is very compact at only a few inches long. This a huge advantage as this product seems to keeping up with technology and advancement in size. The simple black design with the logo in the centre makes it smart and professional (this is a huge pro if you work in an office).
The quality of the USB cable and the speed in which it performs is very good as the cable is thick and the hi-speed feature makes the cable almost perfect.
However, the speed of taking moving files from the computer or to the computer is not the best I have ever seen when comparing to more expensive ones that some of my family members own. Still works rapidly and efficiently.
This product is not particularly long lasting as it gets quite hot when in use (slight down side, not a problem though) and the plastic it is made of feels slightly cheap.
Read the complete review |
 |
Seagate External Desktop Drive 1 TB
by amyboosimpson
THE PRODUCT
______________
Today I am reviewing my external hard drive from Seagate. Now Im not a very technical person but here is some of the geeky stuff. Please not this was taken from the Seagate website.
Technical Details for Seagate External Desktop Drive 1 TB
Product Description Seagate External Desktop ... Drive - hard drive - 1 TB - USB 2.0
Type Hard drive - external ( desktop )
Capacity 1 TB
Form Factor 3.5"
Interface USB 2.0
Data Transfer Rate 480 Mbps
Spindle Speed 7200 rpm
Power Source Included AC adapter
Dimensions (WxDxH) 12.6 cm x 20.7 cm x 4 cm
Weight 1.02 kg
Localisation Middle East, Africa, Europe
Manufacturer Warranty 2 years warranty
This can be found at most computer shops and on the net and I'v found that the price really ranges from anywhere betweek £60-£100. So my advice is if you want to buy one, shop around a bit to get the best price.
MY EXPERIENCE
______________
I need a lot of music for my day job and Im always taking videos and pics of my work, so my computer is always completely packed. I needed some form of portable storage to help with this problem. I came across this hard drive when looking around in my local maplins, I had been wanting one for ages. Now Im not very good with computers at all! I should mention that now!! The one and only reason I bought this one was because it was £42.99 which I think everyone will agree s a great price for a 1 tablet hard drive. Now the packaging is white yellow and black and very informative.... if you do actually understand it! I had a few questions about it so I asked a worker in the shop. Yes, it will fit a laptop..... Yes the plug is international so I can use it abroad and home and Yes it is lightweight for carrying around. So thats it, hard drive bought and paid for. Phew, now comes the hard bit INSTALATION :( Oh no wait, all you do is plug it in, no disks, no regeristing, no anything, just plug it in and go. I was amazed at how easy it has been using it and Iv not had trouble with it once.
So, this harddrive is a beautiful shiny black box which has a sexy curved front and back. The wires plug into the back and there is a small green light on the front to signafy it is on and working. It comes with 2 wires, one usb cord which is about 2m long and also the plug adaptor cord which is the same 2m. Now I have to say the plug itself is massive, but it does come with interchangable prongs so you can swap and change whenever very easily.
MY OPINION
____________
Well for me it has certainly done its job. I'v had it close to a year now, and I'v got my whole life on there now. I use it much more than I though I would and because its so simple, you just plug and go I can use it everywhere. I like the design. It looks sleek and expensive, so when I get it out people think its quiet nice. The cords on the cables are long enough but not too long and the weight isnt too bad to carry around. In fact I carry it around a lot and have had no problems.
My only grumble is that it doesnt actually have an on/off switch. It just automatically turns on when you plug it in and off when you unplug it. This for me is unpractical and uses electric up. For example I plug it ito the tv to watch a film, then when the film finishes I just turn the tv off and forget to unplug the hard drive. Due to this Im taking off one star.
Apart from this, overall its good and I would recommend it. Its worked out great for me and it does its job.
Thanks for reading and rating.
AmyBoo
Read the complete review |
 |
Western Digital Elements Desktop WDBAAU0010HBK 1 TB
by hotrock4
Introduction:-
It was Christmas 2012 when I received this Western Digital 1TB Desktop Hard Drive as a gift having mentioned to my brother how handy one would have been after my laptop crashed not long before last Christmas with the loss of a lot of music, documents and pictures; all of which I was well aware that I ... should of have backed up in one way or another. So after putting off the purchase of this much needed bit of kit for quite some time I was more than happy that this had been my brother's choice of gift so that I could back up all of my newly acquired files.
This is more a desk top hard drive than a portable hard drive which doesn't concern me at all, but at this point some may want to know that this hard drive needs mains power to operate and will not run solely from USB power, as I am well aware this will be a make or break feature of this particular hard drive for some so thought that I would mention this first and foremost.
Price and Stats:-
OK so I must admit the last thing that I had on my mind was trying to find out the price of this item after receiving it as a gift but a quick look around the internet shows the 1TB Western Digital Hard Drive to be coming in at around the £80 mark which I do not consider to be bad at all, when the prices of external hard drives cost twice this amount with and only supplied half the amount of storage space not very long ago at all.
The hard drive stats are as follows:-
Disk Space:- 1TB (3.5 inch hard drive)
USB:- High Speed USB Connection x 1 (USB 2.0)
Power:- Mains powered only
Max Data Transfer Rate:- 480 Mbps
Energy Star Rating:- 4 Star (More about this later)
Dimensions:- 18cm x 12cm x 3.5cm
Weight:- 1kg
Installation:- Plug and Play
Warranty:- 2 years
Compatability:- Both PC and Mac
Appearance:-
My Western Digital hard drive was supplied in a green and white box with a picture of the product on the front. I was not overly impressed with the box as it did not really seem to reflect the value or quality of what I was expecting to find inside, however it was sturdy enough and also easy to get into. The fact that this was easy to get into was a challenge that I was looking to see if the product stood up to as Western Digital actually advertise this packaging as being easy to open as well as environmentally friendly. So the box wasn't actually all that different from an ordinary box with a slide out middle which housed the hard drive but it was easy to access the product inside. Overall the packaging was suitably robust to house a fragile item securely and my dislike of the packaging is simply my own personal taste.
Looks wise this Western Digital Hard Drive gives very little to write home about however in my opinion this is exactly what it is supposed to look like. It is simply a shiny black box with a USB port on the front, a port for the power cable and 1 very small LED light to show that the hard drive is working, the letters WD are embossed on the top and this is literally the only branding or writing on the product. There are 4 little rubber feet on the bottom to stop it sliding off of smooth services and prevent it getting shoved off a desk too easily. So as far as looks go I would not be ashamed to have this on display on my desk but given the nature of the product it is usually tucked away in a corner with the USB cable available to plug into whichever device I'm using. This is most certainly a device that is out of sight, and out of mind until it is needed to back up those all important files, then it becomes a tardis supplying large amounts of storage.
This hard drive weighs in at around the 1kg mark so is equivalent to a bag of sugar which actually makes it feel quite heavy due to the relatively small size of it. Size wise it is a little on the large size when compared to other hard drives of the same size however these tend to be quite a bit more expensive; the size of an item such as this doesn't overly concern me but if I was to buy it for myself the competitive pricing of this Western Digital hard drive would get my vote over the smaller size and style of the more expensive items every time as I purely want it to be functional. Despite the size and weight of the hard drive it can still be easily packed up into a bag or rucksack to be transported.
Functionality:-
First use of my Western Digital hard drive was pleasantly simple experience without the instructions being used at all. It was simply a case of plugging the hard drive in then connecting the USB cable from the hard drive to my laptop and I was ready to go. When I plugged the device into my computer the driver updates installed automatically and my hard drive was ready to use in less than a minute. Everything I needed to get my hard drive up and running as well as to start using it was supplied in the box along with it.
The maximum transfer speed of this hard drive as mentioned above is 480 Mbps however this doesn't mean it will perform at this speed all of the while especially whilst copying a continuous stream of data to or from the hard drive. I have never had a problem with the speed of this hard drive with word files transferring almost instantly and music tracks taking 5-10 seconds each with a transfer of around 30GB taking just over an hour if my memory serves me correctly which I thought was a bit lengthy until I stood back and thought about just how many files and folders had been transferred in that time.
1TB is certainly a whole load of storage for £80 and despite the fact that I am constantly adding photos and music to my hard drive, as well as my partners contributions, we have only managed to fill just under half of this hard drive in a year. I feel that with a little spring clean and disposal of unwanted files this hard drive will not be full for another 18 months at least. I feel that for the price difference between say a 500GB and 1TB hard drive it is definitely worth paying the little extra and doubling the storage space available.
The fact that this hard drive uses more power than smaller hard drives does unfortunately as previously mentioned mean it needs to be plugged into a mains power supply in order to be used. However Western Digital do not mis-sell this in any way as this is actually sold as a desktop hard drive which means this cannot really be held against it. Don't usually need to remove my hard drive from where it resides so it is usually left plugged into the same extension lead as my computer so is turned on whenever that is which means it is always there to use without having to think about it. The length of the power lead is on the generous and I cannot see many people struggling to get to the point that they would need to from the plug socket.
Being 4 star energy rated is something that Western Digital really seems to push in their item descriptions and advertisements online so figured it would be worth a mention here. Basically this means that this device is super efficient due to having this efficiency built in every step of the way, these hard drives come with Greenpower Technology which makes the hard drive work more efficiently with ideas such as reduced drag by disengaging the recording heads when the hard drive is switched on but not being used, and using optimum spin rates for data transfer, all very confusing stuff but Western Digital assure us it's all in the name of being environmentally friendly. Actual power savings will probably be negligible and save me next to nothing but I feel that the amount of these products about if each one uses a tiny bit less power that has to accumulate to something useful somewhere along the line. Whilst the energy efficiency isn't of great importance to the overall functionality of the product it may well give some peace of mind to know they are buying from a company that are at least making an effort to be as green as possible.
So overall functionality wise the Western Digital 1TB external hard drive performs reliably, and at a decent enough speed to transfer quantities of files at a time. In short it does exactly what it says on the tin with a couple of good energy saving features thrown in for good measure.
In Conclusion:-
There is only one real conclusion I can come to about this Western Digital 1TB desktop hard drive based on its very competitive price, and sheer basic functionality, and this conclusion is the fact that this has to be one of the very best on the market. Whilst there are many different external hard drives on the market and the options can be confusing, I would say that you wouldn't go too far wrong a Western Digital model.
This one has certainly provided excellent value for money coupled with great functionality with the only thing letting it down being its size. If you are looking for an external hard drive to sit on your desktop and only move occasionally then this product would be for you, however if style or portability are further up your list than cost I would suggest checking out some of Western Digital's more expensive products.
Overall a great product with the only let down being the mains power supply, despite this I do not feel that this detracts from this great functional product enough to stop it getting anything other than 5/5 stars.
Thanks for reading and I hope this has been of some use.
Read the complete review |
