Usb External Hard Drives reviews and guides,USB 2.0, USB 3.0 on Usb External Hard Drives.: April 2012

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0/2.0 Ultra Portable External Hard Drive (Metallic Red)super

Customer Rating :

List Price : $229.99 Price : Too low to display

Product Description

Put your digital life on the high capacity My Passport Essential SE portable hard drive. With WD quality and USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connectivity, this drive is designed for today with tomorrow in mind. Visual backup software and password protection with hardware encryption ensure your data is protected. Lightweight and easy to carry, this drive is ideal for fast storage to go.

Dual USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibility
Up to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 3.0
Automatic, continuous backup
Hardware encryption, password protection
Dual USB 30 and USB 20 compatibility
Up to 3x faster transfer rates with USB 30

Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0/2.0 Ultra Portable External Hard Drive (Metallic Red) Reviews

804 of 828 people found the following review helpful

Speed tests..., October 21, 2010

Strohmian (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Black) (Personal Computers)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program ( What's this?)

### PHYSICAL ###
One terabyte that fits in your jeans' pocket. I don't want to go all "when we were young we walked 10 miles to school, etc." on you, but my first hard drive was such that I would have needed 50'000 of 'em to match the capacity, occupying a solid cube 9 feet on each side and setting me back 30 million dollars. That's mind- blowing progress indeed, and while the original advances were made by firms like Seagate and IBM, those have mostly sold off/sourced out in the meantime, leaving Western Digital as the Bleeding Edge hard drive brand.

This device looks like a cigarette holder with a glossy finish. The edges are rounded, and the usb connector is the only opening in the case, so for my occasional transport I just carry the drive in my jacket as-is. It would have been super- neat to have a rubber flap over the usb and perhaps a more scratch- resistant matte finish, but there is no issue here, especially since WD offers inexpensive... Read more

210 of 222 people found the following review helpful

WD Portable 1 TB HD - worked flawlessly, September 21, 2010

Sudarshan Karkada (Missouri City, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Black) (Personal Computers)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program ( What's this?)

First Impressions Review:

This is the first time I have ever used a portable (tiny) external hard drive. I currently use a Cavalry dual disk external drive in RAID configuration which is huge and not really portable.

This new WD drive is fantastic in that it is quite small, doesn't require external power, and it is quite good looking. It is amazing how they fit 1 TB drive in such a small package. One bonus is that when I replace my computer in future with one that has USB 3.0 interface, this drive can handle that. (It works fine with USB 2.0 also.) The device looked and felt solid.

The USB port that is on the drive seems to be proprietary, but it could be a standard port for USB 3.0. The cable that comes with the drive fits snugly and works well. The cable should be saved carefully - I don't have any other cable with that specialized connector.

The backup software resides on the hard disk of the drive. I didn't bother installing that... Read more

156 of 165 people found the following review helpful

High capacity in a slick looking little external hard drive, October 20, 2010

PT Cruiser "PT Cruiser" (West Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Black) (Personal Computers)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program ( What's this?)

I can remember when I was impressed by a 356 MB hard drive on my new computer. (Remember those days?) Now here's this back-up external drive that is a terabyte, something that not so many years ago was in the domain only of supercomputers that took up whole rooms. The really impressive thing is that this is such a nice compact little drive, not much bigger than a deck of playing cards. I've used other drives for back up and have always avoided the back up software that came with some of them, fearing it would get in the way and slow things down when I'm working or that it would take too much time to figure out what to back up and how often to do so. As a result, I often forget to back things up, which could be a disaster if I ever had a hard drive failure.

Now the nice thing about a large external drive such as this one is that it has tons of space and I can just back up everything and keep several copies. The software that comes on the drive installs in minutes and... Read more

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Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player - WDBHG70000NBK-HESNsuper

Customer Rating :

List Price : $129.99 Price : Too low to display

Product Description

Wirelessly stream the latest movies, hit TV shows, Internet entertainment, and your personal media collection to the biggest screen in the house. With the WD TV Live streaming media player, you can enjoy it all in the comfort of your living room in Full-HD 1080p.

Enjoy Internet entertainment on your TV
Play your personal media collection
Built-in Wi-Fi and intuitive interface
High-performance, streaming-ready WiFi
Bring the arcade to your HDTV

Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player - WDBHG70000NBK-HESN Reviews

103 of 106 people found the following review helpful

Excellent Network File Streaming Device!, November 12, 2011

Jason Krol (Jamison, PA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player - WDBHG70000NBK-HESN (Electronics)

I recently decided to start a little weekend project of completely digitizing my 200+ home DVD collection. I wont get into any arguments over the legal ramifications of this type of project, but rest assured every digital movie in my collection is a straight rip of a physical DVD I own. That being said, I really needed a good option to actually "deliver" these movies to my HD TV in my living room. I have an Xbox 360 but that just didnt seem to be making the cut. So I started researching these fancy smart set-top boxes.

At first I was convinced the Roku XS 2 was the way to go - but I started reading more and more about its lack of specific filetype support (i.e. MKV, M4V, AVI to name a few). That and it really didnt do network streaming/sharing well (if at all). I saw the WD TV Live HUB with 1TB harddrive for 199 and thought that was just a little too steep for my price range (the Roku is 99 afterall). Then I somehow accidentally found this device on Amazon. The price... Read more

120 of 127 people found the following review helpful

Plays everything the others won't!, October 12, 2011

invisiblexninjas (Aurora, Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player - WDBHG70000NBK-HESN (Electronics)

I got this media player elsewhere locally, before Amazon dropped their price. Anyway, the GUI is fine. It's easily navigable, not cluttered at all, presented in a beautiful package, and certainly easy to read. All pluses there. The first videos I attempted to play were 720p mkv files over wireless network (on a 1TB HDD connected to my computer in the basement via USB). After taking a few seconds to gather the first few pictures from the USB--> wireless connected storage device, the WDTV Live streamed the videos seamlessly! I even paused one for like 8 minutes while making dinner, and it resumed with no noticeable glitches, artifacts, or rendering/buffering. The second (and only other) file type I attempted to play was a 1080p TS file I had recorded from my cable box. This took a little bit longer between hitting play and seeing video on the screen, but time was minimal. I want to say no more than 4 or 5 seconds. Again, it had to pull the video from the HDD to the computer via USB, and... Read more

124 of 133 people found the following review helpful

Best choice for the $100 range of devices, October 11, 2011

Chaz Palio - See all my reviews

This review is from: Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player - WDBHG70000NBK-HESN (Electronics)

I want to start by letting you all know that I'm very picky about my electronics and I'm not easily satisfied nowadays, so I always play with several products before sticking with one. I've gone through the wdtv live plus (grey model with small remote), sony smp-n100, and the apple tv 2 before trying out this device (also used various BD players, gaming consoles for netflix/youtube streaming). I must say that this unit takes the cake in terms of what you get for the price.

Too lazy to give you my full story and thoughts so I'm just going to sum it up and give comparisons to the atv2, which I'd consider the next best choice for a set top box.

-Video quality exceeded my expectations (netflix, youtube, network streaming)
-Youtube steams HD (unlike smp-n100 and other revisions of the wdtv live/plus)
-Wifi is integrated in this unit but won't see my N network (no big deal)
-Youtube won't allow you to access your subscriptions from the app, only your... Read more

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Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 3.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive in Black STAA1000101super

Customer Rating :

List Price : $139.99 Price : Too low to display

Product Description

The GoFlex ultra-portable drive makes it easy to store, back up and encrypt all your files with its plug-and-play USB 3.0 connectivity, but this is no ordinary external drive. As the core of the GoFlex Storage System, the GoFlex ultra-portable drive is the world's most upgradable external drive allowing it to deliver a truly customizable experience. Use the included USB 3.0 Adapter or upgrade to FireWire 800 or eSATA by pairing the drive with the appropriate GoFlex upgrade cable. Extend your content beyond your PC and enjoy it on your TV, over your network or on-the-go by using it in combination with other GoFlex products.

What's in the box :

GoFlex ultra–portable drive
Pre–loaded backup software with encryption
GoFlex USB 3.0 interface adapter
18-inch USB 3.0 cable
Quick Start Guide

Amazon.com Product Description

The GoFlex ultra-portable drive makes it easy to store, back up and encrypt all your files with its plug-and-play USB 3.0 connectivity. This drive is great for taking with you on business trips, vacations and on the go allowing you to save or access your videos, photos, music or files. The GoFlex ultra-portable USB 3.0 drive interface returns blazing fast USB file transfer speeds and the GoFlex system allows you to upgrade to FireWire 800 or eSATA by pairing the drive with the appropriate GoFlex upgrade cable. Extend your content beyond your PC and enjoy it on your TV, over your network, or on-the-go by using it in combination with our GoFlex family of products.

Store over 16,000 hours of music on the 1TB GoFlex Drive

Available in a variety of colors to suit your style. View larger

Store, back up and encrypt all your files with plug-and-play USB 3.0 connectivity

Protect your files with GoFlex's built-in back-up software

Plug-and-Play with Automatic Backup Software

The Seagate GoFlex's built-in backup software ensures automatic continuous backup of your data. It secures your backed up files and protects your privacy with powerful encryption software. The Seagate Dashboard management tool software provides easy management of backup schedules, file encryption, and at-a-glance drive statistics, including available capacity.

Access Files with the Interface of Your Choice

Use the advanced USB 3.0 interface for maximum compatibility with standard desktops and laptops. USB 3.0 works with PCs equipped with a USB 3.0 port for maximum file transfer speeds, but also works with standard USB 2.0 ports. Or upgrade to FireWire 800 or powered eSATA by pairing the drive with the appropriate GoFlex upgrade cable.

Free your Files

With the included NTFS driver for Mac, you can now interchangeably store and access files from PC and Mac computers without reformatting. The NTFS driver is simply installed once on your Mac computer, allowing it to access and store files in a PC compatible format. (Reformatting to HFS+ required to use backup software for Mac or Time Machine software.)

Extend Your Content Beyond the PC

The GoFlex ultra-portable drive is the heart of the GoFlex Storage System, and by combining it with other GoFlex Storage System products you can enjoy your content on your TV, access files from any PC or Mac computer on your network, from a mobile device, or via the internet while on-the-go.

Enhanced Versatility Is a Snap

Plug-and-play connectivity options let you protect, store, and do more. The GoFlex Storage System allows you to upgrade the way you access your digital content without having to replace your drive. Upgrade cables and kits make it easy to move from USB 3.0 to eSATA or FireWire 800 for even faster transfer speeds for your large files and HD movies. Extend your digital life so you can access and share your files from anywhere.

What's in the Box

The Seagate GoFlex ultra-portable drive, backup with encryption software pre-loaded on drive, NTFS driver for Mac pre-loaded on drive, GoFlex USB 3.0 interface adapter, 18-inch USB 3.0 cable, quick start guide, 2-year limited warranty.

Get the Most from Your Drive with GoFlex Upgrade Cables

GoFlex eSATA Upgrade Cable

6X faster transfer speeds than USB 2.0
Powered by eSATA/USB combo port, no external power required

GoFlex FireWire 800 Upgrade Cable

2x faster transfer speeds than USB 2.0

Seagate GoFlex Ultra-Portable Drive Specifications

	500GB¹	750GB¹	1TB¹	1.5TB¹
Model Number	STAA500105	STAA750101	STAA1000101	STAA1500100
Interface	USB 3.0	USB 3.0	USB 3.0	USB 3.0
Available Colors	Black \| Silver \| Blue \| Red	Black	Black \| Blue	Black
How Much Will it Store?
Digital Music (Hours)	8,330	12,495	16,660	24,990
Digital Photos (Files) Average file size using cameras highest resolution JPEG mode	160,000	240,000	320,000	480,000
Digital Videos (Hours)	500	750	1,000	1,000
DVD Quality (Movies) Based on standard 2 hour movie	125	188	250	375
HD Video (Hours) Based on H.264 compression at a 6.75Mbs bitrate	125	188	250	375
¹One gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one trillion bytes when referring to hard drive capacity.

The Seagate GoFlex Family Hard Drives

GoFlex
Ultra-Portable Drive

GoFlex Pro
Ultra-Portable Drive

GoFlex Desk
External Drive

GoFlex Home
Network Storage System

USB 3.0 plug-and-play drive
Easy-to-use preloaded backup and encryption software
Upgradable to FireWire 800 or eSATA
Access content over the network and on TV when paired with other GoFlex products

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 3.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive in Black STAA1000101 Reviews

366 of 381 people found the following review helpful

Seagate 1TB hold up!, April 1, 2011

Vidsavage - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 3.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive in Blue STAA1000102 (Personal Computers)

Honestly to make this easy, here are some steps you can follow, since I believe this to be the better of the 3 mainstream external 2.5" drives (Toshiba, Western Digital, and Seagate).

1. Why bother with the software in the first place?? just reformat the drive, or delete the software. Sure it is a bit annoying having 40 gigabytes taking up space right out the box, but is that really the only main source of concerns for this drive?

2. Now for the USB cord. out of the multitude of variations of 1tb usb 3.0 drives I have run and tested, every manufactuer has just about the same length of cord. If you want a longer cord, and or are wondering how you are going to power this drive other than with the supplied USB, then why are you buying this particular external HDD? this model is not for you if you are NOT an on the go type of person. what I mean by that is, if you do not lug your external drive around, why dont you go buy a powered 3.5" external HDD model for the... Read more

176 of 187 people found the following review helpful

An attic for your hard disk, January 3, 2011

ringo (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 3.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive in Black STAA1000101 (Personal Computers)

I got this with one purpose in mind - to get the MP3s off my hard drive. (Seagate apparently wants me to use it for movies - more on that below). I have so far found it to perform flawlessly, with a few caveats:

Pros:

- My laptop (WinXP) treats it like another hard drive, so I can drag-and-drop stuff directly onto my player, and can extract winzip files on the drive to another directory on the drive, and move stuff around in general.
- It runs off the USB power, so no need for a power cord
- The upload transfer speed (USB2) from my internal hard drive is just over a gig a minute for MP3s - I moved 18gb of music, in files of between 2 and 5 megs each, in just over 17 minutes, and 5 gig of audiobooks, in zip files of up to 300meg, in 4.5 minutes. This may change as the disk gets more fragmented.
- This will be upwardly compatible for my next laptop, which will probably have USB3.

Cons:

This isn't so much an external drive as an... Read more

158 of 172 people found the following review helpful

Ugh., March 7, 2011

bkbyte - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 3.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive in Black STAA1000101 (Personal Computers)

After only 6 weeks of use and no noteworthy physical trauma, this drive failed catastrophically, corrupting most of the data on it in the process. I wish I listened to the voice in my head saying, "Hmm, this doesn't seem very sturdy," when I took it out of the box, but I instead used it as planned for housing files I need at home and at the digital lab that I use for work. As another reviewer observed, this hard drive had an annoying spontaneous ejecting habit. My real problem was when it imploded - with a backup in progress - after less than 2 months of use. It was functioning normally one minute and then the drive's light started blinking and my computer was unable to recognize it. We tried the drive in another enclosure and hooked to a linux computer that usually will recognize even corrupted drives. Nothing. The data recovery lab I ultimately sent it to had to replace multiple "physically damaged" components to restore functionality and found more than half of the data was in... Read more

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