Great value for a well made portable drive
Pros:
Well constructed, easy to use, good value, works with XP and Vista
Cons:
Needs external power supply, no power switch
The Bottom Line:
Great value. The drive seems solidly built and packs a lot of features into a drive that looks great on your desk.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I use this drive to back-up files on three computers, two of which are in my home, the third is at my office. the small size and solid construction make it easy to move from place to place, and USB and FireWire connections make it a pleasure to use.
I was very happy to see that this drive included both a USB and FireWire cable. When i was researching drives it seemed that none of the FireWire compatible drives included a cable, so imagine how pleased i was with my choice when i found out that i didn't have to spend an extra $35 on a FireWire cable.
If you care about transfer speeds, this certainly isn't the fastest drive on the market, but is more than adequate for my needs. I didn't notice much difference in transfer speed between using USB 2 or FireWire, but I like using the firewire on my desktop since it keeps me from having to unplug my USB hardware to get an available port.
I have a computer that's running XP Pro and one that is running Vista and the drive has no problem with either. There is a downside though, you can't set it up to auto sync files on different operating systems. Not a huge deal, but something to consider for sure, although I'm not sure any other brand can do this either.
The drive comes formatted in NTFS, which is another plus if you are backing up large programs or documents or applications.
Software is included on the drive, as well as on an included CD. If you are just doing simple file back-ups you don't need to install the software at all if you don't want to.
The two biggest downsides to this product I have found have to do with power management. This drive requires an external power supply, so it won't work unless it's plugged into the wall. Not a deal breaker, but something to know when deciding if this drive is right for you. The other thing I'd like to see is a power switch. I believe that leaving these things on all the time shortens the life of them since they generate heat, so would love to be able to turn it off when not in use without having to unplug it all the time. Again, not a big deal, but something to be aware of.
Overall I am very pleased with this product. I got it on sale for $200 which was a great deal for 750GB with included FireWire and USB 2 cables
