Seagate Technology 200 GB USB 2.0 and FireWire External Drive (ST3200823AR)

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Summary: Seagate Technology 200 GB USB 2.0 and FireWire External Driv
Review: Easy setup with my Windows XP desktop and about 4hrs for the inital backup of 50GB of data using USB.

The bundled backup software seems to work well allowing you a variety of backup options. After the inital backup it runs incrementals and seems to make a sppedy job of it.

The 200GB is plenty of additional space for photos or video.

Much better than my previous Maxtor drive which expired after only 12 months use.

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Summary: It is easy!!
Review: Easy to set up and easy to use. I am quite pleased so far. It is also pretty fast, and pretty quiet.

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Summary: excellent and versatile external hard drive
Review: I decided to purchase an external hard drive primarily to serve as backup data storage for both my laptop and desktop computers. I looked in several stores, asked questions, and read a number of reviews (including here on Amazon). The reviews on Amazon were most helpful.

Costwise, this version was a better deal than the 160GB model, on a "dollars per GB" basis. Also, 200 GB is quite a bit, and so there is plenty of extra room for files other than backups.

If you have USB 2 or firewire capabilities (any computer made in the last few years should have at least USB), set up is essentially plug and play. I have Win XP which simply recognized the drive as another hard drive, gave it a letter, and I was operational in less than a minute. It took me longer to open the box than get the drive working.

Transfer rates seem quite fast with USB 2.0; I did not time it, but backing up 12 GB on my laptop took at most 10 minutes, which included the backup program's compression efforts. When moving or accessing regular files, I cannot see any difference between this and my internal hard drives. I suspect that USB 1.1 would be painfully slow; if you don't have USB 2 or firewire, consider getting a PCI card which supports one or both of these connections ($50 at most), for use with whatever external drive you purchase.

The drive is very quiet, and has its own on/off switch. I think this feature is mandatory, especially if you are not going to use the drive all the time. Without a separate power switch, the drive will be on and spinning, causing wear and tear, even if you aren't using it (or you will have to unplug it). With a switch, the choice is up to you.

Aesthetically, I found the black and silver case subdued and appealing. Two small blue lights are on the front, one for power and one which lights when you are accessing the drive. Apparently, in reviews of other products, some were rather garish (not a problem here).

You can stack and daisy chain multiple units via the firewire outlets, and the unit comes with both a USB 2 and firewire cable.

I have only had this unit for about a month, but Seagate has a very good reputation for quality. Western Digital and Maxtor have similar drives which cost somewhat less, but after reading others' reviews of them (including different sized drives), I went with this one because of Seagate's reputation, the power switch, ability to use either USB or firewire, and easy expansion/daisy chaining options.

We will see how it holds up over time, but for now I am quite happy.

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Summary: Quiet, small, with on-off switch (but only 185GB)
Review: This drive from Seagate I bought for work backups is in every way superior to the 200GB and 250GB Western Digital externals I have at home.

The most impressive difference is the sound. The Western Digitals sound like blenders by comparison. But I also appreciate the on-off switch (though you should eject the removable hardware first if you're using Windows XP); the Western Digitals are on until they're unplugged. With my nest of cables, the switch is very handy.

In terms of dimensions, the Seagate's a bit wider and fatter, but not as long. It's a little more subdued in appearance, but I'd still prefer something more generic. I don't need a giant Seagate logo reminding where it came from. The Seagate also feels more solidly built, but I haven't been using any of the three drives for anything other than occasional backups. This is especially true of the connector plugs, which are rock solid on the Seagate, but slip all over on the Western Digital.

I have also had great experience with the Barracuda family of drives from Seagate, which is the drive in this box. Reviews I've read online say FireWire's faster than USB 2.0 for this drive, but I haven't raced them myself. Either way, it's going to be slow compared to built-in drives.

Like the Western Digitals, this one was ready to go with Windows XP right out of the box. I have my own backup scripts, so I didn't need to try the built-in one.

My one complaint is that like Western Digital, Seagate reports drive sizes in billions of bytes, so it's only really 185GB (a GB is 2**30 = 1024*1024*1024 bytes).

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Summary: BEWARE THE WARRANTY
Review: WARNING! The warranty for Seagate products may not be what you think it is. I bought a Seagate external hard drive. The outside of the box says "fully guaranteed - A worry-free one-year warranty covers all parts and labor"; BEWARE, this warranty is not for you - it is for the retailer that sells it to you. This warranty starts the day that Seagate sells it to the distributor. So, if you buy it from a retailer and it has sat on their shelf for a number of months, your warranty is less than a year.

I learned the hard way - I bought the Seagate hard drive on the 22nd of January 2004. It stopped working in late December of 2004. When I called Seagate warranty support to inquire about the warranty, Seagate informed me that the warranty expired on December 2nd, 2004. I called the retailer to ask them about the issue. They did not know that the warranty started prior to my purchase and told me that there was no way for them to know how long that hard drive had been in their possession. They recommended that I call Seagate warranty support back to escalate the issue since it was within 45 days of the end of the warranty and within one year of my purchase.

I had to call Seagate warranty support seven times in a month to try to get some answers. Twice they told me that they were going to call me back and never did. Finally, on the seventh call, they informed me that they would not replace my drive. Dealing with the warranty support team was a miserable experience and after this experience, I would never recommend buying a Seagate product to anyone. Spend a bit more money on a product with a real warranty, just in case something goes wrong. After all, if the company has that little confidence in their product, why should you trust in it?