Rating: 
Summary: 1 star because there is no zero star
Review: Can someone tell me why Maxtors run so hot. I have many hard drives. Most are quiet and cool. My two Maxtors runs very hot. Not sure of the exact temp but I would say close to 45 degrees C. The Maxtor web site itself says that temps higher than 50 degrees C will reduce HDD life. They say you must have good ventilation. Then why my Seagate, WD, and others run so cool? My Seagate is so quiet, sometime I am not sure if my computer is on or off. On the other computer using a Maxtor, I can tell from the loud noise. Maxtor might be good for occasional use, not for always-on conditions. Don't put critical info on it. I wish Maxtor would have a utility (that doen't delete your data) which monitors the disk temp and provide early warning. Maybe even shutdown your PC gracefully.
At work we have many failures with Maxtor but rare with WD.
This will be the last time I buy a Maxtor.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect Secondary/Backup Hard Drive for your laptop!
Review: I have been using Maxtor external hard drives for just over a year now and have made recommendations to family and colleagues which have resulted in them buying many of them as well. So with experience with close to a dozen hard drives, we have not had any problems and have nothing but praise for the drives. First off, with internal hard drive prices for laptops so expensive and so difficult to install, external hard drives that use firewire (IEEE1394) are a great option. These hard drives use both firewire and USB, so you can take the information and hot swap it among multiple computer (like a thumb drive) or keep it plugged in to a single computer for use a secondary hard drive. I have found virtually no speed difference between accessing files on the external hard drive versus the internal. The automatic backup feature, makes the hard drive all that much more useful. It comes bundled with Dantz Retrospect Express program which is an easy-to-use option for automatically backing up just what you want with a touch of a button. I backup often, usually just punching the button as I go meet to clients. It usually finishes the automated process by the time I return. Because backing up is so easy to do, when I did lose the hard drive on one of my laptops, I barely missed a beat after I got it replaced, simply restoring the drive image to make my new laptop look just like my old one. I highly recommend Maxtor external hard drives.
Rating: 
Summary: Watch Out After the First Year ... You May Lose Your Data
Review: I have owned the 300 GB Maxtor external hard drive for about a year now, and just like my 250 GB external hard drive from Maxtor, it is starting to make an occasional grinding noise when data are accessed from it. Maxtor will tell you to run Powermax diagnostic software on it, then you lose all your data (!!!) and then they will mail you another drive if your diagnostic produces the correct error code. But you had better have another drive to backup anything important - because it will all go down the drain in an instant and a new drive getting mailed to you by Maxtor is no consolation. This has happened to me 3 times now with Maxtor drives. The safest thing to do is to buy a Seagate or Western Digital internal hard drive - and use it to backup everything from the Maxtor drives. Maxtors are not reliable!!!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome drive -- Awesome backup solution
Review: I have the 250 GB model, bought it from Amazon. I am very happy with it.
I use this device solely for backups. Works awesome, incredibly fast. For the 99.99999% of computer users who DON'T do backups, do yourself a favor and get this drive, and start doing backups.
I'm surprised at the negative reviews. I've had my drive now for almost a year. It's not noisy, it doesn't run hot, and it's never failed.
I think the people reporting that it runs hot must be placing it directly on a surface -- that's a no-no, you're supposed to elevate it a tad with the little rubber feet that are provided. Then the aluminum case provides excellent airflow and cooling.
Regarding those who experienced drive failures: Here's a tip -- don't move the damn thing while it's powered up. I know it's tempting, because it's so small and movable, but that's pretty much guaranteed to cause a drive failure.
And more on drive failure: well, for a backup device, who cares? It's a BACKUP. You're supposed to be counting on a failure of the primary drive OR the backup drive, but not both AT THE SAME TIME. That's what a backup is all about.
And if you're really that concerned about losing the backup copy of your data, fine, get two of these drives. It's still an incredibly affordable backup solution. Then you can keep one of the two backup drives "offsite" at all times -- or at least unplugged, so it'll be safe when the lightning strikes. Not a bad idea at all, if you can afford two of these for backup drives...
Rating:
Summary: Maxtor 300
Review: I ordered the hard drive from AMAZON due to loyality. The price was cheaper at the other sites. I waited for two weeks and I contacted the help department. They sent me a form email stating that the product was no longer available. Looking at their web site, the product was available, but now sixty dollors more expensive. I tried to resolve the issue, but I kept getting form emails and no flexibility to get the product to me at the previously agreed upon price. I bought the hard drive from another site at the original price. It delivered in two days. WORKS GREAT. 5 stars for the hard drive!!
Rating:
Summary: Blows away the computer
Review: I'm using this with Windows XP and about 50% of the time, when I press the button to do a backup the Retrospect software they provide blows the computer right out of the water. The blue screen of death appears and the computer crashes. Maxtor has known about this problem for a long time but they won't put out a fix for it.
Rating:
Summary: Included software is not up to par
Review: I've had this product for 6 months now, and even though I consider myself somewhat tech savvy, I still haven't been able to figure out the included Retrospect software, required to use the one-touch back-up functionality. The software is incredibly un-friendly, and the manual is equally cryptic. I'm sure that it's easy to use for programmers and such, but definitively not for the average user.
Because of this shortcoming I'm using the hard drive as a regular drive, just copying my files manually. I'd recommend buying a similar product with better software.
Rating: 
Summary: So far so good...
Review: Just received package last night, set up back-up script, and completed first back up of entire home system. Had no major problems, followed the user manual to the letter. At one point, if the user wants to do the one-touch back-up set-up, pushing the button was supposed to take you to a particular screen, which it didn't. I believe I followed the steps as instructed. Cancelled and did again and it took me to the correct screen. Otherwise worked well, simple set-up overall. Plenty of space, maybe a little pricey at $1 per Gigabyte but my needs will only likely expand with media intensive files and back-up will be essential. So far so good. I will wait and see what routine back-ups etc will do.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT Hard Drive, GREAT Price, GREAT Performance
Review: Maxtorf 300 Gig (yes, not MB but 300 GIGs... At Amazon.com's price for the of $316.44 and availability usually shipping in 24 hours (and sometimes even less!) I would recommend you buy this for your piece of mind. My unit has been hammering along very good since I hooked it up. Actually, it's very interesting to hear and feel the thump, thump, thump, and vibration, plus it gets luke warm to the touch. It is however SOOOOooooooo quiet. It is in the same room as my new baby boy and he is able to sleep all night now. It is pretty darn fast, but, not so fast as to get a speeding ticket. I've only connected it through it's USB 4.0 port and it is blazingly fast compared to USB 1.0 or USB 2.0. It's definitely fast enough for my purposes (email me for details, I cannot write why I need 300 gigs in a public forum). I want to personally rely on this drive as a true backup. I back up 13 computers in my house onto this drive. You never want to have a crash with all-your-eggs-in-one-basket. The OneTouch flashes with a pretty blue light that keeps my new baby boy awake into the late of night (in kind of a trance). Does anyone know what FWIW means? For the most part, for the most part I am delighted with this here 300 gig drive. I, and my new baby boy recommend you buy one or two today.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT Hard Drive, GREAT Price, GREAT Performance
Review: Maxtorf 300 Gig (yes, not MB but 300 GIGs... At Amazon.com's price for the of $316.44 and availability usually shipping in 24 hours (and sometimes even less!) I would recommend you buy this for your piece of mind. My unit has been hammering along very good since I hooked it up. Actually, it's very interesting to hear and feel the thump, thump, thump, and vibration, plus it gets luke warm to the touch. It is however SOOOOooooooo quiet. It is in the same room as my new baby boy and he is able to sleep all night now. It is pretty darn fast, but, not so fast as to get a speeding ticket. I've only connected it through it's USB 4.0 port and it is blazingly fast compared to USB 1.0 or USB 2.0. It's definitely fast enough for my purposes (email me for details, I cannot write why I need 300 gigs in a public forum). I want to personally rely on this drive as a true backup. I back up 13 computers in my house onto this drive. You never want to have a crash with all-your-eggs-in-one-basket. The OneTouch flashes with a pretty blue light that keeps my new baby boy awake into the late of night (in kind of a trance). Does anyone know what FWIW means? For the most part, for the most part I am delighted with this here 300 gig drive. I, and my new baby boy recommend you buy one or two today.
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