Customer Reviews

AcomData PD320USE-BL 320 GB 2.5 inch Executive Portfolio Portable USB/eSATA

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased this to replace my 160GB hard drive that just wasn't cutting it. I like the 2.5" drives because they are USB powered and don't require a bulky power cord to carry around. I checked the Seagate, Maxtor, Iomega and others. The acomdata is by far superior. It offers USB 2.0 and eSATA. It feels very durable and the enclosure is wrapped in leather that matches the carrying case that comes with it. Best of all it was cheaper than the competition.

This drive works better than I had imagined. I expected it to be slow based on other reviews but it's actually faster than I expected. Easy to use and recognized by my system as soon as I plugged it in. I bought two and would not hesitate to buy again.

BE WARNED: eSATA does not work at all for this drive. It works as a USB drive, but there are plenty of other choices for that. If you want eSATA, stay away.

This product is great: very small, and you do not need to plug it to a plug for it to work, which makes it very easy to use. In addition; no need of software installation to use it; just plug it in. I love it!

I bought this large capacity drive because of the eSATA (fast) link, but eSATA did not work. The drive is recognized fine with just the USB connection, but the drive is not recognized at all if I connect the eSATA cable using the "connecting via eSATA" instructions that came with the drive. I tried three different computers with working eSATA ports and with three diffrent working eSATA cables without success. After ten days waiting for tech support, I returned it to Amazon. Works fine as a USB drive, looks nice, but don't bank on the eSATA connection.

I bought this HDD about two months ago and tested it extensively before writing this review. I haven't had any issues so far. The drive itself and the pouch that comes with it have a nice high quality leather finish.

Performance is good too - when copying large files via USB 2.0, I get between 25 and 30 Mbps constantly. With eSata, transfers starts of at about 80 Mbps and stabilizes at around 60Mbps. (Tests were done on Windows Vista and an internal SataII HDD.)

I would definitely recommend this external HDD to anyone looking for high quality and great value.

I use this drive with my WD TV HD Media Player. It's fast enough via USB for video etc. However, file transfers aren't the fastest. My Western Digital USB drive writes much faster via USB than this one. Not sure why.

The drive barely gets warm when operating, and it's a very quality structure/enclosure. The Leather casing it's housed in gives a nice touch.

One small detail... Avast recognized the RECYCLER software pre-installed on this drive as Malware. I formatted as soon as I plugged it in though, so no worries. I'm thinking Avast gave a false positive for whatever reason.

For the price, (I paid seventy shipped) it's well worth it.

I already have a USB external drive. I bought this for the eSata connection. It doesn't work for me (and apparently others as well) under Windows Vista Ultimate. I tried it on several computers with several cables (and, yes, I did plug in the USB cable to provide power).

I emailed Acomdata tech support and they suggested (several days later) that their drive had a bad eSata port. I returned it for a replacement (at my shipping cost) and the new one is exactly the same.

I see that others have gotten the eSata to work. For me, as long as the eSata cable is plugged in, the drive is invisible in Windows Explorer, in Device Manager, and in the Bios.

It works fine as a USB drive (very attractive, very quiet) but the eSata is iffy at best.

My OS:
64bit Windows Vista
I also did a NTFS reformat of it, because in order to store very large files you need to switch from FAT32 to NTFS

I wanted a 500gb portable drive with eSATA and I bought this one even though I saw that other reviewers say their eSATA doesn't work. The eSATA does work, but you need to give the drive enough power.

I tested to see if the eSATA worked by 3 ways:
1. I followed the directions: plugged in the eSATA cord first, then plugged in the USB. It shows as a normal drive, not a "Removeable USB Storage Device"
2. Next I took out everything, and just put the USB in. Now it shows as a "Removeable USB Storage Device"
3. Finally I plugged the USB into an AC power source, not the computer, and then plugged the USB into the drive and the eSATA in. The drive shows up even though its only connected through the eSATA.

If the eSATA isn't working when you plug the USB in, then plugin two USB connects into your computer, so that it makes sure to have enough power to run the eSATA since the eSATA doesn't provide power to the device alone. The drive comes with a split USB connection, in the manual it says to try using both of the USBs on the computer end of the cable if your eSATA doesn't appear.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this product. It comes with its own leather carrying case too that even holds the USB cable(also included) as well as the drive. The drive itself is very light weight and the design ,the leather with stitching with chrome accents, looks and feels great. The drive does not get very hot, even with long use. I am currently using it to backup my files before I switch over to windows 7.

The Calvary drive has similar eSATA issues, I think its just that the drives aren't getting enough power because some USB ports don't provide enough power with just one usb connected.

Were it not for the very good return policies of Amazon, this would have been my worst online puchase, ever.

My first external drive arrived and would not mount via the e-SATA connection. I sent an e-mail to Accomdata, which says on its Web site it will respond in 3-5 days. I sent my note weeks ago; I have yet to hear back.

So I requested a second external drive. Same deal: wouldn't mount via e-SATA. So on my own dime I took my PC to my local shop to make sure I didn't have bad hardware. Nope. My PC was fine, but when they ran diagnostics on the my brand-new replacement, they discovered the drive itself was bad. And I got to pay for gaining this knowledge.

I can forgive one bad item. What I can't forgive is shoddy customer service and a second unit that was as bad as the first. Caveat emptor.