Customer Reviews

Hitachi SimpleDrive Mini 250GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive SDM/250RW (Red Wine)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I got this drive as a tote around for Video and Photos. I'm both a Mac and PC user so my insight is unique on this product. First thing I noted after opening the package is the small size and weight of this drive. With the curved lightweight body you could easily slip this into a hip pocket. The USB cable is unique in that it has two plugs on the interface end. The 2nd one is needed only if your USB port does not have enough power to spin up the drive. Just plug it into another USB port. I have an older G4 power mac which has exactly this problem, so having the secondary Connector for a power boost came in handy. The drive powers up fine on my newer Intel chip iMac and also the Fujitsu Lifebook portable.

This drive is formatted in the MS DOS FAT 32 standard. That makes it pretty much universal to any computer with a modern OS. It comes up on Mac OSX Tiger and OSX Leopard no problems. My Portable is running Windows XP professional. There is some backup software included for both Mac and Windows but I didn't bother as I'm using this drive mainly as a carrier. File transfer seems fast and easy. Most important, I was able to designate this as a Scratch Drive for Final Cut Express on my Mac and load video files straight to the drive. It was fast enough for stutter free playback and direct capture. That can be a problem with a lot of USB port powered drives-too slow and connection is unreliable. Not this one!

The Rubberized skin on this thing gives a positive grip on the fingers, and has a nice tooth to hold onto slippery desktops. That's important for a drive this light. Other drives slide around-and off-the desk. This one has gripping power! it's a very quiet drive;sometimes I don't even know it's working! And that brings me to one of the few gripes; the LED lights are on the bottom of this drive. SO you really have to look close or pick it up to see if it's on. I'd much prefer some kind of light on the front to know what the status is.

I've had quite a few external and portable drives over the years. This is one of the best in terms of speed and portability. It seems a lot of thought went into designing and it shows. It's a standout both in looks and performance over the many many portable hard drives out there.

The size is Okay, the performance is not bad. The only concern I have is its power hunger. I always need to attach both USB plugs into machine at the same time to supply enough power for this drive. Looks like it uses a shell to cover its internal 2.5 hard drive to make up this product. On one of my XP machine, it even bring the whole machine to a halt and I need to restart the whole machine by hot reboot. Of course, it could because the power supply is weak. On my the other Mac mini, it is not a problem, but still need to plug into both USB ports. Anyway, it is annoying.

I have a 1tb external that is not easily moved around because you need a power for the computer and then probably something else and it is inconvenient to plus it in. I ended up with a bunch of these and I decided to keep one, it works well. The luxury of moving around, usb powered, small size makes it worth the few extra bucks than a standard external.

Esthetically beautiful, easy to use - no transformer or power plug needed. Uses only the USB connector for power and computer link. Very useful for travel; it's small and light.

I bought this drive at Costco for $39. Brought it to office, plugged it in to computer and it worked perfectly. I brought it home and plugged it into one computer and it worked perfectly. Plugged it into second computer and it makes little beep beep noises and isn't recognized. Been doing some exploring and still haven't figured out what's wrong, though I can't say the drive doesn't work, as it does, perfectly fine, on two out of my three computers.

I would highly recommend the Simple Drive by Hitachi. The unit is so small and easy to use. It looks nice when sitting on my desk next to my laptop. It has PLENTY of storage space and is simple to look up files. The only thing I did not like was the back up software that came with it. It is great for a beginner but doesn't have a few things an advanced computer user would want. Eg. It does not allow you to pick certain dates for the backup. It allows you to pick daily, weekly and a few other things. The main thing about the back up software was it DOES NOT erase any old backups after it creates new ones. You have to manually go in and erase any back up you want to get rid of. I ended up using a new 100 dollar back up software for the drive and it was worse. Do a lot of research and make sure that you get the right software. The best I have seen is an Image back up software that will erase old back ups and allows you to set all those settings yourself. For the amount I paid for the drive it was WELL worth the money and perfect for a Laptop and/or travel purposes. I fully recommend this drive!!!

I bought this hard drive for my many space A travels in military planes. Since there is a lot of movement and sometimes youre only allowed a small bag in the planes, things have to be a bit tight inside that backpack. so I bought the hitachi simple tough because it was said to be by many reviews "indestructable". I received the item from amazon and filled it up with movies and music for my upcoming trip. As soon as we reached cruising altitude I pull out my brand new Hitachi simple tough to watch a movie. "USB device not recognized" that was the only thing that came up on my computer. After this started looking for other ways to fix this problem and apparently everybody that bought this item has the same problem. Apparently the usb cable attached to the HD is not very good. So why dont you save yourself the problem that mostly all the buyers of this hard drive are having and get yourself something new. Because trying to call Hitachi customer service .... Humph ... good luck with that. Hope this helps

Excellent Portable Hard Drive. Everyone should have one to back up precious photos and important documents on personal computers. Arrived very well packaged. Would order from this seller again.

Bought this to back up 13 years of business files and all my music and pictures. No set-up....just plug and play. Back up speed was incredibly fast. Got it at Costco for $39....can't beat the value.

I was pleased at how easy this drive connected to my dad's 10 year old emac and I could transfer files to my new macbook pro without formatting or installing anything. I have noticed that file transfers are faster with 2 USB ports and I used a powered USB hub (my dad's machine only has 1.1 USB). The drive is plug and play. That simple. Since then I've used it for media and haven't run into any problems transferring or streaming files into iTunes or VLC. I've been using it for apx. 4 months now. I didn't even look at the software that came with it.

The drive does have a connection for a ac adapter and states on the package an "ac adapter is available seperatley" but on Hitachi's website there is no mention of an adapter and I couldn't see one for sale. When I googled for one, I found a comment stating someone was using a standard 5 volt wall wart with 1 amp or higher, the tip was center positive and sized 3.4mm OD x 1.3mm ID. I've emailed customer support today but haven't heard back yet. If it can be used with an wall unit that would be a nice option and unusual for a portable USB drive. I looked on Amazon for one and couldn't find on. Anyone know where I can get one?

I'm pleased with this drive. It's not as fast as my desktop 3.5 drive, but I'm not going to carrying that around like I can this. It slips nicely in my carrying case, yet it's not going to slip out of my hand when I pick it up and feels solid. I can use it with 1 USB port but it seems to perform a little better with 2. I was hoping the wall unit would give it another added boost because I'd like to use it with my Phillips dvd player which only has one USB also (but haven't tried it yet).

It is what it is; a portable USB 500GB drive and works on macs seemlessly. It's been a great companion for my laptop to hold media files which saves a lot of room and the price was right. I paid about a little more than what a 16GB flash drive was selling for at the time. As with any external HD purchase, the use of the drive needs to be considered. I wouldn't depend on this like I depend on a fully featured desktop drive - but a desktop drive can't fit into a pocket like this can.

An update from Hitachi (that was fast): "Power Adapter Output -The Signature Mini Portable line require 5 Volt, 1 Amp, Power Adapter Output or greater, and Center Positive. These models do not ship with a power adapter, as they are intended to be powered through USB (Y-Cable). You can purchase an adapter at electronics stores like Radio Shack. Radio Shack's part number is 273-1696 AC input 110-240 Volt and DC output 5 Volt."