Hitachi SimpleTOUGH 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST/500GB (Carbon Fiber)

by Hitachi

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 9 x 3 inches ; 9.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002CM3S6M
• Item model number: ST/500GB
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 22, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

It's grippy. Rubberized. Rough and ready. With voluptuous curves and a smooth body that's resistant to shocks, drops, water, sweat, saliva... You get the idea. Whip out the integrated USB cable--with new and improved flexibility--and you'll never be without a connection again.

Tough enough for just about anything a typical day throws your way, with a cool topside LED for the nightlife, the SimpleTOUGH(TM) Portable Hard Drive is backed by a 3-year warranty for ultimate Hitachi quality and reliability.

Shock and Water-Resistant body for inadvertent bumps and splashes Rubberized, ergonomic sides for Grip-on-the-Go 2GB FREE Online Backup Service - Hitachi Local and Ultimate Backup(TM) online service for maximum protection Joggle(TM) Digital Content Manager for easy tracking, sharing and publishing of photos, music and videos Storage Capacities: 500GB, 320GB and 250GB Weight 0.59 lbs (267 grams)

"The Hitachi SimpleTOUGH is by far the most indestructible external hard drive we've tested... With a built-in USB cable, two-tiered data security package, and an impressive three-year warranty, we have no issue recommending this external hard drive to shoppers looking for space and security."
CNET - 09/30/2009

Grrrrrr! Just wait till you get your hands on one yourself.

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A world-renowned R&D heritage. A reputation for quality and reliability.
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies develops an innovative range of advanced hard disk drives used to store, preserve and manage the world’s most valued data. In fact, you’ll find Hitachi hard drive technology inside more and more leading-edge electronics devices from companies worldwide who put their trust in our heritage and reputation.

Product Description

Designed with a rough and tumble lifestyle in mind, the SimpleTough drive from Hitachi features award-winning drive design in a tough-as-nails skin. Cool underside lighting, grabbable rubber sides and a velvety rubber body ¿ what more could you ask for? Did we mention that it¿s rugged? 2.2 meter drops and your data is still safe. Best yet, you¿ll never have to carry a USB cable again, SimpleTough¿s cable is integrated, flexible and, yes, rugged too!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

244 of 256 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT BUY - ALL UNITS ARE DEFECTIVE, August 31, 2009

By 

RW "RW" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hitachi SimpleTOUGH 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST/500GB (Carbon Fiber) (Personal Computers)

***** WARNING: THIS DRIVE IS GARBAGE - DO NOT BUY - DO NOT BUY - DO NOT BUY - DO NOT BUY *****

I picked up one of these a couple of weeks ago. The concept of a good ruggedized portable USB hard drive for the consumer market is LONG overdue. The 500GB SimpleTough worked fine the first few times I used it, plugging the fold out USB ribbon cable into a laptop or desktop...everything seemed ok and it worked like a champ...and was faster than any other external USB drive of its size that I've ever used. Now all of a sudden I start getting "Device Not Recognized", no matter what laptop or desktop, USB port, or even USB hub (powered) that I plugged it into, and regardless of OS (using XP or Vista). After several iterations of patiently unplugging it, letting it spin down for a minute, then plugging it back in...still not recognized. So during my last attempt I was going to give up, box it back up and return it...I started to reach to unplug the drive and lifted it up off of my desk a little bit...and suddenly...it WORKED and my system recognized it. So I tried the theory, I unplugged it again, let it sit, plugged it back in while it was sitting flat...didn't work...then as soon as I elevated it to about a 45 degree angle off my desk it was recognized and worked again. Diagnosis...bad USB ribbon cable, and bad workmanship. I have treated this drive with kid gloves and it never got any kind of abuse, period. The drive may be ruggedized, but clearly the ribbon cable is a serious Achilles heel. I can't say all of these drives are bad since it was just this one, but if you buy one of these KEEP YOUR RECEIPT AND ORIGINAL PACKAGING...it may end up like mine did. I am probably going to get a replacement, if I do...I'll update this review good or bad based on what happens. For now, it's definitely a 1 star (0 star) product in my opinion.

UPDATE 8/31/09 - *3 stars now*
...got a replacement SimpleTough 500GB, so far it is working great...time will tell, and I will update this review with any good or bad news soon. I would have given this product at least 3 stars for the fact my replacement works fine, but Amazon...why do you allow people to edit reviews and not change the star rating if their opinion has changed? The stars are the first (and sometimes only) thing people look at...

11/4/09 - NO STARS, Amazon, how about giving us negative star review capability?
***FAIL*** THIS IS GARBAGE. After being used for very light duty (probably have copied about 100GB+ data to it that was read statically off and on afterwards, not much writing/deleting after that), and being treated like a fine piece of delicate glass artwork for a few months, the USB cable on my replacement is dead too. But if I gently tilt the unit to a 45 degree angle, magically the USB cable works...just don't bump it or it disconnects. This is ridiculous especially in this day and age where portable hard drive technology is MATURE AND WELL ESTABLISHED.

- Tried emailing Hitachi about this issue, no response.

UPDATE:
12/7/09 - Opened support case with Hitachi's Storage support (aka their SimpleTech division)
[...]

12/9/09 - no reply from Hitachi support, not even an acknowledgement of my support issue that I filed through their portal.

HITACHI - *RECALL* THESE DRIVES before someone forces you to do so legally. You rip off consumers and expect to be rewarded with continuing business? I am never recommending anything made by Hitachi to anyone. A little business common sense 101, you fix product quality problems instead of ignoring them, letting them worsen, and eat at your bottom line. I predict Hitachi will not have an external storage business at this rate, and will spin SimpleTech back off as an "unprofitable" venture. Quality is an investment that pays back one hundred fold.

2/8/10 - UPDATE - HITACHI, YOU NEED TO REPLACE THESE DRIVES. After this unit failed, like 99.9% of them do, I decided to see if I could fix the problem. I opened up the case by cracking off the side panels and prying the top from the bottom after removing the case screws and then the screws securing the drive to the plastic enclosure. What you have inside is a HACK JOB of USB cable splicing onto a HD-2523 v1.2 USB header (wafer) board...and the cable is hanging on literally by a THREAD. You have 2 black cables, one of which is twisted into the sheathing filament wire and is literally hanging by a thread...then the other green, white, and red wires are very badly crimped near the connection to the USB board...almost to the point where they are severed). THAT is why when this unit fails, you have to angle it at 45 degrees up or down, or flip it over and plug it upside down into say a USB 2.0 hub - but eventually the delicate wiring will snap in half internally. You basically have 5$ worth of cheap plastic, rubber, and electronic parts, attached to a Hitachi 500GB 5400RPM drive (model# HTS545050B9A300 / part# A57915) which is worth about $45.00 at mfr cost. This unit is worth about $50-60 TOPS leaving the factory...and the 500GB models were originally sold for nearly $200.00!!!! The markup isn't as much of a shocker as is the dirt poor quality of this unit. I am trying to see if I can find or cobble together another USB enclosure or wafer board/USB cable combo compatible with this drive, or...try to find someone with a laptop that could take this drive and at least get the data off of it.

This is the hard drive itself, same model/revision, etc on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Travelstar-5K500-B-Internal-0A57915/dp/B0029LHVLO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1265685083&sr=8-1

UPDATE 2/11 - SAVE YOUR DRIVE! If you have fallen victim to the poor quality of this unit, don't throw it away or give up hope yet. I'm going to explain how to quickly extract that hard drive from the Hitachi enclosure, and put the drive into another 2.5" enclosure that works flawlessly. To remove the small 2.5" hard drive from the case, snap off the black side panels (yes there will be tiny little pieces of plastic broken off - who cares at this point). You will have to use some force, don't be shy about it. Now remove the case screws, open the case, then remove the screws inside the case that secure the drive. If you have to or want to cut the stupid black ribbed USB ribbon cable protruding outside the drive enclosure, go ahead...it won't matter later because you are going to be using a different drive enclosure later. Save the screws if you work on computers, they can be handy for something else. You will see a green USB wafer board attached to the little 2.5" Hitachi hard drive inside. If it looks scary to you, don't be scared. It's just a standard 500GB 2.5" laptop hard drive plugged into a wafer board, nothing fancy or permanent about it. You will see where the hard drive is attached to this board...it is NOT glued or soldered on don't worry, the hard drive is just plugged in to that USB wafer board...that's all. Gently pull back on the hard drive and it will come free from the green USB wafer board. Now put the 2.5" Hitachi hard drive in a safe place. Now go buy or order a 2.5" drive enclosure that is compatible with this drive (far as drive size 2.5", and it is for SATA spec...preferably one that supports at least USB 2.0, or optionally eSATA). You can use any you want, but I HIGHLY recommend the Acomdata 2.5" USB/eSATA hard drive enclosure sold at Amazon here: Acomdata Tango USB 2.0/eSATA 2.5-inch SATA Hard Drive Enclosure (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001XHBNN2/ref=oss_product) - FOR $19.99! Using that enclosure it took me 5 minutes to install my hard drive into that case and get it running with the included USB 2.0 cable. You probably spent more than $100.00 on this Simpletough drive, $19.99 and 5-10 minutes of effort to get the use of your hard drive back isn't much to ask. When you get the new enclosure, you do nothing but follow the directions that come with that enclosure to install and power on your Hitachi hard drive, in its new home. This is the last entry I am typing on this item, and I REALLY REALLY hope Hitachi gets their act together. Reminds me of Toyota...Hitachi sees poor quality and the consequences of it (all this Amazon and other site's feedback is publicly viewable! I am also sure sales have fallen off for external Hitachi storage products in the past couple years, but yet the company sticks its head in the sand hoping it will all go away. You can NEVER put a value on quality, it is priceless!

***** WARNING: THIS DRIVE IS GARBAGE - DO NOT BUY - DO NOT BUY - DO NOT BUY - DO NOT BUY *****

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No good, September 1, 2009

By 

Erika "Kika5" (san francisco, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hitachi SimpleTOUGH 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST/320GB (Carbon Fiber) (Personal Computers)

After less than 3 weeks it stopped working. It may be rugged as per the case construction, but the cable is flimsy and the connection intermittent. I now cannot access my data as the driver is not recognized (and have not been able to find a new one to download). Customer service is a nightmare.... I have called 5 times, waiting up to 25 minutes; no one answers. Same applies to email requests for service. So I would not recommend the product nor the customer service. Pretty horrible.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It seemed awesome...., November 10, 2009

By 

A. Vos "A.V" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hitachi SimpleTOUGH 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST/500GB (Carbon Fiber) (Personal Computers)

For the first 2 days! Then it died. I am still trying to get product support. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it for the 2 days it worked. It didn't get banged around or anything I have no idea why it stopped working. Very disappointing and I really dont have time to be going through the hassle of trying to get it fixed or replaced...

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