Customer Reviews

Maxtor OneTouch II 200 GB External Hard Drive with FireWire and USB 2.0 Interface ( E01A200 )

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

 

 

This backup drive is compact, looks nice and is extremely quiet. I needed a drive that would fit inside my desk next to my tower and be very quiet since it's in my living room. I can't even hear this unit over my computer's fan. The vertical stand is handy, too. Setup took only about 4 minutes total: let the software install, plug in the power, plug in the USB and hit the "one touch" button ... that's all there is to it. I have not yet needed to do a restore, but the instructions look simple and consumer reviews I've read about other One Touch drives are positive. This unit is 200 GB, which is more than enough for my Windows XP system, all my software and my iTunes library, with plenty of room to spare. Plus, this particular kit comes with firewire capability, which I consider a good investment for future computer systems, and the incremental cost is minimal to get the firewire included. I highly recommend this backup system, especially for people who do not consider themselves computer experts.

Good - Drive is fast, tons of space, looks good, portable.
Bad - Install took a while, one-touch doesn't work, had to call tech-support and was told manual wasn't correct.

Overall - For a fast, good looking drive, this is great. If you're buying it for the features (one-touch, other software), it stinks. I'm happy with mine since I use it like a huge thumb drive (drag and drop). Also, I have both a Mac and a PC. You must choose which one you're going to use it with first. My other external let me swap back and forth. Not with this one.

First off I did not order mine through Amazon. I bought it at an Apple store. I assumed incorrectly that, were there to be any problems with it, I could run it back there for a replacement. But I hadn't read the fine print--the part that said the drive could only be returned to Maxtor. When I began to use it, it made some sporadic squeaking noises (Do a Google search--it's currently happening to about a billion users) and a phone call to the company confirmed that the drive was defective. And so, $32.00 later the device was winging its way to New Mexico and I was on my way to receiving a new one, which, incidentally, also squeaks! All the pretty lights flash, both partitions show up on my desktop (a Mac), and I have had no trouble retrieving or adding files. I will keep a wary eye on it though, and rather than continuing to deposit $32.00 at the UPS store on a regular basis, I may just cut my losses and go with a different brand.

I bought this drive specifically for the purpose of storing photographs. I did not want to fill up my PC's primary drive with them. This unit does that satisfactorily and reliably. It appears to be reasonably fast using a USB2 port. My configuration is a fast HP Notebook computer connected via USB2.

The unit installed with no trouble. I was initially irritated that it was not "plug and play" as the unit ships configured for an Apple OS, and must be reformatted with the supplied software to be configured for Windows. Once I got over my Windows-Centric irritation (I expect accessories to be "plug and play") and got the unit reformatted, I was happy. The software did work without a hitch.

I have not used the "one-touch" feature as I did not buy this unit to back up my primary hard disk but rather to store photos. So no comment about that feature in this review.

The unit does appear to be very well-made, and rugged. One nice little touch is that the AC cable is configured such that the plug does not have that irritating AC-DC transformer at the very end of the plug--the kind that blocks all of the adjacent plug sockets. The transformer is closer to the unit, which is nice.

Overall I am pleased with this unit. By the way, do not confuse this unit with the 250GB version, which is reputed to be a lemon. The 200GB unit works fine, which is why I selected it. Recommended.

If you plan to use this only as an external hard drive, it may work well for you. So far mine is not having the squeeking issues that others have reported. However, the backup/restore software that it comes with (Retrospect Express for Windows) is atrocious. If you've got any of the latest software from Microsoft (with .NET framework 2.0), it doesn't work out of the box and simply hangs without any error messages. You have to download the latest patch from the web site. It worked for a few days but broke again after the latest automatic Windows update. Maxtor phone support hours are useless, so I'm waiting for an email response. Be prepared to fight with the software if you intend to use it.

I got this a while ago; Too many steps to get to your saved files. It also stopped working (got the blue screen of death)and i cannot get to my files.Would not buy this product again nor would i recommend this product.