Customer Reviews

Maxtor Personal Storage 5000DV - Hard drive - 200 GB - external - FireWire / Hi-Speed USB - 7200 rpm - buffer: 8 MB

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

The drive includes both firewire and usb cables. The power brick may be considered clumsy for some, but I suppose the usb port does not supply enough power to drive the device. The included backup software is excellent (Dantz backup express). There is also a 120mb version of the 5000DV (which is also a 7200rpm drive but comes with a 2mb cache instead of 8mb here). Unless you take the position that larger is better, it's probably more efficient to go with the 120mb version. Also if both types of connections are available on your PC, I recommend using the Firewire because I feel (after some research and tests) that it is marginally faster than USB 2 in real world applications. This is a real useful device for backup and multimedia files.

I bought this drive to use as a fast, external, detachable, RELIABLE, backup solution. I returned it. The disk itself runs pretty hot, the case gets very warm, needs cooling IMO, and after I had problems and tried to run a disk check it passed a Scandisk check only 1 out of 3 times (2 times it hung).

As a backup solution I couldn't rely on it - my experience was that the files would seem to back up OK, but each time about 20~30 files would fail the compare/verify step... i.e. the backed up file on Maxtor didn't compare equal back to the original file on my C:\ drive... this happened on different files each time I ran the backup. Whether this was the disk or the bundled backup software (Retrospect Express from Dantz) I couldn't tell, but as a bundled solution it failed the integrity test.

... ...

Fast? yes. External? yes. Detachable? yes. Reliable? no.

I'm genuinely disappointed it didn't live up to expectations - the disk has great specs and Retrospect has some nice features. For not much more $$ I'll buy a second PC, network it, and use it's internal hard disk as my backup device - the kids will get an extra PC this way too.

I have had this drive for three months, and a friend bought one at the same time.

After a month or so the one my friend bought crashed without warning, without being moved or there being any other logical reason for the crash. It just stopped working, claimed that there was no file system on the disk and the led faded in and out and it made weird noises when he tried to access it.

Two months go by and the same thing happened with my disk! It has been in the same place for months, I haven't even moved it!

I guess this is no longer being sold new, but I wanted to write this in case anyone was tempted to buy this drive used. I first bought a 5000DV (200gb) in spring 2003. It failed this spring, while it was still under warranty, though just barely. Maxtor replaced it. Now, after about five months of very light use, the replacement has failed as well. I have had a variety of other internal and external drives that have lasted for years, indeed I have not had a drive fail this quickly since the early 1990s.

I have purchased Firewire hard drives from SmartDisk and EzQuest and the Maxtor is much, much quieter. It has worked flawlessly.

The software package it comes with is unnecessary. Under Windows XP/2000, you can just plug in the drive and use it.

Please read other reviews and pay attention to how many talk about the drive making a clicking noise and then dying. Mine did the same thing. I thought, "no problem, I'll call customer service!" My guess is ALOT of people are calling customer serivice. I called 3 times. Each time as soon as I told them about the clicking it was VERY obvious they got annoyed and didn't want to talk to me anymore. PLEASE don't buy this drive! Learn from others experiances!! I'm sure a very few have won the lottery and received a drive they had no problem with. Do YOU feel lucky??

Purchased 1 unit for one-touch backup capability. It failed roughly 7 months, and won't mount. Got replacement drive, it failed after 6 months. Meanwhile other drives with similar features (except one touch) from other manufacturers continue to run without any problems. I think you can find better drives from another source.

Don't do it.
What are the strengths? 3 of the 5 drives I purchased are still working.

What are the weaknesses? 2 of the 5 drives I purchased died with very different symptoms just after their one year warranty expired.

About 15-18 months after I purchased five of these external drives, two of them failed with very different symptoms. This indicates to me that two separate components have failed within each of the bad drives. I bought these based on the Maxtor name and value ($/Gb) for the drives. Not only have the drives failed, but so has Maxtor. Their support is virtually nonexistent on their web support page (www.maxtorsupport.com), which directs you to their "knowledge base". Essentially, "figure it out for yourself from reports of past failures from other frustrated consumers". Final words: Don't do it.

I bought 3 5000DV drives for backup and additional storage. The first disk ran quite well for a few months. Then, the led turned red forever and no data was accessible anymore. The second HD suddenly showed a clicking noise. My PC slowed down dramatically. Obviously the drive had internal problems but was still working. After a while the same symptoms like for the first drive showed up (red led burning). Today, I heard a periodic ringing signal. It was the drive not working anymore. So, the second drive has gone.

Like many others here, my drive performed quickly & quietly, but only for 4 months. Then it tanked, taking 80G or so with it. It was neither dropped, abused, refurbished or bought from a "disreputable" retailer.

Moreover, I've done a bit of research & found my experience repeated ad nauseum by dozens of others who have bought this drive. In fact, seems I was lucky to get 4 months out of it; many haven't even made it that long. What's more, Maxtor didn't even ask me for any details before authorizing the return, which leads me to believe they're well aware of what a dog this drive is.

My guess is they've made it so quiet by shortchanging the cooling of the drive. Before it failed, the case would get so hot you couldn't touch it. Sad really, as until this, Maxtor drives had always performed well in my experience. The replacement drive is still OK, but I've since bought a DVD burner for backing it up, as I've no faith this one will last either. Back to Seagate, I guess.