Customer Reviews

Maxtor One Touch III Mini Edition 120GB USB 2.0 Hard Drive

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

 

 

I am generally satisfied with this drive - it seems to function as advertised. However, at least on my 17" G4 Powerbook, the bus does not provide enough power from one USB port, so there is a second USB cable that you must plug into your other USB port. Not exactly ideal to have all my USB ports used up by one drive, but that's my only complaint (this is the first bus-powered drive I have purchased, so I don't know if this is standard or not).

I recently purchased this external HDD, and I've been nothing but pleased with it (execpt for one or two things, more on that in a bit). It's small, light weight, and has tons of storage. It's as great as an HDD can get.

One gripe I have (a minor one, at that) is the lack of Vista drivers on the included software on the HDD itself. This is understandable, however, since this product was probably manufactured when Windows Vista was first released.

Another gripe is about the USB cable. I don't mind the fact that it is a dual USB cord, but it's slightly unweildly, and sort of clumsy to use. The Mini plug is inserted into the HDD, the red USB port half way down the cable is inserted into a USB port, and if you are unable to use the drive due to power limitations, you can plug the other end of the USB cable (black) into a free port. It'd be nice if it were a detachable option, but that makes it less easy to lose, I suppose.

Other than those two minor things, this drive works great. I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

I had the One Touch II Mini for a little over one year, then the USB port actually came loose and fell into the drive itself (just after the product came out of warranty of course, so no replacement) rendering it useless. Maxtor/Seagate "offered" to recover the data... for MINIMUM of $700!!

POS drive as far as I'm concerned, with horrible tech support to boot. Now I'm stuck with a paperweight that contains all my backup info. Stay away from this product if you're looking for a reliable drive. I'll never buy from them again.

I just received a Maxtor One Touch III as a backup for my new laptop, running Vista. Physically connecting the drive is easy, the real problem is with the Maxtor software itself. The Maxtor "Easy Manage" screen simply said "Backup Progress" the entire time it was imaging my hard drive. No visual progress indications, and worse, no indication when the task was completed. After an hour of no apparent progress, I finally went into my computer's Control Panel, looked in the Maxtor drive and found the hard drive (C:) files had all been copied. No indication from the Maxtor software screen of the completion of this event. I don't know whether Maxtor still hasn't gotten their act together with regard to the Vista OS, or whether they just have poor software. When you attach the drive and then try to open it from the Maxtor icon in Vista, the drive is not recognized by the software (but Vista "sees" it just fine). In the end, one has to use the "one touch" button on the drive itself to activate and access the onscreen Maxtor control panel to perform tasks with the drive. In this day, when so much software is "plug and play", this system looks like a throwback to the mid-1980's.

The documentation is minimal, and the Maxtor "Easy Manage" panel has two radio buttons labeled "What's New" and "Maxtor Support" to take you to informational websites. However, when tried, both were dead links.

In the end, yes, you can get it to work and back up your hard drive, but you end up doing some work arounds, and those are extremely clunky.

I was given a Maxtor 120GB hard drive as a gift, and therefore did not have a proof of purchase. When the small metal USB connection piece broke off and fell into the hard drive, I called customer service. The Seagate/Maxtor representative bought me through the entire process of replacing my product, and then, as she's collection my credit card information...apparently my warranty has expired. She neglected to mention this until 45 minutes into the conversation.
I was transferred to her manager, who essentially told me that there was no way I could get a replacement.

My issue is that Seagate is not deeming themselves liable for Maxtor products purchased prior to Seagate buying the company. That is absolutely ludacris.

I will never buy another Maxtor/Seagate product, due to the unreliable customer service and faulty products. I urge others to refrain as well.

The drive was active and fell onto a hardwood floor without loosing data.
This happened three times in two days, the first from counter height and twice from a desk. It has a small crack in the outer casing, but still functions. Small children on vacation are humbling.
I have used and abused it extensively for several years, some things stand out.
* The drive is always in use and won't allow me to safely remove hardware. There are troubleshooting tips on Seagate's site. Changing the Recycle bin to configure drives independently, may work for some.
* The safest way is to power down the PC, before removing the drive.
* It can be slow at moving and copying.
* You can listen to music, open spreadsheets and work on them with the same speed as those on your internal drive.
* Some lost data is not gone. There are a mess of dump files created after a problem. They are in folders one tier in designated with a letter followed by a number. If you open files and folders start opening everything, you will find stray files. The old Windows search function can help. Set it to search non-indexed and system files and folders.
* I hate automated processes, so I removed the software, formatted the drive and use it as an extra hard drive.
* The red plug is usually adequate, but on some laptops or non-powered hubs, it needs more power. I have gotten it to work with a standard cable, but it is intermittent and slow.
* Make an exact copy of the initial disk contents. Keep it safe. If you have a problem sometimes formatting it helps. It erases your data files, but you should have back ups of your data. Then reload the initial contents and run launch for a new drive.

Data should always be backed up on DVDs, an online service or another drive.
Back up your PC, then back up your back up. Keep an extra copy of important data at a separate location.

Just as another reviewer warned, the 'outlet' thingy that you plug your usb cable into easily becomes loose and renders the drive useless.

And, as another reviewer mentioned, the software is very clunky. Its constantly trying perform different tasks when you're not even using the drive... it has a real presence on your computer when it shouldnt be one of the most active software you have-- it should be there when you need need it, not constantly interfering with your activities and bothering you about back ups you don't need to make.

While its a good value for your money, I don't recommend buying this as your failsafe or your safety net. I recommend purchasing this if you want a secondary drive or need one for unimportant documents-- dont use this one as your only backup or your most important documents. If it would be devastating to lose the information you put on this drive, then back it up somewhere more reliable too or don't buy it at all.

Product OK while it worked, but now can not be recognized by any computer (tried it on 3) although it shows in system management. But can not access it can not retrieve data.
Recommend avoid Maxtor / Seagate.

This drive worked fine until it failed on me after about a year - 60gb worth of data out the window. Warning--as soon as you start to hear any metal-scraping-on-metal sounds from it ---bail out immediately and transfer info to another drive. I waited about 2 months until disaster struck.