Customer Reviews

Micronet Technology Fantom GreenDrive 2 TB USB 2.0/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive GD2000EUS

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought the first one of these when my LaCie drive failed. It has been fantastic, and I like that it powers down and hibernates. Yes, it may take a few seconds to power back up when you go to access it, but really, I don't see why these few seconds (maybe 5 - 10) would be an issue. I have one completely filled with music. It works like a champ when I am using it to listen to tunes. It only powers down when it is not being used/accessed. I have never had any issue with it, and liked it so much, I bought another. I have had one for at least a year and the second one for several months. Easily handled file transfer of over 200GB at once! Will be probably buy another one soon!

This is a Samsung Eco drive in the enclosure. The 2TB model does not come with eSata cable. This is a 5400 RPM drive and is slow.

On my system (Win 7) I had to make this drive discoverable by doing a Search in the Device Manager then assigning it in Disk Management...it did not install immediately nor automatically.

It has been a few months now and I am very satisfied so far with my 2TB Fantom Green Drive. I always read reviews on Amazon before buying and this drive suited my uses. I wanted to have room and adequate performance to do system backups for my 500GB desktop and my laptop AND have room to rip all my CD's so I could play them via Tivo AND I also use this drive to save programs from Tivo for later viewing. Although I initially had some concerns about drive throughput speed it has proven itself to be more than adequate for home and light home office use. For example, when I access a program on the desktop computer and this drive from Tivo, the drive has no problem keeping up with the streaming video demand over my home 10/100 network and always finishes downloading the program well before I finish watching it on Tivo. I also have no issues playing streaming MP3 format music through my Tivo and it's a lot easier than searching around for CD's. I record at best quality so I can play it back on my stereo at origional fidelity. The "Green" part of the drive, which causes it to power down after a short while, may irritate some who want or need immediate response from the drive for some reason. I find it a minor issue and like the power savings idea. This product was purchased from Amazon LLC and was delivered on time and as promised.

Main purpose why I bought this was to increase the DVR storage capacity. This works great with my DirecTV HD-DVR (model HR23-100). The installation was simple enough and so far its worked out great. With 2TB, I am able to get almost 450Hrs of HD video which is about 225 movies (about 4 times more capacity than the original hard disk capacity of the directTV dvr)

The drive is very quiet and has a decent look.

Its been only 2 weeks since I had this driver, so its too early to say if its reliable or not. I plan to update this review after 6 months to let you know if there was any issues or not.

Also note that this does not come with a esata cable. You need to buy your own.

This drive works great. It even *includes* both a USB and eSATA cable.

Amazon will try to up-sell you an eSATA cable from a different vendor. That's bogus. The drive vendor already includes one in the box.

I have a HD DVR H24, I added the device on SATA port (cable not included, you have to buy it) but it did not get recognized at first attempt.

I formatted the disk with my laptop, connect it to DVR with both switched off, What I had to do is to reset the DVR (small red button in the foront panel), after that it got the disk working. And have like 4 times more capacity for recording.

Note: this disk replaces the internal disk on DVR so if you already have recorded shows, better watch them all before adding the drive or you won't be able to watch them; unless you turn off the drive.

I have 3 weeks with this product and no overheating, noise or failures the only thing I don't give 5 stars is because it does not include SATA cable.

I bought this drive exclusively as an expansion drive for my DirecTV HD-DVR. While the drive didn't come with the eSATA cable as some have suggested, it only cost an additional $3.20 from Amazon (I'll leave product link in a comment to this review).

This drive does exactly what I wanted it to do. However, it's much faster than I expected. I can now fly through DirecTV menus. Apparently drive access time is even faster than its factory internal drive.

Note that adding an external drive does not _add to_ your drive capacity; rather, the external drive _replaces_ access to the internal drive. In other words, you lose all of the programming on the internal drive when you add an external drive. I cannot speak to precisely how much storage a 2TB drive adds, though I am under the impression that the internal drive is about 600GB, so the storage space is approximately tripled.

Adding this drive has been well worth the money, and I strongly recommend it. Just be sure to pick your timing!

Inexpensive, fast eSATA (also has connection for USB 2.0) is quite fast, quiet. I use it to make images of my hard disk with windows 7. So I only turn it on once a month. I like that it has an on/off button which many external Hard disks do not have.

I've had this drive for about 9 months so far and have had no issues what so ever with it. It's quick reliable and stores a good amount of data. The light is not that bright (compared to the other fantom drive I bought), It's quiet and hasn't failed me yet. Well worth the money.

Maybe this drive works better as an eSATA drive, but as a USB 2.0 drive it is mind-numbingly slow. It set up easily on my Mac, I'll give it that much, but Fantom/MicroNet has a Mac legacy, so that is to be expected. I'm using this with Time Machine, but I could not imagine using the drive for any sort of day-to-day work. Every time it spins up it WHINES. The first couple of times it started up I was afraid it was going to throw a bearing or something, but turns out is just operates that loudly. I had bought a Fantom drive before and had the power supply die right after the warranty, so I'm keeping my eye on this one. At time of purchase and with the rebate getting this unit was about the same as getting the bare drive. And a rebate where they still mail you a check with a 12-week lead time? What was I thinking! Oh, well, that one is on me.