Customer Reviews

Seagate Maxtor Central Axis 1 TB Network Storage Server STM310005CAA00G-RK

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

Poor os support, limited concurrent connections, likes to disconnect connections .

There seems to be a limit on the concurrent number of computers connected at the same time. When talking to seagate support they keep referring to NO MORE THAN TWO connections.
If you are using a device like this, you probably have a lot more than two computers.

I was blown away by it being slightly nonstandard network connection. It requires their stupid driver software to connect more reliably. which means - any new os or service patch may be incompatible with the unit.
What a waste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was hoping to use it to share files with 3 to 4 computers, always problems. The other day, I upgraded to firefox version 3.5.012 and the seagate software did not like that at all.

An interesting thing about this networked hdd - DEFRAGMENTATION? Seagate support keeps chnging their mind on who you speak to some cay NO it cannot, some say it can, but cannot tell how to do it. So this drive will continually slow down due to massive fragmentation of files over the life of the product. Good luck if data recovery is needed on a fragmented drive


Seagate now has very limited time on support. NOW after 30 days from purchase, the phone support costs 14.95 for each time.

ever try chatting with seagate support good luck

So fixing problems on this gets worse over time.


Looks like Maxtor poor quality has seeped into the seagate side of the company


**** Update -- Again spoke to tech on the item - the tech said seagate is discontinuing these and there are no plans to fix the software.

I've just purchased this device to backup my Macbook because of a hard drive crash.

I specifically bought the device because it would work with a Mac and I've met all of their minimum requirements.

So I hook up the thing, and their software doesn't find the drive as it's supposed to. I think, oh that'll be okay, I'll just configure the IP in the device and it'll be good from here on out.

Nope, It *must* run through the detect phase of the program every time. After a lot of trial and error, I got the thing to detect, but not reliably. This means backups don't happen as scheduled. Pretty much making the product worthless to me.

I spoke with their tech. support, when I told them I was using with a mac they actually said "you're killing me"

I recommend against this product if you have a mac.

In short this unit keeps us from running a media server at all times. We get a direct connection via our Gigabit Router and a single Network Attached Storage device (The Central Axis above) that is recognized by all of our PC's, our game systems, and even a pair of our televisions (one Sony and one Samsung with DLNA compatibility.)
Thus the near Terabyte of music that we've recorded from all of our CD's (at 24-bit quality) is available at all times in any room that has a compatible player.
Previously--I had to leave a big old computer and a pair of External SATA drives running with DLNA compatible software (like Twonky Media or Media Monkey or the horrible Windows Media 11 on at all times.) Now I just turn the box off--and this baby handles all the music needs in our home. We are told that you can do the same with Video and documents and images and such--but at this point that would take a second and a third Maxtor Central Axis unit. We'll have to buy them when able. ;-) Great product. Simple set up. Clean use from any household computer. Rip your music from any networked player to it and go. Put the CD's away in storage and you have a winner.

It was nice while it lasted but that's a lot of money for only 6 months of use. The device sat on a hard surface and was well-ventilated. It started with the red blinking lights a few weeks ago and I could not connect. Tried plugging it in directly to computer, tried over the network, tried letting it cool down for a few days, and tried resetting the unit. Nada. Read some reviews here about the horrible customer service and the lack of help in recovering files. I don't care about the drive, I would never put another file on it even if they could fix it, I want my files back! Going with another reviewer's suggestion and pulling the drive out, putting it in another case, and try to get it to spin up. I'll update the review and let you know what happens.

Also, I'm purchasing a real server solution next time...with redundant back-ups!

It all started after I put the install CD in and it didn't recognize the CD - just spit it back out. No big! I'm a geek; so, I download the software from their website. After installation, it doesn't find my drive. I'm now frustrated, but hey, I'm a geek; so, I find a way to connect it as a server. Yet, I start thinking about why I wanted it: access the drive via the web, serve media, scheduled backups. I realize I'm getting hosed.

DON'T GET THIS FOR A MAC! This is coming from someone with a lot of knowledge on troubleshooting problems on most operating systems: windows, mac, linux.

Ask yourself: would you buy a TV if you had to be a TV repairman? If not, don't buy this hard drive.

I am extremely disappointed with the Maxtor Central Axis 1 TB Network Storage Server. We obtained one earlier this year. Initially, it worked quite well and permitted several computers to connect to it over our home network. Then, after about 3 months, it began to have problems requiring periodic reboots. Finally, it could no longer successfully reboot or connect to the home network. A sensor light on the bottom of the front panel flashes red & white, indicating an internal failure. Of course, it's easy to see why the device failed: one side of the plastic case buckled from heat exposure. Since there were no other heat sources or electronic devices immediately next to the Maxtor Central Axis device that could have generated any heat, it's obvious that the melting was caused when its own internal electronics overheated. I'm just glad that it didn't start a fire.

My advice to anyone considering to purchase the Maxtor Central Axis is as follows: don't do it; get something similar from another manufacturer that is less likely to overheat and completely fail. While the device that we purchased is under warranty, comments from customers on other forums indicate that replacement devices also overheat. Thus, overheating of the internal electronics is a chronic problem. The device was clearly designed with inadequate heat sinks and internal cooling fans.

Don't waste your money on the Maxtor Central Axis.

I have went through this product in a little three months. Each every time, I found out when I got home from work, which means it failed during the day when it is not used at all. Everytime I have to sent it back to seagate and get a replacement. The replacement is not a new or refurbished one, but a REPAIRED one. The support from seagate is hopeless. The forum at seagate web site is filled with miserable stories from Central Axis customers. If you decide to use this production, make sure you have something reliable to backup this thing every day, if you do that, why do you want to use this POS? Buyer be aware.

got unit, seemed to be perfect for the home with 4 computers. Backed all them up with it, used it as the primary storage for wifes laptop pictures as laptop memory too low for the volume of pic's she takes. Got email from Seagate saying update for Axis is avail, log in through the manager and click on status notification. After "updating unit" per customer support email(which was auto generated i did not request it) the unit got a Red i on the front and unable to access it via the manager or network. Tried pinging it to no avail. Tech support said send it in and we'll replace it. I asked about the data and they said sorry that is not covered!!!pay our sister company to try and recover it....forget it!!!! pay you twice for my own data??? Support is next to nothing...

While this did install quickly as easily, the software won't backup the Windows Shared Documents folder. (Which is an alias to c:\documents and Settings\all users...) In fact it won't backup anything in documents and settings, which is of course where you keep your favorites, and other key bits. (Oh, or program files, although one could argue that's not unreasonable.)

So if you just need shared storage, go for it. But if backing up multiple PCs is the goal, keep looking. I think Amazon will be getting mine back soon.

This drive is a disaster. The first one failed within 3 days; its replacement failed within a few months. Most of the software did not work - the second drive would not even power down after inactivity (despite selecting this option repeatedly via the web interface). So the disk just spun until it burned itself up, with numerous disk errors and failed copies to indicate that the end was near.

So, with a record of 0-for-2, it's hard to recommend this for use as anything other than a small room heater. Completely unreliable and most software was non-functional, out of the box, on both a Mac and a Vista box. You may want to look elsewhere.