Seagate 400 GB External USB 2.0/FireWire Hard Drive with Backup

by Seagate

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0006FS2FY
• Item model number: 9Y7275-557
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 27, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Compact, lightweight, and durable, this high-capacity drive makes it easy to take your work with you--wherever you go. Connect with USB 2.0 or IEEE 1394a (FireWire), and back up with the touch of a button.

• Award-winning BounceBack Express software from CMS backs up faster and easier than any other method
• High-performance 7,200-rpm drive with 8 MB cache
• On/off switch eliminates concerns that your hard drive hasn't been shut down safely
• Built-in self-monitoring technology continuously checks your hard drive for data safety and drive performance
• Designed to run much cooler than other external drives
• Hot-swappable, so you can connect and disconnect without turning off your computer
• Comes complete with USB 2.0 cable, FireWire 1394a cable, AC adapter and power cord, quick installation guide and backup software CD

Product Description

Includes: BounceBack Express, pedestal stand, USB cable, FireWire cable, AC adapter, & more. Seagate 400GB External Hard Drive - Backing up your computer's hard drive is essential to protecting your vital information. But with the size of hard drives these days, burning dozens of CDs and DVDs is no longer a convenient solution. Thankfully external hard drives, like this model from Seagate, are available to easily backup your entire computer with the push of a button. All of your data is then quickly transferred via a super-fast USB 2.0 or FireWire connection. Unique Interlocking Design - Allows the drive to be stacked Drive can also stand vertically with the included pedestal stand Built-in self-monitoring technology that continuously checks the hard drive for data safety and drive performance PC System Requirements - Microsoft Windows 98SE, Me, 2000, & XP Mac System Requirements - Mac OS 8.6, 9.x, & X (note - backup software does not support Mac OS 8.6 or 9.x) Unit Dimensions (w/o pedestal) - 7.125 (d) x 6.5 (w) x 2.25 (h) Unit Dimensions (w/ pedestal) - 7.125 (d) x 2.5 (w) x 7 (h) Unit Weight - 2 lbs. 9.5 oz.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do NOT buy this drive, April 1, 2005

By 

Judi Rayner "jkrayner" (Kissimmee, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seagate 400 GB External USB 2.0/FireWire Hard Drive with Backup (Personal Computers)

I bought this drive before any user reviews had been posted. I wish I had waited because, as all the other reviewers have said, this drive is just no good. I have a Seagate 200GB external drive and never had any problems with it. However, I needed an additional drive to save dvd files, just the type of file this drive does not like. For the first time in my ownership of Windows computers, I started to get a yellow triangle warning icon. In the event log, I too had a myriad of 50 and 51 write failures. The Seagate tech support technician told me the drive was defective and needed to be returned. Seagate only replaces defective drives with factory refurbished ones, not with new ones. Thank to Amazon, I was able to choose between getting a replacement (with a brand new drive) or a refund. After seeing that I was not alone in my horrible experience with this drive, I chose the refund and, after I receive my credit, will buy another 200GB drive. These seems to work just fine. If you need a lot of space, you are better off buying two Seagate 200s rather than the 400GB drive.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars SEAGATE Avoid & Read on - it's the drive (not the enclosure), January 12, 2006

By 

P. Cofrancesco "PaulC" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seagate 400 GB External USB 2.0/FireWire Hard Drive with Backup (Personal Computers)

Updated: 01-12-06

I have two Seagate drives in the RMA process going back for warranty right and am negotiating to get free data recovery service from them since the primary and the backup drive (outside the computer failed at the same time!)

I use a variety of aftermarket inexpensive drive enclosures. I have never had a problem with any USB enclosure. I repair computers and have done so for many years.

Read on...

SEAGATE & Large HD drive Problems:

I think we are returning to the 2000-2004 era of big hard drive problems. Too often "techs" keep thinking of every micro problem and ignore the big picture. I'm a tech and I saw IBM's Deathstar (Deskstar) now Hitachi successfully class-action

Sued for quality problems. I had 40G in 2001 go bad slowly corrupting the files - RMA'ed it and got a 60G that failed the same way ~ 1.5 yrs later. I have scene 3 Deskstars fail in customer computers all with the exact same tell-tale scratching

noise.

Fast Forward: I bought a Maxtor 250 SATA. Ran and it passed all diagnostic tests. 7 days later I was getting corrupt files (previous drive is a wd and has been run 7 days /wk for 6 years with not one single problem. Ran the diagnostics said drive is failing and

returned it to Fry's Electronics. Got a 2nd drive and tested it before using it and this time I got drive is failing code right away.

Spring 2004 I reluctantly bought my first PATA Seagate 200G Drive. Ran all tests - no problems. 1 month later I was getting the dreaded Seagate power noise - it is as thought you unplugged and quickly plugged the drive back in. Got an RMA code from their diagnostic (full test said bad) the 2nd replacement drive failed and I am rma'ing that now. Seagate didn't want to RMA it because it was beyond the 1 yr warranty but said due to all the documented failures I had experienced they would send me a 3rd

drive but it would only carry a 90 day warranty.

The problem: I heard a few very minor noises over the past week. Yesterday my backup / test system - a fully 48 bit LBA > 137GB compliant (Seagate certified) ABIT NF7M system would not boot w2k sp4. When I unplugged the SEA 300G drive it booted fine. Ran the drive via USB and it couldn't mount it under w2k. The drive has read errors and makes a continuous clicking noise. Wow, the 200G backup drive failed and I said no problem thank God it was just a backup drive. Now the 300G is back a week later with 250G of data on it of which 200G is NO LONGER BACKED UP (the 200G is now being rma'ed to Seagate). I called "Rudy Cobb" at Seagate in Texas and left a message to call me.

Seagate's data recovery starts at $500 and goes up.

Also, a power Mac dual G5 has a Seagate 160G SATA drive that failed - it too made the dreaded power on/off noise. Apple warrantees it when I brought it to the store.

Conclusion: Seagate bumped their warranty from 1 yr to 5 years in July 2004 to save their failing reputation. Maxtor only offers 1 yr. Clearly, the drives are not being made correctly and getting lost in MTBF's is silly - the drives are failing at

1% of their life expectancy! I have had zero problems with WD 120G drives. I

believe they are the most bullet-proof drives currently being produced. 200G and up - I say watch out. I felt something was sketchy when that first Seagate 200G drive

went bad. The news is slowly getting around that the Seagate is making a huge number of bad drives. Also, backups may not save you. I didn't know the 2nd sea200 was bad until I tried to copy certain large files. Then I got a read error meaning they were

already corrupted with no warning or windows 2000 scandisk / checkdisk has forced a check message.

SUMMARY:

BAD:

Hitachi (formerly IBM)

Seagate (SATA / PATA great drive in the 90's, now low cost junk, corrupts slowly too with no warning until you attempt to access a bad file, so even backs ups may not save you. Expensive, if you must back up everything to two Seagate drives in case 2 fail at the same time. Probably about as bad as IBM Deathstar series.)

Maxtor: 160G and below is ok, Over that is questionable.

GOOD: (Best)

WD 120 (most reliable IDE drive around today and for the past several years.)

WD 160 Also good.

WD 200GB+ unknown / untested.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars UNRELIABLE-NOT RECOMMENDED, March 6, 2005

By 

Jisun Hahn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seagate 400 GB External USB 2.0/FireWire Hard Drive with Backup (Personal Computers)

Short version: I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU TO BUY ANY SEAGATE DRIVES; power regulator seems to have problems & you might be able to retrieve data by cooling down the chip marked "smooth" if you are brave enough to try it & I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIVLE FOR ANY DAMAGES TO YOUR DRIVE OR DATA.

These new 300GB & 400GB drives are based on the current 8th generation of Seagate's Barracuda drives also known as 7200.8

Seagate's Barracuda drives are known for their quietness since 6th generation by employing fluid dynamic motor. The performance has been considered as average to better ones out there; however, the performance has not been so hot since 7th. For 8th generation, Seagate was pushing the sata's native queuing commend which cannot be supported under ata100 which the external model is based on.

Seagate's external model design has been same since the 1st generation with the 7200.7 Barracuda drive. Other than cheap plastic bodies, the design is a better side of external drives. Unlike other external drives, Seagate's external drive is designed to dissipate heat through the natural air flow with the helps from the attached heat sinks. Drives are kept under reasonable temp without the noisy cooling fans. Besides the good thermal characteristics, it also has a power switch & a button which can be used as an one touch backup solution with the included software.

Good things about the drive end here. 8th generation Barracuda has a buggy power regulator unit which makes the motor controller gets very hot. This prevents momentary power loss to the drive; this can be heard as a repeated clicking sounds. These clicking sounds are caused by the head moving to the park area and moving out from the parking area. When the motor controller gets how, it shots off to prevent from burn out, then the drive's main controller restarts the motor controller which gives power backs on momentarily. The drive might be able to sustain few minutes of disk actives; however sooner or later, the drive controller will stop working & the main controller will halt all the actives to prevent the data loss. Drive would go into sleep mode in idle even if power save on is disabled that is to cool down the drive.

I have tried 3 different 300GB drives from 3 different stores & all had same problems. I also tried one 300GB external which had same problems. 5 years warranty will not be good if the drive is this unreliable. Frankly I would have not bought one if the price, 5 years warranty, & the capacity were the issue because I have had more than few circuit board related problems with the Seagate. I also read a story about dead circuit board from 7200.7 @ slash dot org

I cannot be responsible for what I suggested here, but for those who needs to retrieve data at all cost can try to cool down the motor controller marked as "smooth" ( if you are not sure you can find one by touching the chips when there are disk actives) I retrieved my data by cooling down the chip.

My recommendation is not to buy Seagate's external model as it is proved to be unreliable.