Customer Reviews

Seagate Pocket Drive 5 GB Portable External Hard Drive ST650211U-RK

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I can not say enough about how good this device is. I am sure other people will write praises about it.

But the best part was when I plugged it into my RedHat Linux 4.0, it was automatically detected and mounted. This is awesome. I have never seen this kind of compatibility between external storage and Linux.

I didn't have to tinker with /etc/fstab at all!!! :) If you are a Linux user, this is the best option for you when it comes to external pocket hard drives.

File Copy Speed Test on Linux
Data Size: 830808 KB (830 MB)
Trasfer Time: 3m50.813s (3 mins and 50 secs)

I got this USB drive to backup some large files from my work computer.

It worked like a charm.

The drive itself is small, easy to use and to install (if you have XP or 2000 just plug it in and it works). The transfer rate is awesome as well (2.4 gigs around 12 minutes). USB 2.0.

In short, this will replace a couple of flash keys (128 megs) and I see only clear sailing up ahead.


Highly recommended.

Great gadget and, thanks to writer Stephen Paulson, it looks great in my Altoids tin (I pasted a small circle of felt in the top and bottom to stop it moving around and getting scratched.
It carries its own `tool kit' installed and this makes it easy to use on another PC - the tool kit does not have to be installed to use it, but there is also a facility to partition off any portion of the drive and/or to password protect any part of the drive and you need the `tool kit' to use that facility. It comes with another very useful tool that allows you to instantly make it a bootable drive for your PC - just in case!
Apart from being idea for large file storage, I have installed the web browser Mozilla, and email client, Thunderbird, on my Seagate. That way you can browse the web from any internet-connected PC and not leave any footprints behind. (Try http://johnhaller.com/ as a source for this and other USB apps.)
Oh, and I have the fully-fledged office suite, Open Office (for USB) installed on it which includes all the apps you could want to run a small office.
There is also a Linux virtual machine available which you can run from a USB device, making it your own, pocket PC, and this Seagate makes it simple because of its sheer size and rapid data exchange rates.
Any cons? Perhaps someone could come up with a decent carrying case for it. The Altoids tin is OK, but - - - . One with a belt clip would be great.
Am I pleased with my purchase? You bet!

This drive just arrived. I was impressed with it right out of the box--so cleverly designed and the ease of installation..! Because it's USB, it's hot swappable (meaning you don't have to shut anything down to plug it in), and, if you have Windows ME or Windows XP, there are no drivers to install (These versions of Windows already have drivers installed for USB). And, of course, there is no power cord or wall wart to deal with.

This thing is about three inches in diameter and less than three-fourths of an inch thick--Slips into your pocket real easy (about like a small yoyo cut in half). The retractable cable hides inside of the unit and is about 10 inches long. If you are going to plug it into the back of your computer and set it nearby, you might want to make sure you have another USB cable to plug it into because you will need the extra length. For a laptop, the retractable cable is fine. I've been wanting to replace my Zip drive for a while, but was looking for something small and easily transportable with a lot of capacity. This is the ticket. I've already backed up all of MY Documents, and My Photos, Quicken and an Address book. It worked flawlessly and with five gigabytes, I have portabiltiy without having to swap out disks. At this early juncture, highly recommended.

These people that are complaining that they can't create half a dozen partitions on this drive, find it difficult to install three different operating systems, and are boo-hooing about its speed ought to be slapped around a little bit.... THIS IS A 5 GB UTILITY DRIVE for cripes sake!! For less than a hundred bucks, what do you expect?

So ignore the momo's who are giving this device one star because they've got nothing better to do than to deliberately look for flaws, and decide for yourself. I've been using my drive for several weeks now with good results. As a professional desktop/network support technician for many years, I've used my Seagate drive as a network file server for backing up customer data just to see how it would perform, and it works well, even compared to our actual servers both on- and off-site. I've got a few GBs of music stored on it, and use it weekly to backup my work PCs, too.

As the owner of countless portable drives in all shapes and sizes, this is my favorite by far. Buy a can of Altoids to use as storage housing for the drive and you're set. Seagate support isn't the best-- it never has been in my opinion-- but you take your chances with that. It's a good investment for the price.

I have the sad misfortune of owning a Compaq Presario laptop. This piece of crud has given me more than my computer share of grief. I only use it when I travel to South America, in the hopes that some desperate thief will steal it and I can collect the insurance. So far it was stolen only once and returned within a day to the airline counter, along with a nasty note, written in Spanish, saying I should be ashamed of afflicting hardworking criminals with such a poor excuse for a laptop.

Thus, with this computer, I was in desperate needs to have a mini external hard drive to image my computer in anticipation of the coming crash(es). I have used the Seagate 5 GB for six months, dropped the pocket hard drive a few times, but its bright blue light faithful lights up every time. Being a Seagate I doubt if I will need the one-year warranty, but it's nice to know that it is there. Powered through a retractable USB 2.0 cable, its small, round shell is unique in shape (in comparison to the stick shape of a flash drive) and allows you to throw it in your brief case, and then find it fast.

It no speed demon but it offers good throughput, and it is a mobile must-have For the money, size and reliability the Seagate 5 GB is great `bang for the buck'. It is a "no brainer" to spend the $10 to get the 5 GB and not the 2.5 GB. Highly recommended

The Seagate Pocket Drive rocks! I just took it out of the package and plugged it in an available USB port and dragged and dropped files and folders using Windows Explorer. The attached USB cable means there is no need for an additional cable, reader or interface of any kind, and it can be used just as easy whether you have administrative rights or not. Also there is no software installation necessary for use. Size, Price and Ease of use are all fantastic!

The Seagate 5 GB Pocket Hard harnesses the space you need to carry all your data, music and videos. In my line of work as camera operator and video editor there are times I need to provide my customer with look at the Post Production work. With key or thumb drives space has always been limited. Not with 5Gig in my pocket! Instead of carrying 3 or 4 key drives all I use now is the Pocket Drive with everything organized and secure. I have the customer plug in and open their folder and click the clip. My associates have been impressed enough that their ordering the 2 or 3 at a time. The only down side is the Free-DOS that Seagate provides doesn't appear to work on older computer with BIOS prior to 2002.

This drive Just Plain Works. I plugged it in to my Macintosh OS X system, Win XP Home system, and Knoppix Linux system and in all cases it just appeared and worked perfectly - no configuration necessary. With this much (5GB) space I no longer feel the need to reserve some space on my iPod for file transfers either.

It won't go on my keychain like my USB flash drive, but I can drop it in my briefcase or it fits easily in a pocket without feeling bulky at all.

My only disappointment was that, as usual, the extra software tools were for Windows only.

Bonus Carrying Case: it fits Perfectly in an Altoids Citrus Sours round tin.

The only negative thing I have to say about this little 5 gig hard drive is that it is a little slow to transfer files compared to a flash drive, but I have yet to find a flash drive that can hold 5 gigs of files. Very easy to connect to any PC I have used so far. The user manual is loaded onto the drive already in case you need it. The design is very impressive in the way the built-in USB cable rolls around and inside of the shell. When not in use it is out of the way and hidden. I am very happy with this drive.