Customer Reviews

Seagate ST3300601CB-RK 300 GB External Hard Drive with FireWire and USB 2.0 Interface

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Like many other people, I was hesitant about purchasing a Seagate 300gb external hard drive after the years of poor with the 300gb 8mb cache Seagate hard drive (for some reason, barely anyone seemed to have a problem with the Seagate 200gb and lower versions). But, with the more recent reviews, the hard drives seemed to work well.
I've had my 300 GB 16 mb cache Seagate for over a week now and everything has been working perfectly. So far I've gotten over 100gb on it (college hubs are great). Installation on my Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop with Windows XP was essentially one touch, although I did opt to reformat (and partition to two drives) to us an NTFS file system rather than leave it as a FAT32 file system (you can do a quick search online if your not sure reformatting to use an NTFS file system is worth the effort).
The drive runs very quietly, the slight hum of my laptop easily covers up the little noise it does make. Also, I like the idea of being able to hit a button to turn it off when it's not being used.
It seems like what ever problems they've had producing the 300 GB 8 mb cache version that Amazon started to sell in 2004 was fixed when Amazon began to sell this more recent 300 GB 16 mb cache version in 2006. This is an excellent hard drive and I highly recommend purchasing this product.
Note: I haven't used the BounceBack Express software it comes with to back up my Laptop hard drive due to finals coming around. I'm sure I'll get to it soon and will update my review if any problems should arise.

Bought this drive to help migrate my system. I have to say, it's excellent. Plugged it in and my system instantly recognized it as another fixed disk. I'm only using USB 2.0, and I'm astonished at the data throughput. 200 gigs of video files took under three hours to transfer - that's quite fast (the firewire port would be comparable or slightly faster). The larger cache may be helping here.

Noise: drive is audible (standard HDD clicks) in a dead-silent room, but not bad at all. Loud drives are a peeve of mine, and this one's not bad. Quieter than the Maxtor SATA in my system, louder than the Samsung, and louder than the WD.

The form factor is a little goofy. I dunno, the design is totally thick...it's not the sexiest. Maxtor series II drives look way way cooler.

All in all, this is a sweet drive. recommended.

Note: the entire gist of this review is that the drive works perfectly. The rest of these words describe the steps I took using this drive to make back ups of two Macs on the same drive.

I bought this drive to back up an iMac, Powerbook, and to store my music folder.
Set up was very easy: remove from box, plug in power cord, attach firewire cable to computer. The iMac immediately recognized the drive. I then used Disk Utility to create three partitions on the drive. Knowing that I would only use the drive on Macs, I formatted each partition as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". The process was as simple as clicking "add partition," dragging sliders to size them (I sized the two system back ups about 500 MB larger than the actual drive size), and selecting the format for the partitions.
Once the drive was partitioned the Mac then recognized the three new volumes, and diplayed the name I had given to each of them during the partitioning. Each volume was fully functional, allowing me to drag and drop files, create folders.
After some research, I decided to use SuperDuper! to create the back ups. (If this is your first time making back ups, I recommend downloading and reading their manual before even buying a back up drive, as it is a great overview of what backing up to an external drive entails.) After going through a few well described steps in SuperDuper!, my back ups were underway. I put the iMac on one partition, the Powerbook on the second. I simply dragged and dropped the music folder onto the third. After about two hours of doing the initial back ups the Seagate was set up as I had planned.
I did several simple tests to find any bugs in the drive or compatibility, such as powering on and off the drive, the computer, disconnecting and reconnecting, etc., and ran into no issues. I also tried booting both the computers from the external drive by restarting each with the option key held down, then selecting the second and third hard disk icon to boot it from the iMac and Powerbook respectively. Each was able to boot from the the back up perfectly.
For the media files, I went into the relevant programs (e.g. iTunes) and pointed them to the third partition on the back up drive. Media files play identically off the external drive as they did on the computer.
When the drive is connected but not in use it is silent. When it is being used I've noticed a very faint sort of tapping noise and nothing else. It is very faint and I rarely notice it, but it is not silent.
Using this Seagate drive to make back ups, along with SuperDuper!, was a very easy and very smooth process. At $150 for 300GB it also seems like one of the best deals out there at the moment. I am actually back on Amazon now to buy another.
Hope this review was helpful.

I'm really happy with this Seagate! Great capacity for the price, and 16 MB cache. It was a snap to set up (recognized right out of the box, but I reformated it into two partitions) and data transfer was really fast over firewire (has USB2 also if you need it). It runs quietly but you can still hear the drive a little. No issues with heat, and I like the blue LED up front (it's not obnoxious) that doubles as the on-off switch so it's easily accessible. I also really like that it powers itself down automatically if not used for a while. The software included is the Express version, so nothing special but it is functional. Nice small footprint on the desktop too!

What can I say? This baby just runs and runs. It is my third Seagate drive. They are quiet and have a reputation for being solidly built (and look and feel it).
They do get hot, so have enough air around them and some air circulating in the room. Seagate says you can stack them and they are built for that, but I am afraid of the heat and how it might shortend the drive's life.
Highly recommended and I will buy more as needed.

I bought this after reading the reviews and the Consumer Reports recommendation. It was relatively easy to set up, with the emphasis on relatively. You do need to have some familiarity with cables and ports. This is not plug and play with the software all built in, merrily talking to Windows XP and setting itself up while you watch. In addition, the directions presume a degree of knowledge that the average user may not have and skip over some (admittedly basic) steps. Looking back, this is one of those items whose directions would benefit from some simplifying.

However, I got it going and from that point, the set up was easy. I set the timer for backups in the early AM of the days after I do the most work (I have only USB1, so it goes pretty slowly) and it did the job perfectly.

Tons of room--my son stores all his music files on it, too.

NB: Has been working steadily and perfectly for over 5 years now. Absolutely no complaints. Worked flawlessly when I bought a new computer last month. Just backed the old one up, disconnected it, plugged it into the USB port on the new computer and dragged over the stuff I wanted.

Caveat: remember to go in and clean out the thing occasionally. It will keep everything you back up, and deleting it on your hard drive will not delete it on your back up!

I recently had an internal hard drive crash (insert gasp! here). Drive was sent to two different "data-recovery" firms that were unable to retrieve my data. Rather than purchasing a new internal for an aging system, I decided to build an updated system and to add backup in the form of an external drive. After much research (and warnings from reliable IT sources about using anything Western Digital), I decided to go with this unit based on research, reviews, reputation and price. The Maxtor units scored somewhat better in CNET tests, but the price per GB and Seagate reputation swayed the decision. Incidentally, my crashed drive is a Western Digital Caviar series which, I've learned is prone to premature and frequent failure. On to the Seagate:

Unit arrived well-boxed and includes USB & FireWire cables, 2-part power cable, software disc including BounceBack (we'll get to that later) and full instructions. I opted for desktop vertical mounting using the included plastic snap-in base. Drive installed easily using USB port. Push the button to turn it on and WinXP/SP2 auto-recognizes it with a built-in driver and assigns it a drive letter. Have not partitioned it yet but have reformatted to NTFS and has yielded me approx 286GB. Operation is smooth and quiet aside from the normal head access clicks. Goes into sleep mode when not accessed for a period of time. Nice silver/black case blends well with newer systems. Have used it approx 1 week now with no issues EXCEPT:

Installed the included BounceBack software put out by CMS Software. Restarted system to complete the install and XP crashed immediately upon booting. I decided to email CMS tech support. My question & their response follow:
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To: CMS Support
Subject: bounceback express crashes XP

Hello.

Just purchased/installed Seagate 300GB St3300601CB-RK ext h/drv with the Bounceback Express software. Hooked up drive per instructions w/usb, tried to install the software but it crashes XP on the restart. I have to boot in safe mode in order to uninstall Bounceback, then system boots normally. The file it's identifying as the cause is "IASTOR.SYS". Would like to use the software, please advise how to proceed.

Thx, Al

CMS RESPONSE:

That file is an Intel storage driver. This is a common problem on the new Core 2 Duo systems, and we are currently working to get a fix made available. Right now, we just don't have anything, sorry. You can contact your system manufacturer and see if they have a new version of the driver, possibly.

CMS Tech Support
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So, if you have a Core 2 Duo, (or Pentium D) like me, this software is useless to you at the moment. I have not researched a fix to this yet, but I'm sure one is out there or in the works. You can still use the drive for it's intended purpose, backing up your files or additional storage, it's just a little more work.

I definitely recommend this drive. The price is great for the size. They just need to update their software for the new multi-core systems. A final word of advice: if you care about your pictures, video, important files, etc., BACK IT UP or risk losing it like I did. It CAN happen to you.

I've never been disappointed in a Seagate product and this drive is no exception. The setup was very, very easy. Literally all you have to do is plug in the AC-Power adapter and plug in the data cable. Windows (any version later that Windows 2000 will do - I definitely wouldn't bother to use this drive on an obsolete O/S) immediately recognized the drive and added it to "My Computer." I know it's fashionable to bash Microsoft - but they're number one for one simple reason: most of the time their stuff works and it doesn't take a PhD or a million dollars.

The final word on the software: you don't need it. Throw it away. No, really go ahead; I'll wait. Thank you.

One note about the data interface, while the drive comes with both USB and Firewire (IEEE 1394a) cables, you're going to want to use the Firewire. USB works, but it's dog slow. If you're used to the speeds from your interior drives, then USB speeds are going to be unacceptable. I have a Belkin IEEE 1394a PCI express card (available on Amazon) and it worked great. With a 300GB drive for backup's you're going to want the speed.

Another suggestion - once you've installed the drive, and Window recognizes it, you'll want to format it to NTFS. There are numerous advantages to NTFS over Fat32 (when using a Microsoft O/S) but that is not the focus of this review.

To format to NTFS, right click on My Computer. Select Manage from the pop-up menu. Once the Computer Management menu pops up, browse down to Disk Management. You'll see your new Seagate drive (named SEA_DISK by default). Right click on the drive and select Format, making sure to choose NTFS. Then go away for a while: with 300GB, it's going to take at least an hour (and probably longer) to format.

Keep in mind that this is only a suggestion. It's just my opinion that NTFS is better and after all - who the heck am I? So, if you goof it up, then I'm not responsible, proceed at your own peril, your mileage may vary, etc., etc. You've been warned.

In the title of this review, I called this a simple backup solution. And it is - provided you go to the next step. If you're backing up your important files, then go all the way. Buy a second drive (at less than a dollar a GB, it's a bargain) and take the time to backup at least monthly, storing one of the drives in another physical location - I use a safe deposit box. By alternating drives I'm never more than a month out of date and if disaster strikes, my most important financial and personal (think of all those photos you've stored from your digital camera) datafiles will be safe, taking some of the bite out of tragedy. Or something like that! ;-)

All in all, I couldn't be happier with this drive. Highly recommended!

I needed a larger drive to backup my internal hard disks so I read the reviews. This drive looked good with some concerns about the software so I purchased the drive as I already have backup software.

Amazon shipped quick. The drive arrived and when I plugged it into my Macintosh G4 firewire port the drive icon appeared on the desktop. Next I downloaded and read part of the Bounceback software manual.

I discovered that THE ABILITY TO MAKE THE BACKUP A BOOTABLE DRIVE IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE SHIPPED SOFTWARE. To get that feature you must upgrade to the pro version and as best I could tell the software is nothing more than a shell over the ditto command that comes with the OS anyway so I trashed the software.

The Disk Utility that came with Mac OS 10.4 reformatted the drive as a HFS journaled drive with no problems and my old standby CarbonCopyCloner made a duplicate of my main drive onto the new drive. It also made a disk image of my second internal drive.

To test the backup, I started the machine using the backup as the boot drive and manually mounted the disk image of my second drive then unmounted both my internal drives. I was pleased to find that the machine ran perfectly from the backup drive and was almost as fast. I restarted back to my normal configuration and turned the drive off. Once per week I start the drive and make a new disk image of my running drives. It works flawlessly.

The only complaint I have with the drive is the startup process requires you to press the start button until the blue light comes on. The light is a little hard to see with my thumb on the button so I just feel for the drive to spin up and let go.

There is minimal vibration and no noise. My system is set to let the drive spin down when it is idle and I must place my hand on the drive to tell when it is running.

So far I have been running it for 1 month with no problems and I expect a long service life. I asked technical support why they only warranty the drive for 1 year in this configuration when the internal version of the drive is covered for 5 years. Their response was quick (24 hours) and they explained that many people move the drive while it was still spinning which put excessive strain on the drive and the portable drives were subject to more bouncing and dropping than internal drives so they were forced to lower the guarantee to one year, but he assured me the drive inside was the same one that had the longer warranty when installed as an internal drive. He also stated firmly that the warranty on this unit was only ONE year.

I would have liked to have given 5 stars, but some people might buy the drive expecting more from the software than they will get.

The IT Director at my school suggested this brand (he uses two Seagates at home), and the reviews below as well indicated this would be a good purchase. They were all correct. Very simple backups--I used the packaged software. The installation instructions can be wordy at times, but this is probably just to guide that person who gets confused as to where his "Start" button is on the desktop.

Negatives: The detachable plastic base to help the drive stand vertically is pretty flimsy and doesn't do the job. The blue, status indication light is hard to see at times; the blue tends to fade in with the black front-casing. But these are the only things I could find wrong with the whole package! I mention the pathetic light complaint only to illustrate how pleased I am with the product.

Hints: Definitely do as mentioned in a previous review and partition your drive. Note that external drives always have several gigs less than advertised (Approx. 280 of 300 gigs were available after I installed). I was going to get a 250 gig until I heard of this one, so get more than what you planned on.