Customer Reviews

Seagate Technology 200 GB USB 2.0 and FireWire External Drive ( ST3200823A-RK )

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I decided to purchase an external hard drive primarily to serve as backup data storage for both my laptop and desktop computers. I looked in several stores, asked questions, and read a number of reviews (including here on Amazon). The reviews on Amazon were most helpful.

Costwise, this version was a better deal than the 160GB model, on a "dollars per GB" basis. Also, 200 GB is quite a bit, and so there is plenty of extra room for files other than backups.

If you have USB 2 or firewire capabilities (any computer made in the last few years should have at least USB), set up is essentially plug and play. I have Win XP which simply recognized the drive as another hard drive, gave it a letter, and I was operational in less than a minute. It took me longer to open the box than get the drive working.

Transfer rates seem quite fast with USB 2.0; I did not time it, but backing up 12 GB on my laptop took at most 10 minutes, which included the backup program's compression efforts. When moving or accessing regular files, I cannot see any difference between this and my internal hard drives. I suspect that USB 1.1 would be painfully slow; if you don't have USB 2 or firewire, consider getting a PCI card which supports one or both of these connections ($50 at most), for use with whatever external drive you purchase.

The drive is very quiet, and has its own on/off switch. I think this feature is mandatory, especially if you are not going to use the drive all the time. Without a separate power switch, the drive will be on and spinning, causing wear and tear, even if you aren't using it (or you will have to unplug it). With a switch, the choice is up to you.

Aesthetically, I found the black and silver case subdued and appealing. Two small blue lights are on the front, one for power and one which lights when you are accessing the drive. Apparently, in reviews of other products, some were rather garish (not a problem here).

You can stack and daisy chain multiple units via the firewire outlets, and the unit comes with both a USB 2 and firewire cable.

I have only had this unit for about a month, but Seagate has a very good reputation for quality. Western Digital and Maxtor have similar drives which cost somewhat less, but after reading others' reviews of them (including different sized drives), I went with this one because of Seagate's reputation, the power switch, ability to use either USB or firewire, and easy expansion/daisy chaining options.

We will see how it holds up over time, but for now I am quite happy.

This drive from Seagate I bought for work backups is in every way superior to the 200GB and 250GB Western Digital externals I have at home.

The most impressive difference is the sound. The Western Digitals sound like blenders by comparison. But I also appreciate the on-off switch (though you should eject the removable hardware first if you're using Windows XP); the Western Digitals are on until they're unplugged. With my nest of cables, the switch is very handy.

In terms of dimensions, the Seagate's a bit wider and fatter, but not as long. It's a little more subdued in appearance, but I'd still prefer something more generic. I don't need a giant Seagate logo reminding where it came from. The Seagate also feels more solidly built, but I haven't been using any of the three drives for anything other than occasional backups. This is especially true of the connector plugs, which are rock solid on the Seagate, but slip all over on the Western Digital.

I have also had great experience with the Barracuda family of drives from Seagate, which is the drive in this box. Reviews I've read online say FireWire's faster than USB 2.0 for this drive, but I haven't raced them myself. Either way, it's going to be slow compared to built-in drives.

Like the Western Digitals, this one was ready to go with Windows XP right out of the box. I have my own backup scripts, so I didn't need to try the built-in one.

My one complaint is that like Western Digital, Seagate reports drive sizes in billions of bytes, so it's only really 185GB (a GB is 2**30 = 1024*1024*1024 bytes).

This drive will not work on a hub! You need to have a direct cpu port.

Also the software is BounceBack Express and does not give you a recovery backup. For that you need to pop for about $60.00 more, even though their web page misleads you into thinking a bootable backup is part of Express.

Also, please look to see what is installed. There is no icon put on the desktop for "Settings" which is the real program. If you move from one machine to another and use a "one button" backup you will lose all your prior backup.

Easy setup with my Windows XP desktop and about 4hrs for the inital backup of 50GB of data using USB.

The bundled backup software seems to work well allowing you a variety of backup options. After the inital backup it runs incrementals and seems to make a sppedy job of it.

The 200GB is plenty of additional space for photos or video.

Much better than my previous Maxtor drive which expired after only 12 months use.

WARNING! The warranty for Seagate products may not be what you think it is. I bought a Seagate external hard drive. The outside of the box says "fully guaranteed - A worry-free one-year warranty covers all parts and labor"; BEWARE, this warranty is not for you - it is for the retailer that sells it to you. This warranty starts the day that Seagate sells it to the distributor. So, if you buy it from a retailer and it has sat on their shelf for a number of months, your warranty is less than a year.

I learned the hard way - I bought the Seagate hard drive on the 22nd of January 2004. It stopped working in late December of 2004. When I called Seagate warranty support to inquire about the warranty, Seagate informed me that the warranty expired on December 2nd, 2004. I called the retailer to ask them about the issue. They did not know that the warranty started prior to my purchase and told me that there was no way for them to know how long that hard drive had been in their possession. They recommended that I call Seagate warranty support back to escalate the issue since it was within 45 days of the end of the warranty and within one year of my purchase.

I had to call Seagate warranty support seven times in a month to try to get some answers. Twice they told me that they were going to call me back and never did. Finally, on the seventh call, they informed me that they would not replace my drive. Dealing with the warranty support team was a miserable experience and after this experience, I would never recommend buying a Seagate product to anyone. Spend a bit more money on a product with a real warranty, just in case something goes wrong. After all, if the company has that little confidence in their product, why should you trust in it?

I'm a car guy, not a computer guy, and I wish that for every piece of online advice telling me to build my own hard drive, I could have advised people to rebuild their own engines.

OK. I wanted a straightforward external drive to store the usual pictures, music, etc, and I was surprised to discover that narrowing the list down to a few worthy candidates was much more difficult than I thought. For every drive that got a rave review, there was more than one alternate viewpoint that said it was the worst electronic device ever made. That was true of this Seagate drive as well, though it had the best balance (on Amazon, at least) of good versus bad reviews.

Setting up the drive itself on Mac OSX was mostly a breeze, though the initializing instructions that came with the drive didn't exactly jibe with what was actually on screen. The difference was something minor--I think the instructions said to click "initialize," while the on-screen button was marked "erase." I believe that all the drives are shipped with PC formatting, and reformatting for Mac is necessary.

The drive, though advertised at 200GB, has about 185 GB once it's initialized and ready to go. From my understanding that's pretty much standard fare for external drives.

I have it hooked up via FireWire, and it's plenty fast--the only thing that has been really time-consuming so far was the very first complete backup. The backup software that comes with the drive is called BounceBack, and it's a bit balky--I haven't yet figured out how to set preferences for automatic backup and such.

So far, the only real complaint I have is a minor one--I have the drive sitting next to my computer, and it does make constant noise when its working. It's no louder than the computer itself, but its noticable. I have no basis for comparison, but it's a bit louder than I expected.

I'll give it 4 stars because of the noise, but operation so far has been seamless. Knock on wood, as far as I can tell no one makes a foolproof external drive.

I bought the Seagate 200 GB external drive this summer, and it is one of the quietest external hard drives I have ever owned, and I love that. Yes, there is some clicking and humming when running, but that is nothing compared to the high pitched whirling noises that some external drives have. The installation was simple and easy, and I did not have any problems installing the software. The drive stays relatively warm when running, and does not overheat. I tested it for 13 hours straight, the temp stayed the same, and it ran several backups perfectly. Also, for those of you using USB 1.1, you do not have to go out and buy a USB 2.0 expansion card (unless you really need faster backup). I have an older system, and ran a 27 GB backup via USB 1.1 in about 90 minutes with no problems. In fact, the only real problems I have encountered with this drive have been with the power cord and the backup software.

First, about the backup software. The BounceBack Express software that comes with the drive has everything you need to run a basic backup, but does not include some very important features, like the ability to restore the files that you have backed-up! You need to upgrade the software ($49 download, or $59 CD) to use features like Disaster Recovery, Background Backup, Password Protection, Formatter, and Restore. I have not upgraded to the BounceBack Pro, so I cannot tell you if the extra features are worth the price. I do think that Seagate should have insisted that these features be included in the CMS BounceBack software. It seems rather underhanded to cut the software down so people will have to shell out another $50-$60 for features that most other software venders include for free. If you do decide not to upgrade make sure that you have another program (like Norton Ghost) that you can use to restore your files in case of an emergency.

Now, about the power cord. This drive requires it's own power source that you need to plug into an outlet or surge protector. A little green light will come on (on the black block attached to the power cord), indicating that it is plugged in. The end that plugs into the drive itself is what keeps giving me problems. Even the slightest movement and the green indicator light turns off and the drive has no power. The first time it happened I did not realize what the problem was. It took me a good 20 minutes of pushing and prodding everything connected to realize that it was the power cord, the part that attaches to the drive itself. I have to plug it in just right for the green indicator light to turn on, but a slight bump and I have no power to the drive. Now to be fair, this is probably a problem that is just limited to a few drives. You may buy this drive and have no problems whatsoever with the power cord, but for those of you who cannot figure out why the drive has no power and everything seems to be plugged in, I would recommend checking that green indicator light before taking the drive back for a refund.

I have been using the drive for a few months now, and I backup every week, with no problems. It is rather compact in size, and has a power switch at the back that you can turn on/off, which is one of my favorite features. I gave this drive 3 stars because of the software limitations and the problems I have had with the power cord. Despite these problems, I am actually very happy with the drive and would recommend it to a friend.

This is my second Seagate external hard drive, having bought the 160 gb a couple of years ago(and it still runs fine). I think Seagate makes quality hard drives, and this unit is no exception.

I use this unit to backup my IBM Thinkpad laptop and for video editing. I have my own backup software(IBM Rescue and Recovery, and also Acronis TrueImage 9.0) so the included backup software is not important to me. This unit works flawlessly with the software that I use.

Setup is very simple. I have Windows XP Pro and have had no problems having my computer recognize the external hard drive. The choice of USB or firewire connection is also very handy.

The unit comes in a FAT format, which has limitations for video editing. However, the included software made converting to a NTFS file system a breeze.

I have read comments calling the unit noisy, and can only say that everything is relative. Yes, there is a slight noise when the unit is working, but nothing that most people would find annoying or distracting.

Turning the unit on and off is easily accomplished with a button in the front.

Finally, although the unit does not come with a carrying case, you can easily find a case in a store like Target if you want to transport it between home and office.

I have read various negative comments, and can only say that I have not experienced any of the problems that those persons had. I definitely recommend this unit for backups, storage and video editing.

I also own a Maxtor 80 GB I've had for almost five years now and a Western Digital 160 GB drive which I also enjoy as well. This Seagate 200 GB drive tops them both! Not by much though, just enough so that I notice. It's extremely fast to access on my PowerMac G5 and is simply outstanding!
Don't buy Lacie; I bought two and they failed ON THE SECOND DAY OF STORING DATA, which was a highly disappointing buying experience! Their quality has really gone downhill. If you really want to buy the best drives in the business, stick with Seagate and/or Western Digital. Maxtor I hear isn't as good as they used to be.

I just recieved this item, plugged it in (quite the challenge with the rats nest of cables we have) and it just worked.

I use Linux on my machine and my wife uses WinXP, it truly is just plug and play.

This drive is pre-formatted using the Windows FAT32 format, which Windows, Linux and OSX can all read/write with no problems at all.

I can't hear the drive at all, as someone else said, if it wasn't for the blue light on the front, I wouldn't know it was even on!

At less than $10 more than the next size down (160GB) theres no justification for not splashing out on this huge amount of storage.

- Davey