Customer Reviews

SentrySafe Safe Fire-Safe Waterproof 250 GB Hard Drive #QA0005

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I got this unit from Amazon/TheFactoryDepot for $109 vs $750 MSRP.

TheFactoryDepot says this unit is NEW but the price is too good to be true in that the unit appears to be a REFURBISH unit to me. It was shipped in a simple box with a sticker on the box and foam holding the unit in place. Not a box in a box or a protective bag. Just a box, foam, and the unit similar to the way a refurbish unit would be.

Hence, to me, it is a refurbish unit.

It's strange that when I held the unit on its side, the unit dripped water out.

Now about the drive.... As every review states, it requires two separate USB ports. A USB hub or a dual USB port will not have enough current to power the unit. I was expecting to have a power adapter but it did not come with one, so you will have to use two independant USB ports or a USB hub with a power supply.

When I openned the box, the unit was larger than expected. But I guess it needs to be that way to be fire safe.

The unit comes with Maxtor Manager which works pretty good for Vista 64bit. I tried the Maxtor Manager with Windows 7 Pro 64bit it did NOT work correctly. I called technical support and they sent me a link to get DiscWizard by Achronis. So I was happy that tech support gave me an alternative.

The perk that comes with the drive is that IF you REGISTER the unit, and God Forbid you get a fire or flood, you can ship the unit in and they will recover the drive and sent you a NEW unit.

This is just what I need at a price that I could not turn down. Our family doesn't have a huge amount of files, so the 250 GB was just right. THe unit is solid and a snap to connect. No problems so far. Thanks and great packaging too!!

The item looked fine upon opening the box...was in good condition....However could not get to work...got the light to come on, but that is all it would do....I attempted on a newer windows 7 computer and a later windows xp computer...same result on both...emailed Sentry tech support...and they just replied with the hard drive serial number and directed me to contact the hard drive mfg..(matrix/seagate)....I did not..at this point I contacted TheFactoryDepot for return.. the item was refunded full price without problem....just out about $16 to ship it back....So seller seems good, but bad product/item

This "brick" is a real junker. It won't work with most of my USB ports. However, it does function [sometimes] when you get the right combination via trial and mostly error. When it does, I get a "No partition found. Do you want to format drive?" window. Many of the files I try to retrieve are corrupted, etc. I think the problem is more of a USB x 2 (power) issue. My Kanguru external USB hard drive has worked flawlessly for years because it has an external 120vac plug going to a DC power box. Not USB powered. This "brick" is a good buy, but if it doesn't work right.......................

I bought the QA0005 which is basically a hard drive in a fire and water proof case that plugs in via USB. It worked fine for a week and then stopped working. As is the case with most of these devices, the trouble shooter was for the obvious stuff and didn't solve the problem. The drive just failed after working for a week. The software is pretty crude too. The back-up option doesn't let you overwrite an old back up so you have to manually delete old back ups once it fills up. It also doesn't really tell you what its doing so you're left with the sinking feeling that you are losing all of your data from the original drive you wanted to back up in the first place.

The reason somebody would spend $360.00+ for a drive that should really be $80.00 is that it should be VERY reliable and the case is disaster proof! After all you are backing up your life to this thing hoping that if Katrina hits again or your house burns down, your data is supposed to be safe. That is what it is advertised to do. Well it didn't last two weeks on my desk in my air conditioned surge suppressed line conditioned house! It just quit working even thought eh power light is on and its own software tries to format it and can't. Save your money! The same money will buy you like 6 years of on line backup!

This is more of a request than a review - SentrySafe, if you're reading this, make a 1 TB or bigger version and I'll buy it! Great product idea, but the capacity limits its usefulness.

(I have a ton of home movies from my family that span 70 years or so, and I'd like to put them on one of your drives, but 250 GB is just not enough space.)

Kudos for the product idea, anyway.