Signature Mini Black Cherry 320 GB external hard drive

by Signature

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 3 x 0.6 inches ; 11.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• ASIN: B0012R9WHW
• Item model number: FS-U25/320H
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Thanks to the deliciously sleek styling by famed Italian car designer Pininfarina, the SimpleTech Signature Mini 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable Drive isn't just another external hard drive. The recipient of the same magic design touch and attention to fine details that helped turn Ferrari and Maserati into icons of the automotive world, the Signature Mini will certainly turn heads as you make your way through the day with your work files, or your latest videos, photos and songs.

The SimpleTech® Signature MiniTM offers: Slick Ferrari-inspired design by Pininfarina. High-speed USB 2.0 interface for data transfer at up to 480 Mbps. Fabrik Ultimate BackupTM for 2 GB of free secure online storage. 1-year warranty.

The curvaceous Signature Mini was designed by Pininfarina of Ferrari fame. View larger.

Ferrari-Inspired Ultra-Portable Design
Get used to the staring, because when you take this drive out into the public, heads will turn. With its Ferrari-inspired lines, this delicious Black Cherry-colored Signature Mini is as much a piece of fine art as a piece of robust hardware. Despite being a compact 3.1 x 4.9 x 0.8-inches (WxDxH), the drive won't be slipping out of your hands, thanks to its velvety texture that offers you a secure grip for your hands. And the drive's two rubber strips at the bottom will keep it from slipping across your desk.

With the included USB 2.0 "Y" cable, the Signature Mini gets its power from your computer, meaning there's no bulky AC adapter to carry around or forget. Just grab the drive and cable, plug it into a computer, and you'll be ready to go.

Powerful Local and Online Backup Options
SimpleTech includes two backup options that will keep your mind at ease about your important data. In fact, SimpleTech’s Signature Mini Drives are the first drives in the world to offer both local and online backup capabilities. With the included Fabrik Local Backup software, you can set up automatic backups from your computer to your Signature Mini. But for the ultimate in protection, the Signature Mini also offers the Fabrik Ultimate Backup solution that uploads your files to a secure, online server that will protect your data from real-world mishaps and offer near-real time protection without bogging down your computer. (Although the Signature Mini is both Mac and PC compatible, at this time the Fabrik Ultimate Backup solution is only available for Windows-based computers.)

With just two ports, the Signature Mini is simple to use. In fact, you usually only need one cable as the drive can be powered by the USB bus.

Fabrik's Ultimate Backup allows you to store up to 2 GB for free on one of its 448-bit encrypted servers, and for just a few dollars a month, you get unlimited capacity to securely store all of your important files and media collections offsite. Acting just like the drive's local backup software, you simply set Fabrik Ultimate Backup once, and it automatically and regularly backs up your content behind the scenes. All backups, to the external drive or online service, are unobtrusive. Once your initial content has uploaded, the software performs incremental backups, so only the smallest amount of data that has been changed or modified in your files will be updated.

To keep your content private and confidential, all files are encrypted with 128-bit SSL encryption while in transit, with an option for a private encryption key. Fabrik's offsite 448-bit Blowfish encrypted servers are housed by a Fortune 500 company, ensuring file protection, security and peace of mind. So now, no matter what happens to your drive--a curious toddler, a spilled drink or natural disaster--your irreplaceable photos, music, videos and files are safe and secure both offsite and online.

Joggle Software for Easy Media Sharing
Also included is Joggle, a program that brings your photos, music, and videos together and displays it all in one easy-to-manage view. Joggle lets you view all your media files together on a single screen, and lets you access it securely from anywhere you're online. With Joggle, you can easily share your content with friends and family and embed sideshows and playlists into social Web sites including MySpace, Flickr, Facebook or personal blogs. You can even create an RSS feed for friends and family, all without making them register or login to sharing sites.

The Signature Mini is backed by a 3-year warranty and free, unlimited technical support.

What's in the Box
Signature Mini Black Cherry 320 GB external hard drive, quick-install guide, and high-speed USB 2.0 "Y" cable.

Get a Signature Mini in your favorite color.

Product Description

Introducing the Signature Mini family of bite-size drives, bursting with tasty ingredients. Supple and resilient to the touch, with a positive velvety rip, they¿re designed by our friends at Pininfarina, the icon of Italian sports car design since 1930. Just plug one in, and inside you¿ll find smart ways to protect and manage all your precious stuff. Includes Fabrik Local Backup software for setting up automatic backups on your Signature Mini, and Fabrik Ultimate Backup for secure, online storage that¿s safe from real world mishaps.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good review I hope..., July 25, 2008

By 

Techhy "Dude!" (Dallas Area) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Signature Mini Black Cherry 320 GB external hard drive (Electronics)

I have over 2.5TB of 320gb drives. So trust this opinion on the points I write:
The simpletech drives are no real difference over the passport by western digital, in fact the WD is a bit thinner (when you cram as many in a case it may matter). The WD is supplied with a short cable, the Simpletech is a longer cable, and THIS is why some of the users will experience a problem with the simpletech drives-> The cable being longer will deliver less current to the drive, thus some computers do not have the ability to juice it up properly unless you use a high quality shorter USB cable. Additionally, I have noted (by taking many of them apart) that the PC Board (usb to SATA adapter portion) is not as "simple" as the passport, the pc board also runs a little warmer than the WD counterpart. I lastly ordered TWO of these 320gb Cherry's (320 juicy drippin' Gigabytes) and ONE of them had a BAD PC BOARD (USB to SATA internal adapter) which did not matter to me since I got the drive cheaper than a bare white label drive anyway- The drive was fine, just the PCB was faulty- Got hot, but no mounting... Anyway the drive is not "shielded" from EMI or STATIC discharge (internally) as the WD passport is. But BOTH the WD and the Simpletech lack a sturdy enclosure being plastic, and I typically mount the drive itself into a USB enclosure (cheapy ones do fine from ebay) which has an aluminum case to supress static and give it a bit of support to help prevent crushing in the bag. Sure the style is cool, but being larger and having the issues with the internal PCB make it less desired, but I still rate it highly mostly for the great drive bargain. I do not mind reformatting a drive, but it is nice to have it being NTFS out of the box...
Another note to other users: My computer is a new toughbook which supplies about 1amp at the USB port, so it will power anything on the market, but if your port is "wimpy" you WILL need to use both plugs, and may even consider investing in a power brick for a usb hub, it is +5volts to the center pin of the mini plug. Those are available on ebay, but a hint: IF you buy a PCMCIA to USB PORT (For old laptops) it will usually come with one that will work, and you can get that by far cheaper than just the adapter elsewhere!

74 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Quality at Affordable Price, March 29, 2008

By 

mukhi "mukhi" (Stockton, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Signature Mini Black Cherry 320 GB external hard drive (Electronics)

If you are looking for a high quality portable external USB-powered high capacity hard drive at an affordable price, this is your choice!

Ownership: 5 days.

Pros:
1. High quality as SimpleTech is using a Western Digital (WD) internal hard drive disk (HDD) known to be a state-of-the-art HDD.
2. As portable (small size and light) as WD passport.
3. USB-powered or bus-powered. As single USB port of some computers can not provide enough power, SimpleTech is providing you with USB 2.0 Y-cable (not provided with WD passport) which can be used to hook up your drive to two USB ports of your computer to get enough power. This drive also has a power port (power cable is not provided, however, WD passport has no power port at all) in case you prefer to use a power cable. However, My laptop (almost 5 years old now) does not need it! I hook up this drive to a single USB port of my laptop and it works. I am so happy after knowing this as I was afraid to buy this drive considering that it may not work with a single USB port (my laptop has only two USB ports so that I would run out of it and not be able to use any other USB device, like mouse at the same time)! Make sure you use the main USB (not the pigtail, take a look at the picture above). WD will make you buy an expensive Y-cable if you need it. Moreover, this Y-cable from SimpleTech is longer than USB cable from WD.
4. Highest capacity portable drive available as of today (comparable to WD 320 GB passport).
5. I bought it from Amazon marketplace (ZENCORP) for $ 97.99 plus $ 6.49 S&H (no tax). The merchant offered the best price as of that day. I ordered it on Friday, merchant shipped (from MD) it on Saturday via DHL, and I received (at CA) it on Monday with excellent packaging! You can not possibly get this awesome deal for WD 320 GB passport right now.
6. Plug N play just like WD passport. My laptop immediately recognized this drive (also 3 of my school desktops, all of them required only one USB port) when I hooked up for the 1st time.
7. Hot-swappable just like WD passport.
8. Great look! After all, designed by Pininfarina! To me, WD passport does not look any better.
9. USB port of this drive is naked which is good because I always felt awkward in handling WD passport's port (WDXMS2500CN, bought from Costco) as it has a flap on it. WD made USB port naked only in their newest model (WDME3200TN).
10. Blue light shows that HDD is connected to the computer as a local disk, flashes when working, red light shows that power is on! WD passport indicator light does not show you these details.
11. 3 years warranty, just like WD passport's. Very important.
12. Did not try the software, but back-up and other utilities like simple, automatic backups with Fabrik local backup and complete protection with Fabrik ultimate backup online service (2 GB free), joggle software for organizing photos, songs, and video come with it. Will comment after use.
13. Free tech support over the phone. WD's tech support is available for free only upto 30 days after you give them the 1st call. WD's tech support guys know (including the higher level, really annoying) as much as you do being an ordinary person with some standard technical understanding.
14. PC/Mac compatible just like WD passport.
15. Base has pad-like structure to protect the drive.
16. It is as quiet and fast as WD passport. Its stays cool just like WD passport.
17. Pre-formatted to NTFS as compared to FAT32 (WD passport). Most people use PC rather than Mac!

Cons: Not many! I believe pros simply wins over cons.
1. As scratchable as WD passport.
2. 5400 rpm only, however, this is the highest speed available for all portable drives including WD's.
3. Capacity is not as high as that of larger drives.
4. No firewire 400/800 or eSATA or 10/100/1000 ethernet ports. You can not possibly expect these with portable drives.
Make sure you buy a carrying case, the best being from case LOGIC (model # PHDC-1) in order to protect the drive and for carrying convenience.
There are other portable drives in the market, say, WD, Seagate, Toshiba, Iomega, HP, Maxtor, but none of them are better than this one. I own this and I owned WD passport (WDXMS2500CN) and returned it.

Did I say enough about this excellent gadget? Buy one and enjoy it!!!

UPDATE: 11/20/2009: The drive is still working. Only problems are 1) occasionally, it does not work with some computers (even the recent ones) with a single USB connection, you have to use two ports. 2) sometimes, when I connect this with computer, this device behaves as if it were connected to a slow USB (1.1) port, therefore, copying files takes forever. I disconnect and reconnect this, and it behaves normal. I have been advised by ST representative (over the phone) that this may be a controller issue and I should go for an RMA. I will see. I still have valid warranty for some good time.

UPDATE: 12/20/2009: I returned the drive to Hitachi for repair/exchange with an RMA. They got me a new drive (color is not black cherry now, but kind of red, still looks good) and I am happy to report that it looks like they have fixed the issues. So far I have hooked up this with 2 desktops and 1 laptop with success (in which the old drive was having issues). To return the drive, I have used flat-rate ($4.95) box from USPS, therefore, the guys who are complaining about this drive after purchase should do just like I did if the warranty is still valid (3 yrs).

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I don't trust it., May 20, 2009

By 

M. J. Merchant (St. Paul, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Signature Mini Black Cherry 320 GB external hard drive (Electronics)

When I first got this drive, I would have given it 4 stars. I really love the styling -- it is the best looking drive out there. And it worked fine for a year -- then it just died. This was not an occasional write error; unprovoked and without warning, it went belly up. Kaput. Dead as a door mouse. This-is-a-dead-parrot dead.

It was gently treated. Mostly, it has been on a bookshelf in my office, under no physical or thermal stress of any kind. I praised its beauty, and entrusted it with my most important data. And this is what I get: the thankless rotating bit bucket betrayed me!

O fickle platter: Never again, I say!