Customer Reviews

Toshiba HDDR160E01X 160 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

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

 

 

I purchased this to back-up the hard drive on my Apple PowerBook G4. While the Toshiba is compact and quiet, it required both the regular USB cable AND the USB to DC auxiliary power cable to function properly. This in spite of the fact that it is advertised as working with USB 2.0 ports, such as the ones on my Mac, and only requiring the auxiliary power if you have USB 1.1 ports (which I don't have). Since my laptop only has two USB ports I can't tie them both up to run this. Strike 1.
The next problem is with the NTI Shadow software which you are supposed to be able to set up to automatically back-up everything on your computer and to update your back-up as you work (that's the Shadow part). Unfortunately I could never get the NTI software to talk to the external hard drive. I kept getting error messages about missing folders. Strike 2.
The final issue was the absolute and complete lack of any response whatsoever from either Toshiba or NTI to my technical support queries over a period of 10 days. That's no way to run a business. Strike 3.

This external hard drive from super company Toshiba holds 160 GB, which is double the hard drive of my computer. Extremely small. It is a little larger than a 4 by 5 photograph and is less than an inch thick! It is extremely light and very quiet. It's like it's not working. Extremely portable. You can dump all your digital photographs and MP3 files etc. to free up your computer. You can very easily access it. Or just use it as a backup. It will do it all automatically, but even if it didn't, it would still be a winner. One of the nicest things about it, is that it gets it's power from the USB connected to the computer! Works extremely cool to the touch. Toshiba should sell many, many of these. It's very fairly priced as well. Highly recommended!!

Well contrary to the previous reviewers, I had no problem getting this thing to work with one usb cable plugged in (usb2.0 of course). Had it for a while now and never had use for the 2nd. It's quiet, rugged, fast, plug-n-play (doesn't require special drivers or anything) and WORKS. Some NTI software comes with it but I couldn't care less. I just wanted it to do exactly what it says it does. And well, it does. I personally can't complain here. To each his own, I suppose.

I liked it, but if you are using a laptop and you are focused on portability LOOK For A POWER OUTLET, this product has moving parts and sucks allot of power.

This external drive is small and durable. You don't have to use external power. You only need to connect the usb cable to your computer and that's it. The software included is okay, and very customizable.

I have this running only for about 1 month. So far so good. Unbox it,
connect the cable to my computers and it works. I don't need the backup
software and so I don't need to install any software on my computers.
It is very quiet, and it is very light. Nothing to complaint.

This model is advertised as working with USB 2.0, which in my case, it does. (an 18 month old Dell Inspiron). If it had turned out that my USB port did not provide enough power for the device, as is apparently the case for some buyers, the unit ships with a second USB cable.

The hard drive itself is compact, sleek, and quiet. My only gripe is insignificant for my purposes, but worth mentioning: This is advertised as a 160GB hard drive, but my computer tells me that there are only 149GB of free space. Now, I know from experience (Ipods, etc) that some of the storage is going to be taken up by whatever software the device uses to run itself. But 11 gigs??? Fortunately for me, this purchase was just to back up personal files that any student would have, like work, photos, and music. Maybe 20GB worth. But if you really need the space, be aware that you're about 11GB short of what the package says.

Lastly, I have no idea if the software does or does not work. The device functions as a straightforward plug and play just fine. While there are hard drives that are designed to automatically update upon being connected to your machine, and this may be one of them, I find this hard drive works as something I update manually a couple times per week. The upload speed is fast enough (my 20GB of data took under 10min or so) that I don't mind just overwriting everything.

This little guy is just what I was looking for. I have an older laptop, that is on it's last leg. I have to wait to replace it, but wanted to protect my data. I got this because of the shadowing software that monitors files and folders that I tell it to, and backs them up automatically. Now, when my laptop decides to die, all I have to do is restore the data to the new computer. This hard drive operates almost silently, could only hear it if I listened for it. Since there is no fan, it does get a little warm after a larger back up, but cooled down quickly. Not hot, just warm. I love how small it is too. Very portable, and easy to carry around. With 160gb, it is twice the size of my laptops harddrive, and I will use it to store image files once I get my new computer. Perfect for anyone needing a larger portable hard drive.

I have read some great reviews about this drive. It is also rugged and durable, so it seemed like an easy decision for me. I too, had the problem where it would not work as a bus-powered drive, unless I used both USB ports. It was a shame. I swapped it out for a SmartDisk FireLite drive and couldn't be happier...