Customer Reviews

Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR500E04XK (Black)

5 star:		(322)
4 star:		(120)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(108)

 

 

I have half a dozen Toshiba portable drives and some of them have served me well for several years. They are reliable and fast -- with the 500GB portable drive I get about 20MB/s read and write speeds (tested on two recent HP laptops, one with Intel and the other with AMD both running Vista), which is half of USB 2.0 high-speed's theoretical max throughput. The drives can be used with the PS3 and Macs out-of-box, but for best results with XP/Vista/Win7 you can convert it to NTFS without reformatting or losing existing data via a DOS command: convert g: /fs:ntfs [where g: is the drive letter, or you can use a volume name like "tosh_500g" if your drive is already named tosh_500g].

Because this drive (like other portable drives) does not use a separate power line -- it draws power directly from the USB port -- your computer must have a powered USB port to use this. Almost all recent desktops and laptops have this feature, but if you experience any problem, it may be due to an insufficiently powered USB port (or USB hub), so try another port or another computer.

In addition to being a fast 5,400RPM drive, this Toshiba includes some valuable features:

- Backup software that backs up system files in addition to regular files and folders (great for system recovery!)
- Password-protect your data through encryption
- Drive space alert lets you know when free space is running low
- Toshiba's famous shock-absorbing technology, also used in iPods.

BTW, this drive is also a great value because at present a 320GB Seagate portable drive costs over [...], plus tax.

I've only just received this, listed as "Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive" in the 500GB size. It has a very cool design, the case is similar to my 5G 30GB iPod - a smooth, flat front/top with a rounded back. It has a nice discreet blue activity light in one corner of the top (i.e. front) surface that is on for power and blinks for activity. The USB2 connection is a micro style and contrary to another review is a standard cable - this micro style is quite common, I have it on my GPS and camera so can use the same cable for all 3. The cable supplied is a short single cable (i.e. not a "Y"), and my Asus netbook powers it with a single USB port. The drive (like all of them) is just plug & play - plug it in, the computer sees it, and you're off. I reformatted it to a single large NTFS partition, 465GB (drives are always sold with powers of 10 "GB", i.e. 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes (10 to the 9th power), whereas computers use powers of 2 "GB", where 1GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes (2 to the 30th power). I don't like this sales speak, but Toshiba do clearly state the difference in the very short instruction sheet - to their credit.

The drive comes with NTI Backup Now EZ. I already have a backup strategy (using xxcopy, I recommend it!) so have no need for this. It's well reviewed though.

4 stars rather than 5 because I don't know its reliability yet, and it's not quite as fast as I'd hoped (but still fine).

The main reason I got this particular drive is that Toshiba have a 3 year warranty, and the others all have just 1 year. And $90 with free shipping is a great deal!

I also got the Kroo Portable Hard Drive EVA Case, it fits well - just enough space for the drive and short USB cable. It's a semi-hard case, but very little padding. Much better than leaving the drive naked but I wouldn't want to drop it!

This hard drive is great! I had a previous clunker that took up a lot of space. The Toshiba 500 GB easily plugs into a USB port and doesn't require an additional power source. It is very small and easily fits into my computer bag. I recommend this hard drive for anyone looking for a way to store a lot of material and not take up a lot of space.

Bought the 640 GB for around $100. It was the cheapest in its segment.
First few days I was feeling so happy that I made this purchase.
Backed up my data @ 25Mb/s.
In just less than a week the drive was unrecognizable in my home and office computer.
Was really irritated.
Download testdisk and was able to recover most of the data to my hard-drive.
However, I had to format the drive and then recopy (over night for 8 hours).
Again 2 days later same issue. But this time I never deleted my data from the internal HD.
Beware, please do not rely solely on this for your critical data.

I bought this because I was looking for a portable hard drive that was durable enough to travel from home to classroom to wherever. I holds over 100GB of music and all the pics I've ever taken or been given since 2005 (about 20 GB) and all my lesson plans (20 GB). It's been jarred, dropped by a 2 year old and it's still ticking.

I loved it for the first bit that I had it. Was able to easily back up both my desktop and my laptop mac computers. That is until it broke less than two months after I received it. It stop being recognized by either computer and began making a clicking noise. like the hard drive was trying to read it and couldn't. I'm really disappointed in this purchase and hope to get it replaced by something that will last more than two months.

I was looking for a good portable external hard-drive for sometime (only online and not only at Amazon.com). Eventually, I basically slimmed my options down to wanting a Toshiba. User specs seemed about the best to me and recommendations were all good. I found different variations from various sellers. Amazon had the latest and newest version, which appears to be the one I am writing the review for, at a lesser price than what the other vendors were selling out-dated-models of 500Gd Toshiba hard-drives for. That I liked. Be careful not to buy the old models from on-line sellers, they usually do not specify between the older models and the latest released models. Service was very prompt too, and shipping was handled well.

I really don't know a lot about hard drives, space, or even computers. The drive itself works well. The instillation process was confusing if one does not understand the difference or benefits between using the drive as a FAT32 or NTFS. Even without formatting it to NTFS apparently it still can be used FAT32 on Windows. Sometimes when I plug unrelated external storage units into my computer, like my 1Gb Flash disk, the BackUp Now EZ software attempts to use them to backup my computer. Maybe, their is an easy way to make the software function only with the external storage units that I select, that I simply have not yet discovered.

I purchased the Caselogic brand hard-drive case that Amazon recommend along with the drive. The drive does fit with some extra room. The small elastic type material strap inside the case keeps the drive from moving. After looking at the drive I am happy I bought a case. I would recommend that anyone who does travel, to get a case for it.

I consider it a good investment made and money well spent.

The built-in backup software that comes with this portable, fast Toshiba drive allows you to do two types of backup. The drive works well, but the backup software is the primary reason that I rate it 5 stars.

An IMAGE backup takes a snapshot of your hard drive, then allows you to restore an exact copy of that snapshot later. My strategy is to automatically make a new image backup on the same day of each month, and to keep the last three backups. You could backup weekly, but monthly is frequently enough for me. (You'll have to rename two older backup folders manually to keep two older backups plus the current one.) That prevents you from having to start from scratch if you have to reload Windows for any reason. You won't have to load dozens of Windows updates and you won't have to get a special dispensation from Adobe to reinstall your fully legal copy of Photoshop, for example. If you have many applications installed, this can save you 2-3 days on a Windows reload. You can reload to the same or larger drive on the same PC, but (I believe) you can't transfer everything to a new machine - due to driver issues.

A FILE BY FILE backup automatically makes daily (or even hourly) copies of important files - your documents and settings, email, photos, music, and anything else that changes on a regular basis. If you restore from an IMAGE backup, you can use this FILE BY FILE backup to bring your PC up to date with everything that has changed since your last IMAGE backup. You can also use these backups to restore a damaged file to last night's version, or to the version from several days ago.

The more expensive versions of Vista and Windows 7 include both IMAGE and FILE BY FILE backup software. XP and (I believe) home versions of Vista and Windows 7 do not. In any case, the 640 GB hard drive provides the space for multiple backups of most hard drives - unless your 320 GB drive is filled to the brim. My 250 GB drive has less than 100 GB in use, so I have enough space to include an occasional IMAGE backup of a second computer.

$99 is a small price to pay for automatic daily backups of your photos, music and email - and to eliminate the need for a complete reinstall of Windows. If you can afford two drives, you can keep one off-site in a safe deposit box, to cover you in case of theft or fire. How many of your friends or family members have lost all of their photos because they never backed them up?

My only complaint about this drive is that the USB cable is just 10 inches long. That's perfect for a laptop, but can be a stretch for a desktop PC. Two cables would be nice, to cover both types of PCs. But I still give it 5 stars, because this is the first portable drive I've purchased that includes software for IMAGE backups. It's "Backup Now EZ" by NTI, and the user guide is online if you want to see how it works. Search for the user guide using the quotes, as shown above.

I owned a computer company for fifteen years before I retired. I have owned or tested just about everything there is out there. Toshiba makes great products. This external drive is the best I have ever used or tested! Now let me tell you some of the things about this drive that is not mentioned so you can make your decision whether you should buy it. First of all my orders from Amazon have always arrived on time with no damage or problems. This drive is just a pleasure to setup and use. It has all types of different settings if you choose to use them. So here goes.

1. Plug the USB cable furnished with the drive into the drive and plug it in a USB port on your computer, and it will install itself. Just say yes to everything and wait until it is finished. Just about stupid proof. O yes don't forget to have your computer turned on. Ha! Ha!

2. There is no manual with the drive and you don't need one.

3. When it is done with it's setup a screen will come up showing you what you can back up. You have the option of how, when, and why.

4. The only option that needs to be changed for 98% of us is when we want to backup, such as every hour, ever day, every week and so on including the time you want to back up.

5. There is a help selection menu that explains it all on the menu.

6. When it first installs itself it will recommend a complete back up of the system and all your folders. This I would do the first time and after that you can select what you want to back up.

7. Myself I just backup my folders. I don't backup the total system every time. But that is just the way I do it. You can do it anyway you like!

8. I suggest you make a boot up disk. Just select it from the menu. Do not format the blank disk it will do everything it's self.

9. If something goes wrong with your computer you can use this disk to boot your computer and then just restore everything on your drive.

10. The retore feature gives you the ability to restore everything or just what you want.

11. The external drive barely gets warm after running for a long time.

12. You can password protect the drive if you wish. Just remember this! You cannot retrieve the password if you forget it so be careful when you choose a password.

13. You also can select how fast you want to backup the computer. The faster you back up ,the slower the computer runs. I set the speed for minimum speed so my computer runs fast. Remember you can use the computer for anything you want while it is backing up and you won't even know it is backing up if you have it set to minimum.

This is a great external drive and you will really be happy with it. Just buy one and forget about losing your files from a computer break down.

This drive is about four inches long, three inches wide and about a half inch thick. You can put it in your pocket and take it with you.

About the only thing I might suggest is a longer extension cable for it. The cable it comes with is only about a foot long. I have a three foot extension cable on mine so I can sit it on a shelf so nobody sets anything on it.

The drive is black and white in color

Bought first 500gb and in the second day of backing up about 45gb of data, the HD suddenly stopped being recognized by multiple computers. Spent hours searching the net for a solution. It was DED dead! Exchanged it for a replacement toshiba 500gb and lo and behold on the fourth day having backed up all photos and music and wham same thing...stopped being recognized by any of our four computers. Return policy great just a bad product as far as quality control. Remember, we the consumer usually buy these as our safety backup...always back up on a computer or other medium as well.