Customer Reviews

Verbatim 120GB USB Portable Hard Drive (USBFLB120)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

As others have written, the entire SmartDisk USB line doesn't work properly with Mac laptops. I got one and it works fine with my wife's PC laptops, but won't even boot on my PowerBook G4. SmartDisk's tech support told me that the silver PowerBook line can't push enough juice through the USB cable to power the unit. So basically I have a silver paperweight -- nice. Avoid this product line at all costs.

This is the second verbatim portable hard drive that I have bought both have performed flawlessly. This first one is carried around with me so I can show off my photography. It has performanced so well for me that I downloaded the picture from a wedding to it for the bridge and groom.

Product has issues. Worked for one month with my Mac (OSx). Then one day after a reboot, it refused to show up on desktop. It began to beep. Disk utility recognized it, but did not offer options to verify, repair etc. Smartdisk tech support said it's a problem with power -- that the unit was no longer able to draw enough power from the mac throug the USB cable as it is supposed to -- they said they're aware that this was a common problem raised by many customers.
As advised, I bought an AC unit ($36) -- the unit stopped beeping, but continues not to show up. If I send it in to Smartdisk for repair, I will lose all data. Upon research, I have seen many other similar complaints about this product. One customer tested the hard drive with another housing unit and was able to find all data -- proving his was a problem with the Smartdisk housing not the memory. But Smartdisk warranty will not preserve data in their repair.
Chief Compliants: USB cable doesn't draw power as it should, and the thing refuses to show up on desktop. Buy something else more reliable.

Reliable, fast and the backup software is easy to use. If you are a consultant and must use notebooks, it is a must have.

We have had this product for a few years! It is used every day. Connected to computer 24/7. NO PROBLEM, not even one issue. Great quality, great performance. We are buying another product from this mfg company.

As others have noted, this product simply does not work with the MacBook Pro. Even after purchasing the AC adapter, my MacBook will simply not recognize this product. May be fine with PCs, but avoid all Verbatim hard drives if you are a Mac user.

I completely failed to read the other customer reviews of this product and now I, too, am the proud owner of a $70 silver paperweight that sits forlornly next to my Mac. Awesome.

I Agree with what someone else has said on here! I have just bought this exact model, and it doesn't work! It shows up in both the device manager, and also in the little icon that sits in the task tray to eject it, yet it refuses to map as an external drive, meaning that I can access it in My Computer like all other external drives I've ever used. In fact, there seems to be no way to access it at all! One other person on here said that the company who make these claim that some models of PC have this problem only because they don't have enough power direct from the firewire cable, so that's going to be my next point of call! (indeed most other external hard drives need an external power supply) the trouble is, it didn't come with one, and there was no indication as to how many volts the power supply would need to take, so buying one is going to take ALOT of research! (...and that's still IF it works once I've done that, or whether we've just got a faulty drive!) So wish me luck, but for all you people out there that's considered buying one of these, be warned!! You may gut lucky like some people have, or you may not! If you want to be sure though however, there are plenty out there on the market that don't suffer these problems! Try those first!!

Bought the FlashTrax Media Player. After a power outage the hard drive was fine, but the main computer would not recognize the drive. We were only three months over the one year warranty, and even though we would pay for the repair they said they wouldn't touch it after it was out of warranty. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. Poor attention was given to detailed emails, had to keep repeating the same thing over and over.
Their final response...."But it is the way that we have everything set up. We can not change things because you want us to. It would not be fair to every other customer who fellows the rules and saves their paper work. Good luck." Hello? I had the paperwork.

My preliminary experience was something of a disappointment, until I finally found a mini b usb y cable online, enough to self-power the drive from my older Sony VAIO, as one usb connection was insufficient. Its light weight, portability and quality construction are impressive attributes. Pretty speedy too.