Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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101 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What can I say? Data security, great aesthetics, and versatility--sign me up!, December 25, 2006
| By | Squonk (The dark forests of Pennsylvania, where hunters follow by moonlight my silvery trail of tears) - See all my reviews |
Uncharacteristic of the Squonk, this review will actually be pretty short. If you've read some of my other reviews, you'll know what I mean. In any event, the 500 GB HP Personal Media Drive is a fantastic product. This is largely because the concept is so ingenious, yet so simple. Traditionally, external hard drives have been somewhat cumbersome things--they require their own power source, for one. Also, no matter how small they are made, they still rob desk space. The solution? HP decided to develop a drive that combines the best features of internal drives--no need for a separate power source, no space wasted on the desk--with the data security and portability of external drives.
The 500 GB capacity comes out to 465 GB formatted/corrected for actual capacity (i.e. a gigabyte actually contains 1024 megabytes, and a megabyte actually contains 1024 kilobytes; however, in their capacity ratings drive manufacturers round off the extra 24 units in each case, the result being that the actual capacity of each drive is less than advertised). This is simply gigantic. I imagine one could archive every book ever written on this drive and still have room for the first five seasons of Family Guy. This capacity is ideal for archiving digital media, important files, and just about anything else you can think of.
Installation is a snap. If you have an HP Pavilion Media Center PC with a Personal Media Drive Bay, then it's simply a matter of sliding the drive into the bay. NOTE: The Personal Media Drive (PMD) is NOT the same as the Pocket Media Drive, also made by HP--the latter is for the standard Pavilion line. In any event, if you do not have the PMD bay, then the supplied USB cable and power adapter are no problem to use. Either way, there are no drivers to install. The PMD itself contains some installation files for added functionality, along with a bunch of folders containing several programs in each of about twenty different languages. These take up almost 700 MB of space, and when I realized what they were, I quickly moved them to my HP m7640n's native hard drive--I might need them for some strange reason. Note, however, that the one folder with a name longer than three letters is required to install the drive's extra software. Leave this folder and (re)move all the others.
Data transfers are fast enough. USB 2.0 has a maximum transfer speed of 480 MB/sec, so that's what the PMD will do. I haven't noticed any instances where that speed is in any way lacking.
Other that this, there isn't much more to say. The device is somewhat larger than I might have expected, though this is reassuring--it looks and feels solid, and it sports a case of tough plastic and brushed aluminum. The status LEDs are matched to the current Pavilion line (i.e. a blue static light and an amber access indicator), and the device fits flush inside its bay. It looks like a dream in there, and though the little plastic door on the m7640n's front panel can close over the PMD, I usually leave it open so I can see the extra lights.
All in all, I would recommend the 500 GB HP Personal Media Drive to those who own an HP Pavilion Media Center PC. For all others, it's just another external hard drive, and there exist other such external HDDs that are much cheaper per GB than the HP PMD. You pay a premium to enjoy the dual functionality offered by HP's product, and for that extra benefit I am happy.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Look Ma....No wires!!, December 31, 2007
I bought this drive to use for several purposes.
Storing media files such as photos and MP3/Itunes music files and for backing up data.
It has worked out wonderfully.
The nice thing about this drive is that it easily extracts from the drive bay in a compatible HP computer, but you can also simply use this as an external hard drive on any USB compatible computer.
I purchased the 500GB version, and haven't even come close to using all the space.
I notice now that they also have a 750GB version which really sounds wonderful.
I like to try to minimize the number of cords hanging from my CPU, so this really does the trick.
I could've probably purchased an external drive with the same capacity for slightly less money, but the convenience of this fitting snuggly into the HP chassis with no cords is the best option for fewer wires.
If you have an HP compatible computer, then this drive is GREAT. (Make sure your HP machine can accept the wider "Personal Media" drives. Some of the older HP's only accept the "Pocket media" drives, and that is a much smaller slot that will not accommodate this drive)
If you don't have an HP computer, but are thinking about migrating to a new computer and will consider an HP CPU, then you also might want to consider the ease of dumping everything on your old computer to this drive, and then just moving it over to the new HP, with this drive.
I was originally going to give this drive only 4 stars, based on what I perceived to be a slightly higher price, but when I went back and did the research, this drive actually came in on the low end of the comparisons, for comparable storage space. So I am going to bump it up to 5 stars overall.
If you are just looking for the most storage for your dollar. You should research other "external only" solutions for the best pricing. But there are many other factors that you would want to take into consideration. (such as transfer speed, disk lights, etc.)
Even as a stand alone external drive, this drive is very economically viable and competitive.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
HP Personal Media Drive 500 Gig, July 2, 2007
HP HD5000S Personal Media Drive 500GB Unit works just as described and when inserted in the CPU keeps the work space clear, which is a plus if you have limited area. The price is about $100.00 more than you might spend for a comparabily sized external drive, but the product is well built and very simple to install and remove without worrying about cabling. Plus it is made by a company that I have come to trust in computing hardware. Finally, the greatest benefit for me personally is that I can remove the unit from my home PC and link it externally with any other USB PC. I hope this has helped you with your selection.
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