Maxtor STM901603OTA3E1-RK OneTouch 4 Mini 160 GB 2.5-Inch USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive

Other products by Maxtor

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 9 x 2.1 inches ; 4.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000V4S8A4
• Item model number: STM901603OTA3E1-RK
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 19, 2005

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Maxtor® OneTouch® 4 Mini storage solution is a full-featured, portable backup and storage solution with Maxtor SafetyDrill™ for complete recovery of a hard drive’s contents in case of a system crash or virus/spyware attack*. With two levels of data security and capacities up to 320 GB, users can automatically back up or sync work and home computers and confidently carry an up-to-date portfolio in their pockets.

Have a simple and reliable backup solution for all your stuff

Easily bring important files with you, wherever you go.

Keep all your digital content in a safe and secure location.

Portable Performance and Security
You and your content belong together. Weighing less than 6 ounces, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini makes it easy to confidently carry your up-to-date portfolio in your pocket. This full-featured, portable backup and storage solution now includes Maxtor SafetyDrill for complete recovery of your PC hard drive’s contents in case of a system crash or virus/spyware attack. A simple user interface makes automated backup scheduling, specific file restoration, and security a snap. You can automatically sync data on multiple computers so you always have your latest files handy.

To safeguard against unauthorized use, Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini comes with both data encryption and Maxtor DrivePass.

With up to 320 GB you have room for 5,330 hours of digital music or 102,400 digital photos or 320 hours of digital video or 80 two-hour DVD quality movies or 160 games.

It’s easy to install – just plug the drive’s USB cable into an available port on your PC or Mac. The OneTouch 4 Mini comes with preloaded software and there is no additional power needed, so you’re off and running!

The sleek and slim design of this hard drive--only measures 4.90 x 0.59 x 3.22-inches (H x D x W). The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini lets you transfer files seamlessly from your computer via its USB 2.0 connection at a brisk transfer rate of up to 480Mb/sec. The drive delivers a spindle speed of 5,400 RPM, giving you the high-speed performance you need to back your data up quickly and safely.

At this compact size, and with this high performance, you now have the ability to take your data with you anywhere you go, so your digital content finally has room to breathe. A five-year warranty is also included, giving you complete peace of mind.

Product Highlights

· Ideal backup and storage for carrying your digital portfolio with you	· Maxtor® SafetyDrill™ prepares, boots, recovers your PC’s entire internal drive contents in case of system failure or virus/spyware infection
· Sync data between two or more computers on the same operating system	· Maxtor DrivePass™ and Encryption: two levels of security against unauthorized use
· Simple Maxtor user interface for drive management, security and backup scheduling	· USB 2.0 for fast data interface and power source
· 5-year warranty	· Customizable Maxtor OneTouch® button
· Drive- and power-management utilities included	· Quick and easy installation with pre-loaded software
· Auto Updater helps keep your Maxtor OneTouch solution current	· PC and Mac compatible
· 5400 RPM, up to 8-MB cache buffer

*Windows Only

Maxtor® is the expert and the leader in designing simple external storage and backup solutions for consumers and professionals. Maxtor offers a broad line of trusted, intuitive storage solutions for safeguarding critical business data, digital files and personal memories. Maxtor developed the industry’s first external storage device that features easy-to-use OneTouch® button backup and restore capabilities. The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini solution is the easy way to back up and store photos, videos, games, music, business data, personal information and more. The OneTouch 4 Mini solution continues the OneTouch legacy as the leading external hard drive for small office users, consumers, creative professionals and mobile warriors.

What's in the Box
Portable hard drive with preloaded installation software, USB 2.0 cable, Maxtor SafetyDrill recovery CD, quick start guide

Product Description

You and your content belong together. Weighing less than 6 ounces, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini makes it easy to confidently carry your up-to-date portfolio in your pocket. This full-featured, portable backup and storage solution now includes Maxtor SafetyDrill for complete recovery of your PC hard drive?s contents in case of a system crash or virus/spyware attack. A simple user interface makes automated backup scheduling, specific file restoration, and security a snap. You can automatically sync data on multiple computers so you always have your latest files handy.To safeguard against unauthorized use, Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini comes with both data encryption and Maxtor DrivePass.It?s easy to install - just plug the drive?s USB cable into an available port on your PC or Mac and there is no additional power needed, so you?re off and running!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor backup option in image mode, June 24, 2008

By	Micahel Thomas "More of the same, only with m... (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you purchased this drive and software (as I did) to restore after system crashes you may be in for a rude surprise - the included Safetydrill software does not (as claimed) delete older versions of backups as required to make space for newer ones, instead it MOVES them to an (undocumented) history folder on the same drive and new backups fail for lack of space... with the failure producing only an inconspicuous error message that could be easily overlooked by unsophisticated users.

At first I found it unbelievable that automatic backup space management was unavailable in Saftydrill, but this was confirmed by Seagate/Maxtor Tech support, making this the least capable backup "solution" I've encountered in the last decade.

So... it you buy this for image-type backups an intend to use the included software be aware after the first few uses it will be *your* responsibility to manage your backup space by manually deleting older backups as required!

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Drive - Superb Software, April 29, 2008

By	MiamiTechnoLawyer (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maxtor STM902503OTA3E1-RK OneTouch 4 Mini 250 GB 2.5-Inch USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive (Electronics)

At our office there are LaCie and Seagate external portable hard drives that are used for back-up of files and occasionally to transfer large quantities of files. When shopping for a external back-up solution for my home PC, I wanted a portable because I dreaded the thought of having one more plug and brick coming out of battery backup power supply that sits next to the home desktop PC. What is that mess beneath the desk my wife often asks? What are all those plugs for? With separate plugs and several power bricks for a router, external speakers, cable modem, laser printer, inkjet photo printer, a fax machine and a Western Digital 80gb external drive I did not want another plug or power brick. When the Western Digital 80gb external drive started to fail I replaced it and its power brick with the Maxtor 250gb One Touch 4 Mini. The change was a huge improvement. The Maxtor is less than 1/3 of the size and weight of the WD it replaced and it holds three times the data. Unlike the WD drive the Maxtor receives power from the USB port. The Maxtor has no power plug and no power brick.

What really sets this drive apart from the WD, Lacie, and Seagate drives I have used is the software. Some drives just allow you to back-up your data. While data back-up is essential to preserve ones digital pictures, music collection, and personal documents, if your internal hard drive crashes, data backup will not restore your operating system or applications. The One touch Mini, comes with Maxtor "Safety Drill" software that allows the user to image the entire drive, including the operating system (windows) and all applications. If the hard drive crashes, the user boots their PC with a supplied emergency CD, and then restores their whole PC from the drive image stored on the external drive. The last time a drive failed in the office, a technician charged us for half a days work to install a new drive, re-install windows, and reload various applications. With a drive image hopefully this will not be necessary. The back-up software included with the Maxtor is better than anything I have ever seen bundled with a drive. It is easy to use and it is robust. It can perform scheduled backups in the background. The Software is for the most part PC only. As such Mac users will not be better off with the Maxtor than with the excellent LaCie portables. For Windows users the bundled software makes the One Touch 4 Mini a better choice than competing options from WD, LaCie, Iomega and others.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Will not backup the root directory and certain files, April 13, 2008

By	David R. Frick (Valencia, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This product provides only limited backup protection for certain files in certain locations. Most frustrating is that it is impossible for it to backup anything in a root directory. For example, if you have files of any type in the C: directory (or more likely a D: or E: drive) it cannot back them up. Only files in subfolders (e.g., "C:\files") can be backed up; no file in any root directory (e.g., "C:\") can be designated for back up.

Here is the response I received from Maxtor tech support on this issue: "Folders must be selected in the software. The backup utility is designed to backup data and there for it is not really designed to backup drives. So it wants to backup information on the drive, not the entire drive. It is just the way the software is designed and is working as intended." (4/03/2008).

You are also limited to the directories you can backup. You can backup your "My Documents" and even your "InetPub" directory but you cannot point it to the default directory for your Microsoft SQL backups. And even though it will backup the "Inetpub" folder it is not a complete backup. For example, all of the hidden folders (e.g.,\_vti_cnf) will generate the message "Not Supported/File skipped (backup of hidden files and folders is not supported)" and will not be backed up.

In addition, certain files in selected folders will not be backed up. It will not backup thumbs.db resulting in so many exceptions in the log report that it is virtually unreadable. Strangely, it will back up some .jpg files but will throw an exception for others.

This product has great potential but as implemented is seriously flawed. In my opinion these OneTouch Mini's are designed to easily and automatically backup _most_ of your "My Documents" folder. If you need to backup anything more I think you will be disappointed.