I purchased the 2 TB model, and it's working perfectly in both Windows and Linux.
The drive came preformated for NTFS but can easily be reformatted for specialized Mac or Linux file systems using standard operating system utilities.
It didn't come with much in the way of a user guide, but it doesn't really need one, it just plugs in and pops right up as a standard storage device like a thumb drive.
Physically, this drive is a bit heavier and just a little thicker than some of the lower capacity USB powered drives I have used, but is still incredibly compact at only a little over 3 by 4 inches by just over a half inch thick (about the size of a pack of those larger sized bicycle playing cards). The plastic drive case isn't fancy, and probably won't fend off an attack from an angry bear, but it's adequate given the fact that, like any portable drive, you will want to be careful about severe shocks and drops anyway.
Despite the compact size, and lightweight plastic case, the drive weighs in at close to half a pound and feels pretty hefty and substantial.
Power consumption, even for the largest 2 TB model, is still low enough to work on a single 500ma USB port (no 2 port Y-Cable or external power needed). Not only that, but even after extended operation, transferring hundreds of gigabytes of data for example, the drives case barely even starts to get warm.
Mechanically, my drive is so quite and smooth in operation that you have to really feel carefully to even tell if it is spinning. You can feel very slight jogs internally when the drive is seeking, but it's barely noticeable, and if anything, smoother and quieter than most of my other portable hard drives.
I wasn't able to read the RPM with my hard drive utils, but if it is 5400 as some have reported, that doesn't concern me too much, because data transfer rates are still quite reasonable. For example, I can stream 1080 or even 4K HD video direct from the drive to my PC with no hiccups or buffering issues. These days, with the super high data density platers on these compact drives you can get reasonably fast data transfers without spinning at 7200, and if you don't absolutely need the faster RPM, then it's actually better to design the drive to run at a lower RPM, because it allows the drive to run cooler, use less power, and reduces wear, giving higher reliability and longer life.
I read a comment here about some kind of pouch being included, but my drive did not come with any accessories other than the required USB cable (but luckily I already had a small neoprene zippered pouch on hand to transport the drive when on-the-road).
Because the drive is powered by the USB, I'm extra careful to properly 'remove' the drive in the operating system before pulling the plug, because hard drives don't like to loose DC power while they are still writing, which could happen if you pull the USB plug out before properly removing the device in your O.S.
This isn't too difficult, but could be a little confusing given the way the indicator LED works on this drive. The 'Elements' drive has a simple single color white LED which does double duty to indicate both read/write access AND spindown/standby with a potentially confusing flashy-flashy code. Rapid flashing indicates the drive is busy reading or writing, where SLOWER flashing indicates that the drive has spun down and gone into a standby state.
So you NEVER want to remove the drive while it's QUICKLY FLASHING (and could be writing), but it's generally OK to remove the drive after it has spun-down and is SLOWLY FLASHING.
Expecting the user to be able to make this distinction based only on the flashing rate seems like a dumb idea. It would be better if the LED would change color in spin-down standby, and go out completely after you remove the drive in your O.S. like some other drives, but this is a pretty minor issue once you figure it out, so overall I still rate this drive a solid 5.
| Hard Drive | 2 TB Portable |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 1 |
