I accepted delivery of a Seagate Backup Plus Hub 6TB External Desktop Hard Drive Storage STEL6000100 from Amazon.com on December 20, 2017. For a period of about 30 days it performed as expected. Quiet and dependable. However, beyond that point, my HP Pavilion Desktop 570-p094 running on Windows 10, failed intermittently to recognize the drive. Upon restarting my computer, the problem seemed to self rectify. This condition persisted for several weeks. Lamentably, shortly thereafter, the drive began making grinding and chattering noises. After which point, my computer no longer recognized the drive. I have attempted to utilize "SeaTools for Windows" to no avail. It also failed to detect the drive. Additionally, I unsuccessfully attempted to initialize the drive with any of the available USB ports on my computer. The drive is neither detected within the Device Manager nor Disk Management.
I have had several rounds of emails with Seagate Support which ultimately concluded with the recommendation of returning the drive for replacement. Seagate stipulated though, as follows: "Please be advised, Seagate may replace your product with a product that was previously used, repaired, and tested to meet Seagate specifications." Not much comfort there, considering that the new unit that I purchased presumably also met Seagate specifications. I do not find it acceptable that I should have to front the cost of return shipping. Nor do I feel any confidence in the security of my personal data contained on the drive should I return it to Seagate. The only resolution that I would find acceptable would be to have Seagate send a new drive to replace the doorstop that I now own. I would happily destroy it upon receipt of a new replacement. But then there is the reality of the personal data that is now lost.
I do not write reviews. However, to this I am making an exception due to the sudden, complete, and catastrophic failure of this drive. As a consequence, I have lost irreplaceable photos and documents. Common wisdom advises the back up of data. This was precisely my reason for the purchase of this drive. I backed up the internal hard drive of a computer that I recently whiped and discarded. Back-up the back-up the back-up? Where does it end?
Do a bit of research before buying this product. You will find independent reviews that determine that some Seagate products are unreliable, defective, and (fail) prematurely at spectacularly, and in many respects, unprecedentedly high rates. That is most certainly true of this product. At the time that I am writing this review, nearly 150 of the 1,151 Amazon customer reviews are solidly negative. This drive should stop shipping until the manufacturing defects are corrected.
Every component of my budget system operates flawlessly with the exception of this pathetic device.
Please read the warranty and take the negative reviews seriously.
| Hard Drive | 8 TB Desktop |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 3 |
