Tag Archives: Hard disk drive

Uspeed Superspeed External Hard Drive Docking Station

  By Ani Fardreamer | September 2, 2012 - 8:49 am | ,
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Uspeed Superspeed USB 3.0 & eSATA to SATA External Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD with USB 3.0 Cable and eSATA Cable

If you’re like me, you take the internal hard drives out before getting rid of your old PC. What to do with those hard drives? Well, now there’s an answer. The Uspeed Superspeed External Hard Drive Docking Station is the perfect solution for getting some use out of what once was. Go back and retrieve that data you thought you’ve lost or format the drive and use it like it’s a new external hard drive.

Setup was easy. I just connected the cable, plugged it in, dropped in the hard drive (it must be a SATA drive), and turn it on. I connected the dock to a USB 3.0 port, but the dock also has an eSATA option available. All the necessary cables are provided.

I formatted the hard drive. Then, I tried a quickie speed test. I transferred a 1.71 GB file to it, which took about 24 seconds. That’s comparable to my external USB 3.0 hard drives.

Wow. I’ve always wanted one of these. Now that I have one, it works exactly as I’ve ever hoped it would. I’m impressed, and very happy.

This product was provided for review by Laptopmate.

 

Seagate Expansion 2 TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

  By admin | June 27, 2012 - 11:02 pm | ,
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Seagate Expansion 2 TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive STBV2000100

The first thing I noticed when I opened the Seagate package was the Seagate Hard Drive was a little heavy. It’s about as big as my Western Digital My Book Essential 2 TB USB 3.0/2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive and looks like a metal brick.

The second thing I noticed is this brick needs to be plugged into an outlet. I do have a powered USB 3.0 port, so I tried it without the power cord, but that did not work. I do have to plug it into an outlet.

Once it was plugged in and powered up, the drive was instantly recognized by my Windows Vista Home Premium system. No need for manual installation of anything. The drive did not come loaded with backup software. I like that. When it comes with software, I am loathe to delete it; but I don’t use it, so it sits there, taking up valuable memory and adding to clutter.

There is a registration setup that was automatically populated — so quick and easy. I normally don’t register anything because of the hassle, but there was no hassle here. Registration is not necessary to use this device. It’s completely optional.

For comparison, I copied a 1.71 GB file first to My Book Essential and then to Seagate. For My Book, it took 26 seconds. For Seagate: 27 seconds. They are comparable.

Next, I copied 151 GB of data to the Seagate. That took me 49 minutes. Not bad.

PROS:
+ fast data transfer rates
+ no extra software installed to clutter the drive
+ plug and play, no need to manually install driver

CONS:
- too big to carry around on a regular basis — about 1.7 pounds and the size of a small book
- needs to be plugged into an outlet
- no backup software included (could be viewed as a positive thing, see above)

Although it’s portable, it’s not really one I’d want to carry on a regular basis. It’s too big, heavy, and needs to be plugged in. For portability, I recommend Western Digital My Passport 2 TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive, which not only is small in comparison but also does not need to be plugged into an outlet. However, there is a price $$ to pay for portability. If travel is not your concern and you are planning on leaving this on your desk, the Seagate External Hard Drive is a great device.

This product was provided for review by the Amazon Vine program.