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Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
from Murfreesboro, TN on 1/21/2008
I purchased this drive as additional storage for my system and to have a backup for critical data. It was easy to setup and use. No driver CD or anything was needed to get started.
However, after 2 weeks suddenly the drive would no longer appear in Windows Explorer. After numerous checks, I found that it was an unrecognized device in Device Manager, and that it recommended to install new drivers. (But none comes with it.) When I attempted to use it on another computer as a test, the same problem occurred. A search on the Internet revealed that this drive can suffer from what is called the "disappearing drive" issue.
I was unable to recover use of the drive after following Maxtor's recommendations, and their error codes indicated a drive failure. I returned it to Staples as it was barely within the 2-week policy for returns. Amazingly, in the store it worked with another PC with no issues!
Anyway, I could not depend on a drive that behaved "flakily" like this, so I returned it.
Be warned. The drive could work for a while, but later it may develop this problem.
from New Hope, PA on 1/21/2008
I have several of these drives and they appear to be reliable. I use them to back up data. The only problem is that the stand does not stay attached and the drive can fall over. The manufacturer sent me new stands, but they are exactly the same as the original ones. I modified the stands and attached them to the drives with tie-wraps. It would be nice if there were a power switch. I have turned off the computer while the drive was running, and it never powered down. The drive does not get hot, so a fan is not necessary. The Maxtor One-Touch software can be used to change the length of time before the drive powers down after a period of inactivity.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from nys on 10/26/2007
I bought this for my son. He drove 4 hours to a friend's house to get some info. He lives in Ft lauderdale and his friend lives in Orlando. When he returned home...the drive wouldn't work. An eight hour round trip was wasted!!!!
[2 of 3 customers found this review helpful]
from west jeff, ohio on 10/24/2007
Great Drive for storage but no on/off stitch.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Safford AZ on 10/7/2007
(the one I purchased).You will never beat the price, what makes it so outstanding is what was inside - Open it up and you have an IDE Seagate 7200-RPM standard hard drive. Quite, Cool (100 deg.) and fast, a must for system Builders.
[1 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from East Windsor, NJ on 10/5/2007
The Maxtor Basic external hard drives are a great value. I use them for both personal and business use.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Roseburg, OR on 10/2/2007
It's really easy to use - no setup software needed at all. But... The stand doesn't fit properly so the unit fell over pretty easily. After having it approx. 3 weeks (used it at home and took it with me when I went to a friend's house) it stopped working and made a strange noise. I sent it to the factory for repair last week - we'll see how long it takes to get a replacement. Glad I had my data still on my laptop because I ended up losing everything on the external hard drive.
All in all, if you're planning to have it sit on your desk, it's a good piece of equipment without all the annoying frills. But if you want to take it with you, I'd look into something more sturdy.
from columbus, ohio on 10/1/2007
Highly recomend this product. About as simple as it gets.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Cleveland, Ohio on 10/1/2007
I don't care about speed of transfer, but this thing is fast enough for me. HUGE 500GB capacity is amazing and the best part is that I got such a good price. Only complaint is that there is no power switch, you just turn it off and on by using the power cable, but its not a big deal.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Burlington, MA on 10/1/2007
I bought this unit primarily as an external backup unit for a home computer. (The computer I'm backing up has two 200 GB hard drives which I backup every night.)
My first disappointment was the lack of a power switch. I do occasionally find myself in situations where you want external devices powered off I find a switch more convenient than yanking connections.
My second disappointment was that the hardware detect/install was not smooth and not reliable. It basically installs half-way, leaves itself in a state where it is not accessible via windows explorer or the disk manager. The Hardware Install control panel is no help because it believes there is already an installation in progress and insists on waiting for it to finish (it never does). The Device Manager is no help because it keeps flashing/updating at about a 100 hz rate. I had to drop back to System Restore to get to a usable system.
There was some bizarre (and nonstandard) procedure for coping with this which is buried in the middle of a pdf on the Maxtor website. I don't recall what the procedure was, but it was a bit obscure.
This might not be so bad, except that on a couple of occasions the drive has lost the ability to mount after a reboot, so I have to find the procedure and do it all over again. This has happened about three times since I bought the device about a month ago....too often, IMHO.
On the positive side, the device is relatively inexpensive compared to other drives available. However, at least in my case, the price of the drive is dwarfed by the value of the data I'm backing up.
Another positive aspect is that the drive comes pre-formatted for NTFS. My apologies, of course, to folks who are not running Windows, but I'm into instant gratification and I hate buying a new drive formatted in FAT32 or whatever.
I wish I could say something about reliability, but I have no data and not near enough experience. I haven't lost data yet, but my experience with the install, continuing mount problems, and the (relatively short) 12 month warranty do worry me.
IT IS A GOOD DRIVE. BUT THE DRAWBACK IS THAT YOU CANNOT SHUT IT OFF. YOU MUST DIS-CONNECT THE USB TO SHUT IT DOWN. IT HAS NO ON OR OFF SWITCH.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Jamsion, PA on 9/28/2007
Good external hard drive. One small issue - when the computer is powered off the Hard Drive is still on/spinning. The Hard Drive should sense the USB connection is no longer active and go into power-save mode (to save not only power but product life).
from Tigerville/Berea, SC on 9/28/2007
I mainly use this unit for storing video projects, stock photography, and TONS of music and video from my library at home while I'm away at college. It makes transition great! Currently the unit is filled only to 250~GB and high-volume transfers don't crash! Items transfer really fast with current tech specs on relatively old systems wthout bogging down efficiency. If you want MORE storage for less money that works without a hitch, get this product!
Also, there are screws to allow you to replace the outer casing or take out the HD in order to rob files off another, pre-existing HD with a dead OS. Sure, this voids the warranty, but it makes life easier if you're a DIY PC repair kinda person who really needs to recover what their previous PC tried to destroy.
Only fault I have with it is that there is no on/off switch, so if I don't want the unit to run continuously (use power), then I have to unplug it, which can be hard to do somethimes.
from New York on 9/28/2007
I tried 2 different brands of USB hard drive "enclosures" in which you have to supply your own hard drive. Both cost between $20 and $30. Both of them worked for only about a week before the PC wouldn't recognize the drive when I plugged in the USB cable. I sprung for the less expensive Maxtor 500GB "Basics" USB drive because I don't need the backup features supplied with the Maxtor "OneTouch" line. I use my own backup software to schedule and run backups.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from NH on 9/28/2007
very good hard drive
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from NH on 9/7/2007
I can't speak to its reliability as I've only had it for a couple months, but it was easy to set up, file transfer rates are fast enough for me, and I have yet to see storage anywhere [$]
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Sevierville, TN on 8/17/2007
I was concerned about the drive enclosure not having a fan but it doesn't need one. The Maxtor never feels more than warm. I own another external drive with fan that runs much hotter than this Maxtor. It's also quieter than I expected. I'm going to buy another.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Boston on 8/16/2007
This is the best HD i have. I have a more expensive Maxtor also but i can't keep it on all the time because it gets so hot. This drive stays cool, i have had no problem with it, it runs all day long. I am buying a few more, you can't beat this item at this price. I keep music files on it, all my docs and i also intall software to it and run my programs from it with no problem. I highly recomend this drive. Don't let the negative comments sway you, this unit works great, you will love it!!!
[3 of 3 customers found this review helpful]
I have one of these and was online to buy another one [...]. I've had my original one for about a year and it runs continuously, my computer is never shut down. The drive has never felt warm to the touch.
[4 of 4 customers found this review helpful]
from Los Angeles, CA on 7/8/2007
This is a killer drive for the price. Very easy to use, quiet, large capacity, and you can't beat the price.
[4 of 5 customers found this review helpful]
I called [...] and they couldn't answer my question about an internal fan fan. They referred me to their [...] and they couldn't answer my question. I finally called Maxtor and found out that's why this item is so cheap. There is NO INTERNAL FAN to cool the system. If you are going to run this continuously, don't buy it, it will burn up and it isn't covered under warranty.