Seagate Wireless Plus STCK1000100 1TB Mobile Device Storage with Built-In Wi-Fi Streaming Seagate Wireless Plus STCK1000100 1TB Mobile Device Storage with Built-In Wi-Fi Streaming

Pros: slick hyper portable

Cons: -no full drive encryption possibility
-no native wifi writing on the drive
can not work as wireless device when hooked up through USB (favors USB interface) obliging to carry the charging cable all times in addition to the USB cable when longer uninterrupted witless sessions are needed (charging through drive USB -sata interface ill interrupt your wireless session as drive will favor USB 3 connection - charging and will kill your wireless)

Other Thoughts: - samba hack in order to access and write files wirelessly through network folder browsing (not the app)
- create TRUCRYPT file (900 GB) where to have all your files and access it through network browser (explorer) and mount it through truecrypt
-play all your media files with corresponding regular app.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Joe,

This response is from Seagate Support and we'd like to thank you for taking the time to post a review of the Wireless Plus Mobile Storage drive.

While we do not offer software to encrypt the drive, it can be password protected during wifi use as shown on page 27 of our user guide listed here:

http://ow.ly/hryNa

You may use Samba to access the drive wirelessly on both a Mac and PC. Here are instructions for this:

Mac: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/005099en

PC: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/005098en

If you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our support staff and we will be happy to assist further:

http://seagate.com/support/contact-support/

Best Regards,
Seagate Support

Pros: See my March 8 review

Cons: See my March 8 review

Other Thoughts: I response to the message above, as well as a message that I received in response to a review on another cite, I called Seagate support. I spoke with a very nice guy who indicated that the Seagate Wireless Plus HDD is not the issue and instead, the issue is that the UPnP FLAC player apps flush their cache when the HDD is restarted. I was somewhat incredulous, so I performed the followings tests, which confirmed what he said:

Test A - With the HDD remaining on: (1) turned the FLAC player apps on and off, (2) turned the iPhone5 on and off, (3) disconnected from HDD wifi and reconnected, (4) disconnected from HDD wifi, connected to music servers on other wifi, reconnected to HDD wifi. Each time, all of the music on the Seagate HDD was instantly available via two different FLAC player apps when I started them up.

Test B - Turned of HDD off/on with iPhone5 on. It took approximately 20 minutes for all of the music folders to become available.

Test C - Turned of HDD off/on with iPhone5 off, and then waited 10 minutes before turning iPhone on. It still took approximately 20 minutes for all of the music folders to become available.

The Seagate support guy also suggested using a Samba (SMB) player. I tried that and learned what everybody else already knew - SMB absolutely sucks.

The 1TB Seagate Wireless Plus is very close to being an absolute must-have for people that use CD quality resolution (and above) music files on the go. I plan to use mine in the car. [MP3 users can store an infinite amount of music on an iPod classic.] Unfortunately, without FLAC support in the Seagate app, the HDD is not very useful for music lovers with iDevices unless, of course, you can remember to turn the drive on and connected it to the iDevice 20 minutes before you go anywhere.

The Seagate support guy also indicated that the design team considered adding FLAC support to the Seagate app, but left it out because they did not think anybody wanted it. He suggested that they might change their minds if enough people requested it. Sooooo ……. please send Seagate a request for FLAC support (resolution of at least 24/96). Happy listening.

Pros: To keep things brief - what everybody else said. Overall, its a great HDD.

Cons: SeagateMedia app relies on the mobile device's native capabilites to play music, so if you want to, for example, play FLAC files on your iPhone, you need another app. This is not a problem in and of itself because there are plenty of inexpensive FLAC player apps that work well. The problem is associated with the fact that the FLAC player apps use DLNA/UPnP to communicate with the Seagate HDD. For reasons that I admit I do not understand, each time the HDD boots up or resets for whatever reason, the DLNA/UPnP software sorts through all of the folders to create a directory. This takes more than 10 minutes in my case (500GB of FLAC files). I've watched this process on three different FLAC player apps. Same process, same amount of time to gain access to ZZ Top at the end of the list.

Seagate should either add the capability to play common music types to the SeagateMedia app (video too I guess) or should configure the DLNA/UPnP software so that the user has the option to save the folder/file information and refresh it on demand as necessary. This way, when you turn on your HDD, its ready to stream.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Joe,

This reply is from Seagate Support. We noticed your review and wanted to comment on your experience with your Wireless Plus drive.

Our Wireless Plus should not reset itself every time the drive starts up. When new content is added to the drive, it may re-index the new files but this is usually very quick unless a lot of new content has been added. We would like to talk with you in greater detail to determine the root cause and available resolution to the drive behavior described in your review. We have created case # 03280748 that shows your review and our response. Here is a web address with contact information to speak with a support representative directly:

http://seagate.com/support/contact-support/

Best Regards,
Seagate Support

Pros: This wireless drive is a cool concept for travelers. With a sleek, minimalistic look, it's perfect for folks who want their entire movie or picture library available wherever they go, but don't have the internal storage space available on their playback device. This drive lets you have that mobility easily and conveniently. The power button is on the side of the drive and is easy to access and push, and is slightly recessed so that it isn't bumped on or off by accident.

The drive itself weighs about a pound, battery included. It is USB3.0-compatible for fast transfers with compatible computers. You can also run it on battery or plugged in with the included AC adapter/charger. During my testing, the battery seemed to hold a long charge of 5+ hours (more than enough for a long plane ride). A Seagate Media App (free) is required for media playback. Download the app, then connect your device's wifi to the Seagate, and launch the app. From here the app will find all of the media on your device and let you select by type or search through the raw folders. You can also view the drive's battery life.What is really cool is that the drive also lets you do a sort of pass-through wifi mode, where you can also connect to the internet by joining another wifi network.

The default wifi network the drive uses can be changed and a password can also be set on it. I found that this password does not accept special characters, so that is a limitation.

Movies streamed from the drive smoothly and without hiccups. I did not test the usable distance, so trying to stream from a longer distance may create bandwidth issues. This device is more suited to being in the seat pocket in front of you, or perhaps on the desk next to your bed in your hotel room while on the road rather than on the other side of your house.

Cons: The biggest let-down of this device? Movies must be MPEG4 only! All other formats that I tried failed saying that playback of this media was not supported. This is terrible for folks who have an existing digital collection, perhaps on a traditional external drive, in a different format. They would have to go back and convert their entire library again! I'm not sure what Seagate's reasoning was for this limitation, but I bet it will turn a lot of people off of this product.

As cool as I thought the feature was, Wifi pass-through didnt work for me. It gave me a simple error saying "operation failed." I thought that this may be because the internet wifi network's password had a special character in it (as i mentioned earlier), but did not test this theory. Maintaining internet connectivity these days is a must, and this was very disappointing to me that it hogged my wifi connection without letting me pass-through to the internet.

I did not find a convenient way to transfer media straight from my phone/tablet to the Seagate drive - I had to channel them through a PC first. This is an inconvenience but not a deal breaker. The drive also takes a minute or two to power all the way on to the point where you can access it wirelessly. Just a nuisance but again, not a big deal.

Other Thoughts: Not sure how the FCC/FAA would feel about people using this on a plane. But, what they don't know will most likely not hurt them.

Removing the USB3.0 connector module from the drive reveals standard SATA data and power connectors. I like that Seagate does this with their recent external drives, as it gives the geeky people out there more flexibility for wiring the drive up (especially when using a computer that doesnt support USB3.0).

Manufacturer Response:

Dear KD007,

This response is from Seagate Support and we'd like to thank you for taking the time to post a review of the Wireless Plus drive.

The Wireless Plus App will support all media files that are natively supported by your mobile device. For other file types that are not natively supported, you may use any number of third-party players.

It is not clear from your review description why the internet pass-through did not work for you. We wanted to provide additional instructions on the pass-through function just to make sure this was done properly (see page 9 of Users Guide):

http://ow.ly/hefx3

To upload files directly to the Seagate device, try following the instructions listed on page 19 of the Users Guide listed above.

If these suggestions do not help, or you have additional questions or concerns, we would like to talk with you in greater detail to determine the root cause and available resolution to the problem. We have created a case based on your Amazon name that shows your review and our response. Here is a web address with contact information to speak with a support representative directly:

http://seagate.com/support/contact-support/

Best Regards,
Seagate Support

Pros: • Ability to access the drive without any internet connection
• Has its own WiFi
• Ability to have 3 users access the drive at the same time
streaming high definition contents and up to 8 users streaming
other files simultaneously without losing performance.
• Ability to connect to WiFi internet while connected to this drive
• Password secured connection
• Ability to connect to all i OS and android devices thru Seagate
media app.
• A very good access range
• Portability and light weight

Cons: • No feature to protect the data in case drive get lost or stolen
• No connection to 3G or LTE while connected to this drive
• No specifications or usage of car charger
• Battery life is not 10 hours as stated....it seems to deplete faster
when connected to internet through another WiFi network.

Other Thoughts: Despite of several negative comments here, I still think that this device is worthwhile as it does reduce the storage space of ipad and other mobile devices and multiple users can simultaneously access the data where there is no internet connection is available. I also think that the company can fix some of the problems through firmware updates.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Anonymous,

This reply is from Seagate Support. We noticed your review and wanted to comment on your experience with your Wireless Plus drive.

You may use the concurrent connection to connect to both to the Wireless Plus, and your internet. Instructions for this are published on page 9 of our Users Guide listed below:

http://ow.ly/hefx3

Please note: Some phone carriers may not allow connection to 3G and Wifi at the same time

Battery life can be affected from a variety of factors. To obtain the 10 hour battery life it is recommended that the following guidelines are followed:
-Single user streaming a single movie
-Less than 4Mb/sec bit rate
-Using the Seagate Media App
-Download and stream must be enabled
-File must play in the native player

The battery may not be fully charged from the factory. Please use the charger to recharge the battery to full strength. If the Wireless Plus is not secured with a password, it's possible some other users may be using your Wireless Plus which may drain the battery as well. Setting a password on your Wireless Plus drive is covered on page 27 of our users guide listed here:

http://ow.ly/hryNa

Also streaming to multiple devices, high bit-rate streams, distance to device (multiple "resend" requests for stream) can also influence battery life.

We appreciate your feedback on the car charger and also for some protection on lost or stolen drives. These will be passed along to our developers.

If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our support staff:

http://seagate.com/support/contact-support/

Best Regards,
Seagate Support

Pros: I pre-ordered mine and have yet to regret it.

I am a retired research scientist and I am on a lecture and guest speaker circuit most of the year. I use mine to carry my notes, power point, videos and hand outs(pdf). Also some movies to watch while flying. Most of my gigs have fully equipped speakers podiums where my Seagate Wireless Plus can connect to. At some sites I log in to it with my laptop and the media technician also connects to it to display my presentation from his control center. Last week I was quite surprised to have a video projector/ presentation system rented for my talk. It was Android based with WiFi remote control for the projector and built in audio mixer. I used the Seagate Android app (which I had to side-loaded), It worked like a charm. I controlled the whole system from my Kindle Fire. I was able to play music, my videos, my power-point (downloaded directly to the projector before hand, used their copier to connect to the Seagate Wireless Plus and printed my hand-outs and posters.

Seagate Wireless Plus is a presenters, teachers and lectures dream!

Cons: The only cons I found are:
#1, The android app. Not available for the Nook. Barns and Nobel tec. support told me that Seagate hasn't submitted it to them yet for their approval. Many students have the Nook that I work with and have no connectivity other than through a browser. It tales quite a bit of time to show them how to connect using 172.25.0.1

#2, A car charger would be nice. Now I have to carry a 12v to 120v converter with me.

#3, A caring case.

#4, I now have two Seagate Wireless Pluses. One for my presentations (pass-worded connection) and one for my Public files, research files and papers which I share. The problem is that you can not change the Seagate Wireless Plus's address. I found that disturbing last week on a flight home when another passenger was using his. The Seagate Wireless Plus does not play nicely when two or more Seagate Wireless Pluses are in the same vicinity. Last night having coffee at Starbucks I could not log in to mine because another Seagate Wireless Plus was in the coffee shop.

#5, Being able to password folders I had to buy another Seagate Wireless Plus for my public files.

Other Thoughts: All ways password your Seagate Wireless Plus because you can't

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Dr Bob,

This response is from Seagate Support and we'd like to thank you for taking the time to post a review of the Wireless Plus Mobile Drive. We are glad to read that the drive is working well for you.

While we don't officially support the Wireless Plus with the Nook, if it has an available web browser you may be able to use the drive using this method to access the drive.

A carrying case for the Wireless Plus is available at the following link here:

http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/accessories/?sku=STAF107

We will pass along your comments regarding a car charger to our developers. We appreciate your feedback on this.

We also wanted to pass along instructions for proper password protection when sharing your data wirelessly. Please reference page 27 of our Users Guide listed below:

http://ow.ly/hefx3

While we do not support changing the IP address of the Wireless Plus, two Wireless Plus should be able to function together without problems as they should auto negotiate to allow separate communications. If this is not the case, we would like to discuss this with you in more depth to determine the root cause and resolution to this. We have created case #03204014 to use when contacting us that will show your review and our response. Here is a web address with contact information to speak with a support representative directly:

http://seagate.com/support/contact-support/

Best Regards,
Seagate Support

Pros: This is the hard drive future tech as we will know it. They got it right for the great portion.

Just download the app from your store you use for apps, make sure it is the Seagate Media app, as they warn you.

Takes a little while to start up, give it some time, all wireless devices take time to sort out whats up..

Is made to increase your storage capability for you smartphone or tablet so that you and friends can enjoy many different movies, videos, pictures, business data, and more all at once.

It makes it more reasonable now to only get the 8GB model of that pad or phone and use this to multiply the storage. The price is low I think, considering what all you get and that it actually works.

Tested with Samsung Galaxy III smartphone, a Motorolla Razor M, and a Kindle HD tablet. Worked with all of them.

Worked throughout a large home but not into yards so much, went thru two walls and 40 feet and streamed well the whole time until taken outside.

The USB 3.0 downloading was very fast and works with USB 2.0 as well as expected. I saw the USB 3.0 device can be used with other Sata devices as well to make them portable units (of course without wifi).

Used in a hotel room for others as well to watch movies and broadcast the rooms non wifi connection seemed like a good use too.

But the use in a family car going crosscountry with the kids not having to watch the same movies over again would be nice to keep them quiet. It can stream at least two HD movies to two different phones or tablets at the same time.

You could download lots of games to keep in reserve for the kids to play as well.

One fellow related he served up movies on a flight after the use electronics devices became ok.

They did this in such a small package too, nice rubbery grip feel and compact size, not much bigger than a old style portable 2.5" hard drive.

Cons: An older model Motorolla Razor had trouble downloading the app from the droid store, but that may have been a problem with the phone moreso. It got an error downloading, but I see Seagate posted sites on some other reviews here to help people with commom problems popping up mostly from inexperience with using the device.

The Kindle Fire HD encountered more pixelation and "blocking of resolution" than the Galaxy or the Motorolla Razor M. This could be due to the app used being differently configured parameters.

Needs a little case to hold attachments that isn't extrememly hard to get into like the box it came in, heh. That baby was like Fort Knox. Maybe some foam in a little lightweight clam case with places for recharger and USB 3.0 attachment.

The power of the devices radio seemed to be like about a N 150 radio, perhaps N 300 class. Impressive.

I think that once this device is updated to get rid of a couple of glitches some people have found, this will be a home run for the Seagate team, well done.

Other Thoughts: I have seen other attempts at this purpose, and this one shows a commitment to a quality product for the masses, not just for geeks. The others lacked the fit and finish and adaptability of this unit, as well as the durability.

I know nothing is perfect, at least that man does, and this is no exception, but it is awful hard to fault a device like this that a lot of people are going to wonder how they got along without it.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Forgot,

This response is from Seagate Support and we'd like to thank you for your review of the Wireless Plus Mobile Device. We are glad that you are enjoying the mobile drive. If there are any problems with playback of media files on your Kindle, try the following suggestions listed in the support article listed below under the subtitle "If the video is choppy or stuttering..."

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/219411en

We appreciate your feedback on our packaging and will pass this along.

If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our support staff:

http://seagate.com/support/contact-support/

Best Regards,
Seagate Support

Pros: Transfer speeds with USB 3.0 connection danced around 100MB/sec. That's blazing for a 2.5" drive that is almost certainly built and designed with low power consumption in mind. That figure dropped significantly when the drive had to handle many small files.

Quiet. No noise observed even a few feet away from the unit. Audible when held to my ear, so at least you can tell if/when it is running.

Most functions only require a browser, so I was able to connect all my devices regardless of platform. My Linux boxes worked just as well as my PCs

Ease of use. Kids, wife, anyone at my house can use it and benefit from it. No complicated software or setup required. Seems Seagate really adhered to the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle. Wish more products had that in mind.

Cons: I only reached the 4 hour mark before the battery died while streaming a 1080P video, thus battery life may not be as robust as it claims. However Seagate does mention streaming high definition will reduce battery life; keep in mind the effect is substantial.

Some high definition videos stuttered during playback, presumably due to slow file transfer over Wi-Fi network.

Getting a computer configured to access the internet & wireless hard drive simultaneously is not as ideal as one would like. I have a 5ghz wireless adapter on my laptops and prefer connecting to the 5ghz band due to congestion on the 2.4ghz band. If I want to stay connected to the hard drive, I must connect to it at 2.4ghz, and connect the hard drive to the 2.4ghz band of my wireless router. Again, it can be made to work, but is not ideal. But then I probably stress over small details in ways that most people don't, and performance seems satisfactory despite this setback. In short, it would be nice to see a 5 ghz radio.

Device takes a while to start up, at least a minute or so.

Other Thoughts: When I first got this hard drive, I couldn't help but think the Wi-Fi function would have limited usefulness because of slow speeds transferring a lot of information via the air.

But the more I used it, the more I realized that the Wi-Fi is this drive's greatest asset. It took me a while to overcome the belief that an external hard drive is not just to store backups. In a sense, it is SO much more than just a hard drive. It really becomes a standalone media center that is the hub for all your wireless devices.

So many devices can now reach their full potential with nearly unlimited data on tap. My Blu-Ray player could immediately access all my MP3's, pictures, videos, etc, which allowed me to do everything from my entertainment center, that I would normally have to burn DVD's or use thumb drives for.

For example when family visits and I want to show them pictures from a recent family trip. Fire up the TV & blu-ray player, find the folder in the Wireless Hard Drive and away we go. No trips to the computer necessary.

My son watches kids movies that I have stored on the computer. In the past I would burn DVDs, now they are available on demand.

All my music can be played from any device, anywhere as long as it's in reach of the signal. It is just incredible how easy and seamless everything is now. My phone has access, home theater receiver, all computers in the house, Ipod, the list goes on.

Automatic sync allows me to travel with the drive, and when I return and connect it, it updates my media libraries.

I don't have close to 1TB in media files, so I use the drive for backing up important information in addition to all the other uses. It would be nice if Seagate included a scheduler for automatic backups-- if the feature is there, I haven't found it yet.

I had to really dig to find cons... Sure the device can't do everything, and it's not perfect. Its biggest limitation in my opinion is Wi-Fi speed. 1TB is a LOT of data, so if you primarily connect via wireless, you'll see bottlenecks in some situations. It took spending a fair amount of time with the unit to really give me a sense of everything it can do. I now have all my devices connected to it, so when I download a song on my Ipod, phone or what have you, it's available on anything that's connected.

Few things I consider a must-have, but after having this for a few weeks, it's definitely joined that club. I would hate to see it go, and have to start burning DVDs and using flash drives again!

Manufacturer Response:

Dear QuakerJ,

This response is from Seagate Support and we'd like to thank you for taking the time to post a review of the Wireless Plus Mobile Device. We are very glad to read that the mobile drive is working well for you.

Battery life can be affected from a variety of factors.To obtain the 10 hour battery life it is recommended that the following guidelines are followed:
-Single user streaming a single movie
-Less than 4Mb/sec bit rate
-Using the Seagate Media App
-Download and stream must be enabled
-File must play in the native player

The battery may not be fully charged from the factory. Please use the charger to recharge the battery to full strength. If the Wireless Plus is not secured with a password, it's possible some other users may be using your Wireless Plus which may drain the battery as well. Setting a password on your Wireless Plus drive is covered on page 27 of our users guide listed here:

http://ow.ly/hryNa

Also streaming to multiple people,high bit-rate streams, distance to device (multiple "resend" requests for stream) can also influence battery life.

If your videos are stuttering, please try the suggestions listed on the following support article under the subtitle "If the video is choppy or stuttering"

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/219411en

We will pass along your suggestions on the 5 ghz radio and including a backup utility. If you connect this drive by a wired connection on your computer you may certainly use a third-party utility to backup to the drive if you wish.

If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our support staff:

http://seagate.com/support/contact-support/

Best Regards,
Seagate Support

Pros: It's important to understand the limitations of this drive, and how it was intended to be used. See Other Thoughts.

1. Strong wireless signal in my testing.
2. Wicked fast USB3 speeds.
3. No software needed for windows.
4. Includes free Paragon NTFS driver for Mac to write to NTFS formatted hard drives. (free version only recognizes Seagate drives).
5. Charges via USB (but charging cable is proprietary on the drive end. Don’t lose the cable!).
6. Data is standard USB3, backwards compatible with USB2. (it’s only the charging cable that is proprietary).
7. Included 110v USB charger also chargers iPads et al.
8. Removable SATA to USB3 endcap fits any SATA notebook hard drive.
9. Passthrough mode allows connecting to drive over Wifi and then connecting to internet Wifi (but a little cumbersome to use, and you have to use the Seagate App to use this feature).
10. Can stream media from drive over wifi using free App, or internet browser (I tested with Safari on iOS devices).
11. Can stream to multiple devices (I tested with iPhone5 and iPad2, streaming the same video to both devices flawlessly).
12. 10 hour battery life.
13. Battery charges either via proprietary charging port, or when connected via USB data cable (but Wifi is disabled when Data USB cable is plugged into drive).
14. It really works, but it is intended to stream media over wifi FROM the drive TO a portable device (Android or iOS). It is not intended to archive data from a portable device to the drive over wifi. The FAQ says third-party apps can be used for this, but I didn’t test that feature as it is not included in the package.

Cons: 1. Can’t send files to it over wifi. It is designed for using the USB3 connection to load it with media, and the wifi to stream to android/iOS devices.
2. Proprietary charging cable (but not data, that’s standard USB3). Don’t lose that cable!
3. Cumbersome to connect to internet from your device after connecting to the drive (but it does work).
4. You connect to it over wifi by selecting it from your device settings, thus disconnecting from any existing wifi connection.
5. Depending on device, you may not be able to get cellular data while connected to the drive over wifi. This depends on your cell carrier and the device (GSM versus CDMA, Android or iOS).
6. My pre-release version did not auto-shutdown. If I left it powered on, on battery, it would run the battery down overnight even with nothing connected to it.
7. The firmware on the drive auto indexes files when you upload them. This feature takes time, and can take a while if you upload thousands of songs.
8. It sorts the song by title, not ID tag, so forget streaming songs via album or in the album order.
9. Long bootup time for wireless (about 2 minutes), and long shutdown time (about 1 minute).
10. Can't disable SSID broadcast, so either set WPA (using the free app), or don't put sensitive files on it. Wifi range is about 150 feet.

Other Thoughts: When used as intended, this is an amazing hard drive. Here is an example of how I tested it that is how it is designed:

1. On my iMac, I ran Handbrake to make an MP4 (the file format was M4V) file of a DVD that I own (this is legal to do, as I understand it. You can make one copy of a DVD that you own for archive purposes), using the “high profile” default settings.
2. I copied the resulting 2GB M4V file to the drive over USB3 in about 8 seconds.
3. I disconnected the USB3 data cable, thus activating the Wifi on the drive.
4. I connected my iPhone5 and iPad2 to the drive over wifi (disconnecting those devices from my home wifi).
5. I streamed the movie on both devices, flawlessly, while skipping, pausing, changing chapters, etc. On one device I used the free app, on the other I just opened Safari (go to any internet page, and instead you connect to the drive and see the files on it).

When used that way, the drives performs great. It is designed to load a ton of media to it (a terabyte, as it turns out), then stream all that media to any nearby device.

A good example would be a long car trip. If you have kids, they can sit in the back and watch hours and hours of movies, more than could ever fit on a 16GB or 32GB iPad. Both the iPad and the Seagate drive have about 10 hours of battery, plus both charge over USB. So if you have a USB charger in your car, you could alternate each one and drive across the country without repeating a movie. Use it in the car, in the hotels, anywhere you don’t have reliable internet connection and never be at a loss for media. Play movies, music, show video slide shows without an internet connection.

When used that way, this drive is pretty amazing. But it’s important to understand the limitations. It is NOT intended to be a wifi archive for your device, or to be a wireless NAS storage device on your home wifi network (but it works fine as a NAS when connected to a computer over USB). It is designed to stream from the drive to your device, not the other way. And in that respect, it works great.

I gave it 4 stars because of the proprietary charging cable, the somewhat confusing method to enable internet passthrough mode, and the no auto sleep feature, which is surely a bug of some kind in the firmware (the FAQ says it has sleep mode). Also, because you can't write to it over wifi (even though it doesn't ever SAY you can do that, a lot of people seem to think that the description implies that you should be able to). Also, the price puts it in a class by itself, but it's cheaper than getting a 128GB iPad, and holds 10x as much.

If you have kids and lots of DVDs, this could be a very versatile tool.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Rosebud,

This response is from Seagate Support and we'd like to thank you for taking the time to post a review of the Wireless Plus Mobile Device. We are glad that you are enjoying the drive overall.

We wanted to provide some instructions on how to wirelessly upload files from mobile devices. This is described on page 19 of our Users Guide listed below:

http://ow.ly/hefx3

We also wanted to clarify the instructions for concurrent Wireless Plus and Internet usage. This is covered on page 9 of the Users Guide listed above.

There are various ways of sorting music on the Wireless Plus. These are covered on page 16 of our Users Guide.

We will pass along your suggestion on the autosleep feature to our developers

If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our support staff:

http://seagate.com/support/contact-support/

Best Regards,
Seagate Support

Pros: I am always amazed at the march of technology and how it improves over time. When I had the chance to get this unit, I jumped at the chance as I was about to fly to Australia and wanted to watch a movie or two, read some digital books plus listen to my favorite music on my I-Pad.

There are restrictions on flying with lithium batteries but I believe that the size of the batteries in this hard drive fall within those limits. The folks at the airport wanted to know what it was and how it was powered and they were OK with it but I was told that I was not to use it while taking off, landing and not to use it till the announcement was made to allow used of portable electronic devices.

This drive is as fast as any other USB 3 drive I am using on my desktop while wired which is a plus. The wireless aspect is just a tad slower by seat of the pants feel, but not by much.

I also love being able to put this in my carry on luggage and after start up, leave it in there in the console above the seats while in use. Keeps all the clutter of wires and having the drive falling all over the place.


How did it work? Great! I had a few other folks on the plane with me that asked all kinds of questions about my amazing I-Pad with all that storage. When I told them about the wireless hard drive I had and the movies I was watching, they wanted to watch too!
So I told them how to connect and there were four different people watching two movies with it at the same time with I-Pads. No lag at all and everyone was asking about the drive afterwards.

On my trip I took tons of photos and then put them onto this drive. My camera is a high end camera with RAW capability and it was nice to be able to dump the photos on this drive to open up space on my card for some videos I also shot.

Now back to home and using it there. I have kids who love to watch movies and recorded TV shows on their I-pads when in the car. This really is nice for that. I can travel with them and not hear a peep out of them. Nice!!!!!!!
In the home, using it for all my portable devices is fairly easy. I have Apple products so it is pretty easy to set up.

The range of this is pretty good. Not as good as say a good dual band router but still very impressive for a wireless drive. It does make it into my basement but not far enough to my neighbors home. Most of the routers I have used were able to hit the homes next door fairly strong. This seems to be a bit less but still acceptable.

They say up to 10 hours of battery use and I found that in my experience so far, heavy use will get less time. While watching movies, the drive lasted a bit over 7 hours on battery.

Cons: I like the idea of having a protective carry to allow for dropping and other mishaps. It really is a nice looking high tech unit and would be a shame to get it banged up. I travel a lot and without a doubt this will get dropped and banged up without protection.

The USB 3 cord is short but that is because of power requirements. I wish someone would invent a USB3 cord longer than 18 inches that can be used to power USB3 devices.

Start up time is a bit slow. About as fast as any other router but still slow.

The supplied connectors look weak but time will tell if they hold up.

Never yet have I ever gotten a drive that has the stated 1 TB or 2 TB or whatever. It always falls short due to formatting. This drive is pretty close to 1 TB but not 1 TB. A small issue but one none the less.

If the battery ever goes dead on this, not sure how that will be handled. It is not user replaceable. I do have lots of experience with lithium batteries and so far not one problem with any of them in over 6 years. Hopefully that will continue with this drive.

Other Thoughts: This is one product that after you get it you wonder how you got along with it before.
I love the high storage capacity and love the speed of it.

If you travel. If you spend a lot of time away from home. If you need higher storage capacity and want no wires, this is the drive to have.