Pros: This is my second Seagate external drive, with my first being a portable (no external power supply) 1TB drive. I’ve decided to put this one to use in two different ways. First, I’m migrating my little virtual machine “server” from Windows 7 to XenServer, and I have quite a few VMs to move. Second, after this, I’d like to move all of my pictures and music from my internal drive to this one. This tests both the large file transfer and multiple small file transfer (>100,000 files I think). The bulk file transfer went over very smoothly. My VMs and related files took up almost 2TB, with some VMs being as large as 20GB files. I can’t remember the exact transfer speed, but I feel like it was somewhere close to 200MB/s. It took between an hour and an hour and a half to get them all transferred. Overall, I was very satisfied, I feel like the transfer part took longer than the actual export process (into OVFs). Small/medium size files also went very well. Transfer rate isn’t as feasible of a measurement, but I transferred slightly under 1TB in total of various media files, including music, pictures, and videos. I had done this before with the Seagate portable drive, and this drive performed much quicker overall. The enclosure is also very well designed. I feel like there is not much extra space used up to cover the drive, maybe only slightly thicker. It also looks nice, though I bet it also serves for a practical purpose as well. There are indentations all over the enclosure, and I think they help cool the device (but I could also be completely wrong about this… at the very least, I think they look cool). It’s also very quiet, the drive vibrations don’t rattle the shelf or anything on top of it.

Cons: The LED is a little bright for my tastes, and you can’t turn it off. Also, the drive is occasionally slow to get out of standby mode when you don’t use it for a while. However, for the most part, I have very little to complain about this drive.

Overall Review: A great backup drive, highly recommended. I’ve been attempting to become more reliable with backups, so this will help a lot. Also, since this is not one of the terrible Seagate 3TB drives, I’m not worried about reliability. That doesn’t mean to not have a third option for your backups!

Pros: I’ve tried, more than once, to make my own “cloud.” Each time, there’s always some inconvenience that I’ve never been able to completely solve. This Seagate server does a great job of taking away every inconvenience I’ve never been fully able to solve. First, I appreciate that it supports a wide variety of protocols and means of file sharing. It has Samba running to support Windows, and it supports Apple backups through Time Machine, which is great for my girlfriend’s Macbook. It helps take care of a backup solution for both of us with little setup required on my part. I also really enjoy that I can install OwnCloud (great! finally got a chance to test it), Bittorrent Sync (a solution I already have in place, so it’s nice to have an added source), and Wordpress. The apps are honestly lacking, but the non-Seagate ones on there work very well. Speaking on Bittorrent for a moment, I really have taken advantage of the torrent downloader feature of the NAS. It’s a really simple way to a seedbox. It appears to have Transmission underneath the hood (something many people use for a seedbox), but I never interacted with it except through the Seagate interface. It’s also interesting that this server has an addition backup feature supported to backup the NAS itself. This is not something I’ve seen in many software solutions. Usually, you would have to configure your software to backup to two locations, which is a little time consuming on the device you want to backup. Instead, the Seagate NAS provides redundancy without worrying about it from the user perspective. I think this would pair really well with two of these devices, but since I only have one, I didn’t get to try this out.

Cons: Seagate has fallen prey to many other devices promoting the idea of the “internet of things.” Everyone gets a cloud, that’s great right? Wrong. This thing is a potential security nightmare. For the average user that Seagate expects to use this device, most settings won’t be changed; they won’t see the need to disable the extra services that are running, so you end up with a device running a ton of unnecessary services. On top of this, there is one service that is not listed in the interface that runs without your knowledge -- SSH. This device has an SSH server running on it that is not able to be disabled through the interface. It runs on a non-standard port of 2222, so it’s not immediately noticeable, but any script kiddie could find this without issue. Given that many DoS attacks are now based from insecure routers and this device by default uses UPnP for port forwarding… I just don’t trust it to prevent outside people from connecting to it (note: I’m biased based on my line of work). The reason I bring up this SSH service is that it’s highly likely these devices were installed from a common OS image (something Unix or Linux embedded system related). The drives are not encrypted, so you can plug it in and read the files. You can read the usernames from the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files, and the password hashes are also found in /etc/shadow. If anyone is ever able to crack the root password, that’s potential administrator access on this cloud device. Once this password is found out, any ol’ person can login and mess with this device. I can neither confirm nor deny that I have discovered the password of the root (or other) accounts on the device.

Overall Review: I contacted Seagate support in regards to the SSH server running on the Personal Cloud. The initial response was that this service was not running on the device. I provided screenshots to show its existence, and received a response very shortly after from a higher support tier that claimed that there was not a valid login for the Personal Cloud. This was not encouraging. My advice, from a security standpoint, would be to disable anything remote access related, like UPnP. The issue with this is that it mostly takes the “cloud” out of the feature of this device, which is a huge selling point. Part of the issue with disabling UPnP means that many of the remote access features from the Seagate app are rendered useless too. In fact, my Seagate app on my Android phone now crashes occasionally when it can’t find my cloud device. Honestly, I think it’s a fantastic network device, and I would highly recommend it. However, the potential security issues I uncovered in very little time keep me from doing this. If you do get this device, just be cautious.

Pros: * Integrated heatsink is always a plus * Great speeds, as advertised and consistent performance * Multiple installation choices, and allows for usage in both the PC and PS5

Cons: Largely, theres no technical issues (speed, performance, or installation). For PC users, better options do exist. But for PS5s, these are a great option for any user. Multiple, granular options for storage size mean youre able to right-size your purchase option based on your budget.

Overall Review: Corsair makes excellent products, and the MP600 is no exception. I would expect it to maintain its peak performance throughout the entire life of whichever system you put it in.

Pros: For people (like me) who don’t have a good idea on how much battery is required, it’s nice that the box lists some example use cases: 4.3 hours for standard router/modem, ~1 hour for a basic workstation PC, 30 minutes for a laptop + network gear, 10 minutes for a mid-level desktop + laptop + network gear. While I didn’t think it was a wise idea to fully measure out how long it lasts under load, it does last long enough that I would be able to safely stop whatever I’m doing and shut my desktop down, even when I’m doing something that draws a lot of power (games, video streaming, 4K video, etc.). I do like the low profile/angled cord design. I’m glad it wasn’t a standard plug on my wall outlet, it’s easier to fit behind a desk with a smaller profile plug. On the unit’s end, where the gear plugs in, there’s plenty of spacing to fit multiple block adapters in with other cords. For me, 5 spots was enough to get my desktop fully battery backed up with 1 battery outlet to spare.

Cons: The noise settings on this unit are a bit confusing without reading the manual. There’s a single button (the power button) that you have to hold down to change the mode. From there, the color of the LED light of this power button will tell you what mode it’s in. There are 3 modes: “quiet mode” (a couple of beeps every 30 seconds, on low battery only), no alarm (no beeps at all), and full alarm (couple of beeps every 30 seconds on battery power, then frequent beeps when the battery is low). That seems a bit odd - why not just have a separate button? Or a separate LED light stating what mode it’s in? This could have been designed better without extra cost. In a related note, the other thing is that I couldn’t tell what was the best way to “quick mute” was, and I ended up powering the battery off; thankfully this was when I didn’t have anything drawing power from it.

Overall Review: I did not test the software/USB data interface, but I like that it’s offered. I guess this would be an alternative solution to the noise not being loud enough. I also like that it has a separate built-in USB port for charging, but it seems a bit of overkill compared to keeping a smaller battery around instead for most use cases. Note that there are 7 total outlets, but only 5 of them are battery-protected. Two are for surge only. Remember to register for the warranty!!! Your gear can be covered in the case that this unit doesn’t do its job.

Pros: - White LEDs are good brightness. Not too dim, not too bright - While it lasted, then fan was relatively quiet - Plenty of cord to mount on reach power connections from mounting on front or back side of case

Cons: - Off balance and scraping the case (front or back) after about a month - Only comes with one type of mounting screws (7/32” with larger threads) which is used for rear mounting. Mounting to the front of a case will require different screws (about 1” or so, smaller threads); these usually come with the PC case, but it’s easier if the fans come with it.

Overall Review: Your mileage may vary on the lifetime of this fan. If you’re building a PC and have no extra spare parts, hopefully your case will come with the screws that this fan does not have.

Pros: Click clack click clack click clack. I’m writing this review from this keyboard, and while I generally don’t notice it, the blues are really clicky. It’s not something I expected, but it’s not overly harsh either. Having heard an old Razer keyboard with blue switches before, this one is maybe slightly quieter, but it’s definitely loud. I’ll use it at home instead of the office for sure. Despite coming from a mechanical keyboard that takes a bit more force to trigger the switch, I’ve gotten used to used blue switches without bottoming out. If you’re trying to tell if you do this, typically you’ll hear a dull thud at the end of the click with this. Most people are going to do this with the space bar, but if you type relatively aligned in a QWERTY format, your pinkies or ring fingers might not do this at all. Point being: it’s nice to have the light switches, as it is a little lighter on my fingers. It didn’t take long to get used to it. Finally, the rubber feet that keep the keyboard stable are excellent. I suppose I don’t roll my face on the keyboard or be particularly aggressive when typing, but it’s still nice to know that the keyboard doesn’t rotate or slide as I type.

Cons: The keycaps included appear to be ABS plastic, which is the type of plastic that wears down and “shines,” especially on heavily used keys such as WASD or the spacebar where your thumb hits. They’re also extremely easy to remove, and while I don’t really expect anything to happen with normal use, if I every drop anything on here, I don’t know if I can trust the keycaps not to break. The color scheme on the keyboard is annoying. It’s a half-baked attempt at RGB. As far as I can tell, only the brightness can be changed, not the colors or effects. It would be nicer if it just came in different colors OR RGB, not some mix of the two. Speaking of not being able to figure things out, there was no manual with my keyboard, so all of those function keys were a mystery until I found the website. Even then, the documentation for this model at the time of this review didn’t have all the symbols on there, so I had to go to ANOTHER keyboard’s documentation to find out what they meant. I do agree with another commenter that the box it came in is not sufficient for packing material. I think there needs to be something on top of the keys to protect it from being crushed.

Overall Review: This is my third mechanical keyboard (which is a small number compared to some other people). I have one with red switches, one with brown switches, and this one has blue switches. Of the three, I absolutely prefer the browns; if I had to pick next, blues over reds. It’s hard getting used to not having a number pad. I don’t have a gaming laptop and I don’t really need a portable mechanical keyboard. However, I also have a large desk, so it kind of works out for larger keyboards. I’ll probably stick to my Ducky Shine 2 until it dies. This may be its successor but I’m not convinced yet.