Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 3.0 3.5" Desktop External Hard Drive STBV2000100

Pros: This is a great, small, quiet, relatively energy efficient, well constructed external hard drive at a reasonable price from one of my favorite manufacturers. On USB 2.0, it works as well as any other portable hard drive. On USB 3.0, it is almost as fast as the same drive plugged directly into the motherboard. The drive, a Seagate ST2000DL003-9VT166, is essentially identical to one I have used before inside standard desktop cases, with no customer complaints. This unit works on USB 2.0, as well. Backing up my old Windows XP system took 13 hours on USB 2.0, but only eight on USB 3.0, so the faster interface is worth getting if you don’t have it already. If you want a reasonably cheap, simple way to have your computer in one place, and your data in another, this drive is a great way to do it. Put it in a secure, fireproof place, and you won’t go wrong.

Cons: One must use the included USB 3.0 cable, and a USB 3.0 port for maximum speed, but this is not a con because these are required for any true USB 3.0 device. This cable is a bit hard to find now, if you lose it, but I suspect that this will change as USB 3.0 gets more common. I suppose I would have liked the activity light on the front of the case rather than on the top rear, but this is also not really a con unless one wants to stack several of these, or use them in odd positions, which might make this enclosure get too hot. The case is clearly designed to work only in one position, but again, I don’t think this is a large drawback. I would not suggest using this enclosure on carpet, but this is common sense for many devices. This drive does not power down by itself when not being used, but I don’t think any USB drive does this, so this also is not really a con. An on-off switch would have been really great, but if one wants to save power, one can naturally unplug the unit. I do this anyway for anything I am not using, so this is not a huge drawback either. Windows 7 Backup, WHICH IS EXTREMELY SHAKY AT BEST, will cheerfully backup to this drive, but can’t restore from it, possibly due to a physical versus logical sector size problem, although I have no way of actually verifying this. This appears to happen on a number of newer high capacity drives and is NOT really a fault of Seagate. This is not an issue that Seagate is familiar with, probably because very few people actually use Windows 7 Backup. You must use third party software, as in XP, to backup and restore Windows 7 successfully from this drive. Seagate’s free "Disk Wizard" will actually backup to and restore from this drive, and if you mount the image it creates, will allow you to browse for files and restore individual ones, but not without some inconvenience. So you might still want to use or purchase another program for your backup needs. This issue is a gentle reminder to completely TEST a backup and restore solution before actually NEEDING it. If the drive had come with really great backup software, I would have given it the full five eggs.

Overall Review: It is hard not to like this drive. It has none of the drawbacks of a couple of my other portable drives. It has no noisy fan, no cheap, disintegrating case parts, and no second rate components of any kind. It also does NOT come from an anonymous vendor with no support. It even uses a modern 12 volt DC switch-mode power supply, which could conceivably be replaced with something else locally available. The instruction pamphlet shows a version with various inserts for worldwide plugs. This unit is the USA version without this feature, although the supply itself will run on any voltage from 100 to 240 VAC. So you would just need simple adaptors to use it while globetrotting. I won’t bore you with my benchmarking results, because these are about the same as ones available all over the place for similar drives, as the USB 3.0 interface really does not cramp its style.

Pros: This unit is fast, averaging 120+ transfer speeds from a ssd on a usb 3.0 port, it has small desktop footprint and can be placed flat or upright ( pads are for laying down. The drive stayed cool during my entire tests

Cons: None Absolutely none

Overall Review: I ran this thing through a variety of transfers from video to game files and it never sputtered, the software was easily setup and all worked simply and did exactly as intended. If you are not use to these types of software it may take some learning and there is more at Seagate's website

Pros: This is a well constructed external hard drive that performs quickly, effeciently, and quietly at both USB 2.0 and 3.0 speeds. Of course it performs even faster at 3.0 speeds, but even the 2.0 speeds are quite acceptable. I was able to back up and transfer over 4TB of information between several computers using this drive, and it has now become my primary external hard drive. It's heavy and well built, and it feels like it will hold up to several years of heavy pack and travel.

Cons: The unit does appear to get a little warm, but it's nothing that would cause alarm. I would suggest using it on a flat and cool surface to remedy any worry. The included cable is also a bit strange due to the newness of USB 3.0 devices, but what is uncommon now could very well be overly common in mere months. Due to the acceptable performance of the drive and really a lack of noticable cons, I give this a 5/5.

Overall Review: I absolutely love the hard drive and feel comfortable having a good company like Seagate's name on the product. A lot of my reviews are usually a little more in-depth but there's not a whole lot to say about this product other than it's an extremely solid device that does exactly what one could want from a USB 3.0 external unit.

Pros: This Seagate is a good 2TB external drive, offering a large amount of storage at a fair if not truly competitive price. It's also relatively fast using a USB3 connection. Inside the housing is Seagate's 5900rpm hard drive, which sells for about the same price as a bare drive, making this external a better deal. I used CrystalDiskMarkto determine the speed of the drive. The data averaged over 3 runs are as follows: Large Sequential Read: 141.7 MB/s, Write: 136.8 MB/s 512K Sequential Read:70.7 MB/s, Write: 101.5 MB/s 4k Read: 1.22 MB/s, Write 0.69 MB/s While the write speeds are not as good as my internal 5400rpmSamsung F4 2TB drive over Sata2, the read speeds are superior, which is a testament both to this drive and to the throughput of USB3. It's also much faster than my 2.5"" 7200rpm USB3 drive in all respects, which shows that 3.5"" drives still hold a big advantage even when they are rated slower.

Cons: I could see this best being used as a storage drive for frequently accessed data or applications. It is fast and has a large capacity. As a backup drive, this model really doesn't have as much to offer. It comes with no software - the only program on the hard drive itself is the warranty registration app, and nothing comes in the box but a simple instruction booklet, the relatively large power adapter, and the USB3 cable. For the average user, this drive doesn't provide everything you need in the box to run it as a full-featured backup drive. Furthermore, the power use of this drive is less than ideal. At idle, it uses approximately 7w, which is a very significant amount for a backup drive, and it's even a bit high for an applications drive. During sequential operations, it uses between 9w and 10w, also a very high number for a drive in this performance class. Once the computer is put to sleep or turned off, it uses about 1w, which is again surprising given that it should be off at that point. See temperature data below for a negative side-effect of this power use. In addition, I was surprised that no on/off switch was provided. For the purposes of a backup drive, especially one that uses as much power as this one, I would think that most users would want the option to turn the drive off when not in use. Finally, the drive only has a 1-year warranty. This is below average, and actually lower than even other Seagate products. This concerns me given its intended purpose as a storage drive.

Overall Review: When first turned on, the drive idles at a temperature of 37* C in an ambient of 26* C, but slowly heats up over hours of idling to about 46* C, due to the lack of any power-saving features. It reaches 47* C under sustained use. That's relatively high and and may have an impact on the lifespan of the drive. Luckily, the case just gets slightly warm - and this makes me thing the temperature diode is providing incorrect readings. The drive is also somewhat audible, even at idle, and while this is expected of a 3.5"" desktop-class drive, it's not ideal. Overall, this drive is quite capable as an external applications drive. For backup purposes, however, there are many 2.5""-class backup drives available up to 1TB for quite a bit less money that are quieter, use significantly less power, take up much less space, require no external adapter, and have more features. Their lower speed would be a fair tradeoff for their many benefits. At the same time, competing 2TB drives often come with more space-efficient (and attractive) vertical designs and included backup utilities.

Pros: Are you looking for more space? Seagate Expansion is a external drive with huge capacity. In minutes you will be adding 1.81 Tb formatted space for pictures, videos, or anything you want to save. Easy setup to your PC or a USB capable router. Just plug in the AC power adapter and USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 for fast data transfer. It is a basic USB drive and simple to install. You will be up and running in minutes. It comes with software for registration purposes only but it is not required. Its a 3.5 "" 7200 drive in a plastic enclosure with rubber feet. High quality cables with the power AC adapter being 6 Ft. and the USB 3.0 cable 4 Ft. It will also work in a USB 2.0. It comes with a 1 year warranty. It arrived well packed from Newegg. The contents of the box contained the drive, two cables, quick install guide and limited warranty. Actual speeds were USB 2.0 @ 31.0 MB/sec. With USB 3.0 Max 137.9 MB/sec. Min 60.5 MB/sec Average 104.0 MB/sec with a Access time or 14.6 ms. I was able to transfer from my SSD drive to the Seagate Expansion a 10 Gb video file in 78 seconds using the USB 3.0 while USB 2.0 took 6 minutes for the same 10 Gb file. It comes pre-formatted with a NTFS partition. Seagate offers great support with diagnostic tools and commonly asked questions on there website. When checking other reviews there is a Seagate Expansion drive 2 Tb that has many bad reviews. Problems with a clicking noise caused by the case. This is not that drive. This is a new model.

Cons: Even though this is a harddrive with huge capacity its still a usb drive. So no smart data capability. It will not warn you if its headed for a drive failure. Another problem is it will not stand up, so you are stuck laying in down which take up more space. Unlike the Seagate Backup drive you cannot take the end cap off and attach it directly to a SATA port and power cable. Also unlike the Seagate Backup and Go Flex drives this does not come with back up software for automated system or data back ups.

Overall Review: Its a easy way to add extra harddrive space to your existing system. Ether USB 2.0 or 3.0 it will work for storage or streaming video, movies or music. No frills just plug in and go. It would be nice if it was a little more attractive or had more options for backing up data. And the price is a little high for a two terabyte drive or this quality. But it should provide years of reliable storage based on Seagate's reputation.

Pros: Great storage size USB 3.0 (although I only have 2.0) Simple design Quiet Ready to go out of the box, just plug in the USB and power, plug it into the computer and it is recognized and ready to go.

Cons: no software included. I did not need it, but some might. does get a bit warm with lots of use, but not hot. No switch on it, I unplug it when not in use LED is always on (unlike some saying it is only on when accessed). It is a small blue LED, not too bright so not a real issue, just a small annoyance.

Overall Review: I am using this to back up my server (it has around 1.5 tb of data on it). This does it quite well with the server software (WHS 2011) so I did not need any extra software. I am tempted to get a USB 3.0 card just to see how well it performs, since it took quite a while to transfer that much data over USB 2.0 This would make a great drive for someone who moves lots of large files around or needs a lot of external storage with nothing fancy. It would also make a great NAS drive. I agree with some of the other reviewers that it is annoying that it only sits flat, but not a huge deal worth taking any eggs off for. Not sure on longterm reliability, but I will post back if I have any issues.

Pros: The first thing I noticed about this drive was how easy it was to set-up. It's already formatted in NTFS and ready to use. Just connect it to your PC, fire it up and you can immediately start using it. There is even a setup file stored in the root of the drive that helps you register this product with Seagate. They definitely scored some points here for making the initial setup a painless process. I also found that this drive is reliable. Other USB drives I've owned in the past tend to disconnect randomly at times, but I've had no such issues with this drive. I was able to connect to this drive over my home network without any issues, which makes backing data from all my PC's rather easy. Now, Windows networking is not very reliable in general, but that's not Seagate's fault. As far as transfer rates go, I achieved some respectable numbers when connected via a USB 2.0 port. I hit 35 MB/s on large file transfers, and around 20-25 MB/s with small files. That's pretty much maxing out USB 2.0's real-world transfer speeds (you never hit the theoretical max due to overhead). My primary PC is built around an X58 motherboard, which doesn't support USB 3.0. However, I connected this drive to a buddies PC (he owns a Z77 build that supports USB 3.0) and was able to hit 80 MB/s on a large file transfer. That's pretty impressive actually. I'm sure speeds will vary depending on the specific USB 3.0 controller, so I wouldn't be surprised if some folks hit 100 MB/s+ on certain configurations. Overall, transfer rates are definitely respectable no matter which interface you use, but obviously USB 3.0 is the way to go if your system supports it. Some people have complained that this drive gets too hot. I have to say that I haven't noticed this at all. Even during heavy use it seems to remain nice and cool on my desk. No problems here as far as that goes. I do like the aesthetics in regards to the enclosure. It has a nice minimalistic look that blends in well with my gear. The price is more than reasonable for what you're getting here. You end up with 1.81 TB after the drive is formatted, which is plenty of space for just about anyone. I was able to free up a ton of space on my internal drives.

Cons: No software is included with the drive at all. I would have loved to see some basic drive imaging software included. I have Acronis 2010 installed on my system, which does work with this drive under Windows. However, if I boot up via my Acronis rescue disc (uses Win PE), the utility will hang during initialization when I have this drive connected to my system. Technically, Acronis's rescue disc should work fine with this drive as it includes USB\SATA drivers on the boot disc, but it just doesn't play well with it for some reason (under USB 2.0 mind you). This is a pretty big drawback, because I am unable to restore an image from this drive in the event that my primary hard drive fails. No eSATA support. This is another big drawback in my opinion. There are a lot of folks out there with PC's that don't support USB 3.0, but do support eSATA. I really think Seagate should have catered to this crowd. eSATA can achieve real-world transfer speeds far greater than USB 2.0. I will admit that USB 3.0 makes eSATA obsolete, but it's too early to abandon eSATA altogether. I think a stand should have been included to make the unit sturdier if you decide to stand it up on its side. You can still do this, but it's a bit precarious in this position. Not only will standing the unit on its side save some room, but it will help the drive run cooler as well. It would also be nice to have an activity LED on the front of the unit. Their is a solid blue LED on the top that lets you know the unit is powered up, but that's about it. This isn't a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it.

Overall Review: I can definitely recommend this drive to those of you looking for an easy way to back up your media and documents (or any other important data). As I said, it's reliable and very easy to set-up and use. That said, the fact that it doesn't ship with any backup software (of any kind) really gets to me. Those of you looking for a drive to backup\restore images will probably want to look at some other solutions. I'm sure there is some third-party software available that works with this drive, but it's not going to be free. Also, if your system doesn't support USB 3.0 you may want to go with a drive that supports eSATA. This will give you much better transfer rates.

Pros: I used this as a backup drive so I didn't use it extensively but it worked fine while it did with good transfer speed

Cons: It failed after about just one year. It just stopped turning on. The power supply on the enclosure died. It was a backup drive, plus I put some stuff that I didn't use much. It was still under warranty but if you send it in, they delete all your data. Since I did not want to lose it I opened it up myself (which automatically voids the warranty) and plugged it another enclosure. Now it works fine but I was lucky to have another enclosure laying around.

Overall Review: Overall I have to say that I was a little disappointed. One year lifetime for a drive that I used once a week for backup sounds very short. For the price I paid for it, I would expect better reliability