talking summarization





Splog Filter



newsplus summary

ping 歸納

reviewer













Internet   News   animation   retail sales   Sport   Movie   Video Game   Entertainment   Politics   Eats   Music   Drama   Hardware   Software   Health   japanese culture   Technology   automobile   Business   Fashion   Books   Manga   Broadcast   Cooking   electronics   Leisure   Science   Locality   Phrase   Beauty   Nature   Fancy   Comedy   Avocation   Education   Gamble   Art   Livelihood  

Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR500E04XK (Black)




  • 019 4  Got the 320 GB HDD for Christmas , at the same time my daughter got a 32 GB SanDisk thumbdrive . I kidded her how I could store ten times as many movies or songs as she could . I plugged the unit into my PC and it automatically initiated the Backup Now EZ software . It took a long time for the software to load and then the back-up was equally as slow ( with no tracking utility to tell you how much longer the back-up would take ) . The next morning I wanted to manually copy key files to the drive , but it took more than five minutes using MyComputer just to see the drive . It was even worse copying files to it ( transfer rates were like 50 KB / sec or worse ) . I tried the drive on my laptop , it was just as slow . I called Toshiba tech support and they said slow transfer speeds are a good sign the drive is defective . So I'm returing it . But I'm reluctant to buy another , because it didn't look like the drive would operate like a thumbdrive ( my daughter poked fun at me that she had already backed every key file on her laptop to her new thumbdrive ) . The worst part is I can't delete any files or reformat the drive , so I'm having to return it my personal files on it .
    • 012 4  I loved it for the first bit that I had it . Was able to easily back up both my desktop and my laptop mac computers . That is until it broke less than two months after I received it . It stop being recognized by either computer and began making a clicking noise . like the hard drive was trying to read it and couldn't . I'm really disappointed in this purchase and hope to get it replaced by something that will last more than two months .
    • 018 4  Data corruption and disk read error has caused a loss of years of data on what was supposed to be a portable and secure storage device . It is cheaply made and flimsy at best and the unexpected error message took me by suprise . When I purchased mine there were no bad reviews now more and more are popping up . I do NOT reccomend this product - try to find something with more structure and reliability . I'm going back to mini flash drives .
    • 032 4  I had an issue with backing up files and folders and needed tech support . I went to the web site and it is a joke . I went around in circles trying to get information to help me . I emailed them and expected at least a verification email that they had received my request . Nothing , nada . It's been a whole week still no reply . I called their phone number which by the way is not toll free . I was put on hold for 8 minutes or so . A recording then informed me that no one was available and for me to leave my name and number . That was 4 days ago . I wasn't even given the option to hold on the line if I wanted . From now on when I shop , I will check out the web site and try calling the company to see what kind of customer service they have before I invest money in their product .
    • 079 4  I received one of these hard drives yesterday and it was DOA . Plugged it in and heard the dreaded click , click , click , click . No big deal , right ? It happens . Every so many products there is a bad apple in the bunch . Called Amazon customer service and they overnighted me a new one . I opened that one up and within a minute it was clicking off and on . Started a file transfer and half way through the file transfer i heard a click , and got an error message from Windows saying the file transfer had failed and got a pop-up screen asking what I wanted to do with my newly inserted usb device . Needless to say this one is going back to Amazon as well . I'd spend the extra money on a more reliable solution . Shame because the drive looks cool and you can't beat the price .
    • 084 4  My only concern is with the way the unit stores the data . I had hoped for more of a click and drag type interface . I use my for music as well as for backup and there is no way I can find , to move songs individually . That is why I purchased the device so I am somewhat disappointed : (
    • 109 4  I use both a pc and a mac - I can literally unplug from the pc and plug into the mac and there is total innstant conversion . It works super fast really good investment .
    • 136 4  Toshiba : My setup up for the external harddrive was not good , I'm Having trouble with startup and no usable written instruction came with the unit to make your startup go easy and right , I still need help with setup , somehow I lost backup exe . command and cannot get around the problem , the phone call I made for help was not good . I know it's mostly my lack of computer knowledge to have it go right , more written instructions are needed . John
    • 215 4  I'm not quite sure whether I want the automatic backup program to be there at all , but I feel too uncertain to just go ahead and delete all the little files and programs that come inside this storage device . I bet there is a way to stop that by playing with the preferences , but it's quite annoying that the storage device does not come empty . Aside from that , I love this thing . It's quiet , fast , and stores things ! Looks pretty cool too . I thought it would be bigger , but it's so small and cute . I shall get a covering case for it soon to protect its pretty glossy surface !
    • 217 4  I recently ordered this product and I'm rather happy . My PC was running out of space from installed video games . The 320GB is serving me well and helping to clear up my PC . I installed some of my larger games to the HDD and they run off of it perfectly . Videos and music also run off of it just fine . It comes with software to help you back up your PC , but I opted out of using it . I've had no problems with this product in the short amount of time I've owned it . It does what it is supposed to rather well , is fairly small and light , and looks nicer than other HDD do . I'm pleased . If anything comes up I'll edit this review .
    • 272 4  This hard drive is absolutely amazing . It's super easy to use ! Enough said .

  • 024 4  Bought first 500gb and in the second day of backing up about 45gb of data , the HD suddenly stopped being recognized by multiple computers . Spent hours searching the net for a solution . It was DED dead ! Exchanged it for a replacement toshiba 500gb and lo and behold on the fourth day having backed up all photos and music and wham same thing . . . stopped being recognized by any of our four computers . Return policy great just a bad product as far as quality control . Remember , we the consumer usually buy these as our safety backup . . . always back up on a computer or other medium as well .
    • 176 4  Greta drive . Easy install and a bit faster than the WD is replaced with this one . Relatively new , so no comment on long term reliability . Style is a bit different than other slim drives , but very compact and quieter than WD . So far - love it . Works well with BU software .

  • 038 4  For the price , it's a good little drive and it's worth the money . But the sole reason I bought this drive was to store sensitive data , and it was advertised as being a password-protected encrypted drive . It is not . I thought it had encryption software built in , which would ask for a password to access data stored on the drive . This is not so . Anyone can access any information on this drive using any computer . It is not secure whatsoever . The included software is a backup program only , and the only time a password or encryption come into play is if you are trying to boot from this drive . Like I say , it's a nice little portable drive , but it does not do what it is advertised to do . I will have to buy encryption software after all , and I thought that was part of the package .
    • 070 4  I am very happy that I chose this particular external hard drive . It has everything that I need ; it is light weight , small in size , has good storage capacity and is visually appealing . However , I would recommend NOT installing the software that comes with it . The software is convoluted and not easy to manage , at least for what I wanted to do . To have more control I would opt for no software and move files on your own .
    • 077 4  I dunno what happened to it , but there are now many corrupt sectors on my disk and it can't be read . I didn't lose all my data , but enough to make me grumpy . It makes a horrible screeching noise if I try to access certain files , and no , I didn't ever drop it . I won't buy Toshiba hard drives ever again .
    • 082 4  It's probably just a defective hard drive that I ended up with , but after copying about 50 files onto the drive it failed with the error message Error 0x80070079 : The semaphore timeout period has expired . . It also evidenced other strange behavior such as renaming the hard drive would fail after 10 or 20 seconds . This is on a 32 - bit Vista machine which has used several other external hard drives including a smaller Toshiba drive so probably I just got a defective one . Returning it now . . .
    • 121 4  the toshiba drive works perfectly and is very easy to set up just plug into usb port and your ready to go.I purchased a 1tb my book and it was so slow that it took over 15 hrs to back up 10 gig of info.The toshiba 500gig takes about 5 minutes .
    • 123 4  I ordered this for my husband for his birthday . He has been very satisfied with this product . It is easy to use & is a great deal for the price .
    • 160 4  This Toshiba Portable External Hard Drive is great ! It's very light , quiet , and reliable . I use it for my Time Machine on OSX , and it's perfect for it . I would definitely recommend it .
    • 164 4  This is my second Toshiba hard drive and it is great . I do all my back-up and pictures and games on this . I have had no problems with it .
    • 185 4  If you haven't backed your system up you may get a very bad shock one day . I had a hard drive crash and very nearly lost all my programs and files , I was lucky to find someone who could still read the damaged drive although it cost more that buying my own external hard drive . I now have all my files on the Toshiba drive so that in future I can restore them if needed .
    • 205 4  A very versatile portable hard drive . Impressed with product . I did call the Toshiba support center to ask an operational question and , I must say , the tech support was not reliable . Buy the product , and if you encounter a problem , ask your local computer technician for help . But it is unlikely that a problem will arise .
    • 207 4  The Toshiba External Hard Drive is nothing but outstanding . I purchased the 500GB hard drive and it has proven to be outstanding in every way . It was very easy to set up and it has responded flawlessly since I purchased it . I am using it on my Tobshiba Labtop . I would highly recommend this product for anyone who is seriously into backing up their files or hard drive .
    • 211 4  I purchased this hard drive after reading all the reviews left by people who gave a good score . It is very small and compact . It was pretty easy to use and I would definitely recommend it to others .
    • 219 4  Remove the software that is on the drive . Why did Toshiba include it ? ? The drive is cool running and fast enough for my needs . I have used Toshiba drives for several years and have always had good luck with them .
    • 235 4  I did a little research for external hard drives and was originally going to go with one that you had to plug in thats was a litle cheaper but after reading online reviews i decided to go ahead and get this portable toshiba one . I know it does not have the name like seagate or western digital but it works great . It was simple to instal-just plug and play . You can drag items from you hard drive and they transfer very easily . I would definitely recommend it .

  • 056 4  I purchase this to use it as a backup portable unit . The 320 GB give me something to work with as I don't have that many files . I usually perform all my backups on DVD's but this is far more easy and cheap . The software that came with it is helpful as you can program automatic backups . The thing I don't like about it is that after a full backup you end up with one big backup format file ( not individual folders and files ) so you can't browse , copy , or transfer , individual files what you can do is restore from the hard drive ( I'm yet to try this function ) . I rather have all my folders and files organize the way they are on my PC . You can do this yourself but not by using the backup software utility . Overall this is a great product lots of space fast and small . The best thing is that you can just plug and play on XP , Vista , and Win7 . Another good thing is that it only uses one cable for data transfer and power supply .
    • 026 4  Received this item yesterday . It did not come with any installation instructions but luckily I was able to install without any issues . The real problem started when I tried to actually perform a backup . The backup initializes but then never actually proceeds . Then Windows says there is a problem and needs to shut it down . Tried it on my PC and my laptop with no success . Called Toshiba for tech support and was told to send it in for service that could take up to 30 days . I also have to pay to ship it . I thought that Toshiba would be a good choice and a reliable product . Next time I'll know better .
    • 040 4  Easy to use and shuttles back and forth between my Mac and PC without issues .
    • 049 4  I used this on an XP laptop for back up . Its a no-hassle , portable , plug in device , very compact , no noise . It feels very solid and sturdy . I'm not such a big fan of the included software as both the automatic full back up and limited file back up convert to an image file . So obviously you can't access any individual files in that format . I have no problem with a manual drag and drop of files I may want to re-access , but it would be nice to automate the process . ( hence the reason for 4 starts and not 5 ) .
    • 062 4  I installed this using the built-in software which comes on the drive . After trying it for several days , I decided to stop using the software and using either Windows 7 built-in backup tool or Microsoft Sync Toy 2.0 ( for XP machines ) . But the drive itself is slick and fast . Definitely recommended .
    • 066 4  Great hard drive . Super easy to use and plenty of storage for what I need it for . I have both a Mac and a PC and this works with both ! ! ( I've had some issues with that in the past ) The software that comes with it does like to work on my Mac ( that is probably because I have an oooollllllld mac ) , but that's not too much of an issue because it's not necessary if you just want to use it as extra storage . If I had needed it to do a system back up , though , it would have lost another star .
    • 088 4  I had been playing w / the idea of upgrading from the HUGE 3.5 500GB HDD that I've had for a few years now to something ALOT smaller for when I have to travel to various exotic locales ( military deployments : - p ) and I've dealt w / Toshiba drives before and had never had any major issues w / them . Once again , I wasn't let down . The size of the drive and the price was perfect for me . I'm not too worried about data transfer rates and all , but it seems to move data pretty quickly though since it is firewire .
    • 119 4  I got this external to transfer all my files off my PC when I was upgrading to Windows 7 and it worked like a charm . It's quiet , fast and gets the job done . Only thing I would change is the backup software that is pre-installed on it , do yourself a favor and delete that software off the drive and drag-n-drop your files on manually .

  • 073 4  This external drive is nicely styled and shaped . Generally around the same dimensions of other portable external drives available . It doesn't come with any cover or carrying case , so you will need to purchase that separately . Comes with connection USB cable that also powers it and preinstalled software called Backup Now EZ , version 1.27 specifically for Toshiba drive . The drive itself was very easy to use , just plug into USB port and use whether for backup using the backup program or for just an extra drive to store files , etc . Very good capacity for the price . Though , I don't suggest use the backup software that is installed in the drive . For me , I tried it and found it to bog down my system trememdously that you can't do anything else or it will just freeze up on my computers . Give it several attempts on two computers . Finally ended up not using this backup software . Backup software Tech support ( NTI ) was unresponsive when I emailed for assistance . Other than that the drive is responsive and useful for its purpose . Drive is yes , backup software is no , use something else for backup purposes .
    • 005 4  This hard drive is great ! I had a previous clunker that took up a lot of space . The Toshiba 500 GB easily plugs into a USB port and doesn't require an additional power source . It is very small and easily fits into my computer bag . I recommend this hard drive for anyone looking for a way to store a lot of material and not take up a lot of space .

  • 091 4  horrible product . it worked for about 3 months during which it was great then suddenly for now apparent reason , it started stalling constantly - hanging and would not respond making stored files completely inaccessible and all my back ups useless . i have had to spend days trying to reconstruct and rebuild valuable info and files i had stored some of which seem to be lost forever - MS word docs , pics and other work related stuff . i tried to invoke the warranty and amazon referred me to contact toshiba directly but having contact with toshiba customer support was a nightmare and a kafkaesque experience - they just keep feeding new telephone numbers that then refer you to new support numbers and then you get new automated voice recording sending you back to the original telephone numbers you contacted and finally when you actually talk to a living person - he turns out to be unfriendly and a complete idiot ! i contacted amazon again explaining the problem with toshiba and luckily the person i spoke with was very helpful and polite and was able to help me arrange a return through amazon . havent sent the product back yet ( wkend ) but will do so next week and hopefully all will turn out well . . .
    • 074 4  I am rating this drive one star , not just because of the product but mainly due to poor after sales performance and warranty issues . I bought this PHD in June last year . The device stopped working after just 30 days of use . I have contacted Toshiba dozens of times to claim the warranty and guess what , no response . The customer service queue is over 30 minutes long every time , so you end up filing for your claim via over the internet using their web based form services . Unfortunately , you still do not get any response . Disappointed with my experience , I will be highly reluctant to buy any Toshiba product in future mainly because of after sales service and warranty issues .
    • 107 4  I use portable drives in pairs for my projects , and have gone through a number of manufacturers including Freecom , Seagate , Western Digital and LaCie . These Toshiba drives are , at time of writing , the best value I can find . And on top of that , are staggeringly light - I don't understand it ! They're very portable , well-made and so far , so good . I will be buying more of them , which as genuine a compliment as I can give .
    • 259 4  This is a great item with pretty looking and amazing performance . The only short is that it takes more than 10 days to deliever .
    • 265 4  Great design , light , and a lot of space to share , just missing a better speed , 7200 rpm would be great , but yet there is no such beast with the size and capacity that Toshiba brings .

  • 095 4  I purchased this harddrive to serve as a 2nd backup for my MacBook Pro . I bought it around the end of November / beginning of December 2009 and today , I've started to hear the dreaded clicking noise . So far , its still working , but anyone who's experience a failed harddrive knows how inevitable a failure will be . The annoying part , for me , is that I purchased this harddrive because I was afraid of my old back-up external harddrive failing on me , and that one is about 4 years old now , but still working without any noises . To Toshiba's defense , however , this harddrive is on for about 12 hours a day and my computer backs itself up every hour . On the other hand , the 4 year old harddrive is on and working just as hard as the Toshiba . Anyway , be wary . . .
    • 239 4  You plug this hard drive in and it just works ( using a MacBook with current OS ) . It's small , light , portable , and reliable . You can't go wrong .
    • 276 4  The drive is a good buy unitl you find that you may have to spend more money if you have an older computer . You will need to by a Y cable to give the drive enough power to work and it still may not work

  • 105 4  I bought this disk mainly to keep my pc backup . The good price tag , and cool look definitely helped . I like the product , and there are no major issues yet . However , it seems that the data transfer rate is not as good as I had hoped , and it takes very long to make backups .
    • 080 4  Just six days short of having this hard drive for a month it started making that clicking noise others have mentioned . Player no longer recognized by laptop and stopped working . I just shipped back to Amazon today for a refund . On the hunt for a more reliable hard drive again .
    • 172 4  I am relatively technology challenged , so this self-contained portable hard drive is perfect for me . Just plugged it in and it does all the rest .
    • 183 4  I bought this to back up data on several computers , and it's working out great . The ease of setup and compact size make it a great fit . I'd definitely buy this again .
    • 241 4  This is a great product , it's very fast when compared with other disks I have used . No heat , no noise and it function perfect with Ubuntu .

  • 140 4  This harddrive comes with FAT32 file format and files bigger than 4gb cannot be recorded in it so I had to partition it and formatted one partition with ntfs . Now it is working greawith both file systems . Good product , light and good looking .
    • 264 4  I purchased this 320gb drive because of previous reviews and am glad I did . Truly plug and play for macintosh . 5 stars and deserves it . Not much more to say .

  • 147 4  Works great on my MacBook . Plug and Play with Time Machine . This program asks you right away to reformat the Toshiba HD , say yes and Time Machine takes care of the rest . Very quiet , lightweight , small and looks cool . So far so good .
    • 182 4  Pros : Very good stuff , lightweight , efficient , high transfer speeds , no heat even when long working hours Cons : For some reasons sometimes transfer vary from 30 Mbytes / s to 4 and then back to 30 , especially at the end of the transfer Overall : 9 / 10
    • 237 4  Very , very good , fast , small , pretty , its all you can search ! ! ! , Buy it with confidence ! ! ! !
    • 243 4  I would recommend it . Very good product , useful , good design , very easy to use , good software and you also have a choice to don't use the software , so it is the best !

  • 151 4  I had tested so many portable drives and this one is great and it has plenty of storage . Now if they can come out with a 1tb and prices drop some more would be even better ! I was planning to get a 1TB external drive but went with this portable instead because I hate having to deal with power adapter . Too many wires running all over the place already . Plus , it is smaller and more convenient .
    • 007 4  I bought this because I was looking for a portable hard drive that was durable enough to travel from home to classroom to wherever . I holds over 100GB of music and all the pics I've ever taken or been given since 2005 ( about 20 GB ) and all my lesson plans ( 20 GB ) . It's been jarred , dropped by a 2 year old and it's still ticking .
    • 089 4  great product . The backup software is confusing and space consuming , but 465 ( formatted GB of space is plenty for music , pictures , movies or what ever . compact and easy to use .
    • 117 4  It is a great external hard disk . But I really dislike the back up software that comes with the hard disk . It was not not the best back up software out in the market but I think you can download one easily . It also did not come with a case , but I guess that is too much to ask for . I frequently get 20MB / s transfer rate and it is pretty good for a 5400 hard disk .
    • 143 4  Although I have only used it once , this was very easy to use . It did however take quite a while to back up my 100 GB laptop , roughly 4 - 5 hours . Not a huge problem , and probably comparable to other brands . The price was great , and it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for .
    • 193 4  This is a great 500GB hard drive for the money . Easty to use as a backup for an on-board HD .
    • 274 4  Toshiba HD is small , inexpensive but little bit on the slower side . It transfers data around 20 - 25 MB / s but is as slow as 2.5MB / s on older machines . But worth the money if you are looking up for backing up your data once in a while .

  • 154 4  Purchased this drive several weeks ago . Has failed several times , required complete reformat twice , and not will not boot .

    • 168 4  I've had this hard drive for a couple months now and I love it . I bought it when my internal hard drive in my desktop started to go out . It was meant to be a backup of all my docs and music , but now I just use it as a full time hard drive . Its quick simple . I've had no problems . The only thing was when I first connected it to my computer , I had a USB hub that was connected to the back of my tower . I connected it to the hub and I kept getting an error on my computer . All I had to do was connect it directly to the tower . Turns out since its USB powered , the hub doesn't provide enough power to run the HDD . But no worries . Its still a great device . Price was very good for 500gb . Its small and easy to take with me when I go somewhere with my laptop . Definitely recommend !
      • 051 4  I've discarded several portable drives either for their large size , or needing a power port in addition to a USB , price high , insisting on using the manufacturer's software when I wanted to decide what software I wanted to use . A simple delete got rid of this manufacturer's software , I installed my own , and I had exactly what I wanted , a reliable 500 gb , small portable external drive that runs a backup program of my choosing .
      • 059 4  It's extra portable , nice look , good speed , no need for two USB ports . Exactly what I expected .
      • 086 4  I am extremely happy with the Toshiba external hard drive . It was priced well , looks great and works very quietly . I have been using it for more than 6 months and it is holding up good . No problems so far . I didn't want to write a review without using it for a while . I am using it with Macbook and MacBook Pro . It is much faster compared to other drives I have used . Before purchasing this , I was debating whether I should buy USB 2.0 / Firewire combo Hard drives . Now , I don't regret buying this and wouldn't hesitate buying another one in the future .
      • 115 4  I really like this product Toshiba 500 GB USB . It helps me to organize my huge files I used to save on my desktop . It works very well . I would strongly recommend this brand if you are looking for a portable hard drive for your files .
      • 132 4  I bought this product to use as a backup for my hard drive . It works very well . I've had it a little over a month . The automatic back up is wonderful . The 640 GB is large enough to hold automatic backup and any additional items I want to store . The backup is very fast and does not delay any work I am doing while back up is occurring . If the computer is turned off when auto backup is supposed to occur , the computer asks if it should do the missed backup the next time the computer is started . It is easy to program when to do backup and easy to change the settings . I've not had to reboot the system from this external hard drive . As I read in reviews , the only problem is the short USB cable . I'd recommend buying this product .
      • 162 4  This Toshiba 500 GB works great , just simply put the USB in and it will ask if you would like to install . you have the option of how you would like to install the external drive , from a back up drive or just extra memory or both . the drive is also thin , light , and small . which makes it great for carring it around for trips or business . its also fair price then most other drives . so if you looking for a good portable external hard drive i recommed this one .
      • 174 4  I LOVE this little external hard drive ! It's low-profile , small and light , and has little rubber feet to keep it in place . It has a nice mini-USB cord that's only about 6 , which is perfect for toting around w / o a lot of extra bulk and weight . Buy the suggested Case Logic case for it and you can take it everywhere , all the time . Very happy with my purchases .
      • 191 4  At first , all was fine . Plugged it into my Mac and it worked . A couple weeks later I tried it again . The drive icon never came up on screen . I tried it on another computer with the same problem . So I tried a USB cable from my Canon camera . That solved it - - on both computers . Call it bad luck . I've been having cable issues lately . Had a problem with a bad HDMI cable recently . Hope Toshiba reads this and offers up a replacement cable .
      • 231 4  Installation was a little confusing . After calling product help , I was informed that the drive had to be connected directly to computer , not from auxiliary USB connections . I found that I cannot have it connected when I boot my computer but connect it after computer up and running . After that very easy to use . I have all my photos on it which makes it very easy to review them .
      • 267 4  I bought this b / c of the footprint and price . I just assumed any USB HD device will just plug into any computer and show up to access . This was not so for this device . My windows computers had a hard time recognizing the device . MY Mac was able to see it . It doesn't seem to like switching from one computer to the next . I returned it after I couldn't get to access it on my laptop .

    • 233 4  Plugged and played , best price on the web , performs exactly as advertised , no problem switching between my Mac at home and my PC at work . Bundled backup software for Windows works great , native backup software for my Mac found the HD and did its job as well . Too early to judge reliability .

      • 255 4  Fantastic product , have had no problems with it yet and I've owned it for about a month now . The backup software that comes with it is good as well . However , my only concern is the very thin / cheap plastic casing Toshiba uses to protect the hard drive . Overall , it gets the job done .
        • 209 4  This was a gift for my son and he says he would be hard pressed to use as much space as it has . He was very pleased with it .
        • 213 4  The software inside this hard drive for backup is excellent . Kudos to the software developers for backup . Far better than Seagate which comes with bloatware . . Keep up the good work .

      • Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I owned a computer company for fifteen years before I retired . I have owned or tested just about everything there is out there . Toshiba makes great products . This external drive is the best I have ever used or tested ! Now let me tell you some of the things about this drive that is not mentioned so you can make your decision whether you should buy it . First of all my orders from Amazon have always arrived on time with no damage or problems . This drive is just a pleasure to setup and use . It has all types of different settings if you choose to use them . So here goes . 1 . Plug the USB cable furnished with the drive into the drive and plug it in a USB port on your computer , and it will install itself . Just say yes to everything and wait until it is finished . Just about stupid proof . O yes don't forget to have your computer turned on . Ha ! Ha ! 2 . There is no manual with the drive and you don't need one . 3 . When it is done with it's setup a screen will come up showing you what you can back up . You have the option of how , when , and why . 4 . The only option that needs to be changed for 98% of us is when we want to backup , such as every hour , ever day , every week and so on including the time you want to back up . 5 . There is a help selection menu that explains it all on the menu . 6 . When it first installs itself it will recommend a complete back up of the system and all your folders . This I would do the first time and after that you can select what you want to back up . 7 . Myself I just backup my folders . I don't backup the total system every time . But that is just the way I do it . You can do it anyway you like ! 8 . I suggest you make a boot up disk . Just select it from the menu . Do not format the blank disk it will do everything it's self . 9 . If something goes wrong with your computer you can use this disk to boot your computer and then just restore everything on your drive . 10 . The retore feature gives you the ability to restore everything or just what you want . 11 . The external drive barely gets warm after running for a long time . 12 . You can password protect the drive if you wish . Just remember this ! You cannot retrieve the password if you forget it so be careful when you choose a password . 13 . You also can select how fast you want to backup the computer . The faster you back up , the slower the computer runs . I set the speed for minimum speed so my computer runs fast . Remember you can use the computer for anything you want while it is backing up and you won't even know it is backing up if you have it set to minimum . This is a great external drive and you will really be happy with it . Just buy one and forget about losing your files from a computer break down . This drive is about four inches long , three inches wide and about a half inch thick . You can put it in your pocket and take it with you . About the only thing I might suggest is a longer extension cable for it . The cable it comes with is only about a foot long . I have a three foot extension cable on mine so I can sit it on a shelf so nobody sets anything on it . The drive is black and white in color
        • 001 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I have half a dozen Toshiba portable drives and some of them have served me well for several years . They are reliable and fast - - with the 500GB portable drive I get about 20MB / s read and write speeds ( tested on two recent HP laptops , one with Intel and the other with AMD both running Vista ) , which is half of USB 2.0 high-speed's theoretical max throughput . The drives can be used with the PS3 and Macs out-of-box , but for best results with XP / Vista / Win7 you can convert it to NTFS without reformatting or losing existing data via a DOS command : convert g : / fs : ntfs [ where g : is the drive letter , or you can use a volume name like tosh _ 500g if your drive is already named tosh _ 500g ] . Because this drive ( like other portable drives ) does not use a separate power line - - it draws power directly from the USB port - - your computer must have a powered USB port to use this . Almost all recent desktops and laptops have this feature , but if you experience any problem , it may be due to an insufficiently powered USB port ( or USB hub ) , so try another port or another computer . In addition to being a fast 5,400RPM drive , this Toshiba includes some valuable features : - Backup software that backs up system files in addition to regular files and folders ( great for system recovery ! ) - Password-protect your data through encryption - Drive space alert lets you know when free space is running low - Toshiba's famous shock-absorbing technology , also used in iPods . BTW , this drive is also a great value because at present a 320GB Seagate portable drive costs over [ . . . ] , plus tax .
        • 002 4  I have half a dozen Toshiba portable drives and some of them have served me well for several years . They are reliable and fast - - with the 500GB portable drive I get about 20MB / s read and write speeds ( tested on two recent HP laptops , one with Intel and the other with AMD both running Vista ) , which is half of USB 2.0 high-speed's theoretical max throughput . The drives can be used with the PS3 and Macs out-of-box , but for best results with XP / Vista / Win7 you can convert it to NTFS without reformatting or losing existing data via a DOS command : convert g : / fs : ntfs [ where g : is the drive letter , or you can use a volume name like tosh _ 500g if your drive is already named tosh _ 500g ] . Because this drive ( like other portable drives ) does not use a separate power line - - it draws power directly from the USB port - - your computer must have a powered USB port to use this . Almost all recent desktops and laptops have this feature , but if you experience any problem , it may be due to an insufficiently powered USB port ( or USB hub ) , so try another port or another computer . In addition to being a fast 5,400RPM drive , this Toshiba includes some valuable features : - Backup software that backs up system files in addition to regular files and folders ( great for system recovery ! ) - Password-protect your data through encryption - Drive space alert lets you know when free space is running low - Toshiba's famous shock-absorbing technology , also used in iPods . BTW , this drive is also a great value because at present a 320GB Seagate portable drive costs over [ . . . ] , plus tax .
        • 003 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I've only just received this , listed as Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive in the 500GB size . It has a very cool design , the case is similar to my 5G 30GB iPod - a smooth , flat front / top with a rounded back . It has a nice discreet blue activity light in one corner of the top ( i.e . front ) surface that is on for power and blinks for activity . The USB2 connection is a micro style and contrary to another review is a standard cable - this micro style is quite common , I have it on my GPS and camera so can use the same cable for all 3 . The cable supplied is a short single cable ( i.e . not a Y ) , and my Asus netbook powers it with a single USB port . The drive ( like all of them ) is just plug & play - plug it in , the computer sees it , and you're off . I reformatted it to a single large NTFS partition , 465GB ( drives are always sold with powers of 10 GB , i.e . 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes ( 10 to the 9th power ) , whereas computers use powers of 2 GB , where 1GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes ( 2 to the 30th power ) . I don't like this sales speak , but Toshiba do clearly state the difference in the very short instruction sheet - to their credit . The drive comes with NTI Backup Now EZ . I already have a backup strategy ( using xxcopy , I recommend it ! ) so have no need for this . It's well reviewed though . 4 stars rather than 5 because I don't know its reliability yet , and it's not quite as fast as I'd hoped ( but still fine ) . The main reason I got this particular drive is that Toshiba have a 3 year warranty , and the others all have just 1 year . And $90 with free shipping is a great deal ! I also got the Kroo Portable Hard Drive EVA Case , it fits well - just enough space for the drive and short USB cable . It's a semi-hard case , but very little padding . Much better than leaving the drive naked but I wouldn't want to drop it !
        • 004 4  I've only just received this , listed as Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive in the 500GB size . It has a very cool design , the case is similar to my 5G 30GB iPod - a smooth , flat front / top with a rounded back . It has a nice discreet blue activity light in one corner of the top ( i.e . front ) surface that is on for power and blinks for activity . The USB2 connection is a micro style and contrary to another review is a standard cable - this micro style is quite common , I have it on my GPS and camera so can use the same cable for all 3 . The cable supplied is a short single cable ( i.e . not a Y ) , and my Asus netbook powers it with a single USB port . The drive ( like all of them ) is just plug & play - plug it in , the computer sees it , and you're off . I reformatted it to a single large NTFS partition , 465GB ( drives are always sold with powers of 10 GB , i.e . 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes ( 10 to the 9th power ) , whereas computers use powers of 2 GB , where 1GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes ( 2 to the 30th power ) . I don't like this sales speak , but Toshiba do clearly state the difference in the very short instruction sheet - to their credit . The drive comes with NTI Backup Now EZ . I already have a backup strategy ( using xxcopy , I recommend it ! ) so have no need for this . It's well reviewed though . 4 stars rather than 5 because I don't know its reliability yet , and it's not quite as fast as I'd hoped ( but still fine ) . The main reason I got this particular drive is that Toshiba have a 3 year warranty , and the others all have just 1 year . And $90 with free shipping is a great deal ! I also got the Kroo Portable Hard Drive EVA Case , it fits well - just enough space for the drive and short USB cable . It's a semi-hard case , but very little padding . Much better than leaving the drive naked but I wouldn't want to drop it !
        • 006 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I bought this because I was looking for a portable hard drive that was durable enough to travel from home to classroom to wherever . I holds over 100GB of music and all the pics I've ever taken or been given since 2005 ( about 20 GB ) and all my lesson plans ( 20 GB ) . It's been jarred , dropped by a 2 year old and it's still ticking .
        • 008 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Bought the 640 GB for around $100 . It was the cheapest in its segment . First few days I was feeling so happy that I made this purchase . Backed up my data @ 25Mb / s . In just less than a week the drive was unrecognizable in my home and office computer . Was really irritated . Download testdisk and was able to recover most of the data to my hard-drive . However , I had to format the drive and then recopy ( over night for 8 hours ) . Again 2 days later same issue . But this time I never deleted my data from the internal HD . Beware , please do not rely solely on this for your critical data .
        • 009 4  Bought the 640 GB for around $100 . It was the cheapest in its segment . First few days I was feeling so happy that I made this purchase . Backed up my data @ 25Mb / s . In just less than a week the drive was unrecognizable in my home and office computer . Was really irritated . Download testdisk and was able to recover most of the data to my hard-drive . However , I had to format the drive and then recopy ( over night for 8 hours ) . Again 2 days later same issue . But this time I never deleted my data from the internal HD . Beware , please do not rely solely on this for your critical data .
        • 011 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I loved it for the first bit that I had it . Was able to easily back up both my desktop and my laptop mac computers . That is until it broke less than two months after I received it . It stop being recognized by either computer and began making a clicking noise . like the hard drive was trying to read it and couldn't . I'm really disappointed in this purchase and hope to get it replaced by something that will last more than two months .
        • 013 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Quick transfers on XP ( usb 1.0 ) and Vista ( usb 2.0 ) . Comes in Fat32 so it's ready for PS3 out the box . Very short firewire to USB cable so be prepared.It's not too bad . It does get warm quickly so I wouldn't leave it plugged in for extended periods . Transfer yo data . Get in , get out . . . Great price and function .
        • 014 4  Quick transfers on XP ( usb 1.0 ) and Vista ( usb 2.0 ) . Comes in Fat32 so it's ready for PS3 out the box . Very short firewire to USB cable so be prepared.It's not too bad . It does get warm quickly so I wouldn't leave it plugged in for extended periods . Transfer yo data . Get in , get out . . . Great price and function .
        • 017 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Data corruption and disk read error has caused a loss of years of data on what was supposed to be a portable and secure storage device . It is cheaply made and flimsy at best and the unexpected error message took me by suprise . When I purchased mine there were no bad reviews now more and more are popping up . I do NOT reccomend this product - try to find something with more structure and reliability . I'm going back to mini flash drives .
        • 020 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I've owned dozens of portable drives and so far this one is the best . It's small and extremely lightweight ( just a little larger than an ipod ) , looks fairly stylish , and best of all - doesn't require an external power source . Just plug it in to any powered USB port via standard mini USB cable and you're in business . And for the price , you're not going to find a much bigger drive . As for the software , it is naturally very basic but this is true of any bundled / pre-installed software I've seen . However , there is a very easy-to-use interface that guides even the most novice of users through choosing what and when to backup . It even has an easy full system restore setting and allows you to encrypt your data with a password - very important for portable drives . Transfer speeds are also very good , so you won't find yourself waiting endlessly for files to transfer . I'm so pleased with this drive , I plan to purchase at least two more , if for no other reason than to stock up . After all , given the excellence of the product combined with the great price , this device is an incredible value !
        • 021 4  I've owned dozens of portable drives and so far this one is the best . It's small and extremely lightweight ( just a little larger than an ipod ) , looks fairly stylish , and best of all - doesn't require an external power source . Just plug it in to any powered USB port via standard mini USB cable and you're in business . And for the price , you're not going to find a much bigger drive . As for the software , it is naturally very basic but this is true of any bundled / pre-installed software I've seen . However , there is a very easy-to-use interface that guides even the most novice of users through choosing what and when to backup . It even has an easy full system restore setting and allows you to encrypt your data with a password - very important for portable drives . Transfer speeds are also very good , so you won't find yourself waiting endlessly for files to transfer . I'm so pleased with this drive , I plan to purchase at least two more , if for no other reason than to stock up . After all , given the excellence of the product combined with the great price , this device is an incredible value !
        • 025 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) Received this item yesterday . It did not come with any installation instructions but luckily I was able to install without any issues . The real problem started when I tried to actually perform a backup . The backup initializes but then never actually proceeds . Then Windows says there is a problem and needs to shut it down . Tried it on my PC and my laptop with no success . Called Toshiba for tech support and was told to send it in for service that could take up to 30 days . I also have to pay to ship it . I thought that Toshiba would be a good choice and a reliable product . Next time I'll know better .
        • 027 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I weighed the decision quite heavily : portable HD vs . desktop ; Toshiba vs . WD ; etc . Not sure I made the right choice . The unit is affordable , and I was on a budget - so the $100 price tag ( including shipping ) was a major pull . The sleekness / compactness was also nice to eye right out the box ; however , the casing is plastic and appears flimsier than I would have hoped . I transport it sometimes and am always worried about it cracking in two . Ease of use is how it should be : plug it in and shoot files back & forth . However , I wouldn't recommend this , nor buy it again . First , I can't for the life of me figure out how to encrypt files ( or , what I really needed : I can't figure out how to set it up so that - upon accessing the drive - it asks for my password before granting access . I have been unable to set it up that way , and perhaps there is no way to do so . But regardless , the encryption methods are confusing , and I still haven't figured this out yet . Has a lot to do with the fact that the software the device comes with ( Back-Up Now EZ ) just . . . . SUCKS . Furthermore , I've had mixed feelings in regards to the back-up jobs this baby runs . After making my initial transfers and backups ( all seemed fine ) , I wanted to back-up about 36gb worth of files . The drive said it had about 110gb left . I configured everything to run in the background , and when I came back , the back-up had stopped because it said the drive had run out of room . 36 110 , last I checked . I'm a technological guy , and these devices usually never trip me up ; but with all these questions and confusions , I decided to call the Toshiba tech line . Crazy-long wait , and the dude that finally answered told me he'd take down my number and have a techie call me back . They never did . I was one of those buyers that spends many minutes ( maybe even hours ) perusing the customer reviews ; and this device seemed like a unanimous choice for many . But I am really , truly dissatisfied with this thing . Hoping someone who reads this might be able to help me out ( you can post a comment / reply and hopefully I'll see it ) , but at the very least , for those thinking of buying this . . . If anything I mentioned above would possibly apply to your needs , go elsewhere . Spend $30 - 50 more and you'll be a lot happier . . .
        • 028 4  I weighed the decision quite heavily : portable HD vs . desktop ; Toshiba vs . WD ; etc . Not sure I made the right choice . The unit is affordable , and I was on a budget - so the $100 price tag ( including shipping ) was a major pull . The sleekness / compactness was also nice to eye right out the box ; however , the casing is plastic and appears flimsier than I would have hoped . I transport it sometimes and am always worried about it cracking in two . Ease of use is how it should be : plug it in and shoot files back & forth . However , I wouldn't recommend this , nor buy it again . First , I can't for the life of me figure out how to encrypt files ( or , what I really needed : I can't figure out how to set it up so that - upon accessing the drive - it asks for my password before granting access . I have been unable to set it up that way , and perhaps there is no way to do so . But regardless , the encryption methods are confusing , and I still haven't figured this out yet . Has a lot to do with the fact that the software the device comes with ( Back-Up Now EZ ) just . . . . SUCKS . Furthermore , I've had mixed feelings in regards to the back-up jobs this baby runs . After making my initial transfers and backups ( all seemed fine ) , I wanted to back-up about 36gb worth of files . The drive said it had about 110gb left . I configured everything to run in the background , and when I came back , the back-up had stopped because it said the drive had run out of room . 36 110 , last I checked . I'm a technological guy , and these devices usually never trip me up ; but with all these questions and confusions , I decided to call the Toshiba tech line . Crazy-long wait , and the dude that finally answered told me he'd take down my number and have a techie call me back . They never did . I was one of those buyers that spends many minutes ( maybe even hours ) perusing the customer reviews ; and this device seemed like a unanimous choice for many . But I am really , truly dissatisfied with this thing . Hoping someone who reads this might be able to help me out ( you can post a comment / reply and hopefully I'll see it ) , but at the very least , for those thinking of buying this . . . If anything I mentioned above would possibly apply to your needs , go elsewhere . Spend $30 - 50 more and you'll be a lot happier . . .
        • 029 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) A portable harddrive that holds 500 Gigs , looks sleek and is light to carry around via USB connection - all great features . I used it right away to free up the HD on my work laptop . It's pretty much plug and play . I then noticed the sleek casing gets scratched quite easily - I merely had the HD in my briefcase and it has quite a bit of scratches on the cool blue surface . It's now about 2 - 3 weeks later . I plugged in my drive today and it won't start up . It's making the click of death sound , as the drive seems to try to spin but is failing to get the HD head to spinup . this is the 2nd time it has happened . I hope it will spin up again soon so I can get my data off the drive and get a refund / replacement immediately . I recommend looking elsewhere . HD's most important value is RELIABILITY - without that , everything else is useless . I will have my fingers crossed this will magically work again soon .
        • 030 4  A portable harddrive that holds 500 Gigs , looks sleek and is light to carry around via USB connection - all great features . I used it right away to free up the HD on my work laptop . It's pretty much plug and play . I then noticed the sleek casing gets scratched quite easily - I merely had the HD in my briefcase and it has quite a bit of scratches on the cool blue surface . It's now about 2 - 3 weeks later . I plugged in my drive today and it won't start up . It's making the click of death sound , as the drive seems to try to spin but is failing to get the HD head to spinup . this is the 2nd time it has happened . I hope it will spin up again soon so I can get my data off the drive and get a refund / replacement immediately . I recommend looking elsewhere . HD's most important value is RELIABILITY - without that , everything else is useless . I will have my fingers crossed this will magically work again soon .
        • 031 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I had an issue with backing up files and folders and needed tech support . I went to the web site and it is a joke . I went around in circles trying to get information to help me . I emailed them and expected at least a verification email that they had received my request . Nothing , nada . It's been a whole week still no reply . I called their phone number which by the way is not toll free . I was put on hold for 8 minutes or so . A recording then informed me that no one was available and for me to leave my name and number . That was 4 days ago . I wasn't even given the option to hold on the line if I wanted . From now on when I shop , I will check out the web site and try calling the company to see what kind of customer service they have before I invest money in their product .
        • 033 4  I got this product as a gift from one of my friends who had some toshiba coupon or something . At first , I was in a opinion that seagate , WD ruled the external drives market and this cannot be good , but I was wrong . Appearance : Super cool , Almost the same size as WD , but very LIGHT ! ! Compatibility : Works well on my mac [ OSX 10.5 ] as well on windows [ Vista ] and I got this working on a linux machine as well . [ a ubuntu based linux ] Speed of transfer : Not as fast as WD passport [ 320Gb ] but close enough . Write speed is a bit slow . Backup / restore : I'm yet to use these features . I recommend this product , but it is kind of outdated with 320GB ( so is WD ) . The 500 GB is $20 extra , but still pricey . - [ . . . ]
        • 034 4  I purchased this product yesterday and as soon as I tried it out , I knew something was wrong . When I plugged the device in the blue led power indicator blinked a few times then installed the device drivers . That was OK , but when I tried to copy a file to the device the blue led went completely off , it took over 5 minutes just to cancel the file copy . So I researched problems with the device and it looks like it runs a peak power consumption ( like times when your copying or extracting info from the device ) of 740mA or 3.7 watts . And the maximum power output for a USB 2.0 ( which is the only power source for the device ) is only 500mA or 2.5 watts . . . . is that not a design flaw ? I read more reviews and it looks like Toshiba also sells a Y cable that connects the external hard drive to 2 USB ports , the review goes on to say that the cable does not work . I will buy the cable , but if it does not work , I will return both . Copy and paste this to your url box to see a very detailed review on this product . [ . . . ]
        • 037 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) For the price , it's a good little drive and it's worth the money . But the sole reason I bought this drive was to store sensitive data , and it was advertised as being a password-protected encrypted drive . It is not . I thought it had encryption software built in , which would ask for a password to access data stored on the drive . This is not so . Anyone can access any information on this drive using any computer . It is not secure whatsoever . The included software is a backup program only , and the only time a password or encryption come into play is if you are trying to boot from this drive . Like I say , it's a nice little portable drive , but it does not do what it is advertised to do . I will have to buy encryption software after all , and I thought that was part of the package .
        • 039 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Easy to use and shuttles back and forth between my Mac and PC without issues .
        • 041 4  In the one month that I have had this drive , it has proven an excellent , reliable , unobtrusive , and aesthetically pleasing package . The true disc space is actually 465GB though . If you are not interested in the backup software , installation takes some 15 seconds . After you plug-in the drive , using the mini-USB cable that comes along , my laptop ( running Windows Server 2003 ) , recognized the hardware , and it was ready for use . - Copying files is straightforward , expectedly . - The drive operation is silent ; you cannot hear the drives spinning . You can feel them spinning only if you hold up the drive in your hand . - It draws power from your computer's USB port , which is what makes the drive portable . - The drive is easily carry-able in your laptop case . Or even your pocket . It is that light.The drive is small , and very , very light . You may well make the mistake of thinking it is a solid-state drive . Which it is not . - It has two rubber pads at the bottom to protect it from accidental shocks , and also provide a grip when placed on the desk . - A small blue light indicates when it is connected and running . The cons ? Two , and that too sort of general : - The packaging it comes in is , as expected , a frustration-laden exercise in extraction . - As has been the norm with hard drive manufacturers since the 1990s , they insist that 500GB is not 5,368,709,120 bytes , which it technically is ( 5 times 2 raised to the power of 30 , or 5x2 ^ 30 bytes ) , but rather 5 billion bytes ( 5,000,000,000 ) , or in this drive's case , 500,105,216,000 bytes , which is actually 465.76 GB . In the days when discs were super expensive ( in 1996 , an upgrade from a 2GB to a 4GB hard drive would set you back by $200 or more - $100 / GB , compared with 20 cents / GB today ) , it probably made marketing sense to cut corners this way , but in 2009 , when a 500GB portable hard drive is available for under $100 , and a 1TB external hard drive for under $100 , it is simply inexcusable . Your computer's operating system reports 1024 bytes , not 1000 bytes , as 1 KB ( kilobyte ) . Not particularly Toshiba's fault alone , but they are going along with this scam . Overall , I think is one of the best portable drives available on the market . Real value for money , till the 1TB portable HD comes along for the same price , and then a 2 Terabyte drive , and so on .
        • 042 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Have been using this drive for almost a month now . It can't match the transfer speed of an eSATA drive ( no USB drive can ) , but it runs cool , quiet , and error-free . It is a great little drive for the money .
        • 044 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XK ( Black ) ( Electronics ) I give it 5 stars for performance and reliability . I give it 3 stars for its physical robustness . I'd like to address a few points . * People who are experiencing the clicking-noise / no-spinup : Your USB port is underpowered . Either your computer is not supplying enough amps to the USB port or you have the drive daisy-chained via another devise ( keyboard ? ) that is sucking up the power . * It is housed in a relatively soft plastic which will scratch and dent unless you protect it . Case Logic makes a padded case which does an adequate job of protecting the cosmetic appearance . * The mini-USB connector which is on the drive end of the very short cable was never intended for robust abuse . Plug and unplug it gently . Don't put any side-ways strain on it . Common sense . * It is a hard drive - - a precision mechanical devise . Don't play Hacky-Sack with it . Besides those four caveats , I recommend the drive with no reservations . It is fast and reliable .
        • 045 4  I give it 5 stars for performance and reliability . I give it 3 stars for its physical robustness . I'd like to address a few points . * People who are experiencing the clicking-noise / no-spinup : Your USB port is underpowered . Either your computer is not supplying enough amps to the USB port or you have the drive daisy-chained via another devise ( keyboard ? ) that is sucking up the power . * It is housed in a relatively soft plastic which will scratch and dent unless you protect it . Case Logic makes a padded case which does an adequate job of protecting the cosmetic appearance . * The mini-USB connector which is on the drive end of the very short cable was never intended for robust abuse . Plug and unplug it gently . Don't put any side-ways strain on it . Common sense . * It is a hard drive - - a precision mechanical devise . Don't play Hacky-Sack with it . Besides those four caveats , I recommend the drive with no reservations . It is fast and reliable .
        • 046 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I owned a computer company for fifteen years before I retired . I have owned or tested just about everything there is out there . Toshiba makes great products . This external drive is the best I have ever used or tested ! Now let me tell you some of the things about this drive that is not mentioned so you can make your decision whether you should buy it . First of all my orders from Amazon have always arrived on time with no damage or problems . This drive is just a pleasure to setup and use . It has all types of different settings if you choose to use them . So here goes . 1 . Plug the USB cable furnished with the drive into the drive and plug it in a USB port on your computer , and it will install itself . Just say yes to everything and wait until it is finished . Just about stupid proof . O yes don't forget to have your computer turned on . Ha ! Ha ! 2 . There is no manual with the drive and you don't need one . 3 . When it is done with it's setup a screen will come up showing you what you can back up . You have the option of how , when , and why . 4 . The only option that needs to be changed for 98% of us is when we want to backup , such as every hour , ever day , every week and so on including the time you want to back up . 5 . There is a help selection menu that explains it all on the menu . 6 . When it first installs itself it will recommend a complete back up of the system and all your folders . This I would do the first time and after that you can select what you want to back up . 7 . Myself I just backup my folders . I don't backup the total system every time . But that is just the way I do it . You can do it anyway you like ! 8 . I suggest you make a boot up disk . Just select it from the menu . Do not format the blank disk it will do everything it's self . 9 . If something goes wrong with your computer you can use this disk to boot your computer and then just restore everything on your drive . 10 . The retore feature gives you the ability to restore everything or just what you want . 11 . The external drive barely gets warm after running for a long time . 12 . You can password protect the drive if you wish . Just remember this ! You cannot retrieve the password if you forget it so be careful when you choose a password . 13 . You also can select how fast you want to backup the computer . The faster you back up , the slower the computer runs . I set the speed for minimum speed so my computer runs fast . Remember you can use the computer for anything you want while it is backing up and you won't even know it is backing up if you have it set to minimum . This is a great external drive and you will really be happy with it . Just buy one and forget about losing your files from a computer break down . This drive is about four inches long , three inches wide and about a half inch thick . You can put it in your pocket and take it with you . About the only thing I might suggest is a longer extension cable for it . The cable it comes with is only about a foot long . I have a three foot extension cable on mine so I can sit it on a shelf so nobody sets anything on it . The drive is black and white in color
        • 047 4  I owned a computer company for fifteen years before I retired . I have owned or tested just about everything there is out there . Toshiba makes great products . This external drive is the best I have ever used or tested ! Now let me tell you some of the things about this drive that is not mentioned so you can make your decision whether you should buy it . First of all my orders from Amazon have always arrived on time with no damage or problems . This drive is just a pleasure to setup and use . It has all types of different settings if you choose to use them . So here goes . 1 . Plug the USB cable furnished with the drive into the drive and plug it in a USB port on your computer , and it will install itself . Just say yes to everything and wait until it is finished . Just about stupid proof . O yes don't forget to have your computer turned on . Ha ! Ha ! 2 . There is no manual with the drive and you don't need one . 3 . When it is done with it's setup a screen will come up showing you what you can back up . You have the option of how , when , and why . 4 . The only option that needs to be changed for 98% of us is when we want to backup , such as every hour , ever day , every week and so on including the time you want to back up . 5 . There is a help selection menu that explains it all on the menu . 6 . When it first installs itself it will recommend a complete back up of the system and all your folders . This I would do the first time and after that you can select what you want to back up . 7 . Myself I just backup my folders . I don't backup the total system every time . But that is just the way I do it . You can do it anyway you like ! 8 . I suggest you make a boot up disk . Just select it from the menu . Do not format the blank disk it will do everything it's self . 9 . If something goes wrong with your computer you can use this disk to boot your computer and then just restore everything on your drive . 10 . The retore feature gives you the ability to restore everything or just what you want . 11 . The external drive barely gets warm after running for a long time . 12 . You can password protect the drive if you wish . Just remember this ! You cannot retrieve the password if you forget it so be careful when you choose a password . 13 . You also can select how fast you want to backup the computer . The faster you back up , the slower the computer runs . I set the speed for minimum speed so my computer runs fast . Remember you can use the computer for anything you want while it is backing up and you won't even know it is backing up if you have it set to minimum . This is a great external drive and you will really be happy with it . Just buy one and forget about losing your files from a computer break down . This drive is about four inches long , three inches wide and about a half inch thick . You can put it in your pocket and take it with you . About the only thing I might suggest is a longer extension cable for it . The cable it comes with is only about a foot long . I have a three foot extension cable on mine so I can sit it on a shelf so nobody sets anything on it . The drive is black and white in color
        • 048 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I used this on an XP laptop for back up . Its a no-hassle , portable , plug in device , very compact , no noise . It feels very solid and sturdy . I'm not such a big fan of the included software as both the automatic full back up and limited file back up convert to an image file . So obviously you can't access any individual files in that format . I have no problem with a manual drag and drop of files I may want to re-access , but it would be nice to automate the process . ( hence the reason for 4 starts and not 5 ) .
        • 050 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I've discarded several portable drives either for their large size , or needing a power port in addition to a USB , price high , insisting on using the manufacturer's software when I wanted to decide what software I wanted to use . A simple delete got rid of this manufacturer's software , I installed my own , and I had exactly what I wanted , a reliable 500 gb , small portable external drive that runs a backup program of my choosing .
        • 053 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Ran the backup software provided on this device and never got my laptop going again . Running a Dell M90 precision . This Dell is big powerhouse . . . a bug free , consistent , reliable workhorse with fully updated XP loaded as the OS . What a terrible fight . Not even safe mode would load up , no system restore possibility . Finally hacked my way into safe mode after two days of research and pulled all the data off . Ended up buying a new larger internal HD for the laptop , and then loaded up Win 7 and my apps . I still use this Toshiba external HD , actually bought two , but they are slow . I definitely will not load the onboard software . I read somewhere on the Toshiba Storage website that there's a known issue and they provide the updated backup software , but I won't touch it . My advice : do not load the onboard software - get the freshest version off the website . ( EDIT 21 Mar 2010 : Toshiba currently has a big red flag on that onboard backup software at their website . Go read it . ) Better yet , use someone else's quality software because without any doubt whatsoever , the onboard Toshiba software smashed my computer . EDIT 21 March 2010 : What a piece of garbage these two drives turned out to be . Just a constant fight . I've set up Win7 to take care of my backups . Easy to do - no worries . Problem is that the Toshibas don't like to be unplugged from the Dell M90 laptop . If I pull the USB cable - it responds with a blue screen of death . If I ' safely eject ' - it responds with a blue screen of death . The only way to disconnect this drive is to shut the computer down and then unplug . Various troubleshooting and scan attempts show everything is operating normally . I suppose it is some kind of driver problem , possibly repairable with a Win7 setting somewhere , but I haven't found the trick yet . This thing is a simple hard drive and shouldn't be any more complicated to connect or disconnect than a thumb drive . Toshiba website gives no clue as to why this is happening . Called the Toshiba Storage phone number listed on the website . Fifteen minutes on hold , and finally the machine says leave your name and number and a technician will call back . Three days and still waiting for the callback . UPDATE 26Mar10 : Still no callback from Toshiba Storage support . Shame on you Toshiba . . . Must I call agaim , stay on hold again for who knows how long , only to leave a message just one more time ?
        • 054 4  Ran the backup software provided on this device and never got my laptop going again . Running a Dell M90 precision . This Dell is big powerhouse . . . a bug free , consistent , reliable workhorse with fully updated XP loaded as the OS . What a terrible fight . Not even safe mode would load up , no system restore possibility . Finally hacked my way into safe mode after two days of research and pulled all the data off . Ended up buying a new larger internal HD for the laptop , and then loaded up Win 7 and my apps . I still use this Toshiba external HD , actually bought two , but they are slow . I definitely will not load the onboard software . I read somewhere on the Toshiba Storage website that there's a known issue and they provide the updated backup software , but I won't touch it . My advice : do not load the onboard software - get the freshest version off the website . ( EDIT 21 Mar 2010 : Toshiba currently has a big red flag on that onboard backup software at their website . Go read it . ) Better yet , use someone else's quality software because without any doubt whatsoever , the onboard Toshiba software smashed my computer . EDIT 21 March 2010 : What a piece of garbage these two drives turned out to be . Just a constant fight . I've set up Win7 to take care of my backups . Easy to do - no worries . Problem is that the Toshibas don't like to be unplugged from the Dell M90 laptop . If I pull the USB cable - it responds with a blue screen of death . If I ' safely eject ' - it responds with a blue screen of death . The only way to disconnect this drive is to shut the computer down and then unplug . Various troubleshooting and scan attempts show everything is operating normally . I suppose it is some kind of driver problem , possibly repairable with a Win7 setting somewhere , but I haven't found the trick yet . This thing is a simple hard drive and shouldn't be any more complicated to connect or disconnect than a thumb drive . Toshiba website gives no clue as to why this is happening . Called the Toshiba Storage phone number listed on the website . Fifteen minutes on hold , and finally the machine says leave your name and number and a technician will call back . Three days and still waiting for the callback . UPDATE 26Mar10 : Still no callback from Toshiba Storage support . Shame on you Toshiba . . . Must I call agaim , stay on hold again for who knows how long , only to leave a message just one more time ?
        • 055 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I purchase this to use it as a backup portable unit . The 320 GB give me something to work with as I don't have that many files . I usually perform all my backups on DVD's but this is far more easy and cheap . The software that came with it is helpful as you can program automatic backups . The thing I don't like about it is that after a full backup you end up with one big backup format file ( not individual folders and files ) so you can't browse , copy , or transfer , individual files what you can do is restore from the hard drive ( I'm yet to try this function ) . I rather have all my folders and files organize the way they are on my PC . You can do this yourself but not by using the backup software utility . Overall this is a great product lots of space fast and small . The best thing is that you can just plug and play on XP , Vista , and Win7 . Another good thing is that it only uses one cable for data transfer and power supply .
        • 057 4  I'm a true customer not a paid fake reviewer . I've owned this for a month now . I use it with my laptop . The only problem I have is when I use a short USB cable the disk gets disconnected even with a slight shake or pull . The USB socket in this drive doesn't seem togrip the USB cable hard enough . It's annoying . I also own a Western digital mini hard disk , which grips the USB tougher than this one , and it withstands slight movements staying connected .
        • 058 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) It's extra portable , nice look , good speed , no need for two USB ports . Exactly what I expected .
        • 061 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I installed this using the built-in software which comes on the drive . After trying it for several days , I decided to stop using the software and using either Windows 7 built-in backup tool or Microsoft Sync Toy 2.0 ( for XP machines ) . But the drive itself is slick and fast . Definitely recommended .
        • 063 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I am very happy with my purchase . The package arrived earlier than expected and the hard drive was easier to use than I thought . It does all the work for you . Not to mention , it's attractive design makes it stand out from other boring hard drives . It's perfectly compact and lightweight . It's even compatible with my new Windows 7 desktop even though the package doesn't state it . The only ( very slight ) problem I have with my hard drive is that the USB cable that comes in the package is merely 30 cm ( about a foot ) long , but nothing a spare USB cable can't fix . I would not recommend any other hard drive .
        • 064 4  I am very happy with my purchase . The package arrived earlier than expected and the hard drive was easier to use than I thought . It does all the work for you . Not to mention , it's attractive design makes it stand out from other boring hard drives . It's perfectly compact and lightweight . It's even compatible with my new Windows 7 desktop even though the package doesn't state it . The only ( very slight ) problem I have with my hard drive is that the USB cable that comes in the package is merely 30 cm ( about a foot ) long , but nothing a spare USB cable can't fix . I would not recommend any other hard drive .
        • 065 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR500E04XK ( Black ) ( Electronics ) Great hard drive . Super easy to use and plenty of storage for what I need it for . I have both a Mac and a PC and this works with both ! ! ( I've had some issues with that in the past ) The software that comes with it does like to work on my Mac ( that is probably because I have an oooollllllld mac ) , but that's not too much of an issue because it's not necessary if you just want to use it as extra storage . If I had needed it to do a system back up , though , it would have lost another star .
        • 067 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XK ( Black ) ( Electronics ) I purchased the 640GB Black version of this drive , which arrived promptly from Amazon . Unfortunately , the drive was Dead On Arrival and I had to return it . Symptoms : Upon connecting to my Vista 64 system , the drive made a loud clicking noise about once a second . The computer was able to recognize the drive , but it wouldn't appear in the main system folder . Upon investigation with the Disk Management tool ( in the Windows Computer Management app that runs when you select Manage by right-clicking on the desktop system icon ) , it was revealed that the drive was briefly appearing in the drive list but quickly disappearing . The cycling was so fast that I was only able to see a red X where the disk icon would be . The blips when the drive would briefly appear coincided with the clicking noises from the drive . Wild guess : heads were stuck in the park position , or something like that . I don't like giving products one star without good reason . While I understand that a certain percentage of any product will be defective and don't begrudge that , in the case of hard drives , reliability is far and away the most important characteristic , and failure of any kind ( even crib death ) is a Very Bad Thing . I note that other reviewers have commented that the drive has failed on them after a period of use . In my case , the period was short enough that I didn't have a chance to use it . I feel like I may have dodged a bullet here . Whatever the cause , the drive was unusable . I use lots of USB drives and this is definitely not normal or healthy behavior for a hard drive . As always , the return to Amazon was as painless as possible , and while I considered requesting a replacement , I decided to go for a refund . I'm not averse to trying other Toshiba hard drive products , and consider their products to be good overall . However , in light of my own experience and the reports of some other users , I do recommend being careful about trusting valuable data to this particular model .
        • 068 4  I purchased the 640GB Black version of this drive , which arrived promptly from Amazon . Unfortunately , the drive was Dead On Arrival and I had to return it . Symptoms : Upon connecting to my Vista 64 system , the drive made a loud clicking noise about once a second . The computer was able to recognize the drive , but it wouldn't appear in the main system folder . Upon investigation with the Disk Management tool ( in the Windows Computer Management app that runs when you select Manage by right-clicking on the desktop system icon ) , it was revealed that the drive was briefly appearing in the drive list but quickly disappearing . The cycling was so fast that I was only able to see a red X where the disk icon would be . The blips when the drive would briefly appear coincided with the clicking noises from the drive . Wild guess : heads were stuck in the park position , or something like that . I don't like giving products one star without good reason . While I understand that a certain percentage of any product will be defective and don't begrudge that , in the case of hard drives , reliability is far and away the most important characteristic , and failure of any kind ( even crib death ) is a Very Bad Thing . I note that other reviewers have commented that the drive has failed on them after a period of use . In my case , the period was short enough that I didn't have a chance to use it . I feel like I may have dodged a bullet here . Whatever the cause , the drive was unusable . I use lots of USB drives and this is definitely not normal or healthy behavior for a hard drive . As always , the return to Amazon was as painless as possible , and while I considered requesting a replacement , I decided to go for a refund . I'm not averse to trying other Toshiba hard drive products , and consider their products to be good overall . However , in light of my own experience and the reports of some other users , I do recommend being careful about trusting valuable data to this particular model .
        • 069 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I am very happy that I chose this particular external hard drive . It has everything that I need ; it is light weight , small in size , has good storage capacity and is visually appealing . However , I would recommend NOT installing the software that comes with it . The software is convoluted and not easy to manage , at least for what I wanted to do . To have more control I would opt for no software and move files on your own .
        • 071 4  This external USB hard drive is what Western Digital drives used to be . I own two WD drives and love how easy they are to use . But the latest generation WD drives include unremovable backup software . After looking for alternatives I found Toshiba drives . This drive provides exactly what I want from an external drive . It's small , light and operates silently . It comes with a short ( 12 inches ) mini USB cable which is easy to transport with the drive and works great with notebook computers . It was ready to go as soon as I plugged the USB cable into my notebooks ( both a new Windows 7 as well as a several years old Windows XP notebook ) , with no forced installation of unwanted software . For those who need backup software , it's included on the drive . For those who don't it can be easily deleted . The only negative I've found so far is the ferrite lump on the USB cable . This is an electrical noise suppression device which is sometimes needed on long cables . It should be unnecessary with properly designed electronic products and adds significantly to the bulk of an otherwise ideal cable . The drive works fine with another cable I have without this lump . One final comment which applies to all hard disks : your computer will report the capacity of this disk as about 298 gigabytes even though Toshiba says its capacity is 320 gigabytes . For some strange reason , computers and disk drive companies use different units of measure even though a disk like this is used mainly with a computer . Some day perhaps disk drive companies will measure capacity the same way a computer does . But since the first one to do so will appear to be selling smaller capacity disks than the others , this will probably only happen if they all agree to do it at the same time .
        • 072 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This external drive is nicely styled and shaped . Generally around the same dimensions of other portable external drives available . It doesn't come with any cover or carrying case , so you will need to purchase that separately . Comes with connection USB cable that also powers it and preinstalled software called Backup Now EZ , version 1.27 specifically for Toshiba drive . The drive itself was very easy to use , just plug into USB port and use whether for backup using the backup program or for just an extra drive to store files , etc . Very good capacity for the price . Though , I don't suggest use the backup software that is installed in the drive . For me , I tried it and found it to bog down my system trememdously that you can't do anything else or it will just freeze up on my computers . Give it several attempts on two computers . Finally ended up not using this backup software . Backup software Tech support ( NTI ) was unresponsive when I emailed for assistance . Other than that the drive is responsive and useful for its purpose . Drive is yes , backup software is no , use something else for backup purposes .
        • 075 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I purchased this to backup my PC . I connected it and started the backup . It ran overnight . When I checked in the morning , it had downloaded 24% and stalled . I tried to restart but it gave me a unrecognized hardware error . I could not figure it out . No instructions or customer service contact information came with the hardware . So I had to send it back . Maybe it was just a quirk , but it did not work for me . They should include paper instructions and / or a contact number for troubleshooting .
        • 078 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I received one of these hard drives yesterday and it was DOA . Plugged it in and heard the dreaded click , click , click , click . No big deal , right ? It happens . Every so many products there is a bad apple in the bunch . Called Amazon customer service and they overnighted me a new one . I opened that one up and within a minute it was clicking off and on . Started a file transfer and half way through the file transfer i heard a click , and got an error message from Windows saying the file transfer had failed and got a pop-up screen asking what I wanted to do with my newly inserted usb device . Needless to say this one is going back to Amazon as well . I'd spend the extra money on a more reliable solution . Shame because the drive looks cool and you can't beat the price .
        • 081 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) It's probably just a defective hard drive that I ended up with , but after copying about 50 files onto the drive it failed with the error message Error 0x80070079 : The semaphore timeout period has expired . . It also evidenced other strange behavior such as renaming the hard drive would fail after 10 or 20 seconds . This is on a 32 - bit Vista machine which has used several other external hard drives including a smaller Toshiba drive so probably I just got a defective one . Returning it now . . .
        • 083 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) My only concern is with the way the unit stores the data . I had hoped for more of a click and drag type interface . I use my for music as well as for backup and there is no way I can find , to move songs individually . That is why I purchased the device so I am somewhat disappointed : (
        • 085 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I am extremely happy with the Toshiba external hard drive . It was priced well , looks great and works very quietly . I have been using it for more than 6 months and it is holding up good . No problems so far . I didn't want to write a review without using it for a while . I am using it with Macbook and MacBook Pro . It is much faster compared to other drives I have used . Before purchasing this , I was debating whether I should buy USB 2.0 / Firewire combo Hard drives . Now , I don't regret buying this and wouldn't hesitate buying another one in the future .
        • 087 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XK ( Black ) ( Electronics ) I had been playing w / the idea of upgrading from the HUGE 3.5 500GB HDD that I've had for a few years now to something ALOT smaller for when I have to travel to various exotic locales ( military deployments : - p ) and I've dealt w / Toshiba drives before and had never had any major issues w / them . Once again , I wasn't let down . The size of the drive and the price was perfect for me . I'm not too worried about data transfer rates and all , but it seems to move data pretty quickly though since it is firewire .
        • 090 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) horrible product . it worked for about 3 months during which it was great then suddenly for now apparent reason , it started stalling constantly - hanging and would not respond making stored files completely inaccessible and all my back ups useless . i have had to spend days trying to reconstruct and rebuild valuable info and files i had stored some of which seem to be lost forever - MS word docs , pics and other work related stuff . i tried to invoke the warranty and amazon referred me to contact toshiba directly but having contact with toshiba customer support was a nightmare and a kafkaesque experience - they just keep feeding new telephone numbers that then refer you to new support numbers and then you get new automated voice recording sending you back to the original telephone numbers you contacted and finally when you actually talk to a living person - he turns out to be unfriendly and a complete idiot ! i contacted amazon again explaining the problem with toshiba and luckily the person i spoke with was very helpful and polite and was able to help me arrange a return through amazon . havent sent the product back yet ( wkend ) but will do so next week and hopefully all will turn out well . . .
        • 092 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) Great drives , plug & play , super portable . I use them partly as a supplement to my laptop's internal drive , and partly as a portable camera card dump on long photo shoots or for portable photo processing . But . . . I bought 2 320GB drives a year ago . They are plugged in / unplugged twice a day ( arriving at work , arriving at home ) , and something in the plug mechanism seems to wear out . I replaced one 320GB drive a month ago ( with a 640GB ) and am now replacing the other one ( with a 320GB ) . So , they seem to be good for roughly 800 plug-ins before there's a problem . I may try to store them without unplugging the cable going forward . Remember , once a hard drive fails ( or even if you just can't access it ) you may never get that data back , so do your daily backups !
        • 093 4  Great drives , plug & play , super portable . I use them partly as a supplement to my laptop's internal drive , and partly as a portable camera card dump on long photo shoots or for portable photo processing . But . . . I bought 2 320GB drives a year ago . They are plugged in / unplugged twice a day ( arriving at work , arriving at home ) , and something in the plug mechanism seems to wear out . I replaced one 320GB drive a month ago ( with a 640GB ) and am now replacing the other one ( with a 320GB ) . So , they seem to be good for roughly 800 plug-ins before there's a problem . I may try to store them without unplugging the cable going forward . Remember , once a hard drive fails ( or even if you just can't access it ) you may never get that data back , so do your daily backups !
        • 094 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I purchased this harddrive to serve as a 2nd backup for my MacBook Pro . I bought it around the end of November / beginning of December 2009 and today , I've started to hear the dreaded clicking noise . So far , its still working , but anyone who's experience a failed harddrive knows how inevitable a failure will be . The annoying part , for me , is that I purchased this harddrive because I was afraid of my old back-up external harddrive failing on me , and that one is about 4 years old now , but still working without any noises . To Toshiba's defense , however , this harddrive is on for about 12 hours a day and my computer backs itself up every hour . On the other hand , the 4 year old harddrive is on and working just as hard as the Toshiba . Anyway , be wary . . .
        • 096 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I have used this drive for about 4 weeks now and it is a cool little drive . . . I have the 500gb . The USB power is excellent and its portability are fantastic . My only gripe about this drive comes in the form of reliability . Although this is a large point the reason I gave that 4 stars is because it has not actually stopped working or quit at all . It just sometimes pauses or makes clicking noises while it's trying to write and it seems like it may . I may just not be used to this as I am used to larger solid ( this ones casing is plastic ) drives . Overall 500gb for this price was excellent and so far it is holding up .
        • 097 4  I have used this drive for about 4 weeks now and it is a cool little drive . . . I have the 500gb . The USB power is excellent and its portability are fantastic . My only gripe about this drive comes in the form of reliability . Although this is a large point the reason I gave that 4 stars is because it has not actually stopped working or quit at all . It just sometimes pauses or makes clicking noises while it's trying to write and it seems like it may . I may just not be used to this as I am used to larger solid ( this ones casing is plastic ) drives . Overall 500gb for this price was excellent and so far it is holding up .
        • 098 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) These days 320 Gig isn't really all that much - but if all you're looking for is backup , then it's just right . This external hard drive is small enough ( 3 x 5 ) to fit in your pocket . Pricing . . . compare the price of this to any 32 Gig Flash Drive ( such as the Super Talent 32G Flash Drive ) - this external drive actually costs less than a Flash drive that only holds 1 / 10th the data . This drive works with Windows XP / Vista / 7 - which makes it great for porting information from one system to another . It also works with Mac OS X . The manual that comes with it is nothing - it lists the warranty in 7 different languages . The only instructions for the drive are found on the front cover of the manual . . . but what instructions do you need ? Just plug ' n play . There is backup software included on the drive , but it does not auto-install - you don't have to use it if you don't want to . Pros : small , lightweight , easy to use , reliable , good size for backing up everything you need to on your computer . Very portable . Fairly sturdy . It even looks decent . Cons : the enclosed USB cable is only 6 long . ( Yeah , that's the only thing wrong with this drive ) This drive is highly recommended for anyone who is tired of backing everything up to CDs , DVDs and Flash drives . If you need something bigger , Toshiba also has 500 GB , 640 GB and 1 TB external hard drives .
        • 099 4  These days 320 Gig isn't really all that much - but if all you're looking for is backup , then it's just right . This external hard drive is small enough ( 3 x 5 ) to fit in your pocket . Pricing . . . compare the price of this to any 32 Gig Flash Drive ( such as the Super Talent 32G Flash Drive ) - this external drive actually costs less than a Flash drive that only holds 1 / 10th the data . This drive works with Windows XP / Vista / 7 - which makes it great for porting information from one system to another . It also works with Mac OS X . The manual that comes with it is nothing - it lists the warranty in 7 different languages . The only instructions for the drive are found on the front cover of the manual . . . but what instructions do you need ? Just plug ' n play . There is backup software included on the drive , but it does not auto-install - you don't have to use it if you don't want to . Pros : small , lightweight , easy to use , reliable , good size for backing up everything you need to on your computer . Very portable . Fairly sturdy . It even looks decent . Cons : the enclosed USB cable is only 6 long . ( Yeah , that's the only thing wrong with this drive ) This drive is highly recommended for anyone who is tired of backing everything up to CDs , DVDs and Flash drives . If you need something bigger , Toshiba also has 500 GB , 640 GB and 1 TB external hard drives .
        • 100 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) When you factor in ease of use , portability and reliability , this is one of the best drives your money can buy . There may be cheaper drives ( GB / $ ) but few or none with the warranty and manufacturer track record . I cannot judge the long term reliability of the drive , but I expect it to last well past Toshiba's three-year warranty . I did not , however , test the software bundled on the drive ( immediately reformatted to NTFS ) Pros : Easy to use , ultra portable , and feels quite durable . Is also fully powered by USB , so only one wire for everything . Cons : For Windows users , it takes an hour or two initially to format to NTFS , but it's a one-time inconvenience ; after that it's plug and play . Also , if speed of data transfer is an issue , you might want a drive with SATA / eSATA . Summary : Get this drive if you want to back up data on-the-go or for light / moderate storage of media files . Excellent for general-purpose use where portability and storage space are the main concerns . You'll want something with more space and faster transfer speed if you want to build a movie library though .
        • 101 4  When you factor in ease of use , portability and reliability , this is one of the best drives your money can buy . There may be cheaper drives ( GB / $ ) but few or none with the warranty and manufacturer track record . I cannot judge the long term reliability of the drive , but I expect it to last well past Toshiba's three-year warranty . I did not , however , test the software bundled on the drive ( immediately reformatted to NTFS ) Pros : Easy to use , ultra portable , and feels quite durable . Is also fully powered by USB , so only one wire for everything . Cons : For Windows users , it takes an hour or two initially to format to NTFS , but it's a one-time inconvenience ; after that it's plug and play . Also , if speed of data transfer is an issue , you might want a drive with SATA / eSATA . Summary : Get this drive if you want to back up data on-the-go or for light / moderate storage of media files . Excellent for general-purpose use where portability and storage space are the main concerns . You'll want something with more space and faster transfer speed if you want to build a movie library though .
        • 102 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Great things about the Toshiba 500GB drive : + Lightweight and stylish + Plug and play , no installation required . + Works great with Win 7 , Vista and XP ( I tested all ) + Price is right . + Very Quiet + Run cool . Notes : = Not the fastest drive on the market , but it's not bad . = By 500GB , they really mean 486GB
        • 103 4  Great things about the Toshiba 500GB drive : + Lightweight and stylish + Plug and play , no installation required . + Works great with Win 7 , Vista and XP ( I tested all ) + Price is right . + Very Quiet + Run cool . Notes : = Not the fastest drive on the market , but it's not bad . = By 500GB , they really mean 486GB
        • 104 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I bought this disk mainly to keep my pc backup . The good price tag , and cool look definitely helped . I like the product , and there are no major issues yet . However , it seems that the data transfer rate is not as good as I had hoped , and it takes very long to make backups .
        • 106 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I use portable drives in pairs for my projects , and have gone through a number of manufacturers including Freecom , Seagate , Western Digital and LaCie . These Toshiba drives are , at time of writing , the best value I can find . And on top of that , are staggeringly light - I don't understand it ! They're very portable , well-made and so far , so good . I will be buying more of them , which as genuine a compliment as I can give .
        • 108 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I use both a pc and a mac - I can literally unplug from the pc and plug into the mac and there is total innstant conversion . It works super fast really good investment .
        • 110 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) Wish it comes with a soft case or some sort . I got the Case Logic PHDC - 1 , also from Amazon . a bit big , but functional . Happy with both purchases . P / S , reformated to NTFS . Uses SyncBack ( free edition ) for folder backup / snyc . Really nice freeware , highly recommended .
        • 112 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I bought this portable external hard drive to back up my Aperture photo library on my Mac Pro . The reason I wanted a portable HDD was to keep a back up of my photo library off-site by doing a back up once a week . Mounting to a Mac running OS X 10.5.8 ( Leopard ) was no problem and the drive was immediately detected and shown as Toshiba . The box states its compatible with OS X 10.4 + and Windows XP / Vista and will probably work with a Windows 7 and a Linux OS . The USB 2.0 interface is fast and the drive itself does not require external power as it comes from the USB interface . The USB 2.0 cable is included with this HDD , although its short . When accessing the drive for read / write there is a blue LED which indicates activity . The nice thing is that this drive doesn't seem to get hot and aesthetically is quite appealing in its blue color . Fit and finish is superb as well . I highly recommend this drive in the 500 GB version for $90 and the Case Logic case Case Logic Compact Portable Hard Drive Case ( Black ) to store it in for another $10 or less . Amazon has both in combo form for $98 .
        • 113 4  I bought this portable external hard drive to back up my Aperture photo library on my Mac Pro . The reason I wanted a portable HDD was to keep a back up of my photo library off-site by doing a back up once a week . Mounting to a Mac running OS X 10.5.8 ( Leopard ) was no problem and the drive was immediately detected and shown as Toshiba . The box states its compatible with OS X 10.4 + and Windows XP / Vista and will probably work with a Windows 7 and a Linux OS . The USB 2.0 interface is fast and the drive itself does not require external power as it comes from the USB interface . The USB 2.0 cable is included with this HDD , although its short . When accessing the drive for read / write there is a blue LED which indicates activity . The nice thing is that this drive doesn't seem to get hot and aesthetically is quite appealing in its blue color . Fit and finish is superb as well . I highly recommend this drive in the 500 GB version for $90 and the Case Logic case Case Logic Compact Portable Hard Drive Case ( Black ) to store it in for another $10 or less . Amazon has both in combo form for $98 .
        • 114 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I really like this product Toshiba 500 GB USB . It helps me to organize my huge files I used to save on my desktop . It works very well . I would strongly recommend this brand if you are looking for a portable hard drive for your files .
        • 116 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) It is a great external hard disk . But I really dislike the back up software that comes with the hard disk . It was not not the best back up software out in the market but I think you can download one easily . It also did not come with a case , but I guess that is too much to ask for . I frequently get 20MB / s transfer rate and it is pretty good for a 5400 hard disk .
        • 118 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I got this external to transfer all my files off my PC when I was upgrading to Windows 7 and it worked like a charm . It's quiet , fast and gets the job done . Only thing I would change is the backup software that is pre-installed on it , do yourself a favor and delete that software off the drive and drag-n-drop your files on manually .
        • 120 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) the toshiba drive works perfectly and is very easy to set up just plug into usb port and your ready to go.I purchased a 1tb my book and it was so slow that it took over 15 hrs to back up 10 gig of info.The toshiba 500gig takes about 5 minutes .
        • 122 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I ordered this for my husband for his birthday . He has been very satisfied with this product . It is easy to use & is a great deal for the price .
        • 124 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I own many USB drives , and this is the worst I have . It's much slower and often freezes up . I get I / O errors - - something I haven't seen in years - - takes me back to the days of early windows . I do not miss nostalgia - - I want drives that work consistently - - this ain't one of ' em . Sorry . After 1 month , I'd like to exchange it . . .
        • 127 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) Bought this a couple months ago . This is like the least resilient hard drive I've ever seen . . . started to make a clicking noise and none of my computers were able to read from it again .
        • 129 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR500E04XK ( Black ) ( Electronics ) I bought this drive to store extra pictures , music and video files since my hard drive was at 1% remaining . It has proven to serve that purpose but it does it VERY slowly !
        • 131 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I bought this product to use as a backup for my hard drive . It works very well . I've had it a little over a month . The automatic back up is wonderful . The 640 GB is large enough to hold automatic backup and any additional items I want to store . The backup is very fast and does not delay any work I am doing while back up is occurring . If the computer is turned off when auto backup is supposed to occur , the computer asks if it should do the missed backup the next time the computer is started . It is easy to program when to do backup and easy to change the settings . I've not had to reboot the system from this external hard drive . As I read in reviews , the only problem is the short USB cable . I'd recommend buying this product .
        • 133 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I always check out the amazon reviews before I purchase a product . This time I believed the people giving 5 stars instead of the 1 star reviews . Stupid me . The 1 star reviews were exactly what happened to me . After loading all my personal home movies on this drive so I could watch them on my WD HD Live player ( which is a fantastic machine ) I started getting video errors . The data on the hard drive was getting corrupt or lost . I never dropped or shook the drive , it just sat on a shelf USB attached to my player . Thank god , I had backed up my home movies to another drive . I tried formatting this Toshiba hard drive and again started loosing data . I sent the unit back to Amazon , received a quick refund , then purchased the HP portable HD and it works mint . Been using it now for a month with no problems . I have owned a Lacie , WD and HP hard drives with no problems ! ! ! DO NOT PURCHASE THIS DRIVE ! ! !
        • 135 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) Toshiba : My setup up for the external harddrive was not good , I'm Having trouble with startup and no usable written instruction came with the unit to make your startup go easy and right , I still need help with setup , somehow I lost backup exe . command and cannot get around the problem , the phone call I made for help was not good . I know it's mostly my lack of computer knowledge to have it go right , more written instructions are needed . John
        • 137 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) Great little drive . Unfortunately the back up program that comes with it only works with Toshiba HD
        • 139 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) This harddrive comes with FAT32 file format and files bigger than 4gb cannot be recorded in it so I had to partition it and formatted one partition with ntfs . Now it is working greawith both file systems . Good product , light and good looking .
        • 141 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR500E04XK ( Black ) ( Electronics ) Great product . I have no complains . Though i have only used it for a short time , about 2 months , so far so good . I was very impressed with the backup software , EZ i think , that it came with . It easily synchronised with my system . Overall a good buy .
        • 144 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I'm using this as my laptop's backup hard drive . It was super easy to hook up and use . Absolutely no problems .
        • 146 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) Works great on my MacBook . Plug and Play with Time Machine . This program asks you right away to reformat the Toshiba HD , say yes and Time Machine takes care of the rest . Very quiet , lightweight , small and looks cool . So far so good .
        • 150 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I had tested so many portable drives and this one is great and it has plenty of storage . Now if they can come out with a 1tb and prices drop some more would be even better ! I was planning to get a 1TB external drive but went with this portable instead because I hate having to deal with power adapter . Too many wires running all over the place already . Plus , it is smaller and more convenient .
        • 152 4  I wanted a portable hard drive to back-up all my mp3 files & digital albums . After reviewing the popular brands ( WD , Seagate , etc . ) I went with Toshiba because I got more GB's for the money . Plus , I trust the quality of the brand name . First of all , I opened the HD folder & deleted the back-up software that was pre-installed in the hard drive so I can have more space . Also , so it won't keep asking me to back-up my computer every time I plug it in . Now , all I do is drag & drop whatever I want to save into the HD . Has been working perfectly since I bought it a month ago . I highly recommend this hard drive .
        • 153 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) Purchased this drive several weeks ago . Has failed several times , required complete reformat twice , and not will not boot .
        • 157 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I bought this hard drive in November and by February it would not mount and was a brick . I then attempted to contact Toshiba to seek support , repairs or replacement . But sadly that effort has proved futile . First , I sought a return number via the web . The site required that I enter a serial number and ID number - - which I did according to exactly what was printed on the back of my device . My effort , however , was consistently rejected . I eventually found the right numbers to enter - - via online research . Whereupon I was told that the device was out of warranty . ( Hm - - I bought it 3 months ago , the warranty is for 2 years . . . ) So , second , I called . I was on hold for about 15 minutes when I went into a voice mail answer : Please leave your message after the tone and we will call you back . After the tone , I heard this mailbox is full and cannot take message . Strike two . So , third , I emailed the provided email account asking for help . Have emailed twice now in the last 2 weeks . Have not received a response . Overall I think there's a high risk this device will fail and when it does that Toshiba is unequipped to deal with the problem . I would advise buying this . .
        • 158 4  I bought this hard drive in November and by February it would not mount and was a brick . I then attempted to contact Toshiba to seek support , repairs or replacement . But sadly that effort has proved futile . First , I sought a return number via the web . The site required that I enter a serial number and ID number - - which I did according to exactly what was printed on the back of my device . My effort , however , was consistently rejected . I eventually found the right numbers to enter - - via online research . Whereupon I was told that the device was out of warranty . ( Hm - - I bought it 3 months ago , the warranty is for 2 years . . . ) So , second , I called . I was on hold for about 15 minutes when I went into a voice mail answer : Please leave your message after the tone and we will call you back . After the tone , I heard this mailbox is full and cannot take message . Strike two . So , third , I emailed the provided email account asking for help . Have emailed twice now in the last 2 weeks . Have not received a response . Overall I think there's a high risk this device will fail and when it does that Toshiba is unequipped to deal with the problem . I would advise buying this . .
        • 159 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) This Toshiba Portable External Hard Drive is great ! It's very light , quiet , and reliable . I use it for my Time Machine on OSX , and it's perfect for it . I would definitely recommend it .
        • 161 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This Toshiba 500 GB works great , just simply put the USB in and it will ask if you would like to install . you have the option of how you would like to install the external drive , from a back up drive or just extra memory or both . the drive is also thin , light , and small . which makes it great for carring it around for trips or business . its also fair price then most other drives . so if you looking for a good portable external hard drive i recommed this one .
        • 163 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR500E04XK ( Black ) ( Electronics ) This is my second Toshiba hard drive and it is great . I do all my back-up and pictures and games on this . I have had no problems with it .
        • 165 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I just received my Liquid Blue Toshiba 500 GB HD . Tech support was very helpful in helping me reformat the drive to NTFS ( it comes formatted with FAT32 ) . My 1st backup with FAT32 took 4 1 / 2 hours to backup just over 26 gbytes for an approximate average speed of 1.6 mbytes / sec . After the reformat , it did the same backup at about 5.8 mbytes / sec . A big improvement , but essentially the same as my 4 - year old Seagate 40 GB drive it is replacing . I would have thought hard drive write speeds would have increased more in that time , but it seems the emphasis has been driving down costs and increasing storage capacity . Fair enough . The short USB 2.0 cable could also be a bit longer , guys . The drive works fine and for someone doing periodic backups during the day or overnight where time is not of the essence , I suspect the speed will be sufficient . I note that the backup speeds were all over the lot : at times , it dropped to 0.3 mbytes / sec and other times ramped up to 20 mbytes / sec . Most of the time it spent in the 4 - 7 mbyte / sec range . If Toshiba can figure out a way to maintain the speed in the 10 - 12 mbyte / sec area , this would be one kick-ass backup . FWIW , I am running a 2004 Pentium 4 with a 3 ghtz CPU and 1 gbyte of RAM so newer machines may run this drive faster . The user manual is among the worst I've seen - - it basically isn't even a user manual , just some product descriptions and terminology definitions . A few paragraphs on how the Toshiba drive can be used most efficiently would have been appreciated along with tech specifications so you can research how your specific hardware and software can work best with the drive . The 3 - year warranty is a great feature for folks who backup daily or very frequntly . These drives seem to fail for people doing heavy backups on a daily or near-daily basis . If you are like me and don't have essential add-ons to your PC except every few weeks , then less frequent backing up will probably extend whatever lifespan this drive ( and others ) have . All-in-all , a quality backup with plenty of storage space in an aesthetically pleasing case style .
        • 166 4  I just received my Liquid Blue Toshiba 500 GB HD . Tech support was very helpful in helping me reformat the drive to NTFS ( it comes formatted with FAT32 ) . My 1st backup with FAT32 took 4 1 / 2 hours to backup just over 26 gbytes for an approximate average speed of 1.6 mbytes / sec . After the reformat , it did the same backup at about 5.8 mbytes / sec . A big improvement , but essentially the same as my 4 - year old Seagate 40 GB drive it is replacing . I would have thought hard drive write speeds would have increased more in that time , but it seems the emphasis has been driving down costs and increasing storage capacity . Fair enough . The short USB 2.0 cable could also be a bit longer , guys . The drive works fine and for someone doing periodic backups during the day or overnight where time is not of the essence , I suspect the speed will be sufficient . I note that the backup speeds were all over the lot : at times , it dropped to 0.3 mbytes / sec and other times ramped up to 20 mbytes / sec . Most of the time it spent in the 4 - 7 mbyte / sec range . If Toshiba can figure out a way to maintain the speed in the 10 - 12 mbyte / sec area , this would be one kick-ass backup . FWIW , I am running a 2004 Pentium 4 with a 3 ghtz CPU and 1 gbyte of RAM so newer machines may run this drive faster . The user manual is among the worst I've seen - - it basically isn't even a user manual , just some product descriptions and terminology definitions . A few paragraphs on how the Toshiba drive can be used most efficiently would have been appreciated along with tech specifications so you can research how your specific hardware and software can work best with the drive . The 3 - year warranty is a great feature for folks who backup daily or very frequntly . These drives seem to fail for people doing heavy backups on a daily or near-daily basis . If you are like me and don't have essential add-ons to your PC except every few weeks , then less frequent backing up will probably extend whatever lifespan this drive ( and others ) have . All-in-all , a quality backup with plenty of storage space in an aesthetically pleasing case style .
        • 167 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I've had this hard drive for a couple months now and I love it . I bought it when my internal hard drive in my desktop started to go out . It was meant to be a backup of all my docs and music , but now I just use it as a full time hard drive . Its quick simple . I've had no problems . The only thing was when I first connected it to my computer , I had a USB hub that was connected to the back of my tower . I connected it to the hub and I kept getting an error on my computer . All I had to do was connect it directly to the tower . Turns out since its USB powered , the hub doesn't provide enough power to run the HDD . But no worries . Its still a great device . Price was very good for 500gb . Its small and easy to take with me when I go somewhere with my laptop . Definitely recommend !
        • 169 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) A snap to install . Light weight and easily portable . Price was good and delivery quick .
        • 171 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I am relatively technology challenged , so this self-contained portable hard drive is perfect for me . Just plugged it in and it does all the rest .
        • 173 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I LOVE this little external hard drive ! It's low-profile , small and light , and has little rubber feet to keep it in place . It has a nice mini-USB cord that's only about 6 , which is perfect for toting around w / o a lot of extra bulk and weight . Buy the suggested Case Logic case for it and you can take it everywhere , all the time . Very happy with my purchases .
        • 175 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Greta drive . Easy install and a bit faster than the WD is replaced with this one . Relatively new , so no comment on long term reliability . Style is a bit different than other slim drives , but very compact and quieter than WD . So far - love it . Works well with BU software .
        • 177 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Fast hard drive - and reliable . Love it for transferring large amounts of data between systems .
        • 179 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I purchased a Toshiba 640 - gig portable hard drive from Amazon last November . It worked beautifully so I decided to buy a second one in January . It died after five days and started making a clicking sound . That is one down . Amazon quickly replaced it ( thank you Amazon ! ) and the replacement is still working fine as I write this . Yesterday , my first drive just stopped working and started to make a loud clicking noise . So of the three Toshiba 640 - gig portable drives I owned , two died , one in five days and the other after three and a half months . I will never buy a Toshiba product again .
        • 180 4  I purchased a Toshiba 640 - gig portable hard drive from Amazon last November . It worked beautifully so I decided to buy a second one in January . It died after five days and started making a clicking sound . That is one down . Amazon quickly replaced it ( thank you Amazon ! ) and the replacement is still working fine as I write this . Yesterday , my first drive just stopped working and started to make a loud clicking noise . So of the three Toshiba 640 - gig portable drives I owned , two died , one in five days and the other after three and a half months . I will never buy a Toshiba product again .
        • 181 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) Pros : Very good stuff , lightweight , efficient , high transfer speeds , no heat even when long working hours Cons : For some reasons sometimes transfer vary from 30 Mbytes / s to 4 and then back to 30 , especially at the end of the transfer Overall : 9 / 10
        • 184 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) If you haven't backed your system up you may get a very bad shock one day . I had a hard drive crash and very nearly lost all my programs and files , I was lucky to find someone who could still read the damaged drive although it cost more that buying my own external hard drive . I now have all my files on the Toshiba drive so that in future I can restore them if needed .
        • 186 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I bought this after much research . Much better value than the WD counterparts , larger capacity at reduced price , and ( reportedly ) lower failure rates . This is a durable drive . I toss it loose into my backpack and take it everywhere . I've dropped it from moderate distances ( less than two feet ) a couple of times but it's fine . Easily fits into the back pocket of my jeans , not that I make it a practice . Cable is a little short , but it shares the same kind of connector as my Razr , 12 - in - 1 card reader , and Mp3 player .
        • 187 4  I bought this after much research . Much better value than the WD counterparts , larger capacity at reduced price , and ( reportedly ) lower failure rates . This is a durable drive . I toss it loose into my backpack and take it everywhere . I've dropped it from moderate distances ( less than two feet ) a couple of times but it's fine . Easily fits into the back pocket of my jeans , not that I make it a practice . Cable is a little short , but it shares the same kind of connector as my Razr , 12 - in - 1 card reader , and Mp3 player .
        • 188 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) + = small and sleek design ( actually smaller than it looks in picture ) , small single cable , decent transfer speed ( without included software ) - = main selling point of this unit is ability to encrypt data . I Thought I could use it to backup my sensitive work files without worrying about what happens if I lose it . However , included encryption software is ridiculously slow . It took 27 hours ( that is one day plus 3 hour ) to save about 20 gigs of trial data . This makes the software worthless in my opinion . Bottomline : buy only if it offers you advantages unrelated to encryption of data .
        • 189 4  + = small and sleek design ( actually smaller than it looks in picture ) , small single cable , decent transfer speed ( without included software ) - = main selling point of this unit is ability to encrypt data . I Thought I could use it to backup my sensitive work files without worrying about what happens if I lose it . However , included encryption software is ridiculously slow . It took 27 hours ( that is one day plus 3 hour ) to save about 20 gigs of trial data . This makes the software worthless in my opinion . Bottomline : buy only if it offers you advantages unrelated to encryption of data .
        • 190 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) At first , all was fine . Plugged it into my Mac and it worked . A couple weeks later I tried it again . The drive icon never came up on screen . I tried it on another computer with the same problem . So I tried a USB cable from my Canon camera . That solved it - - on both computers . Call it bad luck . I've been having cable issues lately . Had a problem with a bad HDMI cable recently . Hope Toshiba reads this and offers up a replacement cable .
        • 192 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This is a great 500GB hard drive for the money . Easty to use as a backup for an on-board HD .
        • 194 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This device is so useful and easy to use . It's portable , the size is perfect . It's enough for personal files and folders . Don't need any adapter , so it makes it easier to use !
        • 196 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) The backup and restore software comes along with this drive is not very good . I tried to restore around 10gb files using the thosiba software , it took me 2 / 3 days to restore all files , very slow
        • 198 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) Great device , works flawlessly since i have had it . Does make a little noise but noticeable only if you are looking for it . Very satisfied .
        • 200 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I bought this product mainly to store videos that I download to my laptop from my HD camcorder . I also bought the case recommended by Amazon : [ . . . ] - which is a great product as well with excellent fit and finish . Positives are - compact size ( and attractive red color that matches my laptop ) - plenty of storage ( 64 months of video storage since I produce ~ 10gb of HD videos a month : - ) ) - great value for money I don't have a good feel for the transfer speed ( usb 2.0 ) ; it feels adequate to me but I suspect it can be faster with firewire ( I have another Seagate that supports firewire interface that seems to go faster ) . However , I have no complaints at this price Overall , the drive is great value for money and helps me stay organized with my home videos .
        • 201 4  I bought this product mainly to store videos that I download to my laptop from my HD camcorder . I also bought the case recommended by Amazon : [ . . . ] - which is a great product as well with excellent fit and finish . Positives are - compact size ( and attractive red color that matches my laptop ) - plenty of storage ( 64 months of video storage since I produce ~ 10gb of HD videos a month : - ) ) - great value for money I don't have a good feel for the transfer speed ( usb 2.0 ) ; it feels adequate to me but I suspect it can be faster with firewire ( I have another Seagate that supports firewire interface that seems to go faster ) . However , I have no complaints at this price Overall , the drive is great value for money and helps me stay organized with my home videos .
        • 202 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Excelent . It falls one time , but nothing happend . Good mechanical protection of the hard disk . Only flaw : It is preferible the backup software of the O.S . than the one included with the product ( slow and hang up ) .
        • 203 4  Excelent . It falls one time , but nothing happend . Good mechanical protection of the hard disk . Only flaw : It is preferible the backup software of the O.S . than the one included with the product ( slow and hang up ) .
        • 204 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) A very versatile portable hard drive . Impressed with product . I did call the Toshiba support center to ask an operational question and , I must say , the tech support was not reliable . Buy the product , and if you encounter a problem , ask your local computer technician for help . But it is unlikely that a problem will arise .
        • 206 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) The Toshiba External Hard Drive is nothing but outstanding . I purchased the 500GB hard drive and it has proven to be outstanding in every way . It was very easy to set up and it has responded flawlessly since I purchased it . I am using it on my Tobshiba Labtop . I would highly recommend this product for anyone who is seriously into backing up their files or hard drive .
        • 208 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This was a gift for my son and he says he would be hard pressed to use as much space as it has . He was very pleased with it .
        • 210 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I purchased this hard drive after reading all the reviews left by people who gave a good score . It is very small and compact . It was pretty easy to use and I would definitely recommend it to others .
        • 212 4  Bought one 640 GB drive from local Frys in Bay Area . Drive comes with a small autorun.inf file which runs in a Windows machine and displays tiny toshiba drive icon in Windows Explorer which is pretty neat . Anti-virus on your machine may not like this and will keep complaining that an unauthorized program is running . This is mostly harmless but if you are annoyed you can either delete this file or rename it to something else . Plugged this drive in a Macbook Pro and created 2 partitions , one for MAC ( HFS ) and other for Windows ( NTFS ) . USB cable that came alongwith it is really short but I like it that way , since it stays very near to the laptop and I don't see any ugly wires running all over . This drive is a 5400 RPM , has a mini-USB port and runs solely on USB power ( there is no external power supply required ) . Some older computers / USB hubs may be limiting power to their USB port in which case this drive will not power-up . A solution for this would be to get a USB Y-cable with Mini-USB on one side ( for the drive ) and other two ends going into two USB slots ( to get extra power ) .
        • 214 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I'm not quite sure whether I want the automatic backup program to be there at all , but I feel too uncertain to just go ahead and delete all the little files and programs that come inside this storage device . I bet there is a way to stop that by playing with the preferences , but it's quite annoying that the storage device does not come empty . Aside from that , I love this thing . It's quiet , fast , and stores things ! Looks pretty cool too . I thought it would be bigger , but it's so small and cute . I shall get a covering case for it soon to protect its pretty glossy surface !
        • 216 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I recently ordered this product and I'm rather happy . My PC was running out of space from installed video games . The 320GB is serving me well and helping to clear up my PC . I installed some of my larger games to the HDD and they run off of it perfectly . Videos and music also run off of it just fine . It comes with software to help you back up your PC , but I opted out of using it . I've had no problems with this product in the short amount of time I've owned it . It does what it is supposed to rather well , is fairly small and light , and looks nicer than other HDD do . I'm pleased . If anything comes up I'll edit this review .
        • 218 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Remove the software that is on the drive . Why did Toshiba include it ? ? The drive is cool running and fast enough for my needs . I have used Toshiba drives for several years and have always had good luck with them .
        • 220 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) So far , the product is great . I love the 1 USB port ( while all other models require 2 ports ) , and portability of the hard drive . I would never by a 3.5 size , even if the purpose is to leave at home ( the power outlet is a no-go already ) . The only thing I'm not thrilled is the backup software . I'm not confident to use it ( I tried once ) and I rather copy the files I want .
        • 221 4  So far , the product is great . I love the 1 USB port ( while all other models require 2 ports ) , and portability of the hard drive . I would never by a 3.5 size , even if the purpose is to leave at home ( the power outlet is a no-go already ) . The only thing I'm not thrilled is the backup software . I'm not confident to use it ( I tried once ) and I rather copy the files I want .
        • 222 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Pro : Stylish , sleek . Tried with Windows 7 . No problem at all . Con : Overpriced . Also , I thought I would get full 500 GB , I got roughly 460GB .
        • 223 4  Pro : Stylish , sleek . Tried with Windows 7 . No problem at all . Con : Overpriced . Also , I thought I would get full 500 GB , I got roughly 460GB .
        • 224 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) This is a nice little unit . Overall I'm happy with it . The only minus points are 1 ) the included USB cable is very short and I had to buy a longer one to use the drive with my desktop PC ( not an issue with a laptop ) , and 2 ) when I place my PC in sleep mode , the drive clicks every few seconds . . . I don't know if thats bad for the drive but it's a little irritating .
        • 225 4  This is a nice little unit . Overall I'm happy with it . The only minus points are 1 ) the included USB cable is very short and I had to buy a longer one to use the drive with my desktop PC ( not an issue with a laptop ) , and 2 ) when I place my PC in sleep mode , the drive clicks every few seconds . . . I don't know if thats bad for the drive but it's a little irritating .
        • 226 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) A great product for both PC and Mac computers that ease of storage . One factor that was found that for Mac users is that the Toshiba portable hard drive is it MUST be reformat for a Mac it comes with an PC format . Is a great product !
        • 228 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) I love this portable hard drive . I had been looking for some time and at several different brands . I was most impressed with the Toshiba Portable External Hard Drive . It does what it says and more . It was easy to set up and use . It has backup software if that is what is of interest . It was easy as well . I mainly wanted it to backup photos and documents that I could carry with me rather than my whole system . It is nice to have that capability though . It was fast , quiet and lightwieght , everything I wanted in a portable . Very good qualilty . Excellent buy for the money . I am very pleased . Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR
        • 229 4  I love this portable hard drive . I had been looking for some time and at several different brands . I was most impressed with the Toshiba Portable External Hard Drive . It does what it says and more . It was easy to set up and use . It has backup software if that is what is of interest . It was easy as well . I mainly wanted it to backup photos and documents that I could carry with me rather than my whole system . It is nice to have that capability though . It was fast , quiet and lightwieght , everything I wanted in a portable . Very good qualilty . Excellent buy for the money . I am very pleased . Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR
        • 230 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Installation was a little confusing . After calling product help , I was informed that the drive had to be connected directly to computer , not from auxiliary USB connections . I found that I cannot have it connected when I boot my computer but connect it after computer up and running . After that very easy to use . I have all my photos on it which makes it very easy to review them .
        • 232 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Plugged and played , best price on the web , performs exactly as advertised , no problem switching between my Mac at home and my PC at work . Bundled backup software for Windows works great , native backup software for my Mac found the HD and did its job as well . Too early to judge reliability .
        • 234 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I did a little research for external hard drives and was originally going to go with one that you had to plug in thats was a litle cheaper but after reading online reviews i decided to go ahead and get this portable toshiba one . I know it does not have the name like seagate or western digital but it works great . It was simple to instal-just plug and play . You can drag items from you hard drive and they transfer very easily . I would definitely recommend it .
        • 236 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Very , very good , fast , small , pretty , its all you can search ! ! ! , Buy it with confidence ! ! ! !
        • 238 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) You plug this hard drive in and it just works ( using a MacBook with current OS ) . It's small , light , portable , and reliable . You can't go wrong .
        • 240 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This is a great product , it's very fast when compared with other disks I have used . No heat , no noise and it function perfect with Ubuntu .
        • 242 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I would recommend it . Very good product , useful , good design , very easy to use , good software and you also have a choice to don't use the software , so it is the best !
        • 244 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This is a great drive for the price . Don't expect stunning performance , but rather outstanding portability and 500GB of storage for media and backups . The performance while copying files was actually piss poor , but I didn't expect much . Loses one star for two reasons : 1 . It comes with a bit of horrid software on the drive , which will likely require you to reformat to fully rid yourself of it . Good luck reformatting in FAT32 ( lets you use the drive across platforms ) - download a free utility that will do it since the most recent Windoze releases won't do it for you . 2 . The enclosure's design leaves something to be desired . It looks like something from the 1970 ' s . Other than that , this is a good purchase .
        • 245 4  This is a great drive for the price . Don't expect stunning performance , but rather outstanding portability and 500GB of storage for media and backups . The performance while copying files was actually piss poor , but I didn't expect much . Loses one star for two reasons : 1 . It comes with a bit of horrid software on the drive , which will likely require you to reformat to fully rid yourself of it . Good luck reformatting in FAT32 ( lets you use the drive across platforms ) - download a free utility that will do it since the most recent Windoze releases won't do it for you . 2 . The enclosure's design leaves something to be desired . It looks like something from the 1970 ' s . Other than that , this is a good purchase .
        • 246 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This is my second external drive , but my first Toshiba external drive . The first thing I did - deleted the backup software ; next ( based on some reviews posted here ) I reformatted the drive to NTFS format . Both things were easy to do - I followed the directions in the Windows help menu ) , and I have a very fast , efficient hard drive .
        • 248 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This IS the external drive to buy . After being severely disappointed by the newest Western Digital portable drive , which one should avoid like the flu or monkey pox , Toshiba hits a home run in the external hard drive department . Its a Score ! It works , its snazzy , and its quality . Thanks Tosh ! 1111
        • 250 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) After a couple of tries I finally ( I think ) figured out the user interface with this hard drive . Would have been nice for them to include a little documentation for those of us who've never used one of these . Haven't had to recover anything I've saved so not sure if it worked or not . Thought I could open it on the computer and see my files , didnt realize it doesn't work that way . Anyone want to tell me how I know it saved everything ? UPDATED 2 - 16 - 10 : Used several times to transfer data from older , dying laptops to new laptop . Only real problem I've noticed so far is the slowness on loading data from old laptops but I'm pretty sure it is due to the laptop , not the external drive . Documents transfer off of it quite easily to new laptop . I even figured out how to have different storage folders on the external so I can distinguish data from different machines . The only thing I dont like is that it automatically tries to start backing up and I have to stop it to make sure it's set to the correct folders . Not a big deal , just something to be careful with . So far I have not experienced any of the clicks of death some have and the product is working as advertised .
        • 251 4  After a couple of tries I finally ( I think ) figured out the user interface with this hard drive . Would have been nice for them to include a little documentation for those of us who've never used one of these . Haven't had to recover anything I've saved so not sure if it worked or not . Thought I could open it on the computer and see my files , didnt realize it doesn't work that way . Anyone want to tell me how I know it saved everything ? UPDATED 2 - 16 - 10 : Used several times to transfer data from older , dying laptops to new laptop . Only real problem I've noticed so far is the slowness on loading data from old laptops but I'm pretty sure it is due to the laptop , not the external drive . Documents transfer off of it quite easily to new laptop . I even figured out how to have different storage folders on the external so I can distinguish data from different machines . The only thing I dont like is that it automatically tries to start backing up and I have to stop it to make sure it's set to the correct folders . Not a big deal , just something to be careful with . So far I have not experienced any of the clicks of death some have and the product is working as advertised .
        • 252 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Does what it's supposed to do and has a small footprint . Unit is very light , plugs and plays , gets pretty good transfer rate for what it is . Comes formatted with FAT32 ( 465 GB ) . Comes with a short little mini-usb cable to attach . Drive is very quiet . I've noticed that if moving lots of files it's a good idea to do only one or two transfer windows at a time , or else there can be lost / missing data upon arrival at the Toshiba . This might not be the fault of the little tosh , but it's worth noting . Playback of streaming video ( DVD-quality ) is smooth . EDIT - after about 6months of very light occasional use and no traveling , the drive is starting to die . It lost about 40GB , then it started to click click click . I need to see if I can get a replacement .
        • 253 4  Does what it's supposed to do and has a small footprint . Unit is very light , plugs and plays , gets pretty good transfer rate for what it is . Comes formatted with FAT32 ( 465 GB ) . Comes with a short little mini-usb cable to attach . Drive is very quiet . I've noticed that if moving lots of files it's a good idea to do only one or two transfer windows at a time , or else there can be lost / missing data upon arrival at the Toshiba . This might not be the fault of the little tosh , but it's worth noting . Playback of streaming video ( DVD-quality ) is smooth . EDIT - after about 6months of very light occasional use and no traveling , the drive is starting to die . It lost about 40GB , then it started to click click click . I need to see if I can get a replacement .
        • 254 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Fantastic product , have had no problems with it yet and I've owned it for about a month now . The backup software that comes with it is good as well . However , my only concern is the very thin / cheap plastic casing Toshiba uses to protect the hard drive . Overall , it gets the job done .
        • 256 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This little ( a little longer than a deck of cards and half as thick ) 500 gigabyte hard drive may not be the fastest , but it's used for long term storage and if you can't wait a few extra minutes , you're too impatient . I primarily purchased this unit because it had no negatives in the customer reviews . Other external hard drives had reports of not working out of the box , total failure after three months , problems with customer service , etc . Can't say how long it will work , but it doesn't sound as if anyone's had any problems . It took me one evening to transfer 3.5 gigs of pictures and music without a hitch . You just suddenly have another hard drive show up on your computer . Works for me . Bil Riter , Huntington , WV
        • 257 4  This little ( a little longer than a deck of cards and half as thick ) 500 gigabyte hard drive may not be the fastest , but it's used for long term storage and if you can't wait a few extra minutes , you're too impatient . I primarily purchased this unit because it had no negatives in the customer reviews . Other external hard drives had reports of not working out of the box , total failure after three months , problems with customer service , etc . Can't say how long it will work , but it doesn't sound as if anyone's had any problems . It took me one evening to transfer 3.5 gigs of pictures and music without a hitch . You just suddenly have another hard drive show up on your computer . Works for me . Bil Riter , Huntington , WV
        • 258 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) This is a great item with pretty looking and amazing performance . The only short is that it takes more than 10 days to deliever .
        • 263 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) I purchased this 320gb drive because of previous reviews and am glad I did . Truly plug and play for macintosh . 5 stars and deserves it . Not much more to say .
        • 266 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I bought this b / c of the footprint and price . I just assumed any USB HD device will just plug into any computer and show up to access . This was not so for this device . My windows computers had a hard time recognizing the device . MY Mac was able to see it . It doesn't seem to like switching from one computer to the next . I returned it after I couldn't get to access it on my laptop .
        • 270 4  I bought one of these drives to do complex backups of several Mac computers that contain many unusual programs and files ( not all mine ; I'm dealing with some colleagues who are very casual about backing up ) . The nature of the files etc . seemed to create various issues , as I had to monitor the data transfer frequently . The drive would sometimes accept a file , sometimes reject it but take it later , sometimes skip it , sometimes delete the entire backup if it found a file it didn't like , etc . There was no apparent pattern , just what the drive felt like doing . One critical backup was a MacBook that had been dropped repeatedly and was on its last legs . The drive did take the contents ( I thought ) shortly before the computer died . But unfortunately , the folder turned out to be a series of thousands of zero kb files . Luckily most of that computer's contents had been backed up onto a more reliable ( but not readily accessible ) drive fairly recently ; I'm just glad it wasn't one of these . Then , the drive started to get picky about whether it would interact with certain computers . There was no apparent rhyme or reason - - it would show up on a given computer once but not the next time it was hooked up ( but maybe again later ) , or take an hour to show up , then maybe disappear . . . again , no apparent pattern . I did get most of what this drive had managed to actually transfer and save onto another computer and another drive , and I did most of the backups in duplicate with another drive when I saw how unreliable the Toshiba was . Maybe I just got a bad one , but of many , many external drives I've had this was by far the worst , costing me a huge amount of time and one of my colleagues ( who of course should have been backing up all along ) a fair bit of data . After three days , the drive simply stopped interacting with any computer regardless of model or OS . I realize that the nature of these backups was somewhat unusual , but the behavior of this drive was extremely erratic , and complete failure within 72 hours obviously isn't acceptable . I wouldn't go near a Toshiba drive again .
        • 271 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) This hard drive is absolutely amazing . It's super easy to use ! Enough said .
        • 273 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) Toshiba HD is small , inexpensive but little bit on the slower side . It transfers data around 20 - 25 MB / s but is as slow as 2.5MB / s on older machines . But worth the money if you are looking up for backing up your data once in a while .
        • 275 4  This review is from : Toshiba 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR320E04XW ( Vivid White ) ( Electronics ) The drive is a good buy unitl you find that you may have to spend more money if you have an older computer . You will need to by a Y cable to give the drive enough power to work and it still may not work

      • Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) Bless Amazon for sending me a review request days after my product stopped working . The device up until then was sensational ; small , tidy and well designed . However . . . . now that I've loaded over 300GB of my content onto the hard drive it has just STOPPED WORKING . I can't access the content nor save content to it . I can't send it back to Amazon for a new one because I don't want to lose my data . . . . so unless someone from Amazon reads this and has a better idea it's off to Geek Squad for me . . . . Fingers crossed .
        • 022 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) Bless Amazon for sending me a review request days after my product stopped working . The device up until then was sensational ; small , tidy and well designed . However . . . . now that I've loaded over 300GB of my content onto the hard drive it has just STOPPED WORKING . I can't access the content nor save content to it . I can't send it back to Amazon for a new one because I don't want to lose my data . . . . so unless someone from Amazon reads this and has a better idea it's off to Geek Squad for me . . . . Fingers crossed .
        • 155 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) Este disco es lo mejor que he comprado . No necesitas ser un genio para usar este disco . No ocupa nada de espacio y super facil de cargar . 500 GB DE ESPACIO POR ESTE PRECIO ES UNA SUPER OFERTA . Excelente articulo , recomiendo su uso .
        • 156 4  Este disco es lo mejor que he comprado . No necesitas ser un genio para usar este disco . No ocupa nada de espacio y super facil de cargar . 500 GB DE ESPACIO POR ESTE PRECIO ES UNA SUPER OFERTA . Excelente articulo , recomiendo su uso .

      • Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) DO NOT GET THIS ! ! ! I ordered it and as usual , Amazon did an awesome job of delivering it on time . But it was only when I plugged it in the following day that the Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive started giving me problems . I spent so many hours in trying to get this thing going . It just wouldn't work ! Man . This reminded me of computers when they initially came out . It was so slow to get the included software working and every time I clicked something , I would have to wait at least 15 seconds before my computer would execute that command . The Backup Now EZ software is far from EZ ! I spent such a long time and wasted so many hours . Who will pay me back for this utterly frustrating experience ! I need to trust the negative reviews of people and I can't ignore them any more . Do not get this ! I called Toshiba and I didn't have a good experience with their customer service . Then I decided to return this item . Amazon as usual was awesome ! Five stars to Amazon and zero to Toshiba . Since I ordered cases for this drive , I obviously decided to return them as well and Amazon didn't charge at all for the return shipping . Amazon ! I : heart : you . Once again , I wasted so many hours of my precious time in trying to get this working and it just wouldn't work . It started making those clicking noises as well and it would freeze up my whole computer and I was getting really scared . I genuinely thought that this Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive would crash my computer ! It was so scary ! Never again Toshiba . Never again . I then took the hard drive and I even tested it on my laptop but it didn't work on that as well . It looks awesome but you don't judge a book by it's front cover . It was only today that I learnt this the hard way . Now I have to waste more time in returning this to the local UPS . Don't waste your time in ordering this good looking hard drive . The exterior looks awesome , but the interior was horrible . At the end of the day , it's the interior what really counts .
        • 035 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) DO NOT GET THIS ! ! ! I ordered it and as usual , Amazon did an awesome job of delivering it on time . But it was only when I plugged it in the following day that the Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive started giving me problems . I spent so many hours in trying to get this thing going . It just wouldn't work ! Man . This reminded me of computers when they initially came out . It was so slow to get the included software working and every time I clicked something , I would have to wait at least 15 seconds before my computer would execute that command . The Backup Now EZ software is far from EZ ! I spent such a long time and wasted so many hours . Who will pay me back for this utterly frustrating experience ! I need to trust the negative reviews of people and I can't ignore them any more . Do not get this ! I called Toshiba and I didn't have a good experience with their customer service . Then I decided to return this item . Amazon as usual was awesome ! Five stars to Amazon and zero to Toshiba . Since I ordered cases for this drive , I obviously decided to return them as well and Amazon didn't charge at all for the return shipping . Amazon ! I : heart : you . Once again , I wasted so many hours of my precious time in trying to get this working and it just wouldn't work . It started making those clicking noises as well and it would freeze up my whole computer and I was getting really scared . I genuinely thought that this Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive would crash my computer ! It was so scary ! Never again Toshiba . Never again . I then took the hard drive and I even tested it on my laptop but it didn't work on that as well . It looks awesome but you don't judge a book by it's front cover . It was only today that I learnt this the hard way . Now I have to waste more time in returning this to the local UPS . Don't waste your time in ordering this good looking hard drive . The exterior looks awesome , but the interior was horrible . At the end of the day , it's the interior what really counts .
        • 036 4  DO NOT GET THIS ! ! ! I ordered it and as usual , Amazon did an awesome job of delivering it on time . But it was only when I plugged it in the following day that the Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive started giving me problems . I spent so many hours in trying to get this thing going . It just wouldn't work ! Man . This reminded me of computers when they initially came out . It was so slow to get the included software working and every time I clicked something , I would have to wait at least 15 seconds before my computer would execute that command . The Backup Now EZ software is far from EZ ! I spent such a long time and wasted so many hours . Who will pay me back for this utterly frustrating experience ! I need to trust the negative reviews of people and I can't ignore them any more . Do not get this ! I called Toshiba and I didn't have a good experience with their customer service . Then I decided to return this item . Amazon as usual was awesome ! Five stars to Amazon and zero to Toshiba . Since I ordered cases for this drive , I obviously decided to return them as well and Amazon didn't charge at all for the return shipping . Amazon ! I : heart : you . Once again , I wasted so many hours of my precious time in trying to get this working and it just wouldn't work . It started making those clicking noises as well and it would freeze up my whole computer and I was getting really scared . I genuinely thought that this Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive would crash my computer ! It was so scary ! Never again Toshiba . Never again . I then took the hard drive and I even tested it on my laptop but it didn't work on that as well . It looks awesome but you don't judge a book by it's front cover . It was only today that I learnt this the hard way . Now I have to waste more time in returning this to the local UPS . Don't waste your time in ordering this good looking hard drive . The exterior looks awesome , but the interior was horrible . At the end of the day , it's the interior what really counts .
        • 148 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) Please save yourself the money and aggravation and DON'T buy this product . I bought this through Amazon on Feb . 28 . I used it , and the backup software that came with it , to back up , my desktop and laptop . The first week of May , my desktop had a problem that resulted in me re-loading Windows and wiped out all my data files . No problem , I thought , because I had backed up my data . Unfortunately I had not TESTED the backup to make sure it worked . No good . While I can see the 15GB file of my files and folders on the drive , I cannot access the backup . Took it to Best Buy - they couldn't do it either . So I sent the drive off to a professional data recovery place - no good . All my data is lost . But since my drive was only 60 days old , I contacted Toshiba to see if they would help with the cost to recover the data ( before I found out it could not be recovered ) . It was estimated at $300 - $1000 to recover it . The supervisor at Toshiba had the nerve to tell me that I should have backed up the data on another drive . I told her that was why I had bought her product ! And now she was basically telling me her product was not reliable so I should have backed it up again . I'm so disgusted with Toshiba's attitude . Do not buy this product .
        • 149 4  Please save yourself the money and aggravation and DON'T buy this product . I bought this through Amazon on Feb . 28 . I used it , and the backup software that came with it , to back up , my desktop and laptop . The first week of May , my desktop had a problem that resulted in me re-loading Windows and wiped out all my data files . No problem , I thought , because I had backed up my data . Unfortunately I had not TESTED the backup to make sure it worked . No good . While I can see the 15GB file of my files and folders on the drive , I cannot access the backup . Took it to Best Buy - they couldn't do it either . So I sent the drive off to a professional data recovery place - no good . All my data is lost . But since my drive was only 60 days old , I contacted Toshiba to see if they would help with the cost to recover the data ( before I found out it could not be recovered ) . It was estimated at $300 - $1000 to recover it . The supervisor at Toshiba had the nerve to tell me that I should have backed up the data on another drive . I told her that was why I had bought her product ! And now she was basically telling me her product was not reliable so I should have backed it up again . I'm so disgusted with Toshiba's attitude . Do not buy this product .
        • 261 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) I ordered this Toshiba 500 GB drive last night , BUT this morning , I noticed a couple of things about the Seagate FreeAgent Go 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External HD that convinced me to return the Toshiba when it arrives and to order the Seagate . First , the Toshiba has a 3 - year warranty while the Seagate has a 5 - year warranty . Second , Amazon.com currently ( 2 / 18 / 10 ) has a special for the Seagate drive : there is a Dock for Seagate drives ( Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock ) which Amazon sells ( gives ) for FREE ( normally $17.27 ) WHEN YOU ORDER the Seagate drive . So , check out the dock , and if you find it as appealing and useful as I did , you can get it for free . OR , there is a newer , BETTER dock ( Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock + with 3 Powered USB Ports ) that you can add for $16.93 . For some reason , a direct ( Amazon ) search for this item does NOT seem to find it . I only found it when I looked at the ' What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item ? ' section and the ' Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought ' section on the Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock page . * UPDATE * I forgot to mention that the Toshiba drive does NOT have the FREE Supersaver Shipping offer ; the Seagate drive and free dock DO offer FREE shipping . Hope this helps .

      • Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) The built-in backup software that comes with this portable , fast Toshiba drive allows you to do two types of backup . The drive works well , but the backup software is the primary reason that I rate it 5 stars . An IMAGE backup takes a snapshot of your hard drive , then allows you to restore an exact copy of that snapshot later . My strategy is to automatically make a new image backup on the same day of each month , and to keep the last three backups . You could backup weekly , but monthly is frequently enough for me . ( You'll have to rename two older backup folders manually to keep two older backups plus the current one . ) That prevents you from having to start from scratch if you have to reload Windows for any reason . You won't have to load dozens of Windows updates and you won't have to get a special dispensation from Adobe to reinstall your fully legal copy of Photoshop , for example . If you have many applications installed , this can save you 2 - 3 days on a Windows reload . You can reload to the same or larger drive on the same PC , but ( I believe ) you can't transfer everything to a new machine - due to driver issues . A FILE BY FILE backup automatically makes daily ( or even hourly ) copies of important files - your documents and settings , email , photos , music , and anything else that changes on a regular basis . If you restore from an IMAGE backup , you can use this FILE BY FILE backup to bring your PC up to date with everything that has changed since your last IMAGE backup . You can also use these backups to restore a damaged file to last night's version , or to the version from several days ago . The more expensive versions of Vista and Windows 7 include both IMAGE and FILE BY FILE backup software . XP and ( I believe ) home versions of Vista and Windows 7 do not . In any case , the 640 GB hard drive provides the space for multiple backups of most hard drives - unless your 320 GB drive is filled to the brim . My 250 GB drive has less than 100 GB in use , so I have enough space to include an occasional IMAGE backup of a second computer . $99 is a small price to pay for automatic daily backups of your photos , music and email - and to eliminate the need for a complete reinstall of Windows . If you can afford two drives , you can keep one off-site in a safe deposit box , to cover you in case of theft or fire . How many of your friends or family members have lost all of their photos because they never backed them up ? My only complaint about this drive is that the USB cable is just 10 inches long . That's perfect for a laptop , but can be a stretch for a desktop PC . Two cables would be nice , to cover both types of PCs . But I still give it 5 stars , because this is the first portable drive I've purchased that includes software for IMAGE backups . It's Backup Now EZ by NTI , and the user guide is online if you want to see how it works . Search for the user guide using the quotes , as shown above .
        • 010 4  I was looking for a good portable external hard-drive for sometime ( only online and not only at Amazon.com ) . Eventually , I basically slimmed my options down to wanting a Toshiba . User specs seemed about the best to me and recommendations were all good . I found different variations from various sellers . Amazon had the latest and newest version , which appears to be the one I am writing the review for , at a lesser price than what the other vendors were selling out-dated-models of 500Gd Toshiba hard-drives for . That I liked . Be careful not to buy the old models from on-line sellers , they usually do not specify between the older models and the latest released models . Service was very prompt too , and shipping was handled well . I really don't know a lot about hard drives , space , or even computers . The drive itself works well . The instillation process was confusing if one does not understand the difference or benefits between using the drive as a FAT32 or NTFS . Even without formatting it to NTFS apparently it still can be used FAT32 on Windows . Sometimes when I plug unrelated external storage units into my computer , like my 1Gb Flash disk , the BackUp Now EZ software attempts to use them to backup my computer . Maybe , their is an easy way to make the software function only with the external storage units that I select , that I simply have not yet discovered . I purchased the Caselogic brand hard-drive case that Amazon recommend along with the drive . The drive does fit with some extra room . The small elastic type material strap inside the case keeps the drive from moving . After looking at the drive I am happy I bought a case . I would recommend that anyone who does travel , to get a case for it . I consider it a good investment made and money well spent .
        • 015 4  This review is from : Toshiba 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR640E04XR ( Rocket Red ) ( Electronics ) The built-in backup software that comes with this portable , fast Toshiba drive allows you to do two types of backup . The drive works well , but the backup software is the primary reason that I rate it 5 stars . An IMAGE backup takes a snapshot of your hard drive , then allows you to restore an exact copy of that snapshot later . My strategy is to automatically make a new image backup on the same day of each month , and to keep the last three backups . You could backup weekly , but monthly is frequently enough for me . ( You'll have to rename two older backup folders manually to keep two older backups plus the current one . ) That prevents you from having to start from scratch if you have to reload Windows for any reason . You won't have to load dozens of Windows updates and you won't have to get a special dispensation from Adobe to reinstall your fully legal copy of Photoshop , for example . If you have many applications installed , this can save you 2 - 3 days on a Windows reload . You can reload to the same or larger drive on the same PC , but ( I believe ) you can't transfer everything to a new machine - due to driver issues . A FILE BY FILE backup automatically makes daily ( or even hourly ) copies of important files - your documents and settings , email , photos , music , and anything else that changes on a regular basis . If you restore from an IMAGE backup , you can use this FILE BY FILE backup to bring your PC up to date with everything that has changed since your last IMAGE backup . You can also use these backups to restore a damaged file to last night's version , or to the version from several days ago . The more expensive versions of Vista and Windows 7 include both IMAGE and FILE BY FILE backup software . XP and ( I believe ) home versions of Vista and Windows 7 do not . In any case , the 640 GB hard drive provides the space for multiple backups of most hard drives - unless your 320 GB drive is filled to the brim . My 250 GB drive has less than 100 GB in use , so I have enough space to include an occasional IMAGE backup of a second computer . $99 is a small price to pay for automatic daily backups of your photos , music and email - and to eliminate the need for a complete reinstall of Windows . If you can afford two drives , you can keep one off-site in a safe deposit box , to cover you in case of theft or fire . How many of your friends or family members have lost all of their photos because they never backed them up ? My only complaint about this drive is that the USB cable is just 10 inches long . That's perfect for a laptop , but can be a stretch for a desktop PC . Two cables would be nice , to cover both types of PCs . But I still give it 5 stars , because this is the first portable drive I've purchased that includes software for IMAGE backups . It's Backup Now EZ by NTI , and the user guide is online if you want to see how it works . Search for the user guide using the quotes , as shown above .
        • 016 4  The built-in backup software that comes with this portable , fast Toshiba drive allows you to do two types of backup . The drive works well , but the backup software is the primary reason that I rate it 5 stars . An IMAGE backup takes a snapshot of your hard drive , then allows you to restore an exact copy of that snapshot later . My strategy is to automatically make a new image backup on the same day of each month , and to keep the last three backups . You could backup weekly , but monthly is frequently enough for me . ( You'll have to rename two older backup folders manually to keep two older backups plus the current one . ) That prevents you from having to start from scratch if you have to reload Windows for any reason . You won't have to load dozens of Windows updates and you won't have to get a special dispensation from Adobe to reinstall your fully legal copy of Photoshop , for example . If you have many applications installed , this can save you 2 - 3 days on a Windows reload . You can reload to the same or larger drive on the same PC , but ( I believe ) you can't transfer everything to a new machine - due to driver issues . A FILE BY FILE backup automatically makes daily ( or even hourly ) copies of important files - your documents and settings , email , photos , music , and anything else that changes on a regular basis . If you restore from an IMAGE backup , you can use this FILE BY FILE backup to bring your PC up to date with everything that has changed since your last IMAGE backup . You can also use these backups to restore a damaged file to last night's version , or to the version from several days ago . The more expensive versions of Vista and Windows 7 include both IMAGE and FILE BY FILE backup software . XP and ( I believe ) home versions of Vista and Windows 7 do not . In any case , the 640 GB hard drive provides the space for multiple backups of most hard drives - unless your 320 GB drive is filled to the brim . My 250 GB drive has less than 100 GB in use , so I have enough space to include an occasional IMAGE backup of a second computer . $99 is a small price to pay for automatic daily backups of your photos , music and email - and to eliminate the need for a complete reinstall of Windows . If you can afford two drives , you can keep one off-site in a safe deposit box , to cover you in case of theft or fire . How many of your friends or family members have lost all of their photos because they never backed them up ? My only complaint about this drive is that the USB cable is just 10 inches long . That's perfect for a laptop , but can be a stretch for a desktop PC . Two cables would be nice , to cover both types of PCs . But I still give it 5 stars , because this is the first portable drive I've purchased that includes software for IMAGE backups . It's Backup Now EZ by NTI , and the user guide is online if you want to see how it works . Search for the user guide using the quotes , as shown above .
        • 060 4  Un-box , Plug and Play . Came formatted as FAT32 and contains a file for MacOS , so I guess it's Mac OS friendly , too . Formatted to NTFS so to check for any time zero dead-bytes . SMART feature works for this drive - logging up to 24 SMART attributes , more than average that I've seen so far . Start temp measured at 69F , full formatting worked the drive up to 105.8F ( ambient temp 68F ) , meaning just barely warm to the touch . The hardware inside : I looked up the intenal model number of this item , it says MK5055GSX . This is one of the recent HDD produced by Toshiba . Tom's HW rate it as the most bang-per-watt HDD . From the Toshiba website , it features free-fall sensor ( FFS ) to protect the drive . Sounds good to me . USB cable provided is footlong with attached electrical filter ( ferrite ) , and appears to be of good quality . I am glad that it's not a Y-cable , but if you need one , Toshiba website sells them at ~ $7.50 . Do I like it ? Yes , it's so cool that the photo of this product featured in most websites has the brand label upside down . : ) I am not a user of backup softwares , so no comment on the one provided within .
        • 111 4  Wish it comes with a soft case or some sort . I got the Case Logic PHDC - 1 , also from Amazon . a bit big , but functional . Happy with both purchases . P / S , reformated to NTFS . Uses SyncBack ( free edition ) for folder backup / snyc . Really nice freeware , highly recommended .
        • 126 4  This time around I chose to buy Toshiba instead of WD because of a good experience with my old 2005 5th gen iPod . As I understand , all hard-drive based iPods use mini-Toshiba hard-drives . And my iPod has endured through these years very nicely . I started copying files to the new 500GB drive and when I got to around 10GB or so I realized the unit is factory formatted in FAT32 , which limits the size of an individual file . At the moment I thought that was rather unfortunate , but thankfully I had some time that day to tweak it . I started Ubuntu and created a new NTFS partition out of the free space . I don't remember exactly why , but I also had to rearrange the partitions , create a swap , and other pretty intensive operations with GParted , which took around 2 hours . Afterwards WinXP starts up , does a boot-time chkdsk ( which is typical after repartitioning ) and my drive is in NTFS now . That was done 2 weeks ago . The drive is running up very smoothly still . Hopefully it will keep up like my iPod drive , or better . Thank you for reading .
        • 262 4  I ordered this Toshiba 500 GB drive last night , BUT this morning , I noticed a couple of things about the Seagate FreeAgent Go 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External HD that convinced me to return the Toshiba when it arrives and to order the Seagate . First , the Toshiba has a 3 - year warranty while the Seagate has a 5 - year warranty . Second , Amazon.com currently ( 2 / 18 / 10 ) has a special for the Seagate drive : there is a Dock for Seagate drives ( Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock ) which Amazon sells ( gives ) for FREE ( normally $17.27 ) WHEN YOU ORDER the Seagate drive . So , check out the dock , and if you find it as appealing and useful as I did , you can get it for free . OR , there is a newer , BETTER dock ( Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock + with 3 Powered USB Ports ) that you can add for $16.93 . For some reason , a direct ( Amazon ) search for this item does NOT seem to find it . I only found it when I looked at the ' What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item ? ' section and the ' Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought ' section on the Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock page . * UPDATE * I forgot to mention that the Toshiba drive does NOT have the FREE Supersaver Shipping offer ; the Seagate drive and free dock DO offer FREE shipping . Hope this helps .
        • 268 4  This review is from : Toshiba 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Dive HDDR500E04XL ( Liquid Blue ) ( Electronics ) DO NOT BUY THIS EL-CHEAPO DRIVE . IT IS REALLY CHEAP QUALITY . I bought this drive in mid-November , and by the end of December it had started clicking loudly . This was after I had put a considerable amount of non critical files on it . However I had moved all those files from another ( more reliable Acomdata ) drive and had no other copies . My mistake , my loss - I never expected the hard drive to fail so quickly . PAY ATTENTION - Once the drive starts clicking loudly at all , GET YOUR DATA OFF IF YOU CAN - very soon it will be gone . I could not copy any files back off after the regular clicking started . If you have problems finding a warranty link on the toshiba site ( it is not real easy to find ) - here it is . [ . . . ] I went to the Toshiba site to try to obtain an online warranty RMA . The drive was only a month out of Amazon , but the Toshiba system informed me that my 1 - year warranty drive was OUT OF WARRANTY , and that I would have to call an 800 number during business hours and pay to have the drive repaired . Of course they will repair the drive for free . The amount of time I had to spend trying to get an RMA was almost not worth it . I had to jump through hoops and provide documentation on a barely used drive . It sucked that I could not get an RMA without having to call and wait on hold for hours and then fax in proof-of-purchase to them . On top of that it might take 2 - 3 weeks to get a replacement .
        • 269 4  DO NOT BUY THIS EL-CHEAPO DRIVE . IT IS REALLY CHEAP QUALITY . I bought this drive in mid-November , and by the end of December it had started clicking loudly . This was after I had put a considerable amount of non critical files on it . However I had moved all those files from another ( more reliable Acomdata ) drive and had no other copies . My mistake , my loss - I never expected the hard drive to fail so quickly . PAY ATTENTION - Once the drive starts clicking loudly at all , GET YOUR DATA OFF IF YOU CAN - very soon it will be gone . I could not copy any files back off after the regular clicking started . If you have problems finding a warranty link on the toshiba site ( it is not real easy to find ) - here it is . [ . . . ] I went to the Toshiba site to try to obtain an online warranty RMA . The drive was only a month out of Amazon , but the Toshiba system informed me that my 1 - year warranty drive was OUT OF WARRANTY , and that I would have to call an 800 number during business hours and pay to have the drive repaired . Of course they will repair the drive for free . The amount of time I had to spend trying to get an RMA was almost not worth it . I had to jump through hoops and provide documentation on a barely used drive . It sucked that I could not get an RMA without having to call and wait on hold for hours and then fax in proof-of-purchase to them . On top of that it might take 2 - 3 weeks to get a replacement .

      Global Market ( in english )

      midi, music score     livejournal taktak0 blog