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I recently purchased a Seagate BackUp Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable Drive and have been impressed with this sleek, compact, quiet running drive that does its job admirably. Many thanks to the many user comments which helped in my decision making process. This review will focus on Styling, Setup / Ease of Use, Performance, Reliability and Value
STYLING / STURDINESS (5/5): The Seagate Backup Plus 1TB Drive arrives in a 8" x 10" cardboard box (not much bigger than the dimensions of the actual drive) and includes just the bare essential components the Portable Drive itself, 1 USB 3.0 connector cable, 1 Warranty Booklet and 1 Setup Instruction Guide. The Portable Drive itself (reviewing a red 1 TB version) weighs no more than a current generation dataphone (iphone etc) and boasts a brushed metallic red finish on the top / cover plate which is aesthetically pleasing, as well as functional in that it feels sturdy to the touch and does not seem to attract fingerprints. Given that this drive is not advertised (and not priced) as a 'Rugged' or 'Drop resistant' portable drive, I did not 'Stress test' the drive and plan to treat it much as I would any other portable electronic gadget eg. a laptop. The included USB 3.0 cable is 12-15" long (definitely portable, but admittedly on the short side) and of good quality with thick protective coating along the entire cable. The cable ports are USB 3.0 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0) on one end and a proprietary Seagate port on the side which plugs into the drive which might irritate some buyers. The only drawback of this proprietary port is that you will have to buy a replacement / extra cable from Seagate and not any electronics retailer so you lose some of the convenience aspect to replacement but given Seagate's reputation for reliability this should not be an issue for most folks.
SETUP / EASE OF USE / SOFTWARE (5/5): The Setup Instruction Guide includes 2 steps plug the included cable into the Seagate portable drive, and plug the other end into your computers USB port. It really is that simple as it should be hence my perfect score on 'Setup and Ease of Use'. Once you plug the drive into your computer (I used Win 7), Windows will automatically detect the drive and download the latest driver software to allow you to access it. This usually takes less than a minute and once this process has completed (you are notified via a popup window), you can access the drive by going to 'Start My Computer' which will list all the available drives including your new Seagate Portable Drive. The drive is now ready for use Two Step Simple Incredible! Once you access the drive itself you will see the pre-installed files for the Seagate Dashboard Backup Software Double click the Seagate Dashboard Installer icon to start installation of the backup software. I have traditionally preferred to not be tied to third party proprietary software and like to manage my backups manually so did not install it and cannot comment on that part of the product. If you do not want the software, do not double click on any icons but instead either delete the software files or create a new folder and dump all the pre-installed software files into that folder in case you change your mind on using the software later. The drive is otherwise ready for use and you can create folders / drag and drop your files as needed. One point of note a 1TB drive comes with only 930 Gigs of useable space out of the box the rest taken up by the Seagate Dashboard software / formatting etc. Losing 7% of your capacity from the get-go is kind of annoying but similar to pre-loads on a new PC.
PERFORMANCE / SPEED TESTS: (4.5/5): My PC is not USB 3.0 equipped so please note that my speed tests were based on USB 2.0 and therefore not indicative of the true performance capabilities of this product. Nevertheless, I was able to achieve transfer speeds PC to Portable Drive of 1.8 2.0 Gigs per minute while transferring ~150 Gigs of content in little over an hour. Additionally, the Seagate Portable drive has a white indicator light on one end that lights up when the drive is plugged in and flashes slowly while in use. The drive does runs slightly warm after an hour or so of continuous use (eg. during my initial transfer) but again this is something which is pretty common for most external drives and other portable electronics.
RELIABILITY (N/A): Will not be able to comment on product reliability until I have consistently tested / used the product for 6-18 months, but based on the consistency of previous user comments and Seagate's stellar reputation as a bellweather in the industry, I expect this drive to hold up well over time. I will of course be sure to loudly voice my displeasure if this is not the case :)
VALUE (4/5): This was one area where I felt Seagate could improve but $100 $110 for a 1TB drive is in-line with the market / competitors in 2012. There are cheaper options (eg. WDs Passport 1TB for $90) and more expensive options (HP or LaCie 1TB for $125 to $175 range) and Seagate's BackUp Plus runs right along the mid range between the two. One important point to consider plan to get the highest capacity drive you can afford / or want to spend on storage, as the higher capacity drives present the best value for example Seagate's 500GB drive is $90, 1 TB is $110 and 2 TB is $150. On a pure dollar / GB basis it is hard to ever recommend the 500 GB drive when for $20 more, you get double the storage capacity....and so on.
SUMMARY (PROS / CONS):
PROS:
Seagate Brand / Reputation for Reliability
Aesthetically Pleasing
Compact yet Sturdy Build
Super Easy Set-Up (2 step Process)
No forced use of Software / Bloatware
Runs Quiet and Good Performance (in line with competitor read/write ranges)
Future Proofed (USB 3.0 standard, Backwards USB 2.0 Compatible and Future Proofed with removable Adapter options)
Mac OS and Windows Compatible
Decent Price Point
CONS:
'Nothing Special' Backup Software (its free for a reason)
No Password Protection / Security Option
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, I compared a number of drives from different manufacturers before deciding on Seagates BackUp Plus including drives from WD (Passport series), LaCie, HP, Buffalo Technology, Silicon-Power Rugged etc. This drive does not include some notable and desirable features of some other competitor drives like Security / Password protection, Drop Resistance etc and everyone will need to weigh which features are indispensible / most important to them. But for me, Seagate's combination of stellar reputation in the industry for reliability, included features, overall ease of use, overwhelmingly positive user comments (or alternatively the glaring lack of mixed to negative feedback as some other products have), aesthetics and price point proved to be a winning combination. Very Highly Recommended A ++
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