Seagate Expansion 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST906404EXA101-RK

This 640gb portable hard drive is great. In this time of expanding file sizes where a 2gb flash drive or a 40gb external is basically useless, everyone must have a big portable drive if you plan on taking HD videos with you! The Seagate 640gb Expansion drive is the answer. Despite only having 1 usb cable connector (I've seen many portable HDDs with 2) it transfers at a modest 20mb/s most of the time, which is usually plenty fast considering most USB sticks are much slower. The HDD does have a power port (where you can connect an external power supply) but I have not used it because the actual plug is not included, maybe it increases the transfer speed further? I gave this hard drive 5 Stars for durability as well, mainly because of two things. I have dropped it before (not a big height only 2 feet or so off of a bed), and we usually have the Hard Drive connected to our media pc by our television which is always in sleep mode, as with most hard drives I have, when it remains connected to the computer in sleep mode the HDD continues to spin for some reason. SO, with that I can assume its durable withstanding god knows how many hours of spinning for no reason, and that drop. I've also taken it traveling on planes and it always does fine. In the end, this is a perfect HDD to use if you need to make lots of videos portable. Its got a huge amount of space (formatted I believe it comes to 596gb) and it really is portable, durable, and easy to use!

Over the past couple of years, I have purchased five of these drives in various capacities (250 to 500 GB). I couldn't be more pleased with their small size, reliability, price, and that they self-power from a single USB port. My (Win XP/Win 7) ASUS netbook, Dell Laptop, and ASUS P8P67 Pro motherboard-based desktop's USB 2.0 ports have never complained and run flawlessly with these portable drives. I also have a 250GB unit plugged into a NetGear (N600) WNDR3700 router that serves as a network drive. Out of the box, the first step I take is to format the drive (NTFS, 4096 byte allocation size) and give the drive a unique volume name. For a 500GB drive this takes about 6 hours to complete. I consider this long format process to be a burn-in test for the new drive. I have never used any of the supplied Seagate software. I don't have any bench-marking software to test the data read-write speed of these drives. Normally, a Windows system image backup of 75-100 GB takes about 2-3 hours. Formatting a 16 GB TrueCrypt AES-128 bit (FAT) container volume takes about 6 minutes (30-50 MB/s). The only minor issues I have with these drives is that the specialty 18" USB 2.0 cable could be a bit longer (I use an Amazon Basics USB extender cable) and the shiny black case is a finger-print magnet. I see where Seagate now offers a higher speed USB 3.0 interface with the same small lightweight foot-print. Hopefully, those will prove just as reliable as their older USB 2.0 models.

UPDATES IN THE LAST PARA I have clarified a few things that other reviews had issues with and gave it a low rating. For Starters: Since I use Both Mac & PC, I can 1000% say that it works on both these operating systems. Some customers had issues with the drive going into sleep mode after 10 mins or so. Well, the copying process does not stop, just because the drive has gone into SLEEP mode. You can take this SLEEP feature off by: Process 1: Downloading a Free Seagate Manager program available on the Seagate website. (I did not do this, I used process 2, described next) OR Process 2: Formatting the drive and remove the pre-installed Seagate software. Then the drive will NOT go to SLEEP Mode. How to Format a Drive in Windows: Plug the Drive --> Go to My Computer --> Right click on the Seagate icon--> Click "Format" How to Format a Drive in Mac 10.4 or earlier: Open Macintosh HD --> Click Applications --> Click Utilities --> Open "Disk Utility" --> Select the Seagate disk listed on the Left Side --> Click "Erase" tab --> Choose Volume Format to "MS-DOS" (I chose this so that I can use it on Windows & Mac). (For the newer MAC 10.6.1 or later, I guess Format is : "Mac OS Extended (journaled)", as rightly pointed out to me by a learned customer IB...Thanks dude!) Design: Compact & Sleek. Little bigger than the iPhone, but lighter than the iPhone (8GB) Connection: NO A/C Power outlet needed. Only single USB port is needed, everything provided in the box. So you just take it out and plug it and use it. Compatibility: Both PC & Mac. Although on the box it says "FOR PC", it was detected by my MAC and will work with both. Size: Though it says 500GB, we get 465.35GB. And this is the case with most hard drives. Speed: Forget about the specifics - it is FAST!! Well worth your money, right!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many customers have asking me why the format process did not work for their Mac? The reason is, I have a Mac version 10.4.1 and I clarified that in the review.I guess there are a few changes for 10.6.1 and I added that too. If your MAC OS does not fit the description, the best way to start is by finding out OS version of your MAC & then search online on how to format it OR take it to an apple store. Basically, the STEPS on how to format remain the SAME. But you might find some different Volumes Format based on your OS version. Volume Format will change as new Operating Systems (OS) keep sprouting. When I bought this drive, there was not a single review which spoke about MAC Compatibility, let alone the other issues. But I took the risk and bought it for $100 or so. Also, if you compare other reviews vs. mine. My review does not speak about how many songs I have on my drive, who gifted me this, how my life has changed with the new drive, how my office folks like it, how it fits in my pocket although the it is a trouser from my high school. No offense, they are good individually. What I mean is....one review answer about plug n play....another spoke about light weight (by how much they didnt say)...another complained SLEEP issue...But none answered MAC compatibility, Format, Weight etc My review has even answered everything that can happen with this drive. (Except that "What will happen if it breaks down" :P )

Acquired my first Seagate expansion drive through Dell when I bought my first Dell laptop about six years ago. When I started to use the laptop for gameplay, I found I was running out of room and called Dell, which suggested the expansion drive, and they had Seagate. So I ordered it, and found to my delight how easy it was, plug and play, and to this day the drive works wonderfully and does what it does with no problem. Alas, since time does pass, I have since bought a new computer and gave my old Dell to my cousin who was starting college. My Seagate was running out of space, so I decided to get a new one to complement the new Dell laptop I bought. I checked out other drives but found myself going back to Seagate, and checked out what they had to offer. I was delighted that Seagate is also selling through Amazon, and got it at an amazing price, going from my original 160GB to 500 GB. This new model does what it advertises, is lighter and sleeker than my old one, but I do worry about it being more plastic-ky than my original which is more solid and had been dropped more than once but works fine. Praying I don't have an accident with the new one. In the meantime, I'm also surprised it comes with a single 2.0 USB instead of the two prong one that used to come with their older models, but I was able to use both my old one's cord and the new one with no problem with my computer. The backup DOES take some time, which I was hoping wouldn't take so long but perhaps this is just the way it goes with first-time use as I'm making a full onetime backup of everything. Amazon shipped within a week, as they predicted, and so far, things look good. Will update when the backup is done and I doublecheck that everything's on there and able to be retrieved and viewed.

Pros: Large capacity; light weight; USB-powered so, no external power brick! Cons: None Bottom-Line: The Seagate Expansion 750GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive represents a (very) viable alternative to yet another USB flash drive for me. The Seagate Expansion 750GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive is an extremely light weight, well-ventilated, whisper quite 5400 RPM portable drive featuring 8MB of cache, and USB 2.0 connectivity. Seagate placed the small drive inside a black enclosure designed to absorb shocks. Seagate offers drives of this type (5400 RPM) from 250GB - 1TB. Installation The Seagate Expansion 750GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive is truly plug-n-play, and truly portable. There is no external power supply (Yeah!); power is supplied by the host computers USB port. Seagate provides a (very short) USB cable connector. Once plugged into my laptop, or desktop, the Seagate Expansion 750GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive powered up; Windows 7 recognized the drive, and assigned it a drive letter. The Seagate Expansion 750GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive ships pre-formatted, so once it is plugged in and recognized, it is ready to use. Note: the drive has no power switch. But the drive is so quiet that the only indication the drive is on is the yellow LED on the top of the unit. Even when files are being transferred there is no discernable noise emanating from the enclosure; there is only a slight vibration; the drive sat meekly on my desk to did it job in silent efficiency. As I stated above, the Seagate Expansion 750GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive ships with Seagate's backup software, which I promptly deleted by reformatting the drive. In any event the more useful portion of the back-up software is only a trial version, so what the point? Seagate claims a rather extraordinary 5,000 G non-operating shock resistance, whereas most vendors quote 1,000 G, but I have to admit that I am a little skittish about the lack of some sort of case to put the drive in for transport. But I suppose if Seagate didn't feel the need to provide one, or even recommend same, I have little to worry about; and there is the 5000 G to consider. To test the transfer rate of the Seagate Expansion 750GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive I copied some 6GB of music files from my laptop (Dell Studio 17 with 4.0GB of RAM; 7200 RPM 500GB hard drive; Windows 7 Home Premium) via a USB 2.0 port in about six minutes; roughly 1GB a minute. Of course I was surfing the Internet and I had Outlook open at the same time, so that may or may not have affected the copy process. Your transfer rate will vary of course. My Thoughts The Seagate Expansion 750GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive represents a (very) viable alternative to yet another USB flash drive for me. At under under $75.99 and with 698GB of usable space, the drive is a very cost effective way to add a substantial amount of portable hard drive space in a very light weight package and a universally acceptable interface. And it's a Seagate, a name associated with quality and reliability.

This was great for a long time, I bought it about 6 months ago and I was really happy with more storage than I really need, I have digital copies of about 10 tv shows (every episode) and 35 movies and it still has a long wat to go until its full. It works great with my home theater which has a usb input for movies and I love how it charges via the same usb cable data is going through so it is extremely easy and portable and you dont have to plug it in to have it work. It is very quiet, and the only downside is its durability. The case is pretty sturdy and its not easily broken except for the mini-usb plug that has a tendency to come loose if its hit hard enough, which for a little was a big problem because it wouldn't connect to my computer but after jimmying it carefully forward its working again. I'd say if you need a good portable drive with a ton of storage this is the way to go but make sure you don't damage the usb input. This is by far the best I've tried though, since my 250gb LACIE drive can't hold nearly as much, it was way more expensive, and you have to use 2 usb cables (one for data one to charge it) if you're going to use it portably, not to mention its quite a bit bigger. **EDIT: Yeah so after a little while of being loose the mini-usb plug finally fell inside. Needless to say the drive is useless without it but apparently this happens to most drives that use mini usb as their connection (TAKE THE HINT SEAGATE) since it has a tendency to pull loose from its fitting. I'm pretty sure with a little work I could glue it back in place and have it in perfect working condition again but now I'm mourning the loss of a wonderful drive. R.I.P. Seagatebiscuit. :P **

I own a Mobile DJ business and use Virtual DJ Pro on a MacBook. I have a huge mp3 music collection that I use for my business and needed a portable, reliable backup drive. I choose the Seagate Expansion 500GB drive to act as my working drive when I am doing a job and I bought a second to serve as a backup. I use a program called Super Duper to do a "smart backup" of my primary Seagate 500GB drive to the backup drive. It only copies changed files after the first backup, so I can add new music to my primary drive and then have it backed up in just a few minutes. I then take both drives with me and if one were to fail, I'd have a ready-to-go backup ready to step in and take over. The drive is very compact in size, is virtually silent in operation and does not get hot under stress. I like the fact that I can format the drive so that it can be used as a startup drive on my MacBook. But when doing so, it will not be readable on a PC so if you want to use this drive on both PC and Mac, be sure to format it properly or it may not be visible to PC's. It comes formatted for PC's which will also enable a Mac to read/write too, but in this state it cannot be used as a Mac startup drive. You just need to determine what your needs are and format the drive accordingly. Love this drive. Every once in a while I see this drive on sale for only forty nine bucks from another site. I just picked up two last week and two more this week. Even at fifty nine bucks, it's a fantastic value. Biggest bonus is that it works off a single USB connection whereas another USB drive I have by SimpleTech needs two USB plugs to provide enough power to work reliably. 5 stars!

I bought this drive for three reasons: 1. Large capacity in a small form factor, 2. The ability to power/access it from a single USB port, 3. It was on sale at Amazon for under $70. I started using it on my laptop when it arrived yesterday and was impressed: small, and it worked well with the short standard mini-USB cable. Then last night I plugged it in to my desktop and went to transfer over my 400 GB movie directory. It kept failing after about 10 seconds, at which time Windows 7 would report that I had just attached it. My first thought was it was due to the "sleep" utility, so I downloaded and installed the Free Agent tool from Seagate and set the timeout to Never. Didn't make any difference. I then used the test tool in the utility software and the it reported a drive failure at about 8%, and said I should contact Seagate for an RMA. All my other small external drives (except for an ancient 30 GB) need a splitter USB cable: one end connects to the drive and the two other ends connect to the PC, using the extra USB port for power. As I had nothing to loose, I gave one of those cables a try - it works fine. So, it appears that the drive needs more power than my PC can provide on a single USB cable. I'm tempted to send it back, but I'm off on vacation tomorrow and it is a perfect drive for that. I may contact Seagate when I get back - maybe my drive is bad? - - - - Update - - - It worked perfectly on my trip, and it was nice to have the space. I've now tried this drive on four PCs - my desktop, my father's desktop, and two laptops. It works fine with the single cable on all but my desktop. This is strange, as I've tried the on-board USB ports and the ports on two add-in cards (one as USB-2 with four ports, and the other a USB-3 with two ports) and the drive will only work if I use a USB splitter cable. So, I have to say that the experience I reported in this review is unusual, and I can understand why others report it works fine with the single cable.

awesome, still works 2 years on.