Seagate Expansion Portable 1 TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop (STEA1000400)

compatible with all devices i tried it on so tv desktops laptops consoles etc, not too heavy. good value for money. easy to set up no need to download anything just installs itself

Ok

This review is for the 4TB Expansion Drive (with the 'diamond square cut' plastic case).Great compact enclosures. I would suggest putting on some small rubber 'feet' on the base to lift it up and allow any heat to dissipate more freely. The HDD is easily powered by the supplied USB cable. I have had two other Seagate Expansion drives running for almost 4 years with no problems.Please remember, just because these (or any other) portable HDD's are 'portable' doesn't mean that they should still be moved or knocked around too much. Always handle with care if you're carrying it from one location to another to prolong its longevity.If you're purchasing this drive to use as the manufacturer intended (as an external USB HDD), then it gets 5/5 stars and you need read no further._______________________If you're looking for a 2.5" HDD to use inside a laptop, in a Disk Array enclosure, inside a PS4, or other 'internal' device, then read on...This 'Expansion' drive can easily be opened up to remove the actual Hard Drive inside.And it's a far cheaper option than buying a bare 4tb 2.5" HDD.I purchased two of these 4TB drives to use in a 2.5" RAID enclosure.[Please Note: The 4TB HDD is 15mm thick. Lower capacities are variably thinner. Always check the max bay height of the device you are thinking of inserting the HDD into].The HDD can be removed from it's plastic casing by gently prising away the top lid (which is clipped in). Some of the clips WILL break, but if you're careful, the plastic casing can still be clipped back together again and reused (if you need to). Once inside, gently lift up the drive (it's only slotted in place by 4 silicone screw covers), then slide out and peel off the sticky silver foil on the connector end. Make sure you peel off the foil on both sides of the drive. The USB/SATA connector can then be gently pulled off. You will also need to remove the 4 side holding screws to enable you to slot it in and secure it to your new bay location.The end result is that you now have a Seagate Barracuda 4TB drive, exactly the same as you would if you bought a loose ('bare') Seagate drive. The main advantage being - that you've just saved about 30-50% of the cost compared to buying an identical "bare" internal 4TB Barracuda HDD on Amazon!What are the disadvantages? You've likely voided the warranty.BUT, before you shoot off elsewhere thinking the warranty factor is a deal-breaker, consider the following two points:1) If you're buying a bare HDD (no matter what capacity) you should NOT be buying it off of Amazon if its being 'SOLD' or 'DISPATCHED' by Amazon - especially those that come without any retail packaging.Hard Disk Drives are sensitive little things and don't take very well to being mishandled or knocked about. Amazon packaging staff DO NOT know how to handle or package Hard Drives - this is not some off-the-wall claim, BELIEVE me, it's highly substantiated! Despite Amazon having complaints on this subject stretching back over the last 8+ years, and despite always promising to correct things, Amazon are still today sending out hard drives in insufficient packaging.The majority of Hard Disk Drive failures that people report and complain about were caused because of how they were handled before they got to you (not the manufacturer's fault) - and if you've purchased one that's been 'handled' by Amazon - you're playing a gambling game of roulette! By the time you receive that drive in your hands, it's possibly been rattled around more times than an ice cube inside a cocktail shaker. Is it really any wonder why you see so many 1 and 2 star reviews (irrespective of brand)?2) A lot of bare Hard Disk Drives being sold on Amazon (especially those that are 'competitively priced') are actually sold without a manufacturers warranty anyway.They were either imported from somewhere where the Warranty is not valid. If your drive doesn't fail on arrival (or shortly afterwards), you will never know this unless you attempt to register it. Or because they are surplus drives that were originally intended for use inside an external enclosure (such as these 'Expansion' ones being sold above) -there are actual reports and reviews that Seagate have informed customers of this fact.And even if your drive does come with a warranty - if the drive fails, it's only going to cover an exchange. You will need to return the failed drive (most likely at your cost) and the warranty will not cover any data recovery. Meaning that essentially, once you send it back to get a replacement, you will never be getting the chance again to have your lost data back._______________________My final advice is, be aware of the 'handling' risks in buying HDD's from Amazon. And if doing so, ALWAYS buy RETAIL packaged drives. REJECT EVERYTHING ELSE.If you choose to accept this mission....then, good for you!.... This message will not self-destruct in 10 seconds...

Update after several months use...I wondered why my backup software made my mouse so glitchy it made my PC unusable. I find it is, instead, this hard drive, which like many hard drives emits a frequency which can interfere with a wireless mouse (it's the USB adaptor which is vulnerable).With the hard drive within 50 cms of the wireless mouse USB adaptor it was dreadful. Moved to a USB socket on the front of the PC it works fine, nearer to 1 m distance.Original review....Works with Windows 10, but not the smoothest of operations. Comes with mains adaptor and USB lead (specific to this device).The following was written on first use of this Seagate hard drive...Aaaagh. Gets 22% of way into large backup and freezes. As a consumer I say there are hard drives which work, and those that don't, which are those that freeze, their manufacturers websites don't recognise the Serial Number or even the Model Number and when you try to download their software you click on the link on their website, at first nothing happens and then you find six copies of their software have arrived. My drive quickly passes a Seagate 'Short Test' but Seagate say freezing on doing backups can be down to many Windows problems. Thanks for that, as I'm not a geek and am not about to fiddle around with my perfectly happy computer for the sake of some external hardware.Would have got five stars, but currently down to three. The problem is, if I have a problem on first use, where is this going to go??Persisting with this Seagate drive, and a bunch of data 800gb copied and pasted in one go, leads to the following interim conclusion. Don't try to run too much else on your pc when copying over large amounts of data. It takes several hours, about 3 in this case for 800gb. Importantly, the progress window you get showing how much data there is yet to copy may or may not be accurate. My first go at 350 gb of other data showed up as recognised as just 3gb and an estimated time of a few minutes. The copying in fact took hours (of course) and copied over the full 350gb. As Seagate say, this is probably a Windows thing, which means if you want a truly what-you-see-is-what-you-get operation you might want to get a specialist to tweak your Windows system according to Seagate's advice page. But the news is, the drive does the basic job very well, and you get your files copied over OK. The truth is, copying such large amounts of data is outside of the daily routine and places stress on resources most users don't usually encounter.Originally, upon receipt and initial plugging in to my computer I wrote the following...Comes with: Mains adaptor, which involves a neat clip-in style 3 pin plug for UK power points, and there's a European 2 pin version, too. USB lead, which has a compact but unusual side-by-side double plug thing you plug into the Seagate (never seen one like it before), the other end is a normal USB plug to go into your computer.Easy plug and play for Windows 10. At first a window opens advising you to wait while the software automatically installs, then a page opens telling you how to set up automatic backups using the Windows facility if you wish to do this.I am just copying files across manually. Looks like it will take hours, days even to transfer. Even with USB 3 whole terabytes are a lot of data to transfer.The Seagate has no mains switch. It will therefore activate anytime you want to interact with it. Like other reviewers I don't like this, as one point of personal data (and other) backups is ensuring that you can keep them physically separate from your operating system in case of viruses etc.Also, and in addition to the problems I have subsequently noted with this drive, I have noticed with other large external drives from Samsung etc that if left running for hours, it is at that point that things can freeze, or cause other operations to hang. Large drives are best used with caution; do what you need to do, and then turn them off!I will get an extension lead with switches on each socket from Amazon to sort this.

The drives themselves are good and do run fast and effortlessly. The issue i had was that the drive i originally received was faulty. Kept being told to try X, then try y, then try Z, then try it again by a different person. Eventually managed to speak to someone at Seagate directly who listened properly and agreed the drive was faulty. Had to return the drive to Seagate and received a replacement, although it was a refurbished model it does work fine and without issue.