SeagateBackup Plus Portable 4TB External Hard Drive HDD (STDR4000900),Silver

I received this drive 8 months ago and it is still working in an acceptable manner by my standards. For more details, please continue reading.Having recently re-browsed the Amazon reviews for this product, I saw some people complaining that their drive had failed after x months having ordered it around the same time as me. This prompted me to fully check my drive's health so that I could at least be reassured that it is in full working order for the time being. I ran a read test on Windows using HD Tune Pro since that's where my drive was plugged in at the time, and the results (shown in as screenshots attached to this review) show the drive did in fact contain some bad sectors.I ran a non-destructive write test using badblocks on Linux which, for each sector, will first read the sector and store it in memory, then write a random pattern, then read this pattern back and make sure it matches the pattern that was written, and finally restore the original contents of the sector. I had backups just in case, so I wasn't worried and was mainly doing this for science.At the end, SMART output showed 2310 bad sectors existed on the drive. Since I waited 8 months to run this test and used the drive sparingly, it's unclear whether the sectors were always bad or if they developed over time. It also just so happens that none of the data I had stored on the drive were on these bad sectors. Despite the clear indication of potential failure, all sectors were restored to full working order after being written over. This means the sectors were really just held a weak magnetic charge, and were not permanently bad from e.g. physical damage to the platter.As a result, the pending/offline uncorrectable sector counts were dropped to 0 and the reallocated sector count did not increase at all. If interested, I've included the entire SMART output below.MART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 117 100 006 Pre-fail Always - 154970934 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 097 096 000 Pre-fail Always - 0 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 568 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 070 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 11738583 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 2497 (146 170 0) 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 52184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 587188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 099 000 Old_age Always - 4295032834189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 054 041 045 Old_age Always - 46 (Min/Max 32/49 #8)191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 9193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 096 096 000 Old_age Always - 8819194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 046 059 000 Old_age Always - 46 (0 18 0 0 0)197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 062 000 Old_age Always - 0198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 062 000 Old_age Offline - 0199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 147 (146 13 0)241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 9955309601242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 15389131969You can see there is an error count, but no pending/uncorrectable or reallocated sectors. Although it's clear that the drive is currently working, the history of weak sectors means I will keep a close eye on it in case data ends up being written to the sectors that used to be weak, since if they become weak again, the drive will have trouble reading from them and I could start to lose data as a result.Remember: all drives fail, no matter what make or model you buy, so always keep backups and be prepared for the inevitable.

I purchased two drives, a 2TB in Black and a 2TB in Red. They will each take the place of two desktop bound external 2TB drives that have been dutifully serving as my Media and Time Machine drives that, until bad sector errors have reached critical mass, have performed quite well for a few years. It's fortunate that they should choose to die now, as I'm also moving overseas and would have hated for them to go a month or two from now while I'm over there. Portable was definitely the way to go for me. I don't need 7200 or 10800rpm drives and I don't want to be adapting bulky wall warts overseas, either.Now, there's a bunch of options out there from Toshiba, Western Digital, Seagate and many other lesser-known brands for external, portable drives in the 2TB range. I've been mainly a Seagate customer for the past 5 years or so because they've proven to me that their products have a long life and perform well. This was for desktop models only, however, and design never played a part because they are all, pretty much, big and clunky boxes that sit and do nothing. A portable drive is a different story, and I think Seagate has outdone itself with this drive.Design. Before I bought the two Seagate models, I had bought a WD My Passport 2TB drive at Staples. It was alright, but it was very thick. Nearly twice the thickness of my MacBook Air at the hinge end. The chassis was metal surrounded in plastic and it looked alright. It certainly wasn't going to vie with the MacBook Air for looks and I think it suffered because it tries. The performance was fine, just what I'd expect from a portable USB 3.0 drive. The real problem with the design, though, was not the thickness but the shape. There was virtually no flat surface on the drive at all. Every edge was tapered and the flat surfaces had some convexing going on. Mine would rock side to side on a desk and wouldn't stay in position in my lap. I looked on Amazon for alternatives and found this. I'm happy to report that, with the sides leading to the bottom are tapered, the bottom of these drives are flat and are made of a nicely textured plastic that feels good and grips well on a desk or a leg. The top is even better, being a piece of aluminium that is completely flat and very good looking. Despite the colour scheme not being derived from Apple, the slimness and choice of materials certainly make this feel as though it belongs in a bag with my MacBook or on my desk next to my Magic Trackpad. It's the best looking external drive I've seen. The light on it, however, feels distinctly Apple. Overall, the design is excellent and, without going to the lengths of moulding a piece of metal over a bare drive (see the Seagate Seven), this is probably as slim as you can expect these drives to get. It's nice to see products that design around the user and still manage to keep it looking good rather than just make it pretty.Performance and Heat. As said, these replace my other drives that serve other purposes and that are just about full. So, first order of business was to copy over the old Media and backups to the new drives. First, I formatted them for Mac. For those who don't know, you can buy just about any drive and use it for Mac, even if it says Windows or PC. This can save you a lot of money. Just open Disk Utility, click the drive, select Format and click Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or whatever filesystem you'd like to use. After that, I just dragged and dropped. From a USB 3.0 drive to another USB 3.0 drive with my Retina MBP, two terabytes copied in a little over five hours. This puts the total transfer speed around 100MB/s. Pretty damn fast. While the files were transferring, I made sure to keep an eye on the heat coming from the Seagate Slims (well, I kept the back of my hand on it) and was pleased to report that neither the metal top nor the plastic bottom got any hotter than my MacBook Air runs on my lap. That is to say, they didn't get hot at all, merely warm, and I don't think there's a hazard here.Packaging. Who cares? Its a cardboard box around a plastic shell. The tape holding the box shut was annoying like the tape on new DVDs and Blurays that never comes off in one pull, no matter how much you use your nail to free it. Included is the drive, a fact sheet and a USB cable. Who needs more?This is a great buy. At (if I remember what should be the numerator and what the denominator) $0.05/GB this isn't the best you can do for 2TB, but it's really close. I'm happy with the performance, the design is stellar and user-centric and I suspect the lifetime of this product will be far longer than the time it will take me to fill these drives and need bigger ones.

I have 16 of these. I use them to backup my NAS. Used for years with no issues. A USB cable provided for each. Powered by the USB cable. Compact, easy to store in a safe for backups.

Still use it as a backup, works perfectly.

Product died suddenly after two months. I have wanted to return it as it is still under warranty, but Seagate return instructions are strict and convoluted, obviously designed to discourage returns. So be sure to keep all packaging that the product comes with. Meanwhile, if you know where I can find an inexpensive anti-static bag and 3.5" plastic clamshell packaging, let me know. These drives are mass-produced in China and assembled in Thailand, and problems with them are far from unusual, despite the positive reviews on The WireCutter and elsewhere. I do not recommend this item based on the faulty product, but especially on the problematic Seagate Return Policy.

Se daño casi de inmediato el Disco Duro y desafortunadamente borre la informacion donde la tenia originalmente y se perdio toda la informacion que era muy importante para mi y Seagate para recuperarla me cobraba muchos miles de pesos, la garantia pesima no tienen centros de servicio en Mexico y no te contestan los correos por parte de soporte tecnico y todavia tienen la desfachatez de mandarte un correo para ver que te parecio el servicio de soporte tecnico. Amazon me dio un numero telefonico en USA y es solo ingles no tienen personal que hable español y casi nunca contestan casi siempre entra la contestadora diciendo que no estan disponibles, es fecha que todavia no he podido resolver el procedimiento para la devolucion y ya tengo meses. NO COMPREN ESA MARCA SEAGATE

I will not be the first purchaser of these drives (I purchased two, in November 2017) to write about the fact that despite no movement of either of the drives (they just sitting out of the way and being used as back-up to my main laptop) both of them now have issues beyond reasonable recovery and, as such, I now have to fork-out another £200+ for a new pair of drives!Should have been suspicious from the outset, with the standard guarantee only being valid for two months; unless, of course, you purchase additional cover for an extra £20+ per item!Two international names SEAGATE and AMAZON are linked with this purchase, and I now no longer trust either of them.LISTEN! If you want External Hard Drives that are dependable, I would suggest that these are not the ones to purchase or trust in.I am not the first to write a negative report for this devices, and I doubt I will be the last.YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!- Also: Seagate Limited Warranty - If you would like data recovery performed on your drive, IT IS AVAILABLE FROM SEAGATE AS A SEPARATE SERVICE FOR AN ADDITIONAL CHARGE . Seagate warrants that repaired or replaced products are covered for the greater of either the remainder of the original product warranty or 90 days.- Quote from staff member of a well-known PC retailing firm - "the small external drives are far more prone to failure...."23-Oct-2018:Update to the above, and to the response from Seagate....With regard to the warranty, I quoted from information provided on the page at the time of purchase. Being Seagate, I never expected any issues within a matter of months, never mind a year or two.For Seagate to respond to this is good, and not unexpected, but should it really be necessary to go to such lengths with any "new" product? Clearly, looking at the 1* reviews (14% of purchasers) there must be issues that need addressing? Yes/No?I presume YES, given the high % in this case, so, why is it that the item is still available?Would it not make commercial sense to withdraw these drives, if only to protect the reputation of the manufacturer?When my two drives failed it was over a period of a few days, first one, then the other.At least one of them had been "ticking" inside at times; I have my theories as to what that was, but lack the confidence to express them in technical terms!Fortunately, as both were in sync with each other, I was able to copy from the working one on to another NEW drive (WP) and thereby prevent a complete wipe-out of 2TB of data!I am not technically minded when it comes to IT but I can cope with most of the basic stuff, such as this.So, when I see messages saying "unable to read drive" and "0 bytes" I assume that all is not well.Carefully isolating the drives, and then reconnecting made no difference.They were stored "under the desk" as redundant, with the new WP drive now in place.A few weeks later, out of curiosity, I took the opportunity of connecting one of the "failed" drives to another PC elsewhere and...... surprise, surprise, it kicked-in and all the data appeared, without exception.Pleased with the result of that chance reconnection, I tried the other one as well...... success!So, now, since the end of September, the two previously "failed" drives sit back on the shelf behind the laptop, permanently positioned, never disconnected, never moved, as quiet as church mice, retaining all of the information, just as I would expect them to do.Now, whether they are behaving themselves as a consequence of the new WD unit towering over them can only be guessed at, but, all three sit comfortably alongside each other, doing what I would expect them to do, and nothing else!As a finale to this chapter, I would say that I currently have another, much older Seagate drive, under the technicians scrutiny, which also failed (albeit a few years ago) after "ticking" was heard, and the message "0 bytes" appearing on my screen. Six weeks ago, being desperate to see my 2010 photographs (not on any other drive, sadly) I decided to spend some money to try and get them recovered. I am still waiting for a result on that one, but I live in hope.For all of this, I would now look at names other than Seagate, relying on feedbacks given to products and making a purchasing decision accordingly. After all, I now have an extra external drive at an additional cost of £100 that, now, I perhaps did not need?I never did fancy taking part in Russian Roulette!

gives me room for actually a good amount of games on the ps4. I have a slim model with a 1tb hard drive but it filled up way too fast and it's such a pain deleting one game for another, then having to redownload them. This is great cause it gives me a bonus 2TB of storage , makes it way easier for storing more games. It is a little slow to move the games to the drive if you're transferring from ps4 so I would recommend doing that before bed. you can set it so it automatically downloads games to the drive too, since my main hard drive isn't stuffed full of games anymore I'm noticing slightly better performance at least in the menus. Definitely recommend it in fact it's almost kinda necessary especially if you have ps plus so you can take advantage of all the sales and free games. I'm already playing the games I couldn't fit on the console before. Plus it's also pretty tiny and easy to fit in small spaces.

Replaces a failed WD Passport. The finish of this makes it seem much higher quality than the WD unit and it has a much nicer feel to it. That’s purely cosmetic, No issues with use so far and I am sure it is of similar quality to my other drives (WD and Lacie)