Hitachi Hard drive 500 GB

Advantages: Competitive Price
Disadvantages: The unit I received was faulty

...I purchased a Freecom External Hard Drive 500GB from Amazon and it arrived one week later. The box was opened and inside was the drive unit along with the installation disk for Personal Media Suite and Backup utility, USB cable and power cable. So far so good. The software was installed and the unit connected and powered up. Unfortunately the Personal Media Suite did not recognise the device but Windows (XP) did. A few files were copied as a test and they seemed to work. I uninstalled the software and re-installed again but the device was still not found. And then Windows no longer recognised the unit part way through a copy. Ahh. - refering to the online documentation - it suggested that the device be disconnected and re-connected again. So followed their advice but no difference. Fortunately amongst the documentation... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Hugh storage space
Disadvantages: Extra cables around PC

...This hard drive is perfect. It is 500gb in size, which is more than enough for storing hundreds of films, thousands of documents, music, etc... You will not run out of space for a long time. --------------- Installation --------------- The box came through the post, i opening it, pluged it in the mains, connected the USB cable into my PC, them inserted the instalation CD that came with it with some added software. The drive itself is plug and play, meaning on Windows XP, it will be recognised automatically. The default file system needs to be changed to FAT32 but this is an easy adjustment with a click of the mouse. ------ Use ------ The noise output is minimal, and so is the heat output. There is no fan so there isonly noise from the motor inside. The noise from the fans on my PC drowns that out, so i dont even notice... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Easy installation, looks good, ease of use
Disadvantages: None found

...I've bought two of these drives now and am very impressed. On opening the box you'll find the following: The drive itself, power supply, USB cable and an instruction leaflet. The drive feels solid and well built, although the aluminium case does have some sharp edges near the front where it joins the plastic bezel. The drive comes formatted to FAT32, but this is easily changed to NTFS. Being a curious sort, I took one apart to find out the manufacturer of the actual drive inside and was happy to find a Seagate Barracuda, not the bottom of the range drive I was expecting! Installation under Windows XP/Vista is a doddle, just plug in the power cable, plug in the USB cable, switch it on and it's automatically detected and ready to go. In use, both drives have proved very reliable, and although transfer speeds over USB... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful