Maxtor Basics Personal Storage 3200 320 GB

...I came back with the Maxtor 3200 320Gb after parting with 70 portraits of the Queen.

Now those of you who want a sleek looking box that you can admire, you're going to be disappointed. It's got pretty understated packaging. It's basically a brown cardboard box with a little sleeve on it that tells you what's in the box (the drive, the USB 2.0 cable, a stand and the power supply) and that's it. Thankfully the unit is a bit better.
...pad on it's side and about the depth of 2 DVD cases. Oh and it's grey. Very grey. As I said there is a stand that slots into the bottom of it (or should that be side?) which allows it to stand side-up. I know this sounds confusing, but it's hard to describe the drive, especially when you're used to hard drives being flat. There is also a little green light near the top on the front of it that flickers when it's in use.

So you plug ... more

One of the things I hate about computers is the amount of files I have. Photos, films, music, work files and projects, games and loads of other stuff that I have no idea about tend to congregate on my hard drive like hoodies on a street corner. Like my desk, my filing system on my PC is a bit chaotic. Probably the only things that are where they should be are the actual installation files and that's only because they *have* to be there. I have no set folders for anything really, and the only way I'm able to find stuff is because I have vague ideas where everything I save everything has gone. For me it's not a problem because I know where my files are and as they're shared (in other words we can access them over the wireless network and use them on other machines around the house) I can work from wherever I happen to be.

Anyway after a short period where Buggy (aka 'her indoors') couldn't find any files on my PC it was decided that external hard drives were going to be bought. The reasoning was that if for any reason the network decided to fall over (as had happened recently) then at least the drives could be unplugged and then popped into another machine if needs be. After a quick trip to PC World I came back with the Maxtor 3200 320Gb after parting with 70 portraits of the Queen.

Now those of you who want a sleek looking box that you can admire, you're going to be disappointed. It's got pretty understated packaging. It's basically a brown cardboard box with a little sleeve on it that tells you what's in the box (the drive, the USB 2.0 cable, a stand and the power supply) and that's it. Thankfully the unit is a bit better.

It's about the size of an A5 pad on it's side and about the depth of 2 DVD cases. Oh and it's grey. Very grey. As I said there is a stand that slots into the bottom of it (or should that be side?) which allows it to stand side-up. I know this sounds confusing, but it's hard to describe the drive, especially when you're used to hard drives being flat. There is also a little green light near the top on the front of it that flickers when it's in use.

So you plug it into a spare USB port and Windows should recognise it as a removable hard drive (although Vista seems to treat it as a standard hard drive) and that's all there is to it. You may need to format it, but that's standard with any drive and pretty painless.

Using it is also a painless experience. As Windows treats it like any other hard drive then it tends to support all the usual functions although one thing it doesn't support (or at least with me) is a Vista function called ReadyBoost. If you don't know what it is then don't worry about it as you probably don't use it. It's usually used with flash RAM devices anyway.

It's spin speed is around 7200RPM so it's not exactly slow and has a seek time of around 9ms so accessing files is pretty quick. On the transfer stakes it does a good job. I can transfer a 1.5gb movie file in around 1 minute 30 seconds, and small files are also just as fast. It's also helped by the fact that it's USB 2.0 so the theory is you can transfer 480Mb per second.

So what's the downside of it? Well first up, as I said, it's grey. For anyone who likes all their devices to be colour co-ordinated then this may not be for you. I did ask whether it was available in other colours (or at least with a blue light), but sadly no. It is small enough that you can hide it away - especially with it being vertically stood - but if you're really fasitdious about these things then it's grey or nothing.

If you're short on plug sockets then you're out of luck. It does require the power adapter (don't even try to use it without one).

It's also a noisy little beast. If you're going to have it on your bedside cabinet as I needed to have it one night to do some work when the network fell over you will hear it. It makes a humming noise which can be exacerbated by it being placed on a wooden work surface. Compared to a PC you don't hear it, but if you've got it on when you're trying to go to sleep you may find it annoying.

Another thing that detracts from it is the lack of an on/off switch. I have another removable HD (by Freecom) and on the back it has an on/off switch. These switches may not sound like much, but if you're into 'green' issues, simply like to save electricity or don't like to leave devices on then you'll find yourself reaching for the plug.

The final issue I have is the stand thingy. Now it does save desk space by being vertically mounted, but if you're going to use it to trawl files around with you wherever you go then I'm convinced sooner or later the stand will snap. It's made of plastic and sturdy enough if you only need to pop it on and leave it, but if you're constantly moving the drive around and having to pop it on and off then I'm not so sure.

A neutral issue (neither for nor against) is the size and weight of it. It's not massive, but you're not going to be able to pop it in your pocket or handbag and although it's not to big to fit in a rucksack or laptop bag it will make a bit of a bulge. It also weighs a bit more than a bag of sugar so if you've got a heavy laptop (or you're incredibly feeble) then you will notice the extra weight. Having said that at least you're likely to notice if you forget to pack it away as I've done with my slim Sony Vaio external hard drive a few times.

It is also allegedly Mac compatible too, so if you're a Mac user you can use it with your Mac. The problem with this is the fact that Buggy couldn't format it on her iMac and I didn't want to try as I tend not to dabble in the dark arts that is MacOS X. I assume if you're literate enough in the occult practices of MacOS X then you may be able to testify to this, but I'm only saying what the blurb said. I know the Mac sees it and can read from it, but due to it having a Windows file system on it, there was a total refusal to write to it.

So, do I recommend it? In a word - Yes! Whether it's for an extension of your current storage capabilities or as a back-up device it definitely does the job. If you're looking for a slim and sleek portable device then I can't recommend it, but as part of a stationary computer set-up then I definitely can.

Oh, and it's also finally got my various files organised :) 

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