I bought this drive because the capacity was right and Toshiba has a fairly good track record. The main problem with it so far (<8 hrs in) is that the connector continually falls out of the drive end while I'm transferring files.This is my first experience with USB-3 and it may just be a weakness of the mini-socket spec, but its making me livid. I probably won't send this back, but I wouldn't recommend a friend buy one either. Toshiba Canvio Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive E05A100PBU3XS (Black)
BAD USB CABLE DESIGN
Do these people not test their own stuff or what? Anyone using these drives more than a few times will know the cable is crap and will not connect half the time and disconnects sometimes while using. It is that poorly designed... I have the old model and had no issues at all.. now they come out with a new model with a crappy cable. Doesn't matter how good/nice the drive is if you can't use it half the time.
I hope these reviews are a wake up call to the company to actually test their product before going to production.
a few things on this hard drive:
* we're disappointed with the usb3.0 - it works fine with a 3.0 port on our newer computer, but we can't play movies off of the hard drive through a 2.0 port on our older computer without having issues
* it's extremely touchy - moving it even a little while connected will cause the connection at the hard drive to separate and therefore interrupt your data flow.
If you have a USB3.0 port on your desktop or laptop, this is a great upgrade at almost the same price as the usb2 version.
I am getting 95MB/sec transfer speeds for this model vs. 35MB/sec for the canvio-usb2.0.
I bought this 1TB Canvio to back up my hard drive. I like the fact that it is portable (requires no power other than the USB computer connection), it is very compact, and it's USB3. The drive runs silently and there is a light on the top front that lights when in use. I have had absolutely no problem with the USB cable (loose connection) issue that other reviewrs have mentioned. My USB fits snuggly into the drive and the computer, so a non-issue. Installed the software but will probably un-install it. The software is OK if you want to use an automatic backup scheduling but for me I just do it manually. File transferes are reasonably fast even at USB2 speeds. Can't comment on USB3, don't have one yet.
My only complaint is the length of the USB cable; only about a foot long. Not a big deal but it could have been longer. If you need something longer Toshiba has made sure that you can't just pull one out of your cable box, the connection on the Canvio end is proprietary.
Very Satisfied!
I needed a large portable drive and this Toshiba Canvio 1 TB 3.0 Plus has been great so far. I am using it primarily with an older Dell laptop which has only USB 2.0 ports, but wanted a drive that hopefully will be somewhat future-proof. As such I cannot comment as to USB 3.0 speeds. So far USB 2.0 speeds are no slower than other external drives I own.
I also did not need the preloaded backup software, which I burned to CD (in case I change my mind) then deleted. Again I cannot comment on the software's usefulness.
PROS:
- Lots of disk space (at least for now).
- Works perfectly with all USB 2.0 ports I have tried so far (two different laptops, one desktop - all 2.0).
- Small, compact and light.
- Quiet.
- Backup software easily removable.
CONS:
- A bit pricey (though not excessively so versus the similar 1 TB Toshiba USB 2.0 model).
- The 18 inch cable is thicker (0.25 inch) and stiffer than those on other drives I own.
- Not a big fan of the glossy, fingerprint-magnet finish on the case top and bottom.
Overall, I am very satisfied and would buy it again.
I'm very disappointed with this product. The cable USB port keeps disconnecting every time I move my laptop. I hate it. I need a new and improved USB port that does not disconnect, or a full refund so I can go out and buy an HP external drive.
I bought this hard drive even though it didn't have any reviews because the previous version of the product had high marks. My only concern was that it was formatted in NTFS and all my versions of windows do not format fat32 anymore(only exfat). Why is this important, As a DJ, I use all sorts of equipment that require the hard drive to be FAT32. Let me tell you, although the description doesn't state it supports FAT32, it does. I used a free third party format/partition software from cnet downloads and formatted the drive without partitioning the drive and using the entire terabyte. I have a mac(yes I could have used it to format fat32, but I didn't need any extra encoding on it why...keep reading) and it read the drive, the audio files, and video files. I also use Denon CDJ(dn-s3700's) turntables that will only read the classic FAT32 format(hence why I've been stuck on this FAT32 world) and they read this hard without any issues.
I would like to highlight the USB cable and how it connects to the hard drive. This is the first time I've seen such a connector and it looks proprietary, meaning if you need to buy a longer cable you might have problems finding it. Regardless of that, I like this new connector. When I plug the cable to the drive, it feels secure. This is important because if you move a lot in your environment, the last thing you want is the cable to come loose and deal with the hassle of reconnecting...not to mention restarting your data transfer. Most people wouldn't worry about this, but when you're DJ'ing any interuption like that means no music, no video, no nothing. My last hard drive(western digital) had a flaw, a slight bump on the table and the cable loosened enough to where I couldn't read the data(poor design by WD and very unreliable drive. Will not mention model).
The hard drive enclosure looks sturdy and not too bright like other hard drives, although in my case, more lighting is better since most of the time I'm working in dark places and welcome any light available. I'm not going to knock this a star because of this though, since this is a personal preference.
Enjoy your drive. - Usb 3 - Portable Hard Drive - 1tb - External Hard Drive'
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