Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive STBU1000100 (Black)

 External Portable Harddrive - I bought this drive to serve as a portable, secure storage location for my Lightroom catalog. This Seagate external drive is just a hard drive placed inside of an enclosure. The Seagate Backup Plus 1TB Drive arrives in a 8" x 10" cardboard box (not much bigger than the dimensions of the actual drive) and includes just the bare essential components - the Portable Drive itself, 1 USB 3.0 connector cable, 1 Warranty Booklet and 1 Setup Instruction Guide. The mass data transfer speeds I'm getting average around 6 or 7 times what I get with my Iomega USB 2.0 drive. Included software makes for easy backups and can even back up your facebook, flickr, or youtube account grabbing all your photos and videos. All in all this is a very good, fast, and solid drive. Seagate has been doing this for a long time so I assume the long term reliability of this drive will be good. I've used this drive six times in the last month, including a FULL big backup and NOT ONE PROBLEM. No data corruption or any issues! I've staked my data on this drive and feel confident giving it a HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Product Features

• Keep copies of your precious digital files, in case disaster strikes
• Impressive 1 TB storage capacity,Spindle Speed 5400 RPM
• Save feature enables user-generated content to be backed up from your favorite social network
• Share feature allows multiple files to be uploaded to social networks at once from your computer
• Install the pre-loaded NTFS driver for Mac and use the drive interchangeably between PC and Mac computers without reformatting
• Features USB 3.0 for quick data transfer rates; upgrade to Thunderbolt technology or FireWire 800 with the available additional adapter

Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Pros and Cons

If you're looking for an affordable USB 3.0 portable external hard drive that performs well and has a decent warranty, the Seagate Backup Plus is worth a look.

PROS:
- Stays cool
- Very good USB 3.0 performance
- Backwards compatible with USB 2.0
- Compatible with Mac OS 10.6 and Windows Compatible
- 2 year warranty
- Reasonably priced
- Seagate Brand / Reputation for Reliability
- Aesthetically Pleasing
- Compact yet Sturdy Build
- Super Easy Set-Up (2 step Process)
- No forced use of Software / Bloatware
- Runs Quiet and Good Performance (in line with competitor read/write ranges)
- Future Proofed (USB 3.0 standard, Backwards USB 2.0 Compatible and Future Proofed with removable Adapter options)
- Decent Price Point

CONS:
- Enclosure attracts dust
- No Password Protection / Security Option

CONCLUSION
The Seagate Backup Plus 500GB USB 3.0 portable external hard drive is a great little drive. Its USB 3.0 performance is fantastic and the drive works interchangeably with Windows and Mac OS X, due to the NTFS driver. I'm not a big fan of the enclosure, due to how easily it attracts dust, and because Seagate forgot to attach rubber feet to the bottom. I do, however, like that the drive has a two year warranty and is reasonably priced. I recommend the drive, but suggest you spend a little more for the larger 1 TB drive and also buy some 3M rubber feet to attach to the bottom of the case.