Customer Reviews

Seagate STBV2000200 2TB Expansion USB 3.0 3.5 Inch Desktop Hard Drive - Black

5 star:		(530)
4 star:		(161)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(37)

 

 

For my purposes, this drive is excellent: extremely simple to operate, huge memory capacity and relatively compact and unobtrusive. No doubt there will soon be reviews here which deal expertly with specifications and comparisons. I am just an ordinary computer user who cannot advise on all that, but I hope this review will be helpful to other non-techies who, like me, want reliable and easy-to-use extra memory.

The drive is about the size of a 400-page small-format paperback book. It is quite heavy (about 1kg all told) but would be easy to transport if you needed to. It sits flat and needs to be plugged into the mains. The supplied connecting lead to your computer's USB port is about 1 metre long, so you have some flexibility about where to put it. When switched on it is, to my ears anyway, silent (hurrah!) and has a discreet blue LED to indicate that it is working. In short, it is the compact, unobtrusive drive I was hoping for.

In use it is exceptionally simple. I plugged it into my slightly elderly Windows XP laptop and, as promised, it was automatically recognised by Windows and was ready to use within a few seconds. If you like, you can turn it off at the mains at any time it's not actively in use so it doesn't have to run all the time, and it only takes a couple of seconds to wake up when switched on again. You add files by simply dragging-and-dropping and the transfer speed seems very quick to me (my initial backup of my entire "My Documents" folder, about 14GB, took well under half an hour). Files (like music or photos) run from the drive just as if they were on your internal hard drive and it is easy to copy or move files between the drive and an mp3 player or memory stick. It really is like having a huge internal hard drive.

I am rather nervous about computer technology and have been dithering over whether to get an external drive so that I can convert more of my music collection to digital format. I am thrilled to have received this one. It is small and unobtrusive and does exactly what I want extremely simply. I can recommend it very warmly to the technologically timid.

Purchased this hard drive to use as a 'time machine' backup for my iMac; very good for the price. Worked straight out of the box. The Mac reformatted it, but that didn't cause any problems and easy enough to do if you follow the onscreen prompts. Generally runs quietly. Future-proof as it has USB 3.0. Overall very pleased.

A high capacity, fairly priced, simple USB3 drive that is just big enough to handle my Time Machine back ups.

Performance is OK and whilst the case is a bit bigger than some similar drive enclosures it feels fairly robust and sits neatly on a shelf. Its status LED is on the top of the case towards the back and is obscured if you stack drives on top of this unit.

The power supply unit (PSU) is a cheap-looking transformer on a plug type and blew up within three weeks. It gave a bang as it went.

The PSU is a standard 12V 1.5A and it's easy to take one from another drive.

For �70 I was a little skeptical of the quality of this HDD, seeing as it has a whopping 2TB, but so far - no complaints. It works with my Mac seamlessly (ignoring the initial re-formatting). Time Machine Backups, and all of my Samples, Projects and Music fit onto it with a TB to spare.

One thing though - it doesn't state in the item description that it is EXTERNALLY POWERED, i.e by a power cord. I was hoping for it to be powered through USB, but oh well.

It's fat, it's ugly, but it's great value for money, and hasn't failed on me yet. When it does, I'll re-write this bit and tell you how long it lasted for... ;)

The HDD comes in a machined metal case that is impressively made with a solid feel to it that does give you confidence that the case will withstand most drops and knocks that might occur with external HDD's

In the box is the HDD itself which is approximately 18cm(l) x 12cm(w) x 3.8cm(d) which is barely much bigger than most 3.5" HDDs. Also in the box is the USB 3.0 cable which has a USB (A) type connector on one end and USB 3.0 micro type at the other.
On the underside are the heat ventilation holes along with 4 plastic feet which provide both grip and clearance for the internal heat to be dissipated. Speaking of which there appears to be an internal fan to cool the HDD as when you pick it up there is a detectable air flow from the bottom.

The power adaptor is a plug (smartphone style) adaptor which is light and small enough along with the size of the HDD means that the HDD is portable enough to be carried around if you need to. One of the things I like about this plug is it comes with both the EU 2pin and UK 3 pin adaptors that simply slide and click into the main power adaptor.

Set up of the HDD is very simple and quick with no external or special drivers, just plug in the power adaptor, then connect the HDD to the PC, Windows XP and 7 both detect the HDD and automatically install the drivers after which the drive can be viewed and used in the usual windows ways.

Already installed on the HDD is a little tool that allows you to register your HDD which automatically detects the HDD's model number and serial number making registering such a doddle that its silly not to do it.

In my use so far I have backed up 112GB of data from one of my PC's which even over USB 2.0 took barely over 1.5hrs which for the size of data transferred I feel is pretty impressive. As I type this review I am doing a back up using windows 7 to the external HDD on another PC. Windows 7 had no problem to detect and select the external HDD as the back up drive.

The HDD is silent, and I mean silent, unless of course you place your ear right next to it. But if like me you have it on the desk next to you it will cause no disturbance, the HDD inside my laptop and on the Sky box create far more noise.
Heat wise so far I've used the HDD for over 1.5 hours continuous and the drive was just warm on top but otherwise the metal case was easily comfortable to hold.

My only final thing is that the information at the top of this page says this is for a 1.0TB capacity, however the one I was sent is 3.0TB which I'm more than happy with as its more than I expected.

So in short, good, speedy, quiet, solidly built, light, portable external HDD.

With 2TB of memory at my disposal this simple-to-use external hard drive
has taken a lot of pressure off my very elderly desktop computer. (It was
creaking at the seams with a decade's worth of holiday photos and more
music than any sane man should reasonably own!) Connection and operation
couldn't be more simple and simple is a huge plus in my book. The Windows
interface (XP here) via USB is a complete doddle; transfers are speedy and
the design, in basic black, is sleek and unassuming (even though it will
certainly collect the dust on its upper surface but as the redoubtable
Quentin Crisp was won't to say "after the first four years it doesn't get
any worse" !) There's a lot of competition out there in the marketplace
but all-in-all it'd be hard to find a better piece of kit. I'm dead impressed!

Highly Recommended.

The downsides to the Seagate Expansion 2TB hard drive are largely unimportant while it scores very highly in the critical areas.

It's not a produce that's going to win any design awards - it's a chunky brick-like unit. Other hard drives might look more attractive but if you view it for its practical benefits, this probably doesn't matter much. It's also fairly heavy - yes you could lug it around with you but it weighs about the same as a laptop and if you plan to carry it around, you might find you need to upgrade your arms! It's got a chunk of lead in it and that solidity gives you some confidence in its robustness though. If you are looking for a hard drive to carry around a lot, there are lighter smaller versions around. But for most this is probably going to sit on a desk and either be used as a back up or a store for things like photos or music. For that, it's fine.

In terms of set up - it's simplicity itself - just plug it in to the mains and connect via USB and you are ready to go. There's no software to install and Windows recognized it instantly. It really is plug and play. Perfect.

As for use, it's simply a matter of drag and drop - much as you'd move files around in your own computer. Transfer speed is fast - you should allow a chunk of time if you are going to move a large amount of stuff when you set it up, but less than you'd probably expect.

And the capacity is huge - probably as much as most people will need. If you are looking for additional space on your own computer (there was a notably increase in speed in my computer when I moved a chunk of photos and music to the drive) or just as additional security of having data backed up - this is a strong choice. It's not beautiful, but it is practical.

This is an excellent external USB 3 or USB 2 drive. Just plug it in and within a couple of minutes it's ready to use - no set-up required. With USB 3 it's fast and performs well. Just does the job! Note that the bottom can get quite warm so care is needed as to where it's placed.

NOTE don't be tempted by the 3TB version unless you have read and understood Microsoft's article KB2510009 which deals with issues and incompatibilities regarding drives with a capacity above 2TB.

I bought this hard drive with the specific aim of recording TV to it from my Freeview box, rather than for PC storage. The drive box itself is sturdy and not too large, and the drive has the advantage of being very quiet. Despite being USB 3.0 rather than the USB 2.0 supported by my Freeview box, connection was straight forward, and data transfer very quick. A good disk drive, and highly recommended.

I got this to replace a Freecom external drive that stopped working with an audible bang quite suddenly. The Seagate drive is reasonably priced, very easy to set up and works silently. There is a blue light to signal that it is on but there is no on/off switch, which I would have liked, hence 4 stars rather than 5.