Seagate Technology 200 GB USB 2.0 and FireWire External Drive ( ST3200823A-RK )
Solid performance, poor software included
I got this drive primarily as a backup drive as I'm a video editor, and my storage needs just keep expanding. (this drive puts me up to 752GB of storage)<br /><br />Also, though not really surprising, while this drive has good reviews thus far (and I can't guess into the future as to how long this drive will last), the 300GB and 400GB models have been torn apart in terms of reliability. I'll just say this, as the drive storage increases, as of writing this review, it seems as if we've hit a bit of a wall in terms of reliably storing all that data successfully on these drives. Hitachi's new vertical storage technology that they're working on now may fix that, but for now, I don't trust drives over 200GB, and again, the reviews for the 300GB and 400GB models prove that. 200GB and under though should be fine, and this is my third external drive now, and I've never had a problem, PC or Mac. (at work, a 1TB LaCie drive did die though, reaffirming the current over 200GB problem)<br /><br />The drive itself is quite stylish, though the casing feels both sturdy, and cheap at the same time. Standing vertically the sides feel nice and secure, and the feet slide in and lock, and I don't think the drive is going to end up falling over, but the top bit of the plastic case feels a bit cheap. It doesn't take much space at all vertically though, and looks nice. They can also be stacked horizontally according to the box. I've tried this with two Western Digital external drives, and it seemed as if heat might be a problem, but the Seagate drive runs noticably cooler, so horizontal stacking would probably work fine.<br /><br />It comes with two firewire ports, a USB port, the appropriate cabling and external power supply, and an on-off switch plus access lights on the front.<br /><br />The front also has a button which is supposed to launch a one-touch backup software. Sadly, the software seems to suck, and is very sluggish. In its defense, I do have 300,000+ files I wanted to backup, but it took forever just for it to count the files. (plus it installed very slowly) In short, I didn't trust the backup software, uninstalled it, and just used Microsoft Backup for now.<br /><br />Of course, as with all hard drives, you lose space once they're formatted, and this drive is really 186GB.<br /><br />Again, I can't see into the future and say this drive will hold my data forever reliably. But for now, it works, and I've never had a problem with a Seagate drive, or a drive under 200GB. The warranty is only a year though on Seagate externals, as opposed to five year for the internals, which does suck.to count the files. (plus it installed very slowly) In short, I didn't trust the backup software, uninstalled it, and just used Microsoft Backup for now.    Of course, as with all hard drives, you lose space once they're formatted, and this drive is really 186GB.    Again, I can't see into the future and say this drive will hold my data forever reliably. But for now, it works, and I've never had a problem with a Seagate drive, or a drive under 200GB. The warranty is only a year though on Seagate externals, as opposed to five year for the internals, which does suck.