SimpleTech by Hitachi Signature Mini 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive FS-U25/500E (Espresso)
by Hitachi
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Our Price: $199.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SimpleTech by Hitachi Signature Mini 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive FS-U25/500E (Espresso)
Customer Review: Problem Alert - caveat emptor
Summary: 3 Stars
I originally ordered this on December 31st and ordered it with Saturday delivery. Amazon delivered it with no problems on Saturday. I immediately opened it and attempted to install it and OOPS - no software installed on it. No problem mon - went to the manufacturers website and figured I would download it from there. The harddrive hooked up with no problems so I just needed the software. Well after about two hours of looking on Simpletech, Hitachi and Fabrik's websites I realized it wasn't so easy - every hardrive but this one was listed under support. And there is no support on weekends from humans. Without the software it might as well be an elegant rock. So I called Amazon and asked for a reploacement and they were very good and sent a new one pronto which arrived without delays on Monday. Guess what? No software again on the machine. At least this time it was before 5PM CST and there was tech support available. Well, I called 4 numbers for 20 minutes straight and nobody answered the phone - all 4 rang and rang and rang until 5:05CST - at which point I finally got a hold of a receptionist at Hitachi who said they had phone issues. She eventually had somebody from Tech Support contact me (after calling again 20 minutes later) at which point the guy talked to me like I was a moron and told me he could have saved me the trouble of having Amazon replace it - that they format these portable hard drives 100 at a time and sometimes they don't get the software loaded. I asked him why they didn't put this on their support site so I at least knew what was going on - and he said they couldn't because of copyright problems with the software. When I asked a manager the same question about putting some mention of this problem on their website he said they wouldn't want to redflag a problem like this. So I will do it for them right here - watch for defective hard drives on this model!!! Well the tech support guy did email me a link to download the software - but unless you feel like going through the hassle - avoid this.Customer Review: simpletech mini espresso 500b black
Summary: 3 Stars
On the whole, these things are great: work well, are pretty fast for USB, and have never crashed. This is
my second one. However, after about 1.5 years of banging it around in my backpack, the connector seems
to have gotten slightly loose so once in a while if there is a vibration it sort of detaches and unmounts.
Probably my own fault, but keep in mind this is not a drive to take on the extreme backpacking adventure: it
is a solid drive that works under normal wear and tear.
Customer Review: doesn't stay mounted
Summary: 2 Stars
This drive does not mount on my macbook pro with the included USB cable. It does mount with some (but not all) other USB cables. But, occasionally it spontaneously unmounts. The power cable may help it connect more reliably, but that is sold separately, which is really frustrating. Also, the two-pronged USB cable may help, but on a macbook pro, the USB ports are too far apart. I will be returning it rather than springing for a power cord or USB extension cable.
Right now this is the only truly mini 500 GB drive, which saves it from a one star rating. If it works on your windows computer, then you're set!
Customer Review: Drive not detected at time
Summary: 2 Stars
I got this drive 2 weeks back. It worked good with XP the first time. After that it would start up with a noise. Once it just shutoff when copying files. With Vista it could not be detected at times. Had to return it finally.Customer Review: Portable Harddrive
Summary: 2 Stars
Price is nice, quality is poor. 3 weeks after the installation. The connector for the usb on the drive is lose, and now I would have to unplug/plug few time 'till it starts to read.