Posted to Hard Drives 2009-10-26
With two-terabyte hard drives becoming increasingly popular in today's consumer market, the Seagate Expansion ST320005EXA101-RK 2 TB USB 2.0 External Desktop Hard Drive is yet another addition. Although this drive features large capacity, its performance and reliability is not so impressive. Seagate's other models (which range from 500GB to 1.5TB) feature a hard drive speed of 7200rpm. The 2TB edition only produces 5900rpm, and disk performance suffers because of it. So if you're looking for a high-performance 2TB hard drive, you may want to consider another brand or model. This 3.5" external hard drive measures 4.96" x 1.57" x 8.15" and weighs a comfortable 2.25 lbs. What sets it apart from the majority of other models is that it lays flat on a surface, rather than on its side. This model implements a USB 2.0 port, which works well but not nearly as good as FireWire does. The price is also a little steep, but for a 2TB hard drive, it remains reasonable. On the positive side, this Seagate features plug-and-play technology, advanced power management, and simple drag-and-drop operations. Overall, this is an average hard drive with huge capacity.
FeaturesBecause this model in Seagate's external hard drive series has such massive storage capacity, we are somewhat impressed. It is only a hundred dollars more than the 1TB model, and it is not much bigger as far as size and weight goes. This model also features Windows-friendly enhancements such as plug-and-play and advanced power management. Despite failing slightly on the performance side, this hard drive has great features- most notably, the huge capacity. PerformanceProbably the two worst flaws of this hard drive are the lack of FireWire and slow RPM speed. Sure, USB 2.0 offers speeds up to 480Mbps, but there is a noticeable difference between 7200rpm and 5900rpm. The higher the RPM, the better the performance, so in this case, performance suffers. But if you're aiming more for high capacity rather than high performance, than this is the hard drive for you. Otherwise, you may want to downgrade or look elsewhere. SummaryThis product is a tricky one to weigh as far as pros and cons go. It is definitely a value hard drive, since it features humungous two-terabyte storage capacity. Unfortunately, the drive speed is a downgrade compared to preceding models. If you're looking for a high-performance hard drive that features 7200rpm and FireWire, then you may want to consider a lower-capacity Seagate or competing hard drive. But if speed and features do not matter and capacity is all you're looking for, then the 2TB Seagate USB 2.0 external hard drive is definitely the way to go. Pros
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