Toshiba 200 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (HDDR200E02X) Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently became the owner of this item. I looked at all sorts of brand which includes WD, Lacie, Seagate, and Simpletech, read customer reviews and asked around. When I was looking I kept in mind the following: I need a simple plug-and-play that will work with my Mac and Windows system just like how a small USB flash drive would. I want something small since I'll be traveling with it and inexpensive in case it breaks or I loose it. This will not be my main backup drive. I do most of my work on the desktop but every so often I work outside the house and use the laptop. So I need a travel storage buddy. Unless there's a great deal, I don't need anything more than 120GB (which will give me around 111GB of actual space -- HD manufacturer calculates size differently, instead of using 1024kb they use 1000 for 1meg).

I finally decided to get this Toshiba because it was on sale locally for $69 and what I've read and heard from people who owns this weren't all that bad. The problem that it might have, per this review: http://reviews.cnet.com/hard-drives/toshiba-usb-2-0/4505-3186_7-32431241.html, I'm ok with since I'll be reading more than writing. I also noticed Toshiba's warning, that it might need the power adapter for some computers so I made sure with the store that I could return it if I do have to buy a power adapter, not something I want to do.

I plugged the device on my PowerMac -- detected it just like a usb flash drive. Transferred some files, a few megs, successful. I unplugged it, plugged it into the Win system, detected it and I could open the files from my Mac. The transfer process from the Windows to the Mac was successful also. I went to the computer lab at work, plugged it into a few more systems, iMacs and other Windows (all Windows are XP Pro) towers and it worked. I tried it with the laptop, Dell Inspiron and Latitude and everything was great. I don't have a fancy tool to measure but the transfer rate was about a Gig a minute. Which I think isn't as fast as others but this big (over 2 gig -- when testing I transferred 47 gigs of homemade video tutorials) tranfer is problem something that I'd do a few times here and there and not something I'd be waiting on. So this alone, using it between two platforms, is worth the $$.

Aesthetically, the HD is nice looking. It's not shiny like the WD I was looking at so I don't have to see my fingerprints all over it or see the scratches like on the iPod. I wouldn't mind though if this was red like the SimpleTech one but then I didn't want to fork out $139 for a color. I'd most likely get a case since I'll be moving it around and I am not the most graceful person. There is a blue light when the HD is plugged in and ready to go. It's quite nice I think.

I didn't use the software to help me back up my whole system or reformat it before use. It came with Fat32 and that's what I need. If I only need it for the Windows system I'd reformat it to NTFS but no need. I'll be using it to store photos, web developing stuff, and my digital scrapbooking kits. When I travel, I always take my laptop with me. Having this gives me another place to store photos, in case something happens to the laptop or one or the other gets stolen. I'll be taking it to scrap booking nights/crops. Really this is why I need this little thing to digiscrap outside the house.

Hopefully this will last me a while. I'll be back if something happens and report.

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Product Description:
TOSHIBA 200GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive. With up to 200GB capacity, the Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive can store up to 57,000 digital photos, 52,000 MP3 music files, 88 DVD videos or 23 high-definition videos. The click free, switch free and button free backup solution means a worry free lifestyle knowing that all of your important digital memories, entertainment content and life documents have been protected and backed up on the Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive. Everything you need to backup your digital memories and important data is right in the box. The NTI Shadow software provides an easy to use interface to make your backups pain free. Once parameters are set, the backup solution is click free, switch free and button free. If you need to search backup files, you simply push one button for Quick Restore to gain access to your data. All data is stored in the original file format so special software isnt required if you open files on another computer. Using the bundled software, its easy to select the frequency of back up. For example, continuous mode provides up to the minute back up, time interval mode gives the option of selecting back up options by the minute, hour or day, patterned schedule mode enables users to choose a certain day and time to perform back up duties. The Toshiba USB 2.0 External Hard Drive is powered through the USB connector when the computer is on, ensuring designated files and folders are automatically backed up without extensive user maintenance. There is no need to activate backup once preferences are selected.