The use of external drives, virtually unchanged since their invention, users store their files on them, whether it is photos or image archive system. Despite the fairly simple mission, intricate manufacturers are constantly trying to add to their device something new. The company Seagate, which is one of the largest companies in the HDD, did not remain aloof from these attempts to force the user to additional functions. The new external hard drive Seagate Backup Plus 1TB, in addition to its primary purpose, provides the user with the ability to save your photos from Facebook and Flickr. Also, the drive can be connected to a computer via USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt. Let’s see how well the stated functionality, and how new interfaces affect the speed of the Seagate Backup Plus 1TB.
Appearance
Design of Seagate Backup Plus 1TB external hard drive does not particularly different from the devices of this kind. The drive is a rectangle with dimensions of 123.4 x 81.1 x 14.5 mm and weighing 224 grams.
Seagate Backup Plus 1TB Case is made of plastic, the assembly, both for the portable storage device, at an average level. When squeezing the plastic creaks considerably and there are doubts as to its impact resistance. Otherwise, the design of the device can be called a classic, and even strict.
Connect an adapter Thunderbolt significantly increases the thickness and size of Seagate Backup Plus 1TB hard drive, making it already in some semblance of a stationary solution. However, with the docking station design of the device looks a bit more interesting.
The speed of a USB 2.0/3.0/Thunderbolt
Seagate Backup Plus is able to connect to a computer via interface USB 2.0, 3.0, and Thunderbolt. By default, the bundle includes Cable USB 3.0, the connection is to the Thunderbolt is using a special docking station.
Backup Plus test sample was equipped with a 2.5-inch hard drive, 1 TB at a rate of 5400 rev / min. It should be noted that this version of the drive is not very productive, because there are also modifications of HDD at 7200 rev / min, and this imposes restrictions on the transfer of data via USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt. The device simply cannot fully reveal the ability of these interfaces.
Let’s see how fast Seagate Backup Plus cope with writing and reading files when connected to the port of USB 2.0. In the test, Seagate Backup Plus 1TB shows the peak reading of 23.3 MB / s and writes 32.9 MB / s. With USB 3.0 the situation was much better. Write speed up as much as 104.7 MB / s and reading – 104.3 MB / s, which is a good result for both the external HDD drive.
When connected to the Seagate Backup Plus to the docking station Thunderbolt Drive showed a comparable connection to USB 3.0 result. Recording speed was 104.9 MB / s, while reading – 103.4 MB / s.
In fact, this ceiling is the speed of the hard drive, which is located inside the Backup Plus, as both USB 3.0, and even more so Thunderbolt can transmit information at higher speeds. As a result, if your computer port USB 3.0 is definitely no point in spending extra money and buy for Backup Plus docking station interface Thunderbolt, since it will not bring any change in the speed of read / write drive. An exception may be perhaps that laptops Apple, not counting the 2012 models, which set the port USB 2.0, but also has a connector for Thunderbolt. In this case, buying a docking station for Backup Plus will indeed be justified.
Backup
Seagate Backup Plus external drive can connect both computers with Windows, and with OS X, for use with advanced features used by the program Seagate Dashboard 2.0. If on Windows you can use it to back up files, scheduling it to run automatically, on OS X you are prompted to send media files available on HDD into Facebook, Flickr, or YouTube, or, conversely, to pump them out of Facebook and Flickr to your hard drive .
Ability to save your photos and videos from Facebook and Flickr to a portable external drive, may be required in some cases, however, running it through the Dashboard 2.0 is not very good. Program is properly connected and is authorized Facebook and Flickr, but beyond that, for some reason, nothing happens. And if the files are downloaded from Facebook and start to download periodically interrupted because of an error, then Flickr will not load anything at all.
Hard to tell what is connected with such work Dashboard 2.0, perhaps the program needs more rights from the services themselves, or whether it simply connects to the legacy API. But in practice, backing up from Facebook and Flickr is only formally, in practice, it takes too long and requires too much effort.
Pros:
– The speed of read / write files via USB 3.0/Thunderbolt
– Size and weight
Cons:
– Plastic housing
– Seagate Dashboard 2.0
External Drive Backup Plus, despite attempts by Seagate to add a new functionality is fairly typical for storing files on a portable medium. Thus, some additional features, in practice, do not work very well, but at the same time, any claims to the work of the external hard drive. As a result, if the focus on the fact that Backup Plus – this is primarily a portable external drive, its capacity will not be disappointed. It was all regarding the Seagate Backup Plus 1TB external drive review, if you have any query left in your brain, feel free to ask.
