(Old Model) Seagate Backup Plus 3TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (STCA3000101)

Wonderful product. Gotta love it.For those who've had problems, I can understand how frustrating it is to take the chance on one of these, given that the industry is bound to have defectives in the mix, and be the one who has such problems, whatever they turn out to be. No one expects to have such difficulties, but it seems a necessary evil in today's world of technology. Obviously, as long as the drive works the way you expect it to work, who could complain? High capacity, high speed and high expectations are becoming the norm for hard drives, and naturally, the problem items will nearly always manage to garner the angst of the unfortunate customer and the nay sayers who will always chime in with the 'me too' thing. Cannot say I blame them, but without wishing to insult anyone, it often seems much a case of operator error to me as I read reviews avidly before a purchase. Not everyone is trained enough to have a 'seat of the pants' intuition about these things, especially computers and the plethora of accessories now available for them.In the specific, Seagate markets this drive with software, some great, some not so much, and I too have completely dispensed with the included software after a few ugly moments dancing with Memeo, the dashboard, the gauge lights and some others I no longer recall, as I've long looked to Seagate as masters in this field. So, naturally, feeling as I do about the manufacturer, I have to ask myself why such software accompanies these drives and why once introduced into your operating system, there seems no being rid of the remnants they leave behind once you decide that these items are beyond your needs and comprehension. The lights on the modular USB are nice, but, they don't seem to meet expectations and having them work properly carries with it these other components that don't seem to do what was their intended purpose, so it's a reason for pause amongst novice and professional people. In the case of Memeo, once installed in a Mac environment, every startup has required a manual termination rather than a switch in the software to decline it being used. The Seagate Storage Gauge seems only controllable by a new iteration of the entire operating system, that is to say, I for one have been unable to completely terminate it by any means other than a reinstall, on a clean drive. If my experience has been isolated, I would love to have Seagate enlighten me about the proper method for controlling this item. And it is noteworthy, at least in my experience, that opting out of the included package, makes the 'gauge' lights a moot point because they do not seem to function without the accompanying software, and really otherwise seem to serve no purpose other than a 'look at me, I'm lit, don't you love me ?' and neither detract from nor embellish the drive's real purpose. The Paragon driver that bridges the gap between PC and Mac, seems to work fine, and adds a couple items to the Disk Utility that is a part of all Mac OSX revisions, nice, but precludes Mac systems from utilizing the Time Machine, now a constant as well in Mac OSX, something I don't like, being somewhat a bit of a purist, and ends up being something that I have not dedicated too much time nor effort to decide if I think it worthy in my systems. All of these recriminations are rather moot after a Mac reformat, and in my opinion, the best way for the drive to shine. I must say, I question how a company like Seagate would even consider tarnishing an image I believe to be stellar compared alongside lesser drives available today. It would seem, they neither care nor have dedicated enough resources to critically challenge the software issues that really do make the reader just a little cautious once he's brushed up against these issues, myself included. I wonder if my remarks will be picked up by Seagate and given credence.Now, when the user trashes the software, as I have, the drive performs as close to perfect as any I have seen. I have a few WD doorstops and wonder just how they, meaning Western Digital, could have landed in such an unenviable spot, and one or two failures is enough for me to say goodbye regardless of how good they 'used' to be. Hitachi, same thing. Samsung, now owned I believe by Seagate, no real experience upon which to base an opinion. IOMEGA ?????? never, ever again, the worst and undoubtedly the poorest of pikers out there. Lousy customer service and awful products. I intend to revise my reviews of IOMEGA devices purchased in the past, but have neither had the time or inclination to do so just yet.Again, when the user trashes the software, as I have, the drive performs as close to perfect as any I have seen.I cannot speak for Windows environments any more, as I have been more than twenty years an Apple convert. I have never looked back even though, I see many wonderful sounding and appearing things coming along nicely, or so it would seem. I have read many a disgruntled PC users misgivings about the very same software which I've declined here, so things can only be so rosy in PC land where this software is concerned.I would remove a star for the software, if it mattered to me, but the drive, is only going to be but so good when the user employs the really shoddy software included, and mind you, the Memeo software is only a limited license, and requires one to purchase it beyond a few months of use to continue to add insult to injury with what seems little more than garbage to me. Really sorry Seagate has hitched their wagon to this seeming junk, because it really has hurt Seagate in the long run, no doubt, but without the software, I've yet to be able to fault the drives themselves and have more than one or two upon which to base my opinions.Thank you for reading my review. Seagate, I hope you are watching as I believe Seagate stands upon the edge of a dangerous precipice in this highly competitive business. Speaking only of the drive, I would recommend it to anyone that has need for space and be quick to repeat these remarks.

I have masses of storage in my system and many years of experience with numerous hard drive brands. I have to say that honestly, Seagate is not one of my current favorites - but ironically I have owned many of them.Consumer hard drives at this price point are not as robust as enterprise drives. You should expect to have problems from time to time, requiring replacing or repairing a drive, or restoring lost data. Believe it. Prepare for it. Not having backups of your important data is foolhardy and a disaster waiting to happen, no matter what brand of drives you use.As with most people in the home market today, the amount of data and its importance to our daily lives is increasing. You must plan for and prepare to protect this vital asset.Here are some tips based on my many years of experience, and trust me, I have made all the mistakes that I am warning you about:- You must have a way to restore or regenerate any computer system that you consider critical to your life. This includes the data, operating system and applications. There are software products available that allow you to make a backup "clone" of your hard drive, and several products, such as Windows Home Server, that will automatically backup all your data and all your computers. Take a look, and find a product in this category that meets your needs and price point.- You must make periodic backups of everything; all data and computer system drives. The products I just mentioned can be configured to do it automatically, or you can do it manually. The more often, the better.- You should buy the highest quality hard drives you can afford ("Enterprise" or "NAS" quality drives are the most expensive). They will last longer, have fewer errors and have the longest warranties. This is a general statistical comment. Of course any given item can be an exception.- You should have as many copies of your important data as practical for you. And store the copies in different places. At least one copy should be offline (not attached to any electronics while stored). Multiple separate copies protects you from accidental erasures. Even mirrored drives will not protect you from this.- Heat, extreme cold and other adverse conditions such as dust and moisture are prime enemies of all electronics. Even a robust hard drive can fail if it stays too hot, too often, or is subjected to undue vibration and dust.- Protect computers from power surges using the best surge protectors you can afford. Clean the airflow holes with a vacuum periodically, and if you have the skills and confidence, clean the insides of all computers of dust that impedes airflow.All that being said, what does this have to do with this product?I have found that even though Seagate is not my favorite brand, their recent pricing and product packaging have made them attractive. I just try to use them in a way, with my eyes open, that minimizes my risk - this is a good practice, regardless of the brand.Here is why I like these units:- The packaging is very clever and very useful. You can mix and match these drives across various connection methods (USB 2.0, USB 3.0, firewire, eSATA) just by switching adapters. Very handy.- The USB 3.0 units are fast. They seem to deliver the expected much faster than USB 2.0 performance.- They can be easily reformatted. I always reformat them, using the default allocation size before using.- Price point: if you catch the frequent lowball Amazon prices, you can get these drives for less than $34 / TB. Enterprise drives can sell for up to $100 / TB. The best strategy for protecting data is having multiple copies, with the copies separated from each other - not on the same computer, not on the same controller, at least one copy offline, and best of all, at least one copy in a different physical location. The low price point allows me to have multiple "Consumer grade" copies for the price of one "enterprise grade" copy. My gut feel says that the probability of two copies, one of which is offline, failing at the same time is very low.So, how do I use these units? I use them as 2nd / 3rd copy offline backups of my most important data. Their low price point affords me this luxury. And by keeping them offline, I mitigate the risks of overheating these cheap drives or subjecting them to 24x7 usage, which is not appropriate for consumer grade external drives.I hope this wordy "review" serves as a help to others who are attracted to these low price points, but have reservations about risking their data.

I rated this product 5 stars because it was so easy to set up and works flawlessly. The 3.0 speed is great for transfer. I didn't use the software that came with it so I don't know if that is or could be a problem. I love Seagate. I've had other external drives from them with no problems or quirks.All in all, a great product. I would definitely recommend it.

On me livre un disque dur avec un transformateur que l'on ne peut pas brancher. Est ce que c'était trop dur de prendre 1 minute pour l'écrire dans le descriptif? Pourquoi le paquet est en Français, et la prise ne fonctionne pas. Y joindre un adaptateur aurait été la moindre des choises, mais il faut bien croire que cela est trop dur pour vous. Donc je note 1 étoile, parce que le service est vraiment trop fin nul, et encore, soyez encore heureux que je ne puisse pas mettre de note négative.

I bought one of this drive from Amazon last Christmas 2011, then I bought 2 more in December 2012. They all have very good price performance. It works much reliable than IOmega which i have 2 pcs in my office but one piece become noisy after 1 year usage.

Pas d'info sur le type d'alimentation. ce dernier est livré avec prise us, pas d'adaptateur livré avec, résultat; pas pu l'utilisé (c'est halo).Pour un produit vendu sur amazon fr c'est decevant.

Good quality Seagate external hard drive. It works as it should and data transfer speed is very fast, as expected on USB 3.0. The only downside is that the hard drive takes some time to start up and can be somewhat noisy when transferring data at high speeds, which is expected from a hard drive of this size and quality. More sound insulation would help improve on this. The included software works great , although it can be slow at times when installing an update; however, it makes backing up everything a breeze with its programmable backup schedules or one-click backup process. Satisfied with purchase.