Seagate Seven 500GB Portable External Hard Drive (Silver) STDZ500400

Of course, you wouldn't buy this to back-up your entire desktop computer. You might buy this to impress your friends by carrying it in your shirt pocket, but the reason I bought it is because it saves space in my office safe.It also works perfectly. I was extremely surprised at how quick it transfers large files. I didn't use the automated back-up software, but it's plug-and-play with Windows 7 64-bit home version. I just plugged in the cable and the drive appears in Explorer, to read or write as you want.

What I love:1) 7MM Sleek, Steel Enclosure (Hardened Aluminum).2) Three Year Warranty.3) Self-Powering.4) Light Weight - 3.2 Ounces.5) Pre-Formatted for Mac or Windows.The products' magnetic closure box comes with the 7MM drive, the 12" USB 3.0 braided cord and a small instruction pamphlet inside. The drive powers-on without an extra power supply.I got this for the "cool factor" and because I'm a person who likes innovation and is a Seagate fan. The hardened aluminum drive, as far as drives go, is beautiful. It does attract fingerprints, however. It's thin and I originally thought to get this "naked" instead of storing in a case. After owning this a few days, I feel this needs a storage case. While not drop-testing for fear of breaking (will let CNET do that), it's thin and could be fragile if in the bottom of a briefcase, knapsack or bag. The three year warranty helps here and gives peace of mind.The drive is pre-formatted using a proprietary "exFAT" file system that can be used with both Mac and Windows computers without requiring an software installation step. Below is a link to a good article on exFAT (and other formatting options) for those interested in learning more:http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/06/review-is-microsofts-new-data-sharing-system-a-cross-platform-saviorThe drive does included with the Seagate Dashboard Application. The Seagate Dashboard Application has three backup functions: 1) PC Backup, 2) Social Media Backup and 3) Mobile Backup. I didn't use the Seagate Dashboard Software to perform backups on either platform so cannot comment as to it's performance. The backup software is reported to be user-friendly on both platforms, but the social media backup is reported to be limited. The drive is plug-and-play so I just used it natively dragging and dropping files with ease.USB 3.0 works great with both my 2012 MacBook Pro and a 2014 Dell Inspiron Windows 8.1 PC. The product is backwards compatible to USB 2.0 which I tested on a 2010 Sony Laptop that has a USB 2.0 Port and runs Windows 7. I feel the 12" braided cord is too short and wish Seagate didn't skimp on length. Other manufactures make shorter cords; however, I feel an "Anniversary" item (close to $100 at the time of this review) should not shortchange the user with a short cord. 500GB for $100 is currently a lot to spend given the competition when a slightly thicker Seagate 2TB drive is currently between $89 and $99 on Amazon. See Product: Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 STDR2000103. I'm not deducting a star for this because I knew the low comparative storage space before purchase and just wanted a luxury drive.My native copy speeds (not using the Seagate software) averaged: 98MBps for read and 110MBps for write on Mac and 100MBps for read and 110MBps for write. Not much of a difference across platforms. I used usbflashspeed, CrystalDiskMark and Hdtune.com software to test. Overkill, I understand, but I really wanted to get a true sense of speed here given the high price tag. I didn't test USB 2.0 speeds.If I had to purchase again, I'd wait several months and see if the price decreases and feel $69 - 79 would be a fair price given space is limited. I like the "cool' and "wow" this drive has, but it's more a luxury than necessity compared to the competition - Seagate as its own competition here, included. If the cord were longer and the drive had more space, I'd rate five stars. I'll update this review as time progresses and the drive travels from place to place.Should you get this? If form is more important than function in your eyes, then yes!

I was looking for a portable drive that was fast, preferably Thunderbolt.But most of the drives on the market are clunky, plastic-y and hideous.I also wanted something that was slim (need to conserve space in my camera/laptop bag).Then this thing got announced so I preordered it. I was very satisfied with it's build quality. Performance isn't bad either.It's also nice to know that (since it is a conventional drive) it has a 3 year warranty.They should build more drives like this. They don't have to be as thin, just made of the same quality materials.Solid construction. Nice and heavy (in a good way). Feels almost like a car part. As if it were an ECU.

not very happy with this hard drive since I paid so much for it, and it is missing more than 50GB. it only has 698GB. I paid a lot more to have the 750GB instead of the 500GB one, so I expected more. I understand that hard drives have less space than advertised, but again, I paid a lot, and expected more. disappointing.

Gladly I bought the last one! So awesome, slick and super thin. Works well and not occupying much space. I would buy a larger version if within the same compact profile while waiting for SSD to come way down. Like a piece of digital art.

Very fast drive, works well as a secondary backup for weekly office backups that I take home. the feel of the drive itself is a bit strange. I wish they made this as an SSD.

In spite of being small and thin, this portable hard drive has 500GB of memory - excellent for saving contents of laptops or smart, large capacity phones. This is undoubtedly one of the best portable hard drives!

The drive itself is incredibly thin relative to the drives its replacing. It does its job and has great style. I will say, however, that this drives primary features are aesthetic in nature as it's neither lighter than its competitors nor is it much thinner. I would further add that, at its current price, it's not terribly competitive. All that said, I'm still perfectly happy with the unit and definitely like its style!

Hands down the best portable traditional magnet hard drive I've ever used. The build quality is top notch, feels very solid. It is the most quiet of all he portable HDDs I have used being virtual silent.I have seen some people trying to compare this to an SSD, but you can not really compare them, different technologies for different situations. I specifically wanted a HDD over an SSD, despite SSDs being faster, a traditional HDD still has some benefits over newer SSDs, price per Megabyte and importantly choice of 'file system', most file systems are designed for use on HDDs. The size of these drive is impressive, smaller/thinner then anything else I have seen. I've read some people say this drive gets hot when in use. All HDD drives rise in temperature when you write a crazy amount of data to them, but even so, this drive only got warm never hot with extensive reading/writing and formatting performed on it.Seagate stopped making these drives a while ago. I hope they start making these again because there is nothing even close to these drives in terms of it small dimensions or build quality. Seagate, please start making these again!

Small, quiet and works like a charm.

Me encanto el diseño lo malo se ensucia mucho pero vale la pena por el diseño y la calidad del producto

Product is awsome. I ordered it few days back. It looks beautiful. Performs well and good if you want to create a backup of you data. I must say it's worth the price.

3ヶ月使っての感想です。MacbookPro late2011なのでUSB３.0ではないのですが十分に早く動画などもムーブできています。デザインだけで即買いしましたが全然問題なかったです。この薄さでちゃんと稼働してるのは結構感動♪気になる点は外装が意外と指紋が目立つのとその汚れが取れにくいことぐらいかな。基本的にデザインも機能性も満足でした。