Fabrik SimpleTech SimpleDrive External Hard Drive - STI-USB235/120
120 GB - 7200 rpm - 3.5" - External

Great sturdy product. Far better than so many cheap enclosures out there. Although this doesn't have a fan to cool the hard drive the body is made of solid head dissipating metal, which keeps the temperature down and works well. I've used this quite heavily for about a year and half and never had any problems with it.
 
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I use this hard drive to back up files from my Windows XP box. When I hooked it up for the first time, I made the mistake of installing the backup software that came with it. It made my system so unstable, I had to restore my system from the backup disc. So I wrote my own bat script and created a 'Backup' user and scheduled the script to run every hour and copy any new files from certain directories I care about to the Simpletech hard drive. Has worked great, and the piece of mind was worth the price of the drive. However, last night, I came home and noticed my computer was completely locked. I rebooted, but the OS wouldn't load up completely - just a grey screen. I tried some things, then finally disconnected the Simpletech hard drive. Computer booted up ok and said it had recovered from a serious error. Now, when I plug in the drive into the USB port, nothing happens. There is this quiet buzzing sound that repeats itself every 5 seconds coming from the drive. It has obviously crashed. Luckily, I'm still in the 1-year warrantee period, so I'm working with the company to get it fixed, although it has a copy of all my personal data on it, so I'm not gonna be too thrilled to send it in. Luckily, all the critically personal data is encrypted. I expected the thing to last more than 9 months. Will try to update this review after going through the return/fix process with Simpletech.
 
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External hard drive works fine. Unfortunately, due to Simple Tech design flaw, the red LED light indicating power on is visible but the green LED light indicating when the hard drive is engaged is not visible under normal lighting conditions. Simple Tech is aware of this flaw, which they say is due to use of blue plastic cover over the LEDs--red shines through but green is barely visible. Apparently, the drives are being redesigned to fix this flaw; until then, Simple Tech's position is the consumer either lives with the non-visible LED or returns the product to vendor for refund.
 
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The drive is easy to set up and works flawlessly. The only problem is that the green hard disk activity LED is barely visible. You can only see it if you lean down and look straight at the front display. This is unfortunate as I find it helpful to know when the hard drive is active.
 
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What was helpful is the Simple Tech website, because I did not know what I needed, so I used the navigator on the site, to input what type of computer I had. Then you know if it is compatible. This is a very easy one to use..I am glad I bought one.
 
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No problems at all with this. Just plugged it in to the USB port and it was ready to go, without any software installation required (for Win XP, anyway). Runs whisper-quiet. Great cost per GB after the rebate -- hard to beat unless you go with internal hard drives. Portability is a big plus as I have two computers on different floors. Sturdy case, and the feet make it a lot harder for the cats to knock over! I may get another one of these. Great alternative to the DVD backups I have been doing -- much faster, no discs to worry about.
 
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I got this drive a week ago, and am using it to sync files on 4 different machines. It is truly plug and play - I took it out of the box and in a minute was happily transfering files between machines (Windows 2000 and Windows XP). The drive is quiet, and the USB2 connection allowed me to move 8 gig in just a few minutes. (My Windows 2000 machine is USB - took about 10 times as long on that machine) I haven't used the included back-up and synchronization software (StorageSync)yet, but it looks intuitive and easy to use. I haven't found any drives of this capacity or speed (7200) for this price ($90 after rebate)anywhere. Seems like a very good deal on a good product.
 
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This particular product came to me via spam mail and I quickly did my homework regarding pricing other 120gb external HD and nothing compares! Sure, you can buy another EXT/HD for $115.00 dollars but its only like an 80gb or so. I'm used to firewire speeed external HD's but this is just one step down re: transfer rate. It gets the job done and it takes no space. Lets your REAL PC be new again with no VIDEOS and DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY etc. just drag and drop everything on this HD and your good to go! hope you all have fun with this.
 
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No need to get the WD or Maxtor drive...Simpletech has it all. This drive is incredible. It is just enough space....I highly recommend it. Get two!
 
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