Seagate Replica External housing product review

[Santilli]

I was looking for an external backup drive for Acronis, and, my local Costco
Had the Seagate Replica, 2 TB drive, with backup software, for 99.00.

I bought it, thinking it would work at USB 3, at least with what was on the box. No joy. USB 2, 35 MB/sec.

It gets better. 7 Ultimate can't format the disk. Keeps coming up UDF raw.

I installed Drive Monitor, and, the maximum temp for the drive is 107 degrees, according to Seagate.
During attempted formatting, the drive was running a full 20 degrees out of spec, at 127 degrees.

So, under load, a drive not known for reliability in the first place is put in a pretty much sealed plastic case that insures it's going 25% out of spec hot.?;-0?

I guess the Seagate development and design crew is a new version of the three stoogies?

I wonder if the drive shuts down during format, because of excessive heat?

Anyway, this one is going back today. Only gets a star because it's from Costco, and, I'll get my money back, without a fuss.

PS: It's raining today, and around 75. I hate to think the temp on your average, 100 degree day here in the summer.

 

[LunarMist]

I bought it, thinking it would work at USB 3, at least with what was on the box. No joy. USB 2, 35 MB/sec.

Was USB 3 identified on the box? There is a logo you know.

 

[Mercutio]

Seagate's external enclosures for the last few years have been really awful. Though I like the Freeagent models that sit parallel to a horizontal surface a hell of a lot better than the previous drives that sat on a tiny little stand and were otherwise made to sit perpendicular, just waiting to fall over and be forever fucked in the most warranty-voiding manner possible.

 

[LunarMist]

I think Greg should know by now that it is much better to build them with a separate enclosure and drive.

 

[Mercutio]

For a while, Seagate's branded external drives carried a five year warranty. I bought a lot of those and I've returned quite a few as well.

 

[LunarMist]

Some of them had nearly impossible-to-remove screws. :tdown:

 

[Mercutio]

That's what your non-marring pry tools are for.

 

[LunarMist]

Maybe a crowbar or a bolt cutter...

 

[Santilli]

Not only did it have a sticker that says USB 3, it also has a USB 3 cable end.

They are setting their own products up to fail with a POS housing. No excuse, so they must be doing this for a reason.

Any ideas why one would design your own product to fail?

 

[LunarMist]

Because most consumers want to buy cheap crap.

 

[Santilli]

It's not cheap. 130 bucks, means the drive is around 80 bucks and the housing costs 50 bucks????
That's absurd without a bit of a discount. With discount, the housing costs 20 bucks, and, it's not worth anything.

 

[time]

Firstly, 35MB/s is above what can be achieved with USB 2. High 20's is about the limit for USB 2, with 15-25 more typically realistic.

Secondly, and this is key, how are you measuring 35MB/s? Small files or large files, read or write?

Thirdly, a $130 RRP translates into at least $100 for the drive and at most $30 for the USB 3.0 enclosure. Discounted, probably $79 and $20. What point are you trying to make?

Fourthly, you're right, those speeds are more in the realm of USB 2 than USB 3.0. The Samsung S2 2.5" USB 3.0 drives I've been buying annihilate those numbers, eg 50MB/s writes and up to 100MB/s reads in multi-file copies.

 

[Santilli]

Thanks Time. My point is that the drive or the enclosure are both expensive, poorly made, and poorly designed. If you are correct, then it is working at slow USB 3 speeds.

My tests were done using Windows, moving a 400 MB file. It started faster, then slowed down.

 

[LunarMist]

No Atto? I'd try other ports/controllers as well.

 

[time]

Yeah, something sounds wrong. Even the slowest drive should be able to stream a single large file at a decent rate. Do you have any other USB 3.0 PCs you can try?

 

[Santilli]

I think the drive was defective, maybe the house is defective, or both.
I've got a USB toaster that moves stuff at about the same rate.

The drive was returned. I can't see having a drive in a housing at 25%
over it's designed maximum temperature, and, the drive isn't exactly known for reliability in the first place.

 

[BingBangBop]

I have bought a WD external drive and had the exact same temp issues so I don't think that the problem is limited to Seagate by any means. Those single-drive external cases do not really give the drives the proper ability to remove heat. I suspect that the temp spec for HD's are deliberately conservative. It also may be that the heat spec. for the drives they put into the external cases are really higher that the internal drive spec.

Fortunately, I got the external drive cheaper than the equivalent internal drive so I just removed the drive and used it as an internal (What I needed was the storage space not the externality (yuk) of it). What I lost by doing that is the warranty (yes the S/N does ID it as an external), so I stored the case just in case I ever have problems with the drive; I can simply put it back in its case before RMA'ing it.

 

[LunarMist]

Many of the cheap externals include a spindown when not accessed. I think the vendors assume that will increase the lifespan enough.

 

[Santilli]

IIRC, SCSI drives shut off at around 150 degrees. I was trying to transfer stuff off one, and, the file transfer failed due to excessive heat. The drive, after it cooled off, completed the transfer, provided it had a fan blowing on it. It was a loose drive, out of a housing, and, it was the entire contents of a 147 gig drive.

I suspect that if a SCSI drive shuts down at 150, a SATA might well have something similar at a lower temperature, or maybe not?

As for these housings, they are the cheapest, sealed plastic I can imagine.

 

[time]

I have a 2.5" Samsung 7200rpm 1TB USB 3.0 drive here. Apart from it's plastic case, it's enclosed in a pseudo-leather sleeve for extra protection. SMART says it's operating at 5°C above ambient when idling. To the touch, the vinyl is not as cold as the desktop it's sitting on, but it's not really 'warm' either.

Despite the 7200rpm spin rate, I can't see that there are any potential overheating issues with these (2.5") drives, even when enclosed in multiple layers of plastic.

3.5" drives would be a tougher proposition, although the Samsung F4 5400rpm 2TB doesn't need to dissipate much power either.

WTF are we going to do when Seagate discontinues Samsung's product lines?

 

[LunarMist]

I'll have to use have to use WD, that's all.