Seagate Expansion 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST906404EXA101-RK

10 Review to this product

• 

  Mark Gullickson
  October 16th, 2009 on 12:49 pm

  Rating

  this is a nifty little drive, replacing my 80gig portable hard drive i’ve been taking on business trips. after grabbing a seagate 1TB drive and being surprised at how quiet is was, this is just as quiet. i double partitioned it into W:Work and P:Play drives, seems fast so far, no problems with copying gigs of video. i really like the slick design, slides into my bag’s pocket easily, no external power supply, just the one micro USB cable. agreed with one of the other reviewers on the micro-usb inclusion instead of the more standard mini, but that’s really the only gripe i have. 500gig, sleek and slick. nice drive.
• 

  World Travelista
  October 20th, 2009 on 6:03 am

  Rating

  I travel often and needed something portable that would hold all my photos, music, and also to be a good backup for my personal and business laptops.
  
  This is the perfect size; it’s small, lightweight and barely takes up any room.
  
  Also it is a very quiet drive, I barely hear it.
  
  Set-up was so easy I thought I was missing something. Ha! It’s truly USB plug and play – -no need for any software or anything.
  
• 

  Rick "Traveling Man"
  November 17th, 2009 on 8:46 pm

  Rating

  Since I travel over a 100K miles every year for business and pleasure I try to travel as light as possible with just a laptop. Problem is I have an extensive Powerpoint collection of presentations plus all my digital media for music and photographs. My other consideration was a drive large enough to backup all my documents. I’ve had numerous Seagate products in the past and have always been happy with the products and support I received so they were the first place I looked when searching for a external portable drive. The good news is I didn’t have to call customer support for any issues. The install was truely plug and play and the drive unit itself is so quiet I have to keep checking to make sure it is on. The drive is very light and sleek looking and fits very easily into my briefcase. All in all an excellent value and it’s still hard for me to believe you can get a 500GB unit for under $100. Highly recommended…..
• 

  B. Hanna
  December 18th, 2009 on 12:07 am

  Rating

  I purchased this drive a few weeks ago and have been very pleased with it. The only junk it was the warranty registration program. Run it then delete it. Disk comes pre-formated for NTFS. I went ahead and did a quick format to get rid of the existing folders on it. The drive goes into standby mode after 5 minutes bye default. This is quickly remedied and set to your liking with free Seagate Manager program available on Seagates website. Also this program give you the ability to do backups, and computer syncs.

  Pros -
  
  Quite drive
  
  very fast
  
  small and sleek
  
  no power supply needed
  
  only requires use of one usb port
  
  Simple/Custom Backups with Seagate Manager
  
  Sync Option with Seagate manager

  Cons-
  
  Goes into standby in 5 minutes by default. Easily changeable with Seagate Manager
  
  Case Logic Compact Portable Hard Drive Case listed as an option to purchase with this is TOO SMALL for this drive. This is an issue with Amazon not the drive itself.

  Overall I am very please with this drive I have used it on multiple laptops and pcs without issue. I would suggest this over the new WD essential drives that come pre-installed with a bunch of crapware.
  
• 

  S. Devarakonda
  February 17th, 2010 on 2:13 pm

  Rating

  UPDATES IN THE LAST PARA

  I have clarified a few things that other reviews had issues with and gave it a low rating.

  For Starters: Since I use Both Mac & PC, I can 1000% say that it works on both these operating systems.

  Some customers had issues with the drive going into sleep mode after 10 mins or so. Well, the copying process does not stop, just because the drive has gone into SLEEP mode.

  You can take this SLEEP feature off by:

  Process 1: Downloading a Free Seagate Manager program available on the Seagate website.
  
  (I did not do this, I used process 2, described next)

  OR

  Process 2: Formatting the drive and remove the pre-installed Seagate software. Then the drive will NOT go to SLEEP Mode.

  How to Format a Drive in Windows:
  
  Plug the Drive –> Go to My Computer –> Right click on the Seagate icon–> Click “Format”

  How to Format a Drive in Mac 10.4 or earlier:
  
  Open Macintosh HD –> Click Applications –> Click Utilities –> Open “Disk Utility” –> Select the Seagate disk listed on the Left Side –> Click “Erase” tab –> Choose Volume Format to “MS-DOS” (I chose this so that I can use it on Windows & Mac).

  (For the newer MAC 10.6.1 or later, I guess Format is : “Mac OS Extended (journaled)”, as rightly pointed out to me by a learned customer IB…Thanks dude!)

  Design: Compact & Sleek. Little bigger than the iPhone, but lighter than the iPhone (8GB)

  Connection: NO A/C Power outlet needed. Only single USB port is needed, everything provided in the box. So you just take it out and plug it and use it.

  Compatibility: Both PC & Mac. Although on the box it says “FOR PC”, it was detected by my MAC and will work with both.

  Size: Though it says 500GB, we get 465.35GB. And this is the case with most hard drives.

  Speed: Forget about the specifics – it is FAST!!

  Well worth your money, right!!!

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  
  Many customers have asking me why the format process did not work for their Mac?

  The reason is, I have a Mac version 10.4.1 and I clarified that in the review.I guess there are a few changes for 10.6.1 and I added that too. If your MAC OS does not fit the description, the best way to start is by finding out OS version of your MAC & then search online on how to format it OR take it to an apple store.

  Basically, the STEPS on how to format remain the SAME. But you might find some different Volumes Format based on your OS version. Volume Format will change as new Operating Systems (OS) keep sprouting.

  When I bought this drive, there was not a single review which spoke about MAC Compatibility, let alone the other issues. But I took the risk and bought it for $100 or so.

  Also, if you compare other reviews vs. mine. My review does not speak about how many songs I have on my drive, who gifted me this, how my life has changed with the new drive, how my office folks like it, how it fits in my pocket although the it is a trouser from my high school.

  No offense, they are good individually. What I mean is….one review answer about plug n play….another spoke about light weight (by how much they didnt say)…another complained SLEEP issue…But none answered MAC compatibility, Format, Weight etc

  My review has even answered everything that can happen with this drive. (Except that “What will happen if it breaks down” )
• 

  L. Do
  March 17th, 2010 on 2:15 am

  Rating

  When I bought this external HD, I read very mixed reviews on whether or not it worked with the mac. People were writing about how it only works with the PC and it scared me, but others also wrote about how it worked for their mac, so I went ahead and bought it hoping it would work for me since reviews also mentioned what a great HD this was! I’m not very computer savvy, so I was pleasantly surprised when I plugged it in and got it to work seamlessly with my macbook pro in less than 5 minutes.

  It wasn’t plug and use. I had to reformat it to MS-DOS (Fat) and then I could move my documents back and forth between drives. Everything was very easy. I don’t know why others had problems installing their HD… I was expecting problems, but everything worked great! I am very happy.

  I recommend it for mac users!
• 

  RebelRaider
  March 31st, 2010 on 7:12 am

  Rating

  This is the second Seagate hard drive I have purchased and have had no problems with either. Keep all your photos on here but also burn them to a disc.
• 

  Lee J. Buquoi
  April 7th, 2010 on 3:26 am

  Rating

  A great product so far, I’ve only had it for a month or so. Plug and play set-up made it easy to get started backing up all my photos and important documents.
• 

  G. Grzywinski
  April 15th, 2010 on 12:19 pm

  Rating

  I had a WD book prior to buying this external backup, after 2 yrs the WD took a dive and the warranty expert said too bad I’ll have to pay for service. well that did it for me I will never buy another WD product again. This unit runs quite and downloads quickly I just drag and drop files that I want backed up. inexpensive from Amazon comparted to other online and brick/ mortar stores by at least $20-$30
  
  So far so good I would recommend this item to my friends.
• 

  B. Gilbert
  May 11th, 2010 on 8:36 am

  Rating

  Truly plug-n-play – didn’t have to do anything to begin using it – just connected it to my computer via the included USB cable and was transferring files in seconds. I bought it mostly because I travel a lot and like to take movies with me to watch during layovers. I copied 40 movies from DVD to this hard drive and there’s still room for more. So now I can travel with just my laptop and this external drive instead of all the DVDs. It doesn’t use a separate power supply so less items to carry. A great value and I will probably buy another one for my music in the near future. I have only had it about a month but so far, no complaints.