Seagate Backup Plus External Hard Drive Review

External hard drives make our lives easier by providing a simple way in files and folders to different devices whether it’s between a work computer and a personal pc or just Used to store games and movies. Despite how you use them, they're accommodating to have when you're using a computer.

An external hard drive brand that stands out above the competition is the company known as Seagate which has been producing computer hard drives and external hard drives for some years.

While the company as well known for their external hard drives, this article will explore some of the best features of the Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive, and what it is that makes this model unique to its predecessors.

The Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive is very similar to how other external hard drives look. It looks like a plastic brick that was designed slightly more significant than what you would typically find, measuring at 0.8 inches H by 3.1 inches W by 4.5 inches D and weighing only about eight and a half ounces total.

For anyone who isn’t familiar with how external hard drives function, you plug it into any computer with a USB port, and you’ll be able to access the files that you’ve stored in there. External hard drives are great tools when you work with more extensive programs or you transfer between different computers often because you’ll have access to anything you need.

External hard drives make backing up and saving important information very easy as well, and if your computer happens to fail, you’ll have the peace of mind that all of your relevant data is still safe. Investing in a well-reputed external hard drive gives you that kind of security, and you’ll know that you’ll never lose it.

Seagate is a leader in the industry for these devices, and it’s likely that you’ve come across their tell-tale logo at least once or twice while shopping for an external hard drive. The Seagate Backup Plus works for both PC and Mac devices and offers not only storage on the device itself, but also additional cloud storage that’s registered directly to that external hard drive.

One of the defining features with Seagate external hard drives is the inclusion of the 3.0 micro-USB cable and port which makes transfers between your computer and storage device quick even if they are larger files which typically take a long time to transfer.

It uses quite a bit of power to run, so it needs to be plugged in with its own AC adapter which plugs into a power supply.

It does have ventilation and uses fans to keep the unit fresh. However, the fans are barely noticeable and will run quietly so that you can work without noise in the background. Even though they’re formatted to work with PCs and Macs, you will have to install separate drivers if you intend on using this external hard drive on your Mac computer.

Luckily the driver is easy to install, and it only takes a few minutes to complete before it runs efficiently with your system. One of the more exciting features that this external hard drive is its ability to utilize a social function which gives you an easy way to share media that you have stored on your hard drive onto social networking sites like Youtube and Facebook.

Not only are these features easy to use, but they’re also very straight forward so anybody can take advantage of it for personal or professional use. Additionally, you can back up content like pictures and video from any mobile device using a Mobile backup function that also comes with your Seagate Backup Plus.

The mobile backup function works for both Android and iOS phones, and you can access your backed up files from your mobile device through the Seagate Mobile Backup app.

All of these features are accessible through the Seagate Dashboard, which allows you to initiate any backups that you need to do, and also allows you to access your cloud services at any time that you may need. The only drawback to this dashboard is the fact that it only works with Seagate external hard drives.

What this means is that if your external hard drive fails, and you need to purchase a new one, you will have to buy another Seagate external hard drive to access that information. For this reason, many people opt to have a separate external hard drive to back up more essential files.

Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive comes in four different capacities that contained it for different pricing options to go through. Depending on what you need as far as storage comes concerned, you can pick up start spacing options such as:

• One Terabyte for $59.99

• Two Terabytes for $63.99

• Four Terabytes for $94.99

• Five Terabytes for $109.98

These listings make an appearance on Amazon, and they come with two months free of Adobe CC photography. The price per gigabyte is one of the cheapest on the market compared to other devices on hand, especially considering all of the extra features that come with your purchase.

While external hard drives such as the Western Digital My Passport and the Toshiba Canvio Connect 2 were close to the price ranges listed, the Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive still came out cheaper even if it was only by a couple of dollars in differences. Some customers find this difference to be minute when it came to looking for features that they wanted.

Overall the average consumer review regarding the Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive is a positive experience. Many customers purchase this external hard drive for their personal computers as well as for gaming systems such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

 What Consumers Like About It

Many people enjoy the versatility that the Seagate provides, as well as the price listed for the amount of space that they get. Customers who bought this external hard drive for their gaming systems were very pleased with how quickly larger save files loaded from the system, as well as how many games they could fit on the device.

The multitude of platforms that it works on is a huge plus for consumers because it gives them the flexibility to work with whatever system that they need to work with. Many customers enjoyed the Lyve personal cloud services made available with their purchases because that extended the amount of storage available beyond the limits of the device.

The speed at which data completely transferred was also another highlighted point for many consumers, and many people found that after years of use the speeds kept up. Even though it does come with a limited warranty, many people noticed that the device held up even after dropping it several times and never experienced crashing issues.

What Consumers Don’t Like About It

This device does not come with a stand or rubber feet that help to hold the device in place, which can be a problem for people who do not work with smooth surfaces or have limited spacing available to them.

Consumers who weren’t aware of Seagate’s specific formatting were very upset to learn that they could not access their files when they switch to a different brand of external hard drive. As a result, those same customers had to purchase another Seagate to access those files even after they had bought a different brand.

Another issue that people were frequently frustrated with was the return policy short length of warranty that this product comes with.

This drive has a two-year warranty, which isn’t horrible compared to most one-year warranties provided by other companies, but the terms in which Seagate accepts a return are minimal. As a result, many people found that they grew dissatisfied with their policies.

And while the Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive features fans and vents to help keep the device cool, some consumers found that it still ran warm while in use. Some consumers claimed that this was a problem that should have been addressed and fixed before its release, and they insisted that overheating caused device failure.

Two other external hard drives compare closely to the Seagate Backup Plus. These two are the Western Digital My Passport and the Toshiba Canvio Connect 2. The price is relatively consistent across the board, differentiating by only a couple of dollars depending on the device.

Each device has a USB 3.0 connection which enables up to 5400 RPMs of speed. While each device has a plastic cover, the Toshiba is the only model that has plastic casing all around the device. Each external hard drive has different colors available, depending on what your preferences are. The Seagate is available in four colors:

• Black

• Blue

• Red

• Silver

The Toshiba is available in colors:

• White

• Red

• Blue

• Black

• Satin gold

And finally, the Western Digital is available in ten different colors which include:

• Metallic purple

• Wildberry

• Noble blue

• Gold

• Silver

• Titanium

• Blue

• Black

• White

• Red

When it comes to the warranty offered between the three external hard drives, Western Digital comes out on top with a three-year maximum warranty, while Toshiba and Seagate only have a two-year warranty.

If packing and weight are a concern for you when considering an external hard drive, then the Seagate would be the best choice between the three because it only weighs 159 grams, versus Western Digital which weighs 229 grams, and the Toshiba which weighs 230 grams. The Seagate is also much slimmer than the other two devices.

When tested, the read and write times that revealed themselves in megabytes per second came relatively close between the three external hard drives. However, the writing time for the Seagate external hard drive came out to 111 megabytes per second, which performed better than the Toshiba and the Western Digital.

While each of these devices comes with their programming that is meant to help optimize files in storage spaces for their users, the Western Digital external hard drive has a concerning security feature that can potentially prevent you from accessing your data if you happen to forget your password as there is no way to retrieve that information.

The Seagate has its own which allows you to upload and access files from your mobile devices and of course, gives you an easy way to upload media on to social media networks including Facebook and YouTube.

The Toshiba seems to come out on top, however, and the reason why is because when you purchase this external hard drive oh, you not only get 10 GB of excess Cloud space for free with your purchase, you also get special licenses which allow you to use and publisher media however you wish.

If you’re considering a cheap and efficient external hard drive for your needs, the Seagate Backup Plus is a great choice when it comes to all of the features and storage space that it provides. You’ll get one of the most significant capacities external hard drives for the best price on the market without sacrificing quality and versatility.

Not only do you get the space given to you on the device itself, but you’ll also have access to additional storage on the Lyve personal cloud. Also, thanks to the desktop features that come with your Seagate, you’ll be able to back up anything and everything quickly to your device, so you’ll never risk losing your information.

Many consumers feel that this is an adequate product, especially given the price, and we are inclined to agree with that sentiment. As a result, we highly recommend the Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive as an excellent tool for your digital needs.

Featured Image Source: Amazon