Customer Ratings & Reviews

I bought this to use as a network drive connected to my home router. It's by far the best value in terms of capacity vs. cost in a drive that's USB powered. 4TB in a drive this size and with no external power supply is something that would have been unfathomable just a couple years ago, and at this price too! Generally I've been very happy with it - it's been working perfectly for the role. I mean it's just there whenever my wife or I need it - I click my network share on any of my machines and there it is. Not much more you can ask - in this role, network speed is really the limiting factor so while it might not be the fastest drive out there, nothing else is going to feel any faster. The one caveat is, surprisingly, noise! It's a noisy little drive. I don't hear anything unless it's in use, but reading and writing causes noticeable "seek" noises, which can be pretty annoying. My router (and drive) are in my living room on a shelf below my TV, and even though the drive is also behind a closed glass door, the seek noises are clearly audible from across the room. This isn't really a huge problem for me because most of the time the drive is either idle or in use when I'm *not* in the living room. If I am using it in the living room to stream a video on the TV or something, it's usually doing a sequential read so seek noises aren't that noticeable. But when I'm doing a backup or something from my laptop on the couch, it can be a little annoying. It's a surprisingly loud drive for what it is - I actually haven't heard a drive that sounds like this in years. I guess that could be part of the reason why it's so cheap. One other thing - Seagate's included backup software doesn't recognize it as a network drive. (It does if it's directly connected, but no reason why it shouldn't see it when mapped as a network drive.) No big deal for me as I use FreeFileSync anyway and that does work fine over the network, but again just something to mention if you were planning to use this drive that way. Still recommended for most uses. If you plan to use it really heavily in a quiet environment, just be aware that you will likely notice the noises it makes.

I was looking for a USB Portable Drive with enough storage space to back up my iPad Air 2, my Laptops 2 HD's, Smartphone, and my Desktops 3 HD's. Well this Seagate lets me plug it into my Linksys WRT1900ACS Router and forget about it. I can back up from any Mobile or Stationary Device, Mac or PC, connected to my Wi-Fi system, using the Seagate Dashboard. This little drive works flawlessly, and, has a ton of space. What's also COOL, is I can unplug it and take it with me at any time I want. NO EXTRA POWER CORD NEEDED. It runs off the 5 volts through the USB cable. I like this little drive because it fits in my shirt pocket. The only thing I can nit pick is, the ON LED light doesn't blink during data transfer like my Toshiba does, but again, no one makes a 4 TB Totally Portable USB Drive except Seagate right now. Being involved with programs in ATM Machines for 30 years and computers for over 40 years I have never had a Seagate HD I did not like. I recommend this little drive, if you are looking for a TON of space, and is TOTALLY PORTABLE. And remember Seagate has been in the Hard Drive Storage Devices Business FOREVER !

With my MacBook Pro (2011) I decided time was not on my side,..so a back up was in order and the reviews, price, company name (Seagate) led me to order from Best Buy. As a moderate user and little tech knowledge, I hoped it would work right out of the box...as I had never used the Disk Utility app on my Mac...it started asking for something called journaled something and I was afraid that I was about to wipe my Mac drives clean...not a good idea. I went to Best Buy Geek in Boynton Beach, Fl as a reservation via phone worked well...but the lady tech person acted confident and said she needed to just take the Mac behind the curtain and check something( seemed odd) and returned and said everything would work perfectly now...and somehow manipulated a single document to appear as saved on my Seagateq device which was connected to the Mac...I wondered but drove home and could not duplicate her success. I then phoned the Seagate contact as I had done the registration the day before when it arrived..gave him my phone number and he addressed me by name (it actually all worked within 24 hours of registering) The rep took me through a 10 step process that introduced me to my Time Machine and the drop down about 'journaled' and connected so that in 3 hours all my laptop files were copied over to this 4 TB device! The device is shipped for Windows and needs to be cleaned and formatted for a Mac...so be ready for some intervention..if you are not accustomed to use Disk Utility on your Mac. Not a good Geek Squad report but with perseverance..a good Seagate review! Confirms that it is good to buy from a recognized source..Best Buy and a recognized manufacturer with phone support..thank you Seagate Company.

I bought two of these (one for me, one for my husband) a great price to transfer critical files and store for offsite backup. I first tried copying from another external backup drive, both hooked up to the same machine, but kept getting I/O errors, which I attributed to the older original backup drive -- not the new one. Big mistake. After I finally transferred the ~3tb of files to it (which took several days trying to do it in a piecemeal fashion), now it locks up Windows Explorer half the time, and produces I/O errors all over the place when trying to work with any of the files the rest of the time. Tried to scan and repair it in Windows and that fails too. I've used it on two separate Windows 10 computers with the same results. And since I already transferred a bunch of sensitive personal files to it, and the drive won't let me delete them (because it can't seem to find them, I/O errors again), I can't return it without overwriting the drive somehow. So I'm trying to DBAN the thing, but the DoDshort wipe will take longer than the return window, if the DBAN is even successful in the end. Now I'm out $100, and learned an expensive lesson about never buying another Seagate small form-factor drive again. Very frustrating. My husband has had good luck with Seagate drives in the past, but I'm not taking any chances in the future; I'll go back to Western Digital from now on even if I'm paying more for it.

I purchased this 4TB external drive to backup photo, music and document files. I needed this drive to transport between a desktop (running Windows XP) and a laptop (running Windows 10). The Seagate drive runs quietly and is about the size of a deck of cards. The drive came with a short USB cable. The transfer rate was acceptable for my application. The Windows 10 laptop worked flawlessly. When connected to the Windows XP system the drive did not work. I believe I saw on the Best Buy 'Questions and Answers' that the drive was compatible with Windows XP. I contacted Seagate for this problem. Seagate's support was great with a quick and to the point explanation This is how Seagate explained the problem wo me. Windows XP was designed long back by Microsoft when 2TB drives were the maximum capacity, but now there are drives upto 10 TB and even more. Windows XP is equipped with driver software that supports upto 2TB drives. Also, the drive has to be specifically formatted in MBR (old partition scheme) to use it with XP, whereas, newer drives are formatted in the GPT partition scheme, which is not supported by Windows XP Operating System. Seagate offered a partial solution that would allow me to use 2TB of the 4TB. I found a workaround instead. I attached the 4TB drive via a USB port to my Belkin Wireless Router. I am now able to access all 4TB with Windows XP. Additionally I can access all files wirelessly with the Windows 10 laptop.

My PC bit it. This contains my memories. Photographs of friends that have passed on long before their time. Sound bites and videos of my beloved dog. Who saved my life more times than I can count. May she spend her eternity playing and relaxing. But you don't want to know about that. Here is the gist. Just get it. Save yourself the heartache and fear. I have no idea how this magical little red box actually works. I'm guessing faeries are inside. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. My system DIED. Big time died. So dead it deserves a full Viking Funeral. But that's an entirely different story. The great kids that work for Geek Squad both online and in my local store helped me back up all my photos and sound bites that are irreplaceable. Between their knowledge and expertise and the Seagate Backup Plus 4TB. I am all set now. Thank goodness. Seriously, just get it.

I had the Seagate 1TB product before, and really liked it. I had the opportunity to increase to 4TB with this Seagate product, so I did it. I then gave my mom my 1TB product, since her needs are less than mine when it comes to file storage. One issue I noticed with this 4TB product (which I didn't experience with the 1TB product) is that I can't easily do a software "Eject" before physically disconnecting the USB cable from the Seagate drive. Maybe it's something with my computer and not the drive, but I'm not sure. The other issue I had was when I first connected my 4TB Seagate via USB 3.0 to my computer, and then it basically only offered me the option to format the drive. Instructions for the drive are not helpful, as they give the impression that this product is plug-and-play. I performed the format, but probably wiped out any software that may have already come with the drive itself. I don't know if it was a defect of this drive product versus if I exchanged it for another of the same product, but since I'm using the drive with a 3rd-party software anyway, the lack of Seagate's Dashboard software doesn't affect me. In any case, the Seagate Dashboard software is available for free from the Seagate website, so I can get it any time if I ever choose to go this route.

I have a 9 computer home network, my wife has a system with her files, we have a file server that provides common storage, my laptop has work related files then there are the phones, tablets etc. with their photos and data. I needed something large enough to store the files from all these devices, something that could connect easily, not takes days for transfers and when done I could store in a fire proof safe location (in other words a backup like you should have). This drive fits all the specs I needed or wanted for this important mission, so now I am not worried about loosing my TAX or Bookkeeping information, or those family pictures downloaded from various sites that you can never find again if you go looking. Last note I did not use any backup software, I did all this dragging and dropping then I ran a program Allway Sync to verify I had exact copies. I hate that a lot of backup programs use their own formats which can hinder restoring or access or even searching the files all of which I can do easily just plug this drive into a PC and search or drag and drop to recover.

I always buy Seagate external hard drives. They are very reliable. This 4 tb hard drive is surprisingly small, so easy to store and I love having the red color. I tape notes of contents to all my hard drives, but this one is used as the primary back up of my most recent files and I think the color is a great way to identify it quickly! Best Buy shipped the hard drive to me packed in a small heavy carton with air packets inside. Absolutely great packing job so that the hard drive was very well protected while in transit. This did not happen with another VERY large online company that sent me a similar hard drive in a paper envelope! After I called and explained to them that the item should be protected while in transit, they did a return and replace and sent another one in a paper envelope!! I returned that one for a refund. Best Buy's care in packing shows me that they are thinking and caring about the items I buy! I am very pleased with this purchase and recommend that if you buy items like this, you buy them from Best Buy! And no need to worry about price because Best Buy will price match prices from other retailers!

This drive is perfect for me to take to and from work. Small physical size with large 4TB capcity is perfect to carry in your briefcase. Fast enough USB 3 performance. Good for larger file sizes. NOTE: This is the drive to buy if you own Mac but use Parallels for PC files - Seagate has a great driver that allows you use the drive for both operating systems which is nice so you don't have to format the drive for format Mac OS Extended Journaled. It would be nice if it had a longer USB 3 cable, otherwise I would give it 5 stars. I believe it is 12" - 16" long so you need to put it very close to your computer. I'm not sure about reliability or durability as time will be the only guide to that part of the ownership experience. I would recommend this product to a friend!

I haven't had any issues with this unit so far, but I'm not going to give it five stars because I purchased another Seagate external drive and it failed for no apparent reason: no trauma to the unit; it simply stopped working. That being the case, I can only hope that this one doesn't fail too. Best Buy doesn't allow for the editing of reviews once they've been submitted, so I'd feel it was a disservice to other customers if I were to give it five stars and then suffer another unit failure. I realize this is an ambivalent review and might be pretty useless for people considering a purchase, but I have to be honest: so far, it works great, and I can only hope it continues to do so. Since Best Buy also demands that one choose Yes or No in reply to the statement "I would recommend this to a friend," I'm giving it a Yes, with the proviso that the answer would naturally change to No if it should fail in the future.

This is a handy external hard drive; it's compact, doesn't get too hot, and is readable by my Mac (running Sierra). The only drawback is that it has a short connecting cable that disconnects fairly easily from the USB port. If you're using it with a laptop, the Seagate is sort of dangling off to the side and can become disconnected when you set the laptop down to stand up. In my case, this caused the Seagate to crash (as most hard drives will if they become disconnected while in use). Only my older Macbook, which is running an older version of OS X, can read it now and that's very sporadic. Fortunately, I had most of my files backed up and didn't lose much. I bought a new one and am keeping it taped down to my laptop desk to prevent the same thing from happening again, but other than that design issue this thing works flawlessly, is fast, and almost silent.

- it's fast (higher capacity tends to do that for mechanical drives), - the build quality is good, the bottom and sides are plastic (matte on the bottom, glossy on its sides), the top is metal (or something that looks and feels like it), and it doesn't cracks when you hold it more tightly. - it is small but you can still use the drive that's encased for other purposes (replace it, use it in a laptop, etc). Although this voids the warranty, you can't do this with WD Passport drives (the mini usb connector is soldered to the drive, it doesn't have standard sata connectors) -the cable is short, this can be a plus or a minus, depending on preferences... -the white LED is pretty and pulsates slowly when there's activity. -it's silent. Cons: -it doesn't have any rubber feet (or any feet) on its bottom side.

I bought this "BackupPlus" instead of the Seagate "Expansion" Drive because I have 3 of the expansion drives (purchased this year) that turned out to be flakey (file transfer screeches to a stop, then resumes ok). I am in the process of proving that to Seagate since their test utility download didn't prove the issue. I tested the Backup Plus using a new HP laptop and fresh/clean installation of Windows 10 (Intel I7) on a USB 3.0 port. Windows displays between 110 to 120 MBytes per second for reading files 20 MB or larger (surveillance backup), which is the top speed of any of my Seagate drives (I have about 20 of them - mostly "Expansion" but some are "BackupPlus"). Note: When reading, this speed was achieved by copying to an internal SSD drive, so I would NOT expect the same speed if you are using a "spinner" drive (not SSD).

After a recent Sony update on the PS4 systems, you can now attach an external hard drive to your game box. When 1st connected it will ask you to update it with the new software. Transfer almost all files, games and so on from your internal hard drive. I upgrades my 2 PS4s long ago with HGST 1TB internals. Now I can put most everything on the external drive. If you want to convert back to a computer hard drive, you will have to de-link it from your PS4. It's easy. Only hard part is waiting for a couple or so hours to update from the internal drive to the external HD and in reverse.I am glad Sony felt the pressure to finally add this feature with an update. I had an older 2TB external drive I am using currently on one game box. Now I want to upgrade to 4TBs and load all my games onto it.

The product has a number of both design and program defects. First, the USB connector fails all the time - disconnect from computer or does not connect at all. It doesn't stay firm on the unit as well. I have had Transcend storage device, which I use more than 8 years now and never had such issue. I wasn't able to find one with 4GB storage, though. Second, most of my files in the storage device were not opening any more. I had very important and valuable documents which I lost. The files are either corrupt or I get a message that file extension is not correct. When I look at the size of these files, it is only showing 0 kb, which means I lost them. Therefore, if you have important file to store, I wouldn't recommend this product.

Was looking a large external drive for the XBONE that didn't need an external power supply. This fit the bill. It is replacing the similar Backup Plus Slim 2TB unit that I was using. It is basically the same unit but as the actual drive is thicker, the unit is thicker. A fair amount thicker, but since it is going to be out of the way, the size didn't really matter as long as it was quiet and worked well with the XBONE (going into and out of sleep mode). It has some other backup and cloud capabilities if you are using it with a PC or Mac but I formatted it as I won't be using it, but could be useful. The Xbox branded one from Seagate is more expensive for some reason (maybe the green shell costs more) :)

Ok, for starters, I wanted to give Seagate a chance since I normally go to WD for all of my external needs. This one attracted me by its price, which was on sale and very reasonable. Problem is, when I got it home and plugged it in to my mac, I found out that it could not be recognized in the device manager to format. I called Seagate support, which was very slow to respond, and finally came to the conclusion that I had a defective item. Not a very good first experience with Seagate. I returned the HD minutes later and spent the extra money for the latest WD 4tb external, which I love, love, love! Sorry Seagate, but I will never give you a second chance to earn my business. If you are a Mac user, don't bother. While any HD can be formatted for mac, they are just not very friendly to us.

This is a good hard drive for people with a lot of data to move or store. The download and upload speeds are average at best but I suppose this depends on your USB connection and how much data you are moving at once. As far as being reliable, the hard drive gets the job done and it is relatively quiet. I would note if you have it plugged into your computer and you put the computer in sleep mode the hard drive may not "wake up" and you'll have to unplug the drive from the computer and plug it back in. It's a minor nuisance for an otherwise good product.

Thanks to BestBuy price-matching, I bought this drive from one of their local stores. This drive has worked well for me thus far. I have copied quite a lot to and from this drive without issue, and with satisfactory performance (including instances of copying larger individual files, and also instances of copying thousands of smaller-sized files). In my experience, this drive hasn't gotten hot under heavy-use either (relative to other external HDDs I've used), which can be, generally, a good indicator of potential long-term durability (for electronics, at least). This particular drive also only requires a single USB-port to transfer data, while simultaneously powering the drive itself (some cheaper drives use a "pigtail-type" dual-USB cable, which are a pain).