SeagateExpansion 3 TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive STAY3000102

This Seagate External 3 TB Drive performs well when connected using a USB 2.0 port built-into my Windows 7 based system. It has shown some difficulties, however, when connected to the Western Digital (WD) USB 3.0 card I installed in my Windows 7 system, as the system had no built-in USB 3.0 port.It is not clear to me if the problem resides in the Seagate Drive, with the Western Digital card, and/or Windows 7. Efforts to generate answers using Western Digital's outsourced Tech Support were marginal. It took quite some time to get the Technician to understand that I was calling about a WD USB 3.0 internal card, as opposed to an external Western Digital drive. The Technician seemed to be programmed to expect calls about Western Digital hard drives only.The problems I have experienced relate to the Seagate External Drive failing to be recognized by Windows 7 (Ultimate 64-bit Version) when my system boots. I have found that it is best to boot the computer first, then apply power to the Seagate External Drive, which is then recognized when connected via USB 3.0. If my system boots with the External Drive already powered, Windows 7 may or may not see the attached drive.Since I have yet to purchase another brand of USB 3.0 Card to replace the Western Digital USB 3.0 Card, or move the WD Card to a system based on a different version of Windows when this review was written, I have yet to totally isolate the source of the problem to (a) the Seagate Drive, (b) the Western Digital USB 3.0 Card, and/or (c) Windows 7.My product rating is based upon the fact that the Seagate 3 TB External Drive is always recognized when connected using USB 2.0 (built-into my system), but may or may not be recognized when connected using USB 3.0 and the Western Digital USB 3.0 Card I added to my system.

I am running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit and was looking for a backup drive for my PC. Since I have almost 2 TB of data to save, this drive would be able to serve as that backup drive, while still maintaining a decent amount of usable space left over.I had some initial concerns based on other reviews here, most notably the question mark over construction/durability, and the lack of an on/off switch... And I will say that neither issue should dissuade you from getting this drive: - The construction if this drive is plastic, but does not feel "cheap" when handling. If you get yours and hear rattling when you shake it, return it!! On the plus side, it is lighter than my metal-cased external drive and maintains a feel of portability. - The on/off switch thing is a little weird, as a drive should never be moved while still spinning and turning it off would guarantee this... But if you properly remove the drive from Windows (Safely remove the device) the disk stops spinning anyway. On one occasion it did not, but removing the USB cable did the trick in that case.I plugged the drive in and Windows immediately recognized all 3 TB of storage (2.7 actually). Other OS'es may have more difficulty, but Windows 7 is instant (Also tried on a home 32-bit laptop). Because of this I can't comment on the included software, because I didn't need it.As I mentioned I had a lot of data to move over, and when I initiated the copy (because copy/paste is the cheapest backup software I have found) Windows reported a little over 7 hours to copy 1.86 TB and was reporting a roughly ~85 MB/s transfer speed. After a while the transfer speed jumped to ~120 MB/s with a corresponding drop in the time estimate. I don't have a complete copy time, but I would guesstimate ~4 hours. My source drive is a RAID-0+1 array, and I was using the USB 3.0 port on my X58-UD3R so you may not see the same results...During this transfer the drive did get warm, but never hot to the touch. In fact through even casual use it does get warm... But if that's as bad as it ever got during 3+ hours of constant writes, I think that's pretty darn good.Vibration was imperceptible unless you put your hand on the device, and I could hear absolutely nothing over the sound of my PC which although not silent, is definitely not a screamer (Noctua fans, low rpm 230MM case fans, etc)The price has gone up since I purchased, but even at this price I think it's still a pretty decent deal. It should also be mentioned that there was a little hiccup in the order/shipping process, and as always, Amazon was great in resolving the issue to my satisfaction.

When I first saw the product reviews, I was blown away by the number of 1 star reviews. After some more reading, I understood that the bulk of these reviews was about defects regarding the enclosure. Fortunately for me, I have no interest in the USB functionality of the product and so I can remove the hard drive from the enclosure and still get what I need out of the product. No need to take risks with a faulty enclosure.I had to take some precautions first before voiding the warranty though. I ran tests using SeaGate SeaTools to make sure I didn't overlook any easily avoidable issues. Once that was out of the way, I went ahead and broke the case open. For me, breaking the case open was very simple. Just stick a flat head screw driver two millimeters into it's side and twist. Worked my way all around the edge. The thin pieces of plastic holding the casing together is very weak and will break with very little effort. Prying is risky as the screwdriver may make contact with the actual hard drive itself; so twist, not pry.I installed it just like I would any other internal hard drive. I initialized the hard drive using Disk Management but that presented a problem. Initializing using MBR only gave me 2 TB. I remedied this by using SeaGate DiscWizard to initialize the hard drive with GPT. Windows now detects 2.7 TB.Currently I have this problem where the hard drive would make a click sound mid operation. If I had to guess, I would say it has to do with some stupid power saving feature. Perhaps it thought it would be a good idea to park the drive head mid operation. Not sure, but it is annoying to hear it because the first thought that comes to mind is that I am about to lose over a terabyte of data. I hope that doesn't ever come true. At some point, I even heard a chirp sound when I was shutting down. Firmware might solve this problem.. maybe.I am currently puzzled about the firmware. The label on my hard drive says 'Product of China' with firmware CC9E. Although the model number ST3000DM001-9YN166 is listed as compatible with firmware CC4H, there is word that hard drives with firmware CC9E can't be updated using firmware CC4H. I could force the firmware update using manual commands but I've decided that I am going to leave the firmware alone until some brave soul decides to try it first. I don't want to risk bricking my hard drive.I tried looking for firmware updates using serial numbers from both the external casing and the hard drive that came inside it. For both, the 'Download Finder' on the SeaGate website returned 'No firmware download is available for this serial number.'I know the price is cheap, but I advise against buying this product until a firmware to address the current problems is released. I wouldn't count on it though. On the bright side, despite the odd clicks and occasional chirps, I haven't noticed anything bad happening to my files yet.

Storage capacity is great.It wiped all the memory on its own, lost all my files. Very disappointed.