SimpleTech Signature Mini FS-U25/250K 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive (Kiwi)

Amazon Customer Reviews

(3 out of 5)

not 250GB

Be aware that this drive, like many sold, is 250 billion bytes, not 250 gb. It is really 232 gb. They certainly are not the only manufacturer to lie, though usually the liars admit that, when they refer to a gb, they mean 1 billion bytes, not 2^40 bytes. This one didn't.

It is a sleek drive, as advertised.

It works. I can plug it right in and start copying stuff (I had my own cable). Not a surprise but worth mentioning. I can't comment on reliability or the backup program yet since I just got it.

(5 out of 5)

no complaints, xactly what I was looking for

All I was looking for was a drive to supplement the minimal storage space on my Toshiba laptop. This worked perfect. I got it on sale at Circuit City for $119, which was a steal. I use it mostly to store MP4 files to load on my iPod Classic. Works great and can play movie files from it through my laptop no problem. Can't speak to the back up software that's included, haven't used it. Only negative thing I can say about it is that the cord has a pigtail USB connector if you need it for extra power, if you have low voltage USB ports. I don't so it just kind of gets in the way. Also, you have to make sure you have the primary USB plugged in to connect the drive, if you plug in only the pigtail, it won't load the drive to your computer. I marked mine so I wouldn't mistake it. That minor thing is really the only thing I can think of negative to say, and it wouldn't be negative if I had low voltage ports and needed it. Overall, I highly recommend it.

(2 out of 5)

Stopped being a USB2 device

I had this for a couple of months and it seemed to be working fine. Then, for some reason, it stopped being a USB2 device. It reverted to 1.1. That means that copying got *SLOW*! My USB ports are all definitely 2.0, and I have all the latest drivers. Other USB2 devices - thumb drives, external HD's and DVD's, etc - all run at USB2 speeds on the same ports. But, whenever I inserted this drive, I got "This device will run faster if you use a high-speed port ...". I tried three separate computers, and got the same result on all of them. I tried ports on the motherboard and on a PCI card. No change.

Tech support was no help. They suggested that I did not have the right drivers, or that the ports were not really 2.0. But I tried other devices, and they worked fine as 2.0. I tried the drive on multiple computers, and it just did not get seen as 2.0.

So, I returned it. Shame. Seems like a nice design, and including the forked cable is a nice touch. If other folks' drives are working, then I sincerely wish them well, and am a little jealous. I did get another, different external drive with more capacity and it works at USB2 speeds, but it is much bigger and uses external power. Oh well.

(2 out of 5)

Broke after two weeks

I got this item, similar except blue, a couple of weeks ago. My college-issued Gateway M285 only has 40 gig of space and this would have been perfect to use for my music, my pictures, games, and class files from previous semesters that I may need to look back on in later years. One week after I got it, the mini-usb port started to come loose and the connection was unreliable. While moving my data to another external I have, the connection failed entirely with over half of my data still on the drive. I contacted Tech Support via the website, and they said they don't do repairs, just exchanges.
Do I: a) loose all my data; b) pay hundreds for data recovery; or c) void the warranty by opening the case and tightening the connections myself. If you chose c, you're right!
When I opened the case, I discovered that it contains a Western Digital Scorpio 250 gb 2.5" SATA hard drive model WD2500BEVS. Guess how big my tablet's HD is going to be in a few days?
Overall, the drive & talking to tech support sucks, but the HD inside is of good quality.

(5 out of 5)

Just what I wanted...

I decided that it was time for me to back up all of my files and began searching for the perfect external hard drive. I did some research and concluded that this one was the right one for me. I'll admit that one thing that drew me to the SimpleTech hard drive was the color--in bubblegum pink, it matches my Sony laptop.

The previous reviewer is correct; it has a 232 GB capacity. But this is more than enough space for me. I was able to quickly and easily back up my files without having to plug the drive into an external power source. I didn't use the included software...I just dragged my files into the drive.

The drive is much smaller than I expected and extremely portable. I think it's the perfect choice for me.