Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba 160 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive HDDR160E03X

Like all USB-powered hard drives, this one comes with a caveat that some old computers do not provide enough power; Toshiba offers a special cable that draws power from 2 USB ports, and their web site even has a special form to ask for this cable. My old computer (also a Toshiba) requires this cable, so I filled out the form but got no response. Two weeks later I tried calling but couldn't get through, so I filled the form again, asking explicitly when I would get the cable. This time they responded promptly as follows:

Hello,

Unfortunately, We do not have this cable available on stock and we do not
have a date when the cable will arrive.

Toshiba Technical Support.

The cable was not available on Amazon either, but I found one from an ebay store for $5.02 including shipping, and received it within a few days. With the new cable, the hard drive works great; it also works with the supplied cable when connected to a computer that supplies enough power. But if you have an old computer, don't count on Toshiba for providing the necessary cable.

The specifications require USB 2.0 and Windows or Mac OS, but the drive works well with USB 1.1 and Linux (just for storage, not the backup software).

This Toshiba hard drive lives up to the quality image of Toshiba, plus the included NTI file backup program will not only back up my entire cpu harddrive if I choose, but it also saves individual files or folders, which is how I use it every day. I really like the "backup files as changes are made" feature, and after I designate the files and folders that I want to backup, the process is automatic and effortless. Set and forget, so to speak.

Small, light, fast, inexpensive. I'm happy with it.

It comes formatted for FAT32. I reformatted to NTFS and it seemed to run much faster.

This drive works beautifully on my Macbook. It was really inexpensive, too. It's also the perfect size, since my Macbook is 160GB--it will backup everything on my Mac.

For those who didn't have enough power, that's not the fault of the device. It runs better than lower quality ones with less power. It works perfectly on my Mac with just the normal supplied USB cord. Instead of attacking Toshiba, maybe you should get a less crappy computer.

After doing some investigation, I decided to buy this external hard drive... It works really nicely, I am really putting it to the test and it has not failed once... it is fast, noise-less, beautiful... all you need is a 2.0 USB port... don't install the software, its useless.