Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This external drive lives in the plainest of black plastic cases. On the front is an all white Seagate logo and next to that a small green LED power/busy light. Plug it in and you'll find few files stored in it. A back-up utility, some set-up files, user guides and not much else. Just a lot of empty space. No stands, no back-lit logos, no extra inputs. On the back you'll find a power input and a USB 3 jack. In the box you'll find the USB cable and power adapter that plug into those jacks, as well as a quick start sheet and warranty card all packed in eco-friendly packaging. This is as simple and plain as it gets. I started by plugging this into a netbook running Windows 7. Windows recognized it immediately and asked if I'd like to use it as a back-up drive which I did. It was easy and problem-free. The Seagate Expansion hard drive is set-up for Windows computers, but if you're willing to take a minute to reformat it, it'll work fine for Apple users too. I did just that. Sara Plain and Tall has to be a good girl, no misbehaving allowed! Unfortunately, previous versions of this drive have a reputation for poor reliability, so I set out to get this drive to fail. I programmed my Mac to fill it up completely, erase it, and fill it up again, over and over. I kept this drive reading and writing continuously for several days. The Seagate remained a quiet workhorse. I couldn't find any hint of distress. No hotspots, no strange noises, nothing but its tiny green LED pulsing serenely letting me know it's busy. I haven't thrown it against the wall, but by every fair measure it's been a solid drive so far. I promise to update this review if I run into a problem.