Seagate Pocket Drive 5.0GB Page: 1
Introduction
Seagate is a name familiar with all in the technology world for their vast range of storage systems. Today I will be looking at one of Seagate's newest creations, the Seagate 5GB Pocket Hard Drive. These "elegant, palm-sized drives can fit in your pocket, yet they safely store large business files, music, photos, videos and more. You can even password-protect your files".
These days the transfer of data from PC to PC or from home to work is becoming more and more important, the answer for some time now has always been discs or flash drives, but as the world progresses the storage limitations and fragility of these methods is more and more becoming a hindrance. Enter the Pocket Hard Drive
Packaging
The packaging for the drive is fairly basic and clearly aimed towards shops and retail outlets with the device completely visible and plenty of details selling the capabilities of the drive.
Fortunately Seagate have not sacrificed protection in the name of aesthetics with this raised edge protecting the contents from falls from the shop shelf.
The inside of the packet contains a set of quick instructions and information on compatible operating systems, a utilities disc with optional software and a separate plastic pouch with the drive, a silicon crystal pouch and a security tag
Overall the packaging suits the product and its market nicely.
Lets take a look at the drive itself....
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Author: Llwyd Johnson
Service From: Seagate
The Drive Itself
The Drive itself, while very well designed and nice to look at, is not as small as one would hope for a device intended to be kept in a pocket but is by no means awkward or a nuisance to carry.
The retractable USB cable system functions very well with the internal mass clicking nicely into place when rotated to reveal the plug. The length of the cable itself did somewhat confuse me, at merely a glance I can see that it is not long enough to reach the majority of standard sized (and upwards) cases while keeping the drive safely on the desktop. However that is very unlikely to be an oversight on Seagate’s behalf as, looking at the pads (which grip fantastically) on the base of the drive it is obvious that this was intended largely for use in the workplace where the use of front USB ports, which are usually lower on the computer case, is far more practical. The central plastic circle you can see shows some of the internal electronics and lights up with a vivid blue when the device is being read from / written to.
The drive measures approximately 3 inches in diameter and is about three quarters of an inch in height and weighs only 2.2 oz
One small detail however; on Seagate’s site they refer to the drive as such: "Sleek, round shell absorbs shocks, so you never have to worry about your data". This does not mean the drive is made of some shock absorbing plastic composite that allows the user to bounce it around the office without scratching it. The plastic is not robust and the shell is made of two parts which come apart with relative ease. In stating this, Seagate are referring to the drives ability to function after damage and is jog and shock proof while in and out of use
Lets take a look at Seagate’s specifications for the Pocket Drive:
Specifications:
- USB 2.0 interface
- 5.0GB capacity
- 3600 RPM drive with 2mb cache
- Data transfer up to 480 Mbps.
Attributes:
- Retractable USB cable
- Password protection
- Free technical support
- Worry-free two-year warranty
Requirements
- An open USB 1.1 or later connector and one of these operating systems: Windows XP / 2000 / Me / 98SE
What It Can Do
- Store up to 80 hours of MP3 or 160 hours of WMA music or
- 2,000 high-resolution 5-megapixel photos or
- 4.5 hours of digital video or
- Thousands of different types of business files
Now lets take a look at the software included with the drive
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The Software
There’s not much to say about the software apart from 'it works'. The password protection is simple to use, the partition creator couldn’t be simpler and the bootable disc wizard crates a freedos boot disc with one click.
As you can see the interface couldnt be simpler and offers all you could need.
Next i'll put the drive through some basic benchmarks
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Test Setup
AMD X2 3800+ Manchester @ 2.65
ASUS A8R-MVP motherboard
OCZ Performance PC3200
120 GB Seagate Barracuda
Hiper 580 Watt Type-R Modular
I will use SiSoft Sandra and HD Tach for my benchmarks and will be comparing the drive to a standard flash drive of about the same money to storage ratio. Granted these are two completely different storage device but flash is the portable HD's biggest rival.
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HD Tach
These benchmarks were carried out with HD Tach. I have posted the graphs here for you to see for yourself.
Seagate Pocket Drive:
Now the Seagate Pocket Drive compaired with a standard USB Flash Drive:
Now for the SiSoft Sandra results...
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Author: Llwyd Johnson
Service From: Seagate
SiSoft Sandra
For the Sandra benchmark i used the removable storage benchmark.
Results:
(click to enlarge)
The drive performed admirably with a result rivalling, if not beating, the majority of high quality flash drives.
Transfer Test
For this test i transfered a 2GB folder containing video to the device and timed it. I repeated it 3 times and took an average:
Result: 5 minutes 50 seconds
Onward to the next page for the conclusion...
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Author: Llwyd Johnson
Service From: Seagate
Conclusion
All in all the Seagate Pocket Drive offers great bang for your buck. At around £60 the seagate drive costs less than flash drives of the same or lower storage. As for other portable hard discs on the market, Seagate's drive manages to both look sleek and stay small. The drive looks great and is easy to use, the blue light and originality of the drive is sure to attract attention. In conclusion, if you're looking for quantity, at the moment portable hard discs seem to be the way to go.
Pros
• High storage in a small form factor
• Attractive
• Respectable transfer speeds
• Quiet
• Password protection and utilities work well
Cons
• Short USB cable
• Moving plastic parts could break easily
A big thanks to Seagate for providing this drive for review.
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