Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini 160 GB 2.5" USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive

List Price: $99.99 Discount Price: $69.99

Features:

• Ideal backup and storage for carrying your digital portfolio with you
• Simple Maxtor user interface for drive management, security, and backup scheduling
• Two levels of security against unauthorized use ¿ Maxtor DrivePass and encryption
• Maxtor SafetyDrill prepares, boots, recovers your PC's entire internal drive contents in case of system failure or virus/spyware infection (Windows only)
• Customizable Maxtor OneTouch button, USB powered; PC and Mac compatible

Accessories:

3-Year Extended Service Plan - Covers Electronic Items $0-$200 - Repair

Customer Reviews:

Plugged it in and it worked [Posted on 2008-04-11]
Reading some the negative reviews had me a little worried but I received the drive, plugged it into my MacBook Pro and it worked. Simple as that. It's also compact and lightweight. It has a nice long cable too. My Western Digital has a small 6" cable which can be inconvenient.

A couple things to note:
The cable for the drive does have 2 USB connectors. 1 for Data & Power and 1 for Power. The 1 for Power is simply for situations where the Data & Power don't suffice on the computer in question. I have a Seagate with the same cable. I've never had to use the second USB.

Many of the complaints might be about the software that comes with the drive. I can't speak to that as I never use it. My Western Digital external has similar software. I avoid it. I'll most likely be using this drive with Apple's TimeMachine software instead.

Will not backup the root directory and certain files [Posted on 2008-04-13]
This product provides only limited backup protection for certain files in certain locations. Most frustrating is that it is impossible for it to backup anything in a root directory. For example, if you have files of any type in the C: directory (or more likely a D: or E: drive) it cannot back them up. Only files in subfolders (e.g., "C:\files") can be backed up; no file in any root directory (e.g., "C:\") can be designated for back up.

Here is the response I received from Maxtor tech support on this issue: "Folders must be selected in the software. The backup utility is designed to backup data and there for it is not really designed to backup drives. So it wants to backup information on the drive, not the entire drive. It is just the way the software is designed and is working as intended." (4/03/2008).

You are also limited to the directories you can backup. You can backup your "My Documents" and even your "InetPub" directory but you cannot point it to the default directory for your Microsoft SQL backups. And even though it will backup the "Inetpub" folder it is not a complete backup. For example, all of the hidden folders (e.g.,\_vti_cnf) will generate the message "Not Supported/File skipped (backup of hidden files and folders is not supported)" and will not be backed up.

In addition, certain files in selected folders will not be backed up. It will not backup thumbs.db resulting in so many exceptions in the log report that it is virtually unreadable. Strangely, it will back up some .jpg files but will throw an exception for others.

This product has great potential but as implemented is seriously flawed. In my opinion these OneTouch Mini's are designed to easily and automatically backup _most_ of your "My Documents" folder. If you need to backup anything more I think you will be disappointed.

Beware of Maxtor's one-touch software. It will corrupt your file system [Posted on 2008-05-02]
I bought this drive to assist my mother in law. Her computer is old and I was hoping to avoid a costly data recovery (aka tech rape).

When the "one-touch" software installed, it forced a reboot. The computer never came back up.

I figured I'd made a mistake so I bought a brand new Seagate internal drive, built it up with Windows XP, and reinstalled the external drive. Once again, the software installation for one-touch forced me to reboot - and again the computer would no longer boot.

I tried several utilities to recover the data, to no avail. So I took both drives to the local data recovery place. They informed me that the file system was corrupt on both drives, likely due to whatever I'd last done on the drive before it crashed.

If you insist on purchasing this brand, DO NOT INSTALL the software. The techs at Maxtor were not at all helpful.

Good for basic backups [Posted on 2008-05-22]
As others have stated, if you just want to backup your "my documents" folder this unit will do fine.

However, I was a little disappointed that the programmable backup is not available for certain folders. My internet "favorites" folder was not visible, and the "program files" folder was not visible. Some of the applications I use save the configuration files in the "program files" folder and I like to have backups of those.

I was able to back up any file/folder manually using windows explorer, but the programmable backup feature would have been much easier. I can't think of any logical reason for limiting that feature. I'm guessing lawyers got involved and thought Seagate/Maxtor might be liable if someone used the automated feature to steal corporate information. Unlikely if you ask me, but hey, McDonalds got sued for selling hot coffee so I guess anything is possible.

I like the "drive pass" feature. When you connect the unit to ANY computer a window pops up and asks for your password before you can access anything on the drive. It's a good feature for keeping nosy people out of your drive. Hackers can bypass this feature by opening up the unit and removing the hard drive. They could reconnect it without the security circuitry contained in the unit. Of course, if you use the encryption feature available with this unit the hackers will not be able to retrieve any data from the drive. I don't have anything THAT important on my drive, so the "drive pass" feature is all I use.

I wish someone would make a unit like this with the smaller 1.8 inch hard drives available. In the age of 160GB ipods, this thing seems a little big. Speaking of ipods, I bet that's why there's no 1.8 inch hard drives available for units like this.

Bottom line?
It's worth the money. I'm happy enough with it to keep it.

Poor backup option in image mode [Posted on 2008-06-24]
If you purchased this drive and software (as I did) to restore after system crashes you may be in for a rude surprise - the included Safetydrill software does not (as claimed) delete older versions of backups as required to make space for newer ones, instead it MOVES them to an (undocumented) history folder on the same drive and new backups fail for lack of space... with the failure producing only an inconspicuous error message that could be easily overlooked by unsophisticated users.

At first I found it unbelievable that automatic backup space management was unavailable in Saftydrill, but this was confirmed by Seagate/Maxtor Tech support, making this the least capable backup "solution" I've encountered in the last decade.

So... it you buy this for image-type backups an intend to use the included software be aware after the first few uses it will be *your* responsibility to manage your backup space by manually deleting older backups as required!

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