SimpleTech SimpleDrive SP-UF35/500 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire External Hard Drive (designed by Pininfarina)

List Price: $145.99 Discount Price: $97.24

Features:

• Stylish, external 500 GB Hard Drive with USB 2.0 and FireWire connection
• Stylish design by Ferrari designer Pininfarina
• Built-in slot for Kensington security lock
• Backed by 1-year warranty and unlimited technical support
• Measures 5.0 x 1.50 x 8.25 inches (WxHxD)

Accessories:

Caselogic HDC-1 Medium EVA External Hard Drive Case (Black)

Customer Reviews:

Does not work [Posted on 2007-09-29]
I've bought a 340 GB version of this drive, connected to my Gateway computer with Windows XP. Windows recognize it as a new drive, it appears, works for few seconds and disappears. Then few seconds later it appears again and cycle repeats itself. Computer has no problem working with another external hard drive - by Western Digital, or with digital camera. I've returned it back. However, on a bright side, the huge oval button on top has very lively flashing lights and looks very entertaining.

OUTSTANDING Hard Drive works great with a MAC! [Posted on 2007-10-15]
I'm currently using the Pininfarina designed 500GB SimpleDrive to back up my main hard drive with the backup utility included on the drive. I also use it to store media files, such as photos, music, and full length AVI and Quicktime movies.

It mounts effortlessly every time on my Mac running OS X via either the FireWire or USB 2.0 connection. The drive is very quiet and automatically spins itself down after a lengthy period of inactivity, but it's quickly ready to go when needed. The drive's fast speed and connection rate allow you to watch movies or stream audio directly to your computer.

I highly recommend it for its reliability, sleek "aerodynamic" Italian design, and ease of use. Most hard drive cases look boring, but this one looks like it's doing 120mph just sitting there. Vrooom!

High Capacity, Fast, Low Cost [Posted on 2007-12-26]
Just got this product two days ago and my first impressions are very good. Right out of the box it had a very sleek and attractive design, something you would put on your desk proudly not hide in a drawer.

As soon as I plugged it in the computer recognized it right away, and after partitioning it into 3 seperate drives )for seperating my music, videos, and everything else) I coppied about 25 gigs of video in about 100 minutes, which was many times faster than I expected.

The device is also very small for how much space it has; measuring 6x8x1.5. It easily fits in a medium size carrying case.

Over all I am completely satisfied, if I had to say something bad about it, the six LEDs surrounding the backup button in the middle are slightly obnoxious after a couple of hours. Deffinately reccommend this device of what I've experienced so far.

Works great... but fingers crossed [Posted on 2008-01-05]
For the price this is a great product. 500 gigbytes... wow!
However, the proof will ultimately be in the pudding. Several external HD's that I've owned have died from what one would think is normal hussle and bussle. So, I'm treating this one gingerly. Thus far, paired with my mac for several weeks and just sitting on a desk, the product works great. But wait a year or two or three to see how it holds out. If still functioning in 3 years, then I'll be more than happy to give it 5 stars.

Died After Two Days With All My Data On It [Posted on 2008-02-25]
My first SimpleTech Drive was D.O.A., not even a power light. They swapped it out for this second one, which I have had only two days -- just in time to get all my data on it. It has now died and only a red power light will come on, no blue activity lights, and a clattering sound. My Apple System Profiler will not recognize it.

I meant to use this drive to back up my desktop hard drive, to back up my laptop, and other important files. I can now see it is entirely useless as a backup. I don't know what to do next; perhaps get a new internal drive. I would not recommend SimpleTech.

In the short time this drive was working, my computer had trouble recognizing this drive upon reboot. I had it partitioned into four parts, including a bootable version of Mac OS X 10.3. The recognition of the firewire drive upon reboot was unpredictable. At times, it would recognize it, but more often than not, it would not recognize the drive's partitions and would not boot into 10.3. This could have been a result of the drive's beginning to fail. (To make the 10.3 bootable partition, I did not use SimpleTech's software, which does not support bootable functionality; instead I used Carbon Copy Cloner. When it worked, it worked beautifully, but it was inconsistent, I believe due to the drive's beginning to fail.)

I will send this drive back to SimpleTech and get a third drive. However, I don't plan to use it, as my experience shows these drives are unreliable.

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