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After several weeks of use under close scrutiny, the drive performed reliably and consistently.
Data transfers were always accurate, even on the large copies. I was very pleased with the
performance, and developed confidence in the drive, which is important when you are using the
drive to back up precious data files (such as pictures, home videos, or your music library).
One of the selling points of the SimpleDrive is the "One-Click" backup, but the software that
comes with the drive for doing this only runs on Windows. For us Mac users, we are on our own
in terms of what software to use for performing backups. In other words, to make the
SimpleDrive "One-Click" on the Mac, you will need to find and purchase your own software, and
learn how to do it on your own. Fortunately, I own Retrospect backup software, and I schedule
my backups to run automatically, so I have "No-Click" backups. Retrospect had no problems
backing up data to the SimpleDrive. Still, I would have liked to have seen an offering for Mac
users that provided the "One-Click" functionality all in one package (since not everyone has
Retrospect). The Maxtor One Touch drive is a good model that has one-click action for Mac
Users, as it comes with Retrospect Express (and also includes a drive button to trigger it).
One test I always perform on an external device is seeing how the device behaves when I shut
down my Mac. This is always important to me, because when I shut down my Mac, I want
everything to shut down. I don't want to have to worry about other devices that I need to
remember to power off. There are some firewire devices that do not power down with the Mac.
I'm please to report that when I shutdown my G4, the SimpleDrive happily powers off. That
means I don't have to manually turn off the drive. That is definitely a big plus.
Support
Drives have a tendency to go out, and so I was also pleased to see that this drive comes with a
3-year warranty (much better than Maxtor's one year warranty, especially since two of my
Maxtor drives died on me after, both about one month after the warranty expired). In addition
to that, SimpleTech provides free and unlimited support for their products. Using the drive is
pretty darn simple, but it's still nice to know that if you had issues with the drive, that you could
get support for it.
Summary
The SimpleTech SimpleDrive is an external Firewire/USB hard drive that has a lot going on. It
gives you a lot of Bytes for your Buck, and the 250GB size makes for an excellent storage drive
and/or backup device. It comes in a stylish and low-profile design, so it looks good next to your
Mac, and doesn't take up too much desktop space. Hardware features include a Mac savvy
power bridge and an on/off switch. Over weeks of testing has proven the drive to be not only
consistently fast, but very reliable. The drive does have a few drawbacks. It only has one
firewire port, it does not support the Mac platform with the "One-Touch" software, and it comes
with a funky power plug. None of these drawbacks, however, are showstoppers, and when you
factor in the price and 3-year warranty, this drive is definitely worth a look. Whether you're
looking to expand your storage, or you want to start backing up important data such as pictures,
music and video, I highly recommend the SimpleDrive.
Pros
l Excellent price per GB
l Stylish design includes on/off switch
l Mac savvy power bridge
l Stable and fast I/O
l 3 Year Warranty
Cons
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Mac Guild Review
10/17/2005
http://mac
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guild.org/reviews/review326.html