Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 500 External Hard Drive

[Rob Williams]

Choosing the right external HDD can be tough. In order to sell, products such as the OneTouch 4 rely on their robust software bundle to help move off the shelf. People should be given a solid backup suite, especially given the price. This is exactly where Maxtor fell short, with their OneTouch 4 Plus.

You can read Nate's full review here and discuss it here!

 

[Merlin]

I have used Maxtor internal drives for years, but the External drives have failed to impress me. I have 1.3 tera bits storage from three drives of Maxtor. It seems they have some problem now and then being recognised on my four machines, I've tried to give them a chance in every way because of the famous internal drives that I have had. I've gone to MyBook for external storage and Western Digital for Internal drives.
And using WinXP on three machines and Vista Ultamate on one.

Merlin

 

[Rory Buszka]

I dunno, I kind of like the white LED.

 

[Izaya323]

Two Firewire Ports

I noticed that when you were reviewing this hard drive, you didn't know why there were two fire wire ports. The reason that there are two ports, is because if you would buy multiple external hard drives like this one, you could link them via fire wire ports, and daisy chain them together. You could have 4 hard drives plugged into one fire wire slot on your computer. I just shows the flexibility of fire wire, even though it performed poorly on the speed tests. The White LED is annoying, and very tacky looking! I copied the provided software to my computer, and formated the Maxtor One Touch 4 and am using it like another hard drive. So far the performance is great!

 

[Unregistered]

Poor Firewire performance

I was gonna comment on the two Firewire ports, but Izaya323 beat me to it. This is one of the nice things about Firewire, the ability to daisy-chain drives.

What I will say is that the Firewire performance of this drive, as reported in our review, is awful. If these test results are accurate, then this drive does not hold up its end of the bargain as a Firewire drive. Look at the Seagate Freeagent Pro performance for comparison.

If drive performance is not criticial, then this drive may be OK, but they really should be able to do better than that with Firewire nowadays.

 

[Frog]

Not Happy so far !

I'm totally freaking out about the quality of this drive. I just bought this on sale at office max a while back (2 months ago or less I think), and I'm already having problems ! Segate really brings the Maxtor brand name to a new low with this drive ! I could care less about the stupid light on the front. The software on the drive is annoying, and I got rid of that right away. Well anyway I'll get right to the point now. I have 172 gigs left to fill up of the 465 gigs available. I have 37% of the drive free. And tonight I had a scare. After re-starting my computer I got an error message saying that that particular drive was corrupt and I should run scan disc. So, I ran scan disc (with none of the boxes checked). Windows could not complete the disc check. So I unplugged the usb cord and plugged it back in. I opened the drive to view files, and there was only one single folder in there (I had many before) and it said the folder was empty ! So, I had to run scan disc again and I checked the first box to fix file system errors. Luckily, it seems like my files MAY be intact now. Sure is strange to be having problems with this drive when it's so new, and I've never had such a big problem with any of my other external drives. On second thought, I guess it's not too surprising if this is a Segate drive considering the last Segate drive I had didn't last 2 months.

I would think twice about buying this drive. I checked to see how fragmented it was, and it doesn't even need to be de-fragmented yet ! I find it rather sad that this drive is no longer trustworthy..... 'SAVE YOUR LIFE' is the motto LOL I sure wouldn't trust THIS drive with MY LiFE ! Big thumbs down to Segate for marketing this crap. Is that what they're doing now ? Putting their worst drives in Maxtor cases ? Whatever is going on, I don't like it. I won't even think about buying a Segate, or Maxtor hard drive ever again. I don't care how cheap their prices are. It's not worth it !

 

[Frog]

Ok to be fair

To be fair... This isn't the same hard drive I have ! I have the Maxtor one touch 4. Not the One Touch 4 Plus.

I was dissin Segate earlier because I bought a cheap internal 160 gig barracuda hard drive and it fried within 2 months, as did the replacement that they sent to me. I returned the drive 3 times I think, and then I finally got one that lasted over 3 months (humm it was made in Singapore rather than Malaysia like the other duds). Eventually the drive broke, but it was because I dropped the external case that it was in. Good riddance !

I do have a maxtor 320 gig external as well, it has not caused me any problems so far other than the blinding white lite on the front witch is even more annoying than the one touch 4 lol.

I'd recommend a WD mybook hard drive over any Maxtor / Segate drive .

 

[NicePants42]

Unfortunately, every hardware maker sells some lemons - which is why we want backup drives in the first place. I'm sorry to hear about your problems, frog.

Izaya323, thanks for enlightening me with regard to the firewire ports and helping to curb my ignorance. I appreciate it!

 

[Frog]

software problem ?

I think when I un-installed the software for the hard drive, it also got rid of the drivers for Both of my maxtor external hdd's. Only the 500 gig drive appeared to have data loss, but everything turned out fine after simply re-installing the drivers from the device manager. I just connected to the net to search for drivers. I guess they make you use their software. I used it to check my drive for errors... worked fast at least This is still the most annoying external Hdd I've ever had. wonder if this one could connect to a 320 gig maxtor.... I bet not. I'm for sure not going to buy another one of these to try the raid thing.

 

[Unregistered]

what if i don't install the software?

i got a deal on the maxtor onetouch 4 plus and just plugged it in and was pleased to see it show up quickly.

i just bought it to store my huge vegas, wmv and avi files while doing projects. i don't need the "back-up" software. i was able to drop a few files on the maxtor and they showed up and were accessible.

so, am i ok if i don't install any of the software and just use it "as is"?
will i be sorry?

p.s. i like the white light

 

[indianaburn]

Need Help

I bought the OneTouch 4 PLus yesterday...and now it wont work on my pc. i know why just wondering if anyone out there can help me fix it now. I re-formatted my PC...and re-did the whole works....new graphics, motherboard, and all...i plug the drive in, and Windows pops up and says new drive is ready to use, but it isnt showing on the My Computer page, as it is password locked. I need the install software, but cant seem to get Maxtor or Seagate to email it to me like they claim on their site. HELP



"In a world without fences and walls, who needs Gates and Windows!!"

 

[indianaburn]

Need Help

I bought the OneTouch 4 PLus yesterday...and now it wont work on my pc. i know why just wondering if anyone out there can help me fix it now. I re-formatted my PC...and re-did the whole works....new graphics, motherboard, and all...i plug the drive in, and Windows pops up and says new drive is ready to use, but it isnt showing on the My Computer page, as it is password locked. I need the install software, but cant seem to get Maxtor or Seagate to email it to me like they claim on their site. HELP

my email addy is: indianaburn@yahoo.com



"In a world without fences and walls, who needs Gates and Windows!!"

 

[Rob Williams]

The software for all the Maxtor external products is here:

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=0ed72c9e46914110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD

 

[Unregistered]

i got a deal on the maxtor onetouch 4 plus and just plugged it in and was pleased to see it show up quickly.

i just bought it to store my huge vegas, wmv and avi files while doing projects. i don't need the "back-up" software. i was able to drop a few files on the maxtor and they showed up and were accessible.

so, am i ok if i don't install any of the software and just use it "as is"?
will i be sorry?

p.s. i like the white light

I am the same....just bought it for storage and don't need the backup software....can I just use it like anothe HG...??
I might have to hang something over the bright white light....looks a bit like instant migraine to me....
Wendy

 

[Unregistered]

I am the same....just bought it for storage and don't need the backup software....can I just use it like anothe HG...??
I might have to hang something over the bright white light....looks a bit like instant migraine to me....
Wendy

Sorry I mean can I just use it like another HD.....

 

[Unregistered]

Sorry I mean can I just use it like another HD.....

Just found this in the User Guide FAQ....

"6. Can I use my OneTouch 4 without installing the software?
Yes. The OneTouch 4 can be used as an add-on, external storage device for storing data.
However, if you wish to use the feature-rich utilities such as Backup, you must install the
Maxtor Manager software included on your OneTouch 4 drive."

 

[NicePants42]

Exactly. The drive functions like any other usb storage device. The drivers enable features like automatic backups and the encrypted folder.

 

[Merlin]

Sorry I mean can I just use it like another HD.....

The drive comes wrapped in a case, the best way to use it, is to take it out of the case and put into your computer

I had to do this twice........Maxtor drivers loose their ability to function after a while.
I wont get another....just buy an internal drive and save the stress for something else.

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

 

[Unregistered]

Maxtor 4 plus NOISE

i have used external Maxtor drives for years now to store my music and play the files through iTunes. I have had great success with them but I just bought a Maxtor 4 Plus 500GB the drive is accessible and I was able to copy all my files to it and load them into iTunes. The issue I am having is that whenever iTunes changes from song to song the drive makes this clicking noise for a few seconds and then stops, which I am assuming is the drive spining up it is pretty annoying and I am worried it is going to crash. I have 3 other Maxtor drives plugged into the same computer and they have never done this and neither have any others I have had. Does anyone know if this means the drive could crash anytime??? Has anyone else had this issue??

I have used MyBook WD drives as well and they are the worst by far....does anyone have a recomendation on any other external drives for storing and using music files>>


thanks

 

[Merlin]

i have used external Maxtor drives for years now to store my music and play the files through iTunes. I have had great success with them but I just bought a Maxtor 4 Plus 500GB the drive is accessible and I was able to copy all my files to it and load them into iTunes. The issue I am having is that whenever iTunes changes from song to song the drive makes this clicking noise for a few seconds and then stops, which I am assuming is the drive spining up it is pretty annoying and I am worried it is going to crash. I have 3 other Maxtor drives plugged into the same computer and they have never done this and neither have any others I have had. Does anyone know if this means the drive could crash anytime??? Has anyone else had this issue??

I have used MyBook WD drives as well and they are the worst by far....does anyone have a recomendation on any other external drives for storing and using music files>>
thanks

Go with a network drive.
That's the only way I will go external
And......You can connect to the internet and retrieve your files from anywhere

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage: