Seagate Backup Plus Portable Drive 2TB USB 3.0 Review

Introduction Seagate released their Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive a while ago, but it is still a very valid product and one that shouldn't be missed. Today I'm taking a closer look at the blue colored version of the Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive with a capacity of 2TB and a USB 3.0 connection. The thin and light drive is easy to carry everywhere and is perfect to keep all those files that wouldn't fit on a normal thumbs drive. The thumbs drives might get bigger, but they haven't reached the 2TB capacity yet and certainly not at a price point that this USB 3.0 hard disk can be had for. It certainly is a lot of storage in a small size and for a good price, and that is something that we like. The Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive isn't just small and light, it's also sleek and tough thanks to the metal design. The drive measurements are tiny, it is just 113.5mm long, 76mm wide, and typically weighs 159 grams. The use of a micro connector is obvious here as we couldn't have this small a drive without. The USB 3.0 connection provides a lot more bandwidth than USB 2.0 as well as major access improvements when dealing with UASP enabled ports. Seagate's Dashboard software also works with this drive and it is a great piece of software. All your photos, movies and videos can be backed up using the Seagate Dashboard, including the ones you’ve shared on Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. Use the Seagate Mobile Backup app to create backups directly from your mobile devices and easily share your content between PCs and Macs. The Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive is also compatible with Lyve, so all of your photos and videos can be easily shared. Not only do you get a 2-year warranty with this drive, Seagate also threw in a bonus in the form of a 2-year access to OneDrive with 200GB online storage valued at $95. That makes the drive kind of free if you had planned to purchase that service anyway. Packaging and Accessories The drive packaging is simple but provides all the necessary details right off. Brand, drive series, capacity, and the bonus is all mentioned on the front of the box. The rear side features a little more information about OneDrive and the activation details as well as a little information on Lyve. Inside the box, you'll find a USB 3.0 cable as well as the quick start guide to get going in case you shouldn't know how. The drive is pre-formatted, so all you need to do is plug it in and start using it. Testing & Methodology Hardware Gigabyte Z79X UD5H-BK Intel Core i7-4790K Corsair Vengeance 16GB 2400MHz Kingston HyperX Savage 240GB EVGA GTX 980 SC Software AIDA64 Storage Benchmark Anvil's Storage Utilities ATTO Benchmark CrystalDiskMark I'll be running almost all the benchmark tests on the empty drive first followed by a fillage scenario of 25%, 50%, and 75%. This will give us a detailed analysis on how the drive performs under different load scenarios. On each of the following pages, I'll be inserting screenshots from each test as well as a performance analysis chart and drive comparison chart. As the AIDA64 write tests require the drive to be unpartitioned we don't get any fillage report here, instead we get a great view on the drives bare performance. AIDA64 AIDA64 is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for home users. It provides a wide range of features to assist in overclocking, hardware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring. It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives and is compatible with most Microsoft Windows operating systems. It also has a disk benchmark tool, and that is the one I'll be using. The Linear Read and Write tests measure the sequential performance by reading or writing all sectors without skipping any. It gives, as the name says, a linear view on the drives overall performance from start to end. The Random Read and Write tests measure the random performance by reading or writing variable-sized data blocks at random locations on the surface of the drive. The Random tests are actually a combination of both speed and access times as it moves the position before each new operation. The Access time tests are designed to measure the data access performance by reading or writing small 0.5KB data blocks at random locations on the drive surface. Anvil's Storage Utilities Anvil's Storage Utilities is a new benchmarking utility that we have started using here at eTeknix, it's completely free to download and has the ability to test mainly hard drives and solid state drives, but also any other form of storage medium that you can throw at it. As well as testing the drive in a variety of benchmarking tests, it also has a drive endurance test that consistently reads and writes data to the selected medium to give days, months and potentially even years of use in a shorter period of time to see how the drive copes in the longer term. Compressible Incompressible Drive Performance Drive Comparison For the purpose of drive comparison, I will be using the performance figures from both unconditioned and conditioned tests with 0% data-fill. ATTO The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage. Drive Performance Drive Comparison For the purpose of drive comparison, I will be using the performance figures from both unconditioned and conditioned tests with 0% data-fill. CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a small HDD benchmark utility for your hard drive that enables you to rapidly measure sequential and random 4KB/512KB read/write speeds. Drive Performance Drive Comparison For the purpose of drive comparison, I will be using the performance figures from both unconditioned and conditioned tests with 0% data-fill. Software The Seagate Dashboard is simple to download and install, it only takes the agreement to the terms and the optional change of the installation path. Once installed you can launch it and you'll be presented with the application homescreen as seen below. You can see the connected compatible drives to the left and your options to the right. Drive Information Selecting a drive will provide you with more information such as serial number, capacity, firmware, and how much data is on the drive. You can also open a file view directly from here, manage video thumbnails, LED, Power state and run a self-test if the drive shouldn't be functioning normally. Lastly, there's also a page to get direct contact with the local customer service if you should run into trouble. Backup You can run synchronization and define your own backup plans depending on your need. The app is very forthcoming and straight forward to use. Creating a backup is one thing, but you'll also need the ability to restore them when needed. Cloud Connection Cloud storage has become an integral part of many users everyday storage, may it be free, private, or public. Seagate Dashboard supports Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Nero Cloud natively. Mobile Backup Creating a backup from your mobile devices is just as important as your home PC, if not more. Seagate has apps for both Android and iOS for just this purpose. Social Media Sharing and Backup The Dashboard app also allows you to share and save files directly to social media platforms such as Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. Final Thoughts Pricing At the time of writing this review, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive is widely available and that at a very good price. You can for example find it at NewEgg for $89.99, Amazon for £74.99, or find a good deal through Geizhals where it starts at €95.99. Conclusion Seagate has created a great drive and calling it the Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive and next to the 2TB version that we're testing today, it's also available as 500GB and 1TB version. The drive is well designed and looks gorgeous, and it is available in four different colours: Red, Blue, Silver, and Black. It isn't just a beautiful drive, it is also a tough one thanks to the metal design. It still manages to keep both size and weight down and doesn't take up much more space than a cell phone, maybe a little shorter and wider. The weight of about 160 grams is another bonus that makes sure that you don't leave your storage at home because of its weight. The performance was just as good as the looks, if not a little better. With transfer speeds up to and over 120MB/s at both reading and writing is a good result for both a 2.5-inch drive and an external drive, making it even better as this is both. When you could that with a price that isn't much more than you'd pay for an internal drive and you know that you have a winner. Seagate added some bonus to the drive that's already backed by a 2-year warranty. Next to the Seagate Dashboard software they also added a 2-year, 200GB OneDrive coupon valued at $95 USD according to the specifications. That makes this an awesome deal if you planned to get that service anyway and it will essentially give you the drive for free. Pros Good Performance Sleek and Durable metal enclosure Light, small, and portable Good package with 2-year OneDrive cloud service Prices similar to internal drives Four colours Cons The drive gets a little slower as it fills with data "The Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive is an affordable yet great performing and durable drive with a lot of included bonuses. If you need a drive for backup or portability, this is a great choice." Thank you Seagate for providing us with this sample.