Toshiba Canvio Connect II 1TB Portable Hard Drive, Red (HDTC810XR3A1)

Excellent

After I got fed up with all the error messages I would receive using Windows 7 Backup and a 150gb Iomega portable drive, I thought I would see how much a new outboard drive would cost me. The hard drive on my hard-working Toshiba Satellite laptop is 500gb.Lo and behold -- a person can now get a terabyte drive for under sixty dollars! Where do I sign up???At any rate, I haven't lived long with this nifty Toshiba Canvio Connect II, but so far so good. In my experience, Toshiba makes bullet-proof computing equipment.The unit itself is just slightly larger than a pack of cards and has a handsome glossy surface. Two lights inside flash when the drive is doing its thing, and the machine uses just one USB cable for interface and power (the Iomega used two -- how quaint!)The NTI Backup Now EZ4 software provided seems to work very well. It automatically schedules a daily backup of files and folders and a monthly backup of system files. It offers the option of backing up to a cloud drive somewhere as well, but I haven't used this for fear of hacking issues.So far, no error messages or other problems of any kind -- what a relief!Folks looking for a capable TB hardware and software backup solution at a very reasonable price need look no further... I'll report back if I have any reasons to change my opinion.

I use the Toshiba 1TB Portable HD to back up two MacBook Pros and am quite pleased with its functionality with Apple's Time Machine back-up system. Set-up is very easy. To use, simply connect the included USB 3.0 cable (back-compatible with USB 2.0 computers) to your computer. With the Apple Time Machine, all you need to do is select "Back Up Now" from the drop down menu and your computer will be backed up (sometimes the "Preparing to Back-up" step seems to take forever but the back-up does occur). If you wish to simply back up individual files, you would "drag and drop" the files into the Toshiba icon on your desktop. (Reviews: JK on September 16, describes how to set up this portable drive (Thank you, JK) and is worth reading).P.S. I also owned a LaCie 500GB USB 2.0 portable HD which failed after 23 months of use but a replacement was sent under LaCie's 2 year warranty. I read one tech review re: back-ups and the author, probably more obsessive than I, used 4 or 5 devices (!) to back-up his data. After my wife lost important emails, she did simple document back-ups, not entire system back-ups, I purchased the Toshiba so that she and I could have redundancy by using two distinct portable hard drives. Time Machine and the two portable HDs allow this to occur without any difficulty - just plug in the drive and perform the back-up

Pros:- Needs no power cable- Works with Windows XP- Small, light and silent- A Terabyte for $50Cons:- Short proprietary cable- Cluttered root with Toshiba filesThese small drives have progressed a great deal. My past drives either needed a wall wart or two USB cables. I used this on two old Windows XP PC's, including a laptop, using a single USB 2 port, no problems. I transferred ~60 GB having thousands of folders and files in about an hour. Not fast by USB 3 standards but I was very pleased.The root of drive was cluttered with Toshiba files, I transferred all of them to a new folder (Toshiba). Toshiba should have shipped the drive like this. I dislike any files at the root, only folders.The drive cable end is unlike any I've ever seen before, don't lose the supplied cable, highly unlikely you'll ever find another like it. It's only 2-feet long and a bit stiff too.

I bought this useful device on October 16, 2015. It arrived according to Amazon specifications. Toshiba Canvio Connect II 1TB Portable Hard Drive started working as promised. The installation and setup is pretty simple.I did a quick backup just to test. I always use my own creation: The best, easiest, fastest backup based on a simple batch file (totally free). Read this page on how you too can create the best backup software: http://saliu.com/best-backup.htmlNext step was an important step: Full backup, the counterpart of ‘Create system image’ in Windows. The NTI software that came with my Toshiba Canvio did the system image backup twice as fast as the Windows function.Now, I had expected the Canvio with the system image to be a BOOTABLE CLONE. That’s what I read in customer reviews before I bought the Toshiba Canvio. It is NOT the case. The system image is only bootable, but not a clone. Was I wrong, or some customer reviews were misleading?I have no complaints about Toshiba Canvio, only about the NTI software that was bundled with the device. It has two annoying fixtures:1) It says to ‘Activate software’. When I click, the program turns to a black screen and several Windows error messages.2) It says ‘Create bootable USB drive’ but it does NOT work. After the progress bar reaches 100%, the final message reads ‘Failed to create bootable device’. Even worse, the drive disappears from the list of drives for my PC. I have to reformat it again, and again…Anyone else experienced the same issues with NTI Backup Now EZ 4? Can anyone illuminate or help me? Thank you.My overall ratings:Toshiba Canvio Connect II 1TB Portable Hard Drive: 9 (out of 10)NTI Backup Now EZ 4: 4 out of 10.Pogoplug PC: Of no use to me.Ion Saliu