INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   USB flash drives may be the to go solution for most consumers looking for a compact storage media device with plenty of storage capacity to carry their files around with them but portable hard drives are still unsurpassed in terms of capacity and in many cases even reliability. Sure there are even 1TB USB flash drive models currently available in the market many of which are much faster than any mechanical drive out there and offer exceptional MTBF numbers but when it comes to price per GB there's simply nothing better than a classic portable hard drive. This of course goes double now since the very first 4TB 2.5" USB 3.0 PHD models made their debut a couple of months back by Seagate and Samsung and although we weren't certain of just what to expect from these new drives the Backup Plus 4TB by Seagate arrived in the lab just in time to alleviate our concerns.

   Founded in 1979, Seagate is the leading provider of hard drives and storage solutions. From the videos, music and documents we share with friends and family on social networks, to servers that form the backbone of enterprise data centers and cloud-based computing, to desktop and notebook computers that fuel our personal productivity, Seagate products help more people store, share and protect their valuable digital content. Seagate offers the industry’s broadest portfolio of hard disk drives, solid-state drives and solid-state hybrid drives. In addition, the company offers an extensive line of retail storage products for consumers and small businesses, along with data-recovery services for any brand of hard drive and digital media type. Seagate employs more than 50,000 people around the world.

   The Backup Plus 4TB portable hard drive by Seagate consists by a 15mm thick Seagate/Samsung Momentus ST4000LM016 2.5" SATA III HDD (features five 800GB platters with a rotational speed of 5400RPM and 16MB of cache) housed inside a USB 3.0 compatible enclosure. The Momentus drive used may be the very first 4TB 2.5" drive in the market but Seagate didn't stop there and so with the Backup Plus 4TB they also provide a two year warranty, two year 200GB OneDrive subscription, complete compatibility with the Lyve App (you can use it to collect, organize and enjoy your photos and videos) and finally via their mobile backup app you can use it to backup all your mobile data. Unfortunately since Seagate doesn't share much about the Momentus 4TB drive (just the basics mentioned earlier) it's up to us to check and see just how fast it is.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A small product picture, the company logo and the 200GB of free OneDrive subscription are the things placed at the front of the box.

 

 

The device compatibility is placed on the right (just computers).

 

 

OS compatibility is placed on the opposite side.

 

 

A few words about OneDrive and Lyve are printed at the rear in 10 languages.

 

 

Along with the Backup Plus 4TB you will also get the USB 3.0 cable and the quick start guide.

 

 

THE BACKUP PLUS 4TB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Measuring just 114.5mm in length, 76mm in width and 20.35mm in height the 541g heavy Backup Plus 4TB is much smaller than what we were expecting.

 

 

To make it easier to understand its size we placed the Backup Plus 4TB PHD right next to two of the drives we use in the lab the Slim Portable Drive 1TB (again by Seagate) and the Armor A80 2TB (by Silicon Power).

 

 

A small white activity LED is placed at the upper left corner of the drive.

 

 

The new Seagate logo is placed on the lower right corner.

 

 

At the front of the drive we see the USB 3.0 host port.

 

 

I was somewhat surprised to see that the entire bottom of the drive is designed after the new Seagate logo.

 

 

The product and serial numbers along with their barcodes and country of manufacture are also printed at the base.

 

 

ONEDRIVE SUBSCRIPTION AND DASHBOARD SOFTWARE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to focus on the OneDrive subscription and to activate it you need to register the drive and take 4 small steps.

 

 

Of course to use this you need to log into a Microsoft account once you download the OneDrive software.

 

 

While logged in the OneDrive software you will be asked/required to upload 1 file and create 1 document in order to unlock the free 200GB subscription.

 

 

The moment you do those things the capacity of your OneDrive skyrockets to 214GB (14.9GB original plus the free 200GB by Seagate - check the lower left corner).

 

 

Worth mentioning is that the Dashboard software (you can download it directly from Seagate) can also come in handy since not only can it be used to backup things from your computer and mobile devices but it can also be used to backup and share your social media content.

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

   Keeping things simple so even people new in the field of computers can understand will always be our way so once again our testing procedure is almost exactly the same as the one we use with 2.5/3.5" external docking stations. This time however we will be comparing the product at hand with a wide range of 2.5" portable drives and standalone 2.5" enclosures all of which were benched using a HGST 7K750 SATA II hard disk drive. Our standard selection of benchmark suites is used here as well including the famous HD Tach RW (Long Bench 32mb Zones), HD Tune Pro (read/write -when possible- speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read/Write - also when possible- speeds), AIDA64 (Linear Read/Random Read), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB/1000MB read/write speeds) and finally the quite outdated yet highly reliable ATTO 2.47 (Max Read/Max Write speeds). Every test was repeated for a total of 6 times and after that the average (not peak) numbers were recorded into our charts. As always every test was performed in a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 with every update installed up to November 1st 2015.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - TEMPERATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   When the 4TB 2.5” drives were announced a few months back we were quite skeptical not because we didn’t expect them to perform ok but because we feared that they’d fall back compared to 1TB and 2TB models in terms of performance. Still as you can see from our charts this is not the case and so thanks to the brand new Seagate/Samsung Momentus drive the Backup Plus 4TB is one of the fastest portable hard drives to ever reach our lab. What’s really impressive however with the Backup Plus 4TB is the size of the enclosure since it’s hardly any larger compared to some of the ones used with 2TB ones. Another great feature is the OneDrive 200GB subscription which alone costs roughly $90 and although it may sound a bit overkill (I know I will probably never make use of all the space) still I’m certain it can be of use to many people (even if not it's still free). Lyve may also come in handy to some people but no matter how I look at it I think it’s of much less importance compared to OneDrive.

   Currently one can find the Backup Plus 4TB USB 3.0 PHD by Seagate for a price of USD149.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 147Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) and I doubt you need me to tell you all just how good that price tag is. Of course in 2016 we should see even cheaper 4TB models but until then the Backup Plus is the obvious choice especially for people who can make use of the free two year 200GB OneDrive subscription. Also add the excellent performance levels, its compact size and the Dashboard software and you’ll all see why we decided to give it our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Compact Size
- 4TB Capacity
- Excellent Performance
- Free Two Year 200GB OneDrive Subscription
- Works with Lyve
- Low Temperatures
- Dashboard Software
- Price (For Some)

 

CONS

- None