Seagate Expansion 8tb Desktop External Hard Drive Usb 30 (Steb8000100) Review

Whoa doggy, do nosotros have something fun to look at today! Well, technically nosotros have been looking at it for a week at present, but today is where we get to share with you our impression of a difficult drive that carries a very generous corporeality of space. Today we are talking nigh Seagate's Expansion 8TB (External) USB three.0 Hard Drive (HDD).

The boilerplate consumer has been favoring iii-4TB drives for external backup scenarios for quite some fourth dimension now, based on average sales around the globe. However, as internal drives begin to abound in capacity past default in newer desktops and laptops, the need for more capacity will eventually begin to climb. Especially, with the popularity of automation, more enhanced network capabilities and of form, internal media servers to serve to all of your devices with (the terminal 2 points kind of piggyback on each other).

More and more, yous are finding users are starting to dump their physical CDs and movies into digital formats thanks to the fact that software has become so user friendly inside this realm. Include the fact that digital downloads are stronger than ever, and you have some pretty large collections out there. All of these files need a place to store, and your PC might not always be the all-time selection. If you want to be able to stream all of that content to various devices on the network at whatever time, that would mean that PC would ever have to be powered on. However, a practiced number of routers offering USB connectivity so that you can hook an external bulldoze to the network on its own, giving you isolated storage that tin can be accessed 24/seven. From hither, you can use applications and hardware similar Plex, Xbox, smart TVs, mobile devices, Roku and like attachments for your TVs, so forth, to access this media and stream it to your display.

Of class, multiple loftier-capacity backups or big media collections, can require quite a bit of space. Large capacity isn't always affordable, just in the case of Seagate's 8TB bulldoze, information technology'southward non that much more your boilerplate 3-4TB culling, with a current toll tag of only $179.99. Now don't get me wrong, as that price isn't perfect for all; but, if y'all program on setting something like this upwardly, this drive is less than most or all of the other externa options at this capacity.

So we got our hands on one of these to meet how well it performs for these given tasks.As I mentioned, we take been playing with information technology on and off fort nigh a week now. It's been filled to capacity and formatted and filled some more. What we found, was that it does indeed make for a great fill-in solution, or a perfect abode for a media dump. Not as much for an external solution for gaming consoles like the Xbox 1, as there are other drives that perform with a ameliorate read/write than this, which makes a difference for load times (nosotros prefer the WD Blackness Passport Ultra for an HDD solution for gaming), only it did perform close to some of our favorites (so if capacity is more than than important than saving i-3 seconds in game load time, than this drive becomes perfect).

The initial boot resulted in the drive being read as vii.27TB. We expected to encounter around 7.45GB based on math, merely the drop isn't pregnant (and is common). It came with a meer 46MB worth of files on the bulldoze from Seagate, including registration data (an .exe that takes you lot to their site and some series number info in a hidden directory), and some warranty information. In that location is no actual software is included with this drive (ie, fill-in software). The latter was a bit odd, as ordinarily we find virtually drives have some kind of software included, or a link where they can get information technology from their website. Maybe the lack of software is the reason the price is lower on this model since there is no licensing to business relationship for. Thankfully, there are plenty of options for costless or purchase out there if you lot search around.

To first get an idea of the boilerplate speed of this drive, I will suspension it down into 3 scenarios, covering write speed:

1. The boilerplate write speed for a larger drove of pocket-size files: 70MB-135MB per second.
2. The boilerplate write speed for a big drove of random sized files: 107MB-154MB per second.
3. The average write speed for large individual files: 144MB-157MB per 2d.

Equally you can come across, the drive performs quite well. This means it takes mere seconds to transfer each gigabyte of data, making it an fantabulous candidate for large backups. The average read speed is similar plus an increment of around 30-40MB per 2nd on average, compared to a similar task being written to it. Then for large single files, the boilerplate read speed was effectually 170MB-188MB per 2nd (for example).

The drive is equally small as most modern external solutions that behave a standard 3.v-inch drive within. It isn't bulky at all, and hides well amongst your setup. The casing features a diamond blueprint/texture beyond all sides other than the front and top, which are shine. The casing feels quite durable, but none of that matters since the drive within is always going to be a delicate brute that should ever be treated as such. Similar most external drives, it comes merely in black, and includes all of the required cables inside the box. This 1 comes with a USB and power cable (that plugs into the wall).

Our Conclusion

A fantastic external solution for large backups and media collections alike. It can indeed be used for video game consoles as well if you take an incredibly large collection of games to install, although for consoles there are drives that tin can save yous an additional few seconds in load times (if that matters). 8TB is a lot of capacity to play with, which should cover a majority of users looking for the space. The price being under $200 also gives it a edge confronting the competition which is real squeamish, especially since it doesn't feel like they cutting any corners to pull it off.

*Average price is based on the time this article was published

Additional Images:

Specifications:

Model	Data Sheet	Capacity	Interface	Warranty	Length	Width
Expansion Desktop 2TB STEB2000100 ane-year warranty		2TB	USB three.0	1 year	176.0mm	120.6mm
Expansion Desktop 3TB STEB3000100 1-year warranty		3TB	USB 3.0	1 year	179.5mm	118.0mm
Expansion Desktop 4TB STEB4000100 1-year warranty		4TB	USB 3.0	ane year	176.0mm	120.6mm
Expansion Desktop 5TB STEB5000100 1-twelvemonth warranty		5TB	USB 3.0	one yr	176.0mm	120.6mm

Specification Source: Seagate Website

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Senior Editor, Author, Reviewer and Designer for Poc Network, ProAudio and Mobile Nations. James enjoys spending almost of his time equally an audio engineer and technician for the live music industry when he isn't running around the office hither juggling an intense workload. He can too be found frequently in the nearby mountainous ranges, scrambling rocks and rappelling down large sections.

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