Hitachi External Hard Drive (1TB)
Manufacturer: Hitachi America Ltd. Part number: H31000U
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Product series
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Hitachi Easy Hard Drive packs a lot of capacity and fast performance into an easy-to-use external drive. We recommend it.
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Where to buy
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CNET editors' review
Hitachi External Hard Drive (1TB) price range: $109.97 - $199.99
- Reviewed by: Ryan Belonga
- Edited by: Felisa Yang
- Reviewed on: 07/24/2007
- Released on: 06/06/2007
The good: Fast performance; low price; includes backup software.
The bad: Support hours could be extended.
The bottom line: The Hitachi Easy Hard Drive packs a lot of capacity and fast performance into an easy-to-use external drive. We recommend it.
We finally got our hands on one of the new single-disk 1-terabyte hard drives--the Hitachi External Hard Drive (also referred to as the "Easy Hard Drive" on Hitachi's site). Hitachi packaged its Deskstar 7K1000 1-terabyte, 3.5-inch hard drive into a small and simple external USB storage device. It has one-touch backup capability, and the whole package performs quite well. It was the fastest drive we've recently tested over a USB connection, and at $400 for the 1-terabyte version, the price versus performance is well-justified. This drive is a good buy.
| Drive type | External hard drive |
| Available capacities | 500GB, 750GB, 1 terabyte |
| Capacity of test unit | 1 terabyte |
| Drive speed | 7,200rpm |
| Cache | 32MB |
| Dimensions (WDH) | 2.5 x 4.75 x 6.75 inches |
| Notable design features | Backup button |
| Connection options | 1x USB 2.0 |
| Operating systems supported | Windows 2000/XP/Vista; Mac OS X |
| Software included | ArcSoft TotalMedia Backup |
| Service and support | One-year limited warranty; toll-free phone support available weekdays from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT; e-mail to tech support; FAQs; troubleshooter |
In CNET Labs' tests, the Hitachi External Hard Drive performed quite admirably. Over a USB connection, it wrote a 10GB mixed data folder in 9 minutes, 20 seconds, and read back that same folder to the test bed's drive in 8 minutes, 2 seconds--not bad for an external USB hard drive. Of the external drives tested over USB, it was the fastest. The LaCie d2 Quadra was faster in our tests, but we tested that drive over a FireWire 800 connection.
(Shorter bars indicate faster performance)
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User reviews
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A nice drive with a huge capacity
by ESUNintel on August 18, 2007
Pros: size is right, pretty cool (in style and temperature), made by a good company
Cons: it's plastic, could have had a fan, could be smaller, can't get back-up button to work
Summary: This is a great hard drive by a wonderful company that provides amazing customer service when needed. This unit is capable of fitting close to 1TB (little bit less, about ...
Summary: This is a great hard drive by a wonderful company that provides amazing customer service when needed. This unit is capable of fitting close to 1TB (little bit less, about 160GB cause it is formatted), in an enclosure that isn't so big.
The upsides of this unit are the capacity, price is not so bad, the enclosure looks nice, it is a quiet hard drive, that does not seem to overheat a whole lot.
There are some downsides to the unit, which is why I gave it four stars. These include that it is a plastic enclosure over aluminum or some material that might keep the drive a bit cooler, there is no fan built in even though there is space for one, and I have not been able to get the back-up button to work. Hitachi could have also added firewire or e-SATA to the drive, but it is ok cause Vist doesn;t seem to like firewire anyways.
The downsides are minimal, as the drive really stays somewhat cool, and the capacity, price, and brand name make it worth buying. It must also be kept in mind that since it is a 1TB hard drive, it may be a bit slow at saving or looking up data, but the speed is actually pretty good."3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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It's simple, Hitachi drives crash.
by Jhugen on January 24, 2009
Pros: Nice slim design, looks like something out of 2001 a Space Odyssey.
Cons: Unstable drives, causes skipping and lost data. Design makes the hard drive flipped on its side giving it suspect performance at best.
Summary: I have purchased many hard drives and I have found that it is mainly Hitachi drives that I have ever had a problem with. I decided to give this drive ...
Summary: I have purchased many hard drives and I have found that it is mainly Hitachi drives that I have ever had a problem with. I decided to give this drive a chance because it was cheap and I thought maybe they got their act together and produced a stable product. However with all the debating and hesitation I decided to purchase this upright drive. It did the same as all the other Hitachi drives that I have used, it crashed. I realize these things happen, but to this degree and volume it cannot be tolerated. I lost over 500gb of data that cannot be replaced, or only at an astronomically high price. I would not recommend this product to anyone, not until they can improve their products, perhaps only in solid state drives. As an alliterative I have decided to go to the most trusted drive in my experience Seagate.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Have had nothing but trouble with this unit
by fishep on July 1, 2008
Pros: Its Pretty
Cons: Locks up my PC every chance it gets or when I can get it to actually hookup
Summary: Have tried to get help from HITACHI with little success
Summary: Have tried to get help from HITACHI with little success
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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DO NOT BUY! Disconnects every 30 min Dammaged iTunes Library
by dnstrom on February 21, 2008
Pros: fast when it's running!
Cons: disconnects every 30 seconds
Summary: DO NOT BUY!!
This drive disconnects every 30 minutes and some how my itunes library was destroyed...I have a backup but lost some content!
DO NOT BUY!Summary: DO NOT BUY!!
This drive disconnects every 30 minutes and some how my itunes library was destroyed...I have a backup but lost some content!
DO NOT BUY!1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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AVOID this drive. Numberous forum reports of it's problems
by rvc on January 6, 2008
Pros: OK for 30 min or so.
Cons: Automatically dismounts/remounts every 30 min or so causing data loss and network shutdown.
Summary: Numerous reports of this problem in multiple forums, including this one.
Read and learn: http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/782358/
Drive shuts down and restarts every 30 min or ...Summary: Numerous reports of this problem in multiple forums, including this one.
Read and learn: http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/782358/
Drive shuts down and restarts every 30 min or so.
Data loss caused during reset.
Network interuption during reset.
Not an isolated problem, lots of reports.
But the really uncomplimentary part is,
1. Hitachi tech support is aware of the issue and will not respond.
2. CNet knew damn good and well it was happening when they wrote this report.
I don't trust either one of them now.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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WARNING - shuts down every 30 minutes!
by 2BeHonest on November 25, 2007
Pros: None since it is unusable beyond 30 minutes
Cons: You cannot play games on this drive or upload from it for longer than 30 minutes
Summary: DO NOT BUY this drive! I am sorry I did; over $300 wasted! It turns off EVERY 30 minutes, meaning that:
1. If you are playing a game installed on ...Summary: DO NOT BUY this drive! I am sorry I did; over $300 wasted! It turns off EVERY 30 minutes, meaning that:
1. If you are playing a game installed on this drive, you will lose all progress and the game will shut down.
2. If you are uploading from this drive, you better complete your upload in 30 minutes or less! If it takes longer, your upload will fail when the drive shuts down. In my case, "resume upload" didn't work, as the sudden cut-off of the transfer resulted in corrupt files.
3. If you have any programs installed on this drive, you will lose all your work when the drive shuts down.
In short, this drive is pointless. Buy a Lacie instead, Lacie drives *just work*!1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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So bad it's laugh out loud funny
by mightywizard73 on October 1, 2008
Pros: It looks cool
Cons: Doesn't work
Nor do the 4 replacements I have had
When it does work it's slow
Runs very hot
drops connection to the PC constantly
Impossible to back up huge folders as this thing overheats and breaks down midway through...every time.Summary: This is probably the single worst piece of hardware I have ever had the misfortune to own. It feels cheap and it is. Unlike some other drives that will switch ...
Summary: This is probably the single worst piece of hardware I have ever had the misfortune to own. It feels cheap and it is. Unlike some other drives that will switch off when your PC does this drive stays on until you switch it off. It DOES NOT have a back up button - the button does nothing at all but look nice and the software installed is a joke. Aside from these minor issuees these drives just do not work. I have had 4 of them - all returned to Hitachi and replaced. I bought a 1 TB for piece of mind back-up and instead I got a piece of crap that has got my back up! Terrible - Hitachi should be ashamed of allowing such a half baked unit to be sold with there name on it. Oh - and it's slow too - don;t get suckered in by the CNET review. There aren't enough words to describe how bad this thing is. It's like a horrible joke that won't stop.
1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Horrid experience, horrid company
by saalaw on November 7, 2009
Pros: None at all. Nada.
Cons: External hard drive stopped functioning in less than 30 days. Could not recover data because warranty would be voided.
Summary: Six printed pages of instructions to return product full of threats and demands. Packaging demands unreasonable could not be met by UPS or Mail Boxes Etc. Western Industries recommended but ...
Summary: Six printed pages of instructions to return product full of threats and demands. Packaging demands unreasonable could not be met by UPS or Mail Boxes Etc. Western Industries recommended but not listed in Denver, Colorado. Cost by Mail Boxes estimated at $65 for $100 DEFECTIVE product.
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Terrible customer support; short warranty period
by easygoingal on September 24, 2009
Pros: None. Better options available
Cons: Poor after sale service,
Summary: I purchased this drive to back up my data and everything seemed fine until my computer crashed and had to restore my data. Not only was my data unaccessible, when ...
Summary: I purchased this drive to back up my data and everything seemed fine until my computer crashed and had to restore my data. Not only was my data unaccessible, when I called customer service for warranty service, they declined because I could not find my sales receipt and they said the one year warranty had expired. I will NEVER buy a HITACHI drive again. I would recommend that when you purchase a hard drive, go with a vendor who offers more than a one year warrnanty because hard drives are prone to defects. Seagate offers a 5 year warranty and it will come in handy when you need support. STAY AWAY FROM HITACHI. YOU WILL REGRET IT.
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Does not work for long
by BillinTexas on August 14, 2009
Pros: I can thik of none.
Cons: The first one failed in abot 6 months, the replacement failed in about 7 months and now it is nt under warranty. The tech said that they were having some problems with the drives but he could not help me in any way.
Summary: I recommend that you stay away from this Hitachi drive as it does not have the stamina required for actual storage.
Summary: I recommend that you stay away from this Hitachi drive as it does not have the stamina required for actual storage.
Product series
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Hitachi External Hard Drive (500GB)
Manufacturer: Hitachi America Ltd.
Specs:
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Hitachi External Hard Drive (750GB)
Manufacturer: Hitachi America Ltd.
Specs:
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Hitachi External Hard Drive (1TB)
Manufacturer: Hitachi America Ltd.
Specs:
Manufacturer info
- Hitachi America Ltd.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Hitachi America Ltd. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.hitachi.com
- Address:
2001 Ruppman Plaza, Peoria, IL 61614 - Phone: 1-800-Hitachi
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