Priced competitively, the Seagate Backup Plus Portable 5TB drive beats everything currently available in the market. The sleek and spacious drive is ideal for digital content creators like bloggers, YouTubers, photographers, editors, among others. Here is my detailed review of the product.
Last year I was in Europe when I got a call from a prestigious media house to do a special photo feature for them on a destination that I had visited in the past. Unfortunately, being a light traveller, I was carrying only what was needed, which included a Seagate Backup Plus portable 2TB drive containing my ongoing projects. I had not anticipated an opportunity like this can come. So, I learnt a lesson by losing a plum project.
Recently I got to try the Seagate 5TB Backup Plus that was launched last year. Here’s my honest review about the drive:
Table of Contents
Design and Look
Before ordering the Seagate 5TB Backup Plus, I thought it would be a bit bulky considering the capacity was more than double of what I have been using earlier – a Seagate backup plus 2TB. Surprising the 0.83” (21mm) hard drive felt compact, albeit a bit thick than its predecessor, though, it’s still small enough to carry around. Weighing 0.265 kg, it is available in black, red, light grey, and silver blue colours.
I ordered a black one with a minimalist textured metal finish that felt completely in-sync with the modern lifestyle and is compatible with Mac and Windows computers. On the front of the drive, there’s Seagate branding, as well as an indicator light. And, on the backside, there’s a label containing the mandatory information such as regulatory compliances, serial number, and capacity. The drive comes with one USB cable, warranty card and user manual booklet.
Technology and Performance
The Seagate Backup Plus Portable uses the same design technology as the 2016 version and features the brand’s BarraCuda internal drive that combines five 2.5-inch platters that hold a 1TB capacity each.
To check the performance of the drive, I ran the BlackMagic test on a Mac. The drive recorded a speed of 139.1MB/s in reading speed and 138.6MB/s in writing. These scores are pretty good and are at par with benchmarks set by rival brands.
Upon researching more about the drive, I found that it runs on the Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology that is designed to increase the storage density. Without sounding too technical, the SMR technology consists of writing on three tracks in parallel. This overlapping-lane architecture permits to cram more data per platter. But here’s the catch: while the reading speed is not impacted, the writing speed tends to slow down a lot as the disk starts filling up, especially after it becomes 70-80% full.
The Seagate 5TB Backup Plus Portable drive works with both Windows and Mac without any need to reformat. However, I did reformat it as “exFAT” format is its default format, which is the advance file system of FAT32 but I had read some negative reports that its transfer speed could be an issue and the drive becomes more susceptible to data corruption when errors occur, or the drive is not disconnected correctly from the computer. So, instead of taking the risk and losing precious data later on, I decided to stick to the proven and tested format of NTFS. It took me hardly a minute to do so.
Bundle offer
Besides providing a vast space to store files, the Seagate 5TB Backup Plus comes loaded with great bundle offers for digital content creators like me who need to access heavy multimedia files on the go. Seagate is offering a one-year complimentary subscription to Mylio Create that lets you edit, manage and share photos and data from anywhere. Additionally, you get a two-month membership to Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan.
Most importantly, you can enjoy long-term peace of mind with the three-year limited warranty, which basically means Seagate recovers the data from your HDD in case your drive fails.
The final verdict
The sleek and spacious Seagate 5TB Backup Plus Portable Drive offers a great value for cold storage and backup application for on-the-move digital content creators or desktop warriors alike.
Pros
- Excellent value for a 5TB portable hard drive. IMRP is INR 16,499 ($221), but Amazon is selling it at INR 9,499 ($127).
- Decent reading speed performance (130 MB/s maximum)
- Compact and lightweight
- Self-powered via USB connector
- Excellent build quality with aluminium casing
- Available in four different colours
- 1-year Mylio Create & 2 months Adobe CC free subscription
Cons
- Writing speed drops significantly as the hard drive becomes full, especially on long sequential writes
- No USB C connector
- You get only 4.54 TB out of the 5 TB, a bit disappointed to lose ~500GB of useable memory
Have you used the Seagate has 5TB Backup Plus Portable drive? Please share your experience in the comment box.
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This is a great view, very easy to read. I bought a smaller one of these and a different brand and one day all of my data was gone on it. So I haven’t used one since! But this looks good.
Thanks for this clear, honest review! Good to know about different options for keeping our precious travel at a safe. I hope another great opportunity comes up for you!
The Seagate Backup Plus Portable 5TB looks like a nice and useful accessory. Have been thinking of a good drive for some time, and this post comes in at the right time to help us make the decision. The bundled offer looks really attractive. Will be checking out for details.
A great detailed review. I bought the Seagate ultra slim a year or so ago after I lost everything on my old hard drive (cheaper different brand) when the connector pins broke off. Super happy with Seagate so far, it’s fast and robust. I’d buy from them again!
I have this exact portable drive for my MacBook Pro, and it’s been very reliable and convenient for holding all my travel photos and design files. It also helps me keep my laptop running “light.”
I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Seagate 5tb drive. In fact, now that I think of it, it will probably be sooner than later. (Thanks for reminding me how much I like this product!)
This is a great review and I love how it adapts to both windows and Mac. So often, it’s either or.
I myself have Seagate and it really worked as a saviour for the necessary times. And backup is no so much more important nowadays. Really a good product. You pointed out the main pros and cons, wonderfully.
That’s a pretty hardy portable backup drive. I have 2 Seagate drives. One is 3 tb and one is 2 tb. I have a great fear of losing my photos. I will have to check this one out the next time I need a new one. I love that it’s compact and not too heavy. I have a new Mac, so that ‘C’ connection would be amazing to add. I do have a converter though.
I have never used Seagate but I do think it is one of the oldest names when it comes to portable hard disk. One of the reasons why I haven’t bought Seagate is because there isn’t much choice on the portal from where I generally buy. But given an option, I would certainly buy Seagate.
If there is anything that can stop me from buying is – no USB connector.
Can you store music on this and will it play clear?