I have 2 Seagate Expansion Desktop 4TB ordered as a redundant backup medium. It is in this model a ST4000DM000 with 5,900 revolutions. Originally a NAS was being considered, but the cost would be here more than twice. The current price for the expansion desktop corresponds to the time of each hard drive without housing - well understand, I do not have the yes, other taxation perhaps?
Regardless, unpacked and connected to USB 3.0, the drive is immediately recognized under Win7 and with the full capacity of 3.63 TiB (binary) display. The next step was followed by the complete encryption using TrueCrypt. This may occur after a complaint or very beneficial when the plate reluctant to change hands. In TrueCrypt creates the risk that the volume is accidentally formatted as Windows every time after connecting asks. After the TrueCrypt encryption you should definitely run "Backup volume header" because the same at a battered volume header without backup it is often said: "Data ade". This can be read repeatedly in specific forums.
From previous reviews, the temperature problem was also frequently mentioned, which I can confirm from my experience with passive plastic housings. So I ran a leftover and cored i5 boxed fan under the housing. The temperature did not rise above 37 ° C. By turning off the fan the temperature increased to 12 minutes from 37 to 40 ° C -> Fans back to -> temperature gradually decreased to 37 ° C.
Who wants to read a detailed test report: Just search in Google for ST4000DM000 and open the link by Tom's Hardware.
Recommended free programs: - TrueCrypt to encrypt the hard drive - CrystalDiskInfo for displaying the smart values (eg temperature) - FreeFileSync for carrying out the backups
Conclusion: All in all I am very pleased with the expansion desktop. It is fast (see below), quiet and stays relatively cool when not copied too long. As an emergency ventilation Boxed-fan which is unused at any hobbyist in the corner is enough. Please remember that this model no 24/7 version is that the max. Operating time is 2400 hours per year or 6.5 hours a day. In the event of cases it then works also with the guarantee ;-)
Have fun with this product
Addendum of 04/16/2014 Today a recover was necessary because I have mistakenly deleted a folder: Knapp 7GB spread over 66 files were with a transfer rate of 150 MB / s to about 47 seconds behind on the SSD. A "proof-Screenshot" I kept stored up, the enthusiasm is so at :-)
Appendix
Manufacturer data Seagate (excerpt) -------------------------------- Model Number: ST4000DM000 Model Name: Desktop HDD (HDD.15) Capacity: 4 TB Speed: 5900 1 / min Average throughput: 146 MB / s Heads / disks: 8/4 Bytes per sector: 4,096 Parking and starting the read / write heads: 300,000 Operating in hours: 2,400 Cache: 64MB Operating temperature: 0-60 ° C
Detected values (i5 boxed fan under the housing) -------------------------------------------------- ----- Start Temperature: 21 ° C Temperature to 900 GB: 37 ° C Temperature after about 30 minutes Idle: 31 ° C Data transfer rate of USB 3, 256 GB (large file), 900 GB already occupied: 126 MB / s Temperature to 256 GB: 36 ° C
