Maxtor E01G300 OneTouch II 300 GB External Hard Drive

Manufacturer:	Maxtor
List price:	~~$299.99~~
Our price:	$249.99 that is 17% off!

Maxtor E01G300 OneTouch II 300 GB External Hard Drive

Average rating: Stars

Got off to a bad start -- but it eventually came through

I had a bit of warning that my hard drive was crashing, so I bought this Maxtor and was lucky enough to back up my hard drive. So far so good. However, when I tried to copy all my data back to my new hard drive, I got boot and disk error messages that eventually resulted in having to reformat the hard drive and reload the OS (more than once, since I'm a slow learner). I think this can be blamed on the really skimpy instructions that come with this device. They tell you to reload the OS and then copy everything over... but if, for example, you have WinXP with Service Pack 1 on your OS CD, and you had downloaded Service Pack 2 later, then god help you... because the data you're trying to copy back to your new hard drive needs that new Service Pack to be there *before* you hit the RESTORE button. At least, that was my eventual (and inexpert) analysis of my various troubles.

The Maxtor instructions also mention that you can't restore your entire system, or even your applications, to "a different computer." For a while I wondered whether having a new hard drive might have signaled to the Maxtor that I have a different computer... so, in the end, I very cautiously restored my OS and Service Packs, reloaded my apps, and then moved my files and photos and such over from the Maxtor.

That was all a bit of a nightmare but, that said, I'm now delighted with this little device. Over the past couple of weeks I've done a few catastrophic things (like running DoubleKiller and telling it to delete duplicate Windows files that I apparently shouldn't have deleted). Before the Maxtor, I would have been up the creek. Instead, I just restored yesterday's complete back-up of my system -- and it was as if all those bad things had never happened. That alone was worth the price. I've also been able to go back to my very first complete back-up (before my hard drive crash) and find and easily restore both files *and* apps -- including invaluable things like my browser bookmarks, TaxCut and my tax information, and so on. It's fantastic to know that that "historical" data is all there, should I need it -- and that every day the Maxtor will make a new and current copy of my whole system without my having to lift a finger.

Maxtor E01G300 OneTouch II 300 GB External Hard Drive - Maxtor

Bad buy

I've had a One Touch 250GB for a long time now - no problems at all. Just bought the 300GB expecting the same - couldn't have been more wrong. Inconsistent recognition by Windows XP and 2000 - often needs multiple reboots of both drive and/or machine. Disappointing access times, loud and hot. Not a good experience - wish I had another 250GB One Touch I.

Maxtor - Maxtor E01G300 OneTouch II 300 GB External Hard Drive

Excellent: check the reviews on storagereview

top rated external (...)(the authoratative hard drive rating site) and for good reason.

Just to comment on some of the bad reviews below, I am sure anyone with a fair amount of technical experiacne can tell you that almost every bad review below is really based on ignorance as to externals, and the reviewers would have had the same exct issues with any other brand.

I strongly recommed that you check out storage review. they have stats from thousands of these drives and for example these are much more reliable than the equivelent seagate, and Maxtor has better warranty response (both are one year) and support.

Anyway although I roll my own externals, for the office we jsut buy them premade like this maxtor. I have four of them and they all run 24/7 (they are known to run cooler than the seagate), and are frequently bounced around with no problems at all.

As far as the "spin down" so worrying another commentor, I suggest he/she READ THE MANUAL! For goodness sakes maxtor's chipset allows you to have either 100% uptime OR energy saving (and with externals drive lifetime saving) by giving the user configurable options on how quickly the drive will respond!

Best Buys Electronics

Accessories