USB 3.0 Seagate Backup Plus

I don't have a computer with USB 3.0 or know anyone with a mac that has one. However my PC owning friend has 2-3 USB 3.0 drives and they perform well. The speed is excellent; way better than USB 2.0 and even quite a bit better than Firewire 800.

I just received a Seagate "Expansion" 1TB portable USB 3 drive to use with my new MacBook Air.

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expan...1071344&sr=8-1&keywords=seagate+expansion+1tb

I used it last night to do a Time Machine backup (after formatting it for OS X) and it was quite fast. Watching "Activity Monitor" it seemed to run at 70-80 MBs most of the time. Occasionally it would slow down to 30-40 MBs probably when writing many small files, or when my system was busy doing something else.


-howard

2Turbo said:

Does anyone here use USB 3.0 HDD's on the new MBA? Whats your experience been like?

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I have a Goflex 2.5" with USB3, and it's fast as hell compared to USB2. Glad I upgraded from my 2011 MBA

How can you read what your transfer speed is? On my PC it just shows up, but not on my Mac.

2Turbo said:

Thanks man. Do you think it would cause problems or overheating to leave mine plugged in all the time at my desk?

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Do you mean leaving it plugged in to an outlet or your computer? If it's plugged into the outlet it won't be spinning because it isn't working. If you leave it plugged into your computer it will decrease the life of the HD because it is constantly spinning.

I purchased a USB 3.0 enclosure from NewEgg and created my own backup drive using a hybrid HDD. I get transfer speeds of about 80MB/s. With an SSD I get about twice that. It works well.

2Turbo said:

I mean leaving it plugged into the USB port. It runs on USB power so will be drawing all power from the Air (not wall socket).

I don't see how decrease in life span is any different than internal HDDs? The whole point is theres not enough room when you're used to 1TB in MBP.

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When you close the lid, the HDD will power down. However, because something is plugged into the USB port, the MacBook Air won't drop into "deep sleep" if you unplug it, meaning it will draw a bit more power while asleep than otherwise.

jgc said:

How can you read what your transfer speed is? On my PC it just shows up, but not on my Mac.

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Black Magic Speed Test (mac app store) is the easiest solution. Let’s you test the kinds of speeds your drives are capable of.

AcesHigh87 said:

The speed is excellent; way better than USB 2.0 and even quite a bit better than Firewire 800.

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Real world, not theoretical, FW 800 is about even in speed. Which is saying a lot since FW 800 has been around for many years.