Toshiba Canvio 500 GB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive - HDTC605XK3A1 (Black)

Most helpful customer reviews

70 of 75 people found the following review helpful.
Awesome Drive, Be Aware of USB 3.0 Requirements
By Prime Meridian
We got this drive for backing up AVCHD movies from our new camcorder (1080HD takes up a lot more room than 720SD). The drive works like a charm and does everything it's supposed to - it's fast, quiet, and has plenty of space. Works fine with USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports.

Some things to consider:

* This is a USB 3.0 device. You can use it on USB 2.0 ports, but USB 3.0 devices are less tolerant of out-of-spec components. Some older USB ports cannot handle the signal and power requirements of a USB 3.0 device. For example, I can plug this drive directly into my HP laptop docking station (USB 2.0) and it works like gold. I plug it into the USB ports on the front of one of my desktop PCs (USB 2.0, connected to the USB header on the motherboard) and all the drive will do is come on, make a clicking sound, and report an error in Windows (not enough power going to the drive). I plug it into a rear USB port on the same desktop with an extension cable and it works like gold again. I suspect this low tolerance for older, out-of-spec USB components is causing the problems other reviewers seem to be having with the drive.

* As others have mentioned, the USB 3.0 cable included with the drive is rather short (~18in). I suspect the short length may have something to do with Toshiba's attempt at mitigating potential problems with older/out-of-spec USB components. I had luck using a USB extension cable, but that was on a USB 2.0 port. Your mileage may vary.

So, two caveats: (1) If you use it with older and/or out-of-spec components you may have some troubleshooting to do; and, (2) the included cable is shorter than others. Neither of those things is worth taking off a whole star.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
Tiny & Well Built Peace of Mind
By Alan Houston
The primary use for tiny (cell phone size) backup drives is to get "peace of mind"...to have a place to keep backups of important documents, photographs, etc.

Last year, I bought a Canvio 2.0 that is now almost full. The Canvio 500GB is identical to my old drive, but packs in 50% more storage capacity and is 300% faster, when used with a computer that supports USB 3.0 data transfers.

I am using the Canvio 3.0 with a 64 bit Windows 7 computer. The Canvio is designed for high speed USB 3.0 ports, but works fine (but more slowly) with the USB 2.0 ports on my computer. Because it uses the USB cord for both data transfer and for power, it does not have a power cord or a power pack. (One of my older backup drives came witha power "brick" that actually weighed as much as a REAL brick).

The Canvio works quickly and quietly. It is light, but it is made with high quality materials and workmanship, and looks like a $300 cell phone (it is a tad larger and a tad heavier than the Android phones with 4.5 inch screens). It has no cooling fan or cooling vents. My older Canvio got very warm to the touch when I did an hour long data transfer in a 75 degree room.

In a 70 degree room, the new Canvio feels cool to the touch. Because the Canvio does not have any cooling mechanism, I plan to make sure any data transfers that will last more than ten minutes or so are done in a 70 degree room. (Here in Texas, 70 degrees qualifies as Winter).

The Canvio came with NTI Backup software. I do NOT trust any third party software to do a backup of the operating system or software. My computer came with a "factory restore" feature that I will use if my hard drive ever completely crashes. But, a factory restore will delete the contents of the "My Documents" folder, which is where NTI becomes useful.

The NTI Backup can be setup for daily "auto" backups of the "My Documents" folder. The first 3gb backup took about five minutes, but the daily backups take less than a minute, as the NTI software only backs up files that have been added or altered.

NTI does the auto backup each morning when I start the computer. To be extra safe, I also use the Windows 7 "Drag and Drop" feature to create a second backup of "My Documents" each week.

The most important thing to know about hard drives is that ALL of them will fail eventually. Your most valuable documents and photos should be backed up to a Canvio, and also placed on DVD's that can be stored in a cool, dry location.

I am setting up a system of backing up my most important files to Canvio "Number One" every week, and to Canvio "Number Two" once each month. That way, I have a copy of essential files on my computer, and on both of my Canvio drives. I am sure one of my hard drives will fail in the next year or two...but all three drives fail the same month? Not likely.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Solid, reliable hard drive, great price
By Adam
Bought this for $90 and it works right out of the box. I had owned another red Canvio 1 TB Toshiba portable hard drive and wanted another one. This is not as stylish as the red one and has no pattern just plain black but who cares about that. You get 937GB of storage, USB 2.0 backwards compatible, that's how I am using it with a Win7 netbook. Software is great, I would recommend this for $90 as all other 1TB portable hard drives are over $120 at least. Transfer speed with USB 2.0 is much slower than 3.0.