Seagate Expansion 8TB external hard drive review: No frills storage in need of USB-C

AppleInsider is supported by its viewers and should earn fee as an Amazon Affiliate and affiliate companion on qualifying purchases. These affiliate partnerships don’t affect our editorial content material.

When velocity is not paramount, exterior USB exhausting drives are mandatory instruments for any Mac proprietor. The Seagate Enlargement is a strong selection with 8TB of capability for backups and file storage.

Seagate is well-known within the cupboard space, constructing not solely the interior drives however enclosures as effectively. Most drives within the Seagate lineup are mass-market shopper gadgets, whereas LaCie represents Seagate’s skilled line.

Whereas they are not essentially as flashy as LaCie, Seagate gadgets are dependable and extra broadly obtainable.

Design and connectivity

The Seagate Enlargement is your typical desktop storage answer. It has a well-vented plastic physique, only a hair bigger than the three.5-inch exhausting drive it hides inside.

Rear ports on the Seagate Enlargement

It connects to your Mac or PC utilizing USB 3.1. On the rear of the drive is a standard barrel connector used for the included energy provide and USB Micro-B port.

We aren’t big followers of the slim Micro-B connector however they get used regularly with exterior exhausting drives. Because the cable is a USB-A cable, chances are you’ll want to make use of a hub or adapter along with your Mac if solely has USB-C ports.

The included USB-A cable and our replacement USB-C

The included USB-A cable and our alternative USB-C

In our case, we simply picked up one of many widely-available USB-C to Micro-B cables discovered on Amazon. We might choose a USB-C cable within the field, however loads of individuals nonetheless depend on USB-A, and alternative cables are straightforward to come back by in a pinch.

Using the Seagate Expansion with our MacBook Air

Utilizing the Seagate Enlargement with our MacBook Air

The enclosure has a striped look with angled strains alongside the plastic physique. The highest, rear, and backside have hidden vents that permit airflow to the exhausting drive. They’re in between the strains that make them near-invisible at a look.

Due to the passive cooling, the drive feels somewhat hole after we decide it up, however that is preferable to a loud spinning fan.

Lastly, silicone ft are on the underside of the drive that hold it simply off the floor of your desk and forestall it from sliding round.

Pace and efficiency

Pace is not going to impress anybody on the Seagate Enlargement drive. Not as a result of it’s unhealthy, however as a result of it’s aiming to be reasonably priced.

Spinning exhausting drive platters are going to be cheaper than strong state media, particularly once you’re on the lookout for one thing as giant as 8TB.

For those who want a backup system or a spot to retailer a wealth of information, then that is what you want.

We hooked the drive as much as our Mac, and the drive was formatted in ExFat by default. As ExFat, it will probably work with each Mac or Home windows PCs out of the field, however you may simply reformat it into the extra Apple-specific APFS or depart it in ExFat for common entry.

Blackmagic Disk Pace Take a look at outcomes

Utilizing the Blackmagic Disk Pace check, we bought 177MB/s for our write velocity and 178MB/s for the learn velocity. This is not quick however not terribly gradual both.

In sensible phrases, we transferred a 1GB file to the Seagate Enlargement in below 10 seconds. Once more, for a backup drive, file repository, and on a regular basis duties, this might be simply positive.

Utilizing the Seagate Enlargement with our MacBook Air

This may not be ideally suited for a video modifying scratch drive, however it’s nice in 95 p.c of different use circumstances. Not everyone seems to be shifting 124GB Last Minimize libraries with any regularity.

Must you purchase the Seagate Enlargement exterior exhausting drive?

There’s not at all times a necessity for the flashiest {hardware}. Seagate has a strong drive with a gorgeous look that gives you with 8TB of dependable storage at an reasonably priced value.

Seagate Enlargement in its field

You will get quicker drives which have exhausting drives in a raid formation or that use SSD, however they will price you notably extra. When you have no want for added velocity, the Seagate Enlargement will get the job completed with out breaking the financial institution.