Maxtor 1.5 TB OneTouch III Turbo Edition Hard Drive ( C01W015 )

After suffering a catastrophic loss with my first One Touch, & a secondary but less critical failure of another, I finally did my homework & discovered Maxtor's simple solution was not a reliable solution, & that the truly reliable solution was not all that complex.

I am writing this not only as a caution 2 others, but also as a suggestion on how 2 start a reliable approach 2 backup.

THE PROBLEM: Despite my customer research, the Maxtor one Touch II & One Touch III are the worst product decisions I have made in some time - & there is a reason 4 this.

Of the 2 Maxtor One Touch II's & one Maxtor One Touch III's only one of my II's continue 2 run. The first failure cost $3,000 2 get the data recovered. Unfortunately I was also using it 4 data overflow at the time.

The second (This model One Touch III) also died about a year after I purchased it. Fortunately I was using only 4 backup.

They run great out-of-the-box, but after a year they wither & die. Why? I am not sure if it's the incremental file-backup software, or the hardware. Perhaps it is a combination of both, as Maxtor's incremental file-backup software progressively causes slower & slower operation, & more & more drive utilization.

Google the words "Maxtor repair". There are many vendors. And with most, once they have your drive, it's usually the most expensive thing that needs 2 be repaired, typically requiring rebuilding the physical electronics.

And considering the proprietary nature of Maxtor's drivers I don't find this price surprising.

Final point: You cannot recover your system if you suffer a complete crash. Expect 2 reinstall Windows, Office, get updates, & enter licenses, etcetera. You can recover your files, yes, if your unit is still running.

THE SOLUTION: Get a reliable high capacity internal or external bare bones hard drive, & use image backup software, not file backup software. There's a fundamental difference between "file" & "image" backups.

I had several misconceptions about image backup software. But I discovered one can also recover individual files. And MORE importantly, you can recover your entire system as well - very simply from the backup drive. It runs faster, it does a form of incremental backup based on image changes, & is much more reliable. It is rare that a solution is both cheaper & better. And I was not looking 4 cheaper.

For a hard drive I use a WD 1T Sata. And my software is ShadowProtect desktop. I am sure there are others.

By the way, with this solution, you own the software, so it's not tied 2 some device that will fail. I also (once a month) do a one shot backup 2 my inexpensive Western Digital Passport. Again as I own the software, I can apply it 2 any number of different physical backup devices that do not carry the extra overhead cost of proprietary software & hardware.

EXTRA: In addition, you might want 2 also consider iDrive, or Carbonite. I would use them 4 your documents only.

SUMMARY: Unfortunately only those that have experienced the loss of work-related or financial data, family pictures, or even that report that your child wrote of which you are most proud, will appreciate the advantage of being prepared.

Then 2 compound the problem, once we have experienced loss, we start out by looking 4 a simple solution. And we may be impressed with the concept of "One Touch".

But after suffering a catastrophic loss with my first One Touch, & a secondary but less critical failure of another, I finally did my homework & discovered Maxtor's simple solution was not a reliable solution, & that the truly reliable solution was not all that complex.

I don't usually write reviews about products I don't like, but this time I felt a responsibility 2 warn others 2 stay away from this one. Over the past year I've purchased the 1TB & 1.5TB versions of this drive, & both crashed on me within about six months. The first one gave me an audible warning by emitting a grinding noise so I was able 2 buy a new one (the 1.5 TB version) & transfer my files onto it before it crashed. The second drive lasted about six months before crashing without warning. In my twenty-plus years of using computers both at work & at home, I've never had a hard-drive completely crash on me until I purchased both of these drives. I used 2 have great trust in Maxtor drives after owning many over the years, but these two OneTouch III drives have completely wiped out that trust (along with the data that were on those drives!). Do yourself a favor & stay far away from these drives.

I bought this 200GB drive 4 use with a Mac G4 desktop in about June of 2006 as a backup drive & 4 extra space since my internal drives were filling up fast. On 25 Aug 2008, a little over a year after the warranty ran out, it crashed mechanically. Seagate, which in the meantime had taken over Maxtor, offered nothing in its place, & wanted $1700 (yes two zeros no decimal) 2 recover the data from it. It was about 3/4 full & was only partially a back up 4 other data, contained critical stuff, & so I had no choice but 2 have someone recover the data. (I ran every test I could using TechToolPro, DiskWarrior, Apple's Disk Utilities, & DataRescu 4.0 -- none of which would mount the drive, & the led light pattern indicated a hard crash. Seagate confirmed this in my call 2 tech support.

When I first got it, the software that allows the One Touch backup feature would not work even after two days on the phone with their tech support; this may be a Mac incompatibility at that time, but the bottom line was that I never did get full functionality, but it did run well enough 4 as long as it did... & then it just didn't anymore... no warning, just... oops, Screw You!

I found another data recovery service in Reston that charged a couple of hundred dollars less 2 do the job; they recovered everything. But, Seagate has not offered full or partial refund 4 any of the large initial or subsequent outlay that using one of their drives has cost me!

TAKE HEED: DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE THINGS. BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP -- BUT USE SOMEONE ELSE'S DRIVE!

I purchased one of these unit about a year & a half ago (Feb 07) & used it in the mirrored mode. I had one drive fail about 7 months into use. The unit did not fail gracefully, it just became inaccessible. After some slightly frustrating interactions with Seagate, I got permission 2 open the unit & unplug the cable 4 the failing drive. At that point the drive that was still functioning was able 2 be used & the Maxtor software reported that there was a failure in the mirroring & I should contact support. After further wrangling with Seagate, I was able 2 get a replacement unit shipped & was able 2 copy my data over & get a functioning unit back up & running.

Then it failed again (Jul 08). Now I am out of warranty. Again, it failed by locking & crashing my Mac if I attempted 2 access the unit. This time I knew better how 2 crack it open & unplug the failing drive. Again, it was now accessible. I went out & purchased a new SATA drive of the same type, planning 2 put it inside, but then I thought a little more about this.

First, this unit failed twice in a relatively short time. Second, I noticed after failure that I had some corruption with my Retrospect backup set (stored on this drive), possible it died during backup both times but makes me nervous. Third, I started reading reviews & realized that this is a pretty brain dead mirroring system.

Why is this braindead mirroring? First, there is no user replacement of a failed drive, you are supposed 2 send it back 2 them & if you want your data back, that's more money. Unless you know how 2 talk them into doing what you need, this is won't function as you'd expect 4 a mirrored setup -- the whole idea is 4 it 2 be better than having a separate disk as a backup, you should be able 2 slap in a new drive & keep going. Second, I'm not sure there is an ability 2 rebuild a new drive inserted -- haven't tried. And related 2 that point, there is zero documentation of mirroring & how it works, how it keeps drives in sync, etc. I tried 2 ask support once about this & received unsatisfactory answers.

If you really want mirroring, I recommend using a more advanced unit like a ReadyNAS or Drobo. If you want simple mirroring, look at the Western Digital -- at least they have user replaceable drives & they appear 2 do things like rebuild the replacement drive automatically. I don't have any of those solutions yet, I'm going back 2 two drives, one main, one backup 4 the time being (to save $).

Definitely NOT recommended as a solution 4 mirroring. I have taken out the one functioning drive & put it in a separate Firewire enclosure 4 me 2 use it, I am going 2 recycle the rest of unit.

I used 2 own this drive. Note very carefully how I say "used to". This is because the drive failed catastrophically. One might even go as far as 2 say "EPIC FAIL" if one were so inclined.

While transferring files from the external 2 a new internal drive, the drive itself started 2 make a clicking sound. The transfer was interrupted,the drive itself disappeared from My Computer & the transferred data was corrupted beyond recovery.

The drive itself was dead, & it was trying 2 take over seven years of my career as a professional artist with it.

It was *physically* damaged, which necessitated sending it 2 a Class 100 clean room. Due 2 it being a pair of 750gb drives in a striped RAID-0 array, the recovery was even MORE expensive than a standard forensic data rescue. It has cost me just under $4000 2 save my data & my career.

I will NEVER buy Maxtor products again. EVER.

Designed 4 creative professionals who need the disk striping speed of RAID 0 4 intensive disk-access applications or the security of RAID 1 4 automatically mirroring data, the Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition provides an easy 2 use wizard interface 4 configuring your system 4 optimal performance. Real time access, backup, store & protectWith the most highly integrated storage, backup, security & drive management software on the market today, the Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition is perfect 4 creative professionals who need a high performance, large capacity storage solution. Faster throughput means faster workflow, & that means greater productivity 4 creative professionals who work in digital video, photography & graphic arts. The user-configurable Maxtor RAID solution streamlines performance 2 enable multiple streaming without dropping frames - critical in quality video editing.Using Maxtor's simple user interface, you have the option 2 easily back up your entire computer drive or selected files either automatically or at the touch of a button. The Maxtor DriveLock security feature password-protects the contents of your drive, helping 2 safeguard your files if the drive is lost or stolen or against unauthorized users.Maxtor OneTouch III Turbo Edition - RAID performance doesn't get any easier than this.