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TechRevu |
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 Maxtor 5000XT - 250GB External Drive Ernest Lilley 06/30/03 Model: 5000XT w OneTouchTM Backup Product Website / Spec/PR / MSRP: 399.99 Amazon Price $387.99 I've been using a Maxtor 3000XT since we reviewed it here last November, and it's been running fine ever since, providing 160GB of reliable storage to our SOHO server. But what we really wanted was to pick up a 5000XT with its OneTouchTM Backup, and the idea of adding 250 GB just by plugging it in was pretty attractive as well. Like the 3000, if all you want to do is add storage, you're biggest challenge in setting up the drive is to decide whether you want to use USB 2.0 or 1394/FireWire®, and cables for both are included. Since we wanted to use the drive to back up our central computer, I first installed the copy of Dantz Retrospect from the driver CD, ignoring the "not windows logo certified" warning that came up on my XP system, and allowing it to do a default installation, which, not counting the system restart took all of about 3 minutes to do. In the meantime I plugged the unit into a 1394 port and since I'd left the CD in the drive, all I had to do when the system asked for a drive disk was to press return. The quickstart sheet I'd been following told me that for Windows XP and a 1394 interface, I should check pg. 10 of the user's guide. Managing to miss the printed copy in the box, I opened the support PDF on the driver CD, which consists of a link to: www.maxtorsupport.com. Somehow I found that hilarious. Page 10 told me to let the system install the drivers from the CD, which I'd already done, so I was ahead of the game. Checking "My Computer" showed that yes, indeed, I now had 233GB of Fat 32 storage hanging off the computer. Setting up the OneTouchTM Moving on in manual gave me permission to do what I'd been restraining myself from, pressing the OneTouchTM button on the front of the system. Up popped the Retrospect software for registration, with its license code automatically inserted. Nice touch. I quickly popped through the registration screens (later, I said) and moved on to the reason we got this unit in the first place. Next you need to exit the program and restart it. Pushing the button again lets you configure the input and output drives, and bear in mind that the software will cheerfully back up any storage device attached to your system, including CF cards, USB Memory Keys and other hard drives, unless you tell it not to. Also make sure the backup drive you want to use is the one the program selected. I found that it had ignored my Maxtor 5000 XT and selected the backup drive partition on my system, where the restore setpoints are saved. This was no doubt my fault for not following the directions (I didn't exit Retrospect after registering like I was supposed to), but since the backup overwrites your drive contents, be sure you know what drive it's overwriting! My first backup was for about 50 GB, a full system, and the software predicted about four hours for the whole process. I watched it for the first 3 GB, which took half an hour, and figured I was just slowing it down...so I left it to run. Subsequent backups won't take as long, since they're just incremental, consisting of files that have been either changed or added. If you're not backing up your files because your system has outgrown your backup options or your patience, or if you actually need this much storage in addition to what you've already got, the Maxtor 5000XT is a solid, affordable, and easily installed solution to a variety of data dilemmas. We'll be doing a longterm test on the 5000XT and will report back on anything interesting that comes up. |
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