Seagate GoFlex Satellite Mobile Wireless Storage 500 GB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive STBF500101 Black
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/210%2B6GmU3%2BL._SL160_.jpg
- Carry your media library with you and wirelessly stream to your iPad
- Syncs the media and documents on your PC or Mac, so that you can take your library with you on-the-go
- Stream 3 different movies over Wi-Fi simultaneously to 3 iPads
- Never worry about running out of storage capacity on your iPad or forgetting a file at home
- Stream up to 5 hours of video on a single charge
SEAGATE 500GB GOFLEX SATELLITE500GB GOFLEX SATELLITE Manufacturer : SEAGATE UPC : 763649031261
Seagate Hard Drive
Seagate GoFlex Satellite Mobile Wireless Storage 500 GB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive STBF500101 Black
List Price: $ 199.99
Price:
Needlessly bad. Small, simple cures could have made this so much better.,
Out of the box. The unit itself looked slick and simple. The cords needed to connect and charge this thing kinda baffled me. By that I mean they seemed redundant. Why not charge, and sync all through USB. There’s probably even a good reason for this, and it didn’t lessen my excitement any.
The first disappointment came when I found out the drive was ( and has to remain in ) Windows NT format requiring the installation of a special driver on my Mac to run. Not a big catching point, but as I had an older (G5 running 10.4) laptop as a media server made it unusable on my current setup. Not a deal breaker. I even kind of expected it not to run as it is an outdated computer and system. Just the reason why kinda threw me.
So to my main computer I hooked up the drive storing all my media, and my new GoFlex Satellite. What followed was a consistent string of disappointments created by this ‘product’. Running a Mac means I had to install a special driver that would enable “write” permissions on NTFS (windows NT) drives. Luckily the software is on the drive when you plug it in. Separate from that is a piece of software you have to download from seagate’s site that allows you to sync files over to the drive. At least that’s what you are instructed to do. So with the second piece of software installed I begin the arduous task of syncing my music library over.
I’m a bit of an audiophile it’s well over 300 gigs of just music so I knew it was going to take a while. But here we come to the first of many needless impediments in the system. I opted out of straight up syncing as there are some files I didn’t want. And instead pointed the software to the folder containing my music on my external. This syncing software gives you absolutely no indication how far along in the process it is. No transfer rate. No percentage completed. All it gives you is a spinny wheel. So I just have to sit there watching the tech equivalent of Schrödinger’s cat. Hoping it’s actually doing something without really being sure. Because if it isn’t I’ll have to repeat a process I expect to take many hours.
I walk away (a watched pot never boils) and when I get back I see a warning. “such and such file cannot sync” would I like to continue? Immediately I grasp the future stupidity I have to wade through. The file won’t sync because the file type isn’t supported. I’m guessing it’s because of the obscenely outdated NTFS format of the drive. Could be the seagate’s software. Either way. Silly problem made worse by the fact that now I have to hit a button every time it encounters this format (wasn’t really keeping track m4a was definitely one I think FLAC was too). It doesn’t bother me that I’m not getting those files. At least it doesn’t really bother me. What’s unforgivable is that I have to actually sit there and babysit this process. Because this software is going to come to a complete stop every time it encounters this format. Why not just give me a warning at the end with a list of the files that couldn’t sync. Or even an option to ignore syncing certain files types. Or an option to treat all errors of this type the same way. Or even just move the files, and if they don’t play, then they don’t play.
After 7 or 8 hours I stop it. It’s after 4 AM and I’m going to go to sleep. No idea how far along it is. No clue if it will pick up where it left off. Just want to be able to use it the next day.
So I got… I don’t really know how much of my library (some?) on my seagate and I’m out the door. So I got less sleep than I’d like, but despite that still excited to listen to a vast library of music while in the signal free abyss of the new york subway system.
There is a struggle to connect. Turning off. Turning on. Files not loading. All the files on the screen suddenly disappearing for no reason. I should say that despite all the silliness with the syncing I wasn’t really disappointed until right then. Having issues actually connecting.
It does actually start to work. Uhhhhhhh. Do not let the categories in the app fool you. The way it organizes your “music” is alphabetically by song title. Think about that. However many thousands of songs you got all in an alphabetical list. Forget that.
So I go to folder view. Better. At least it’s something that’s understandable. Even if it’s unnecessarily nested by the silly syncing software. Once you get a few folders in to what should be the root I can browse Artist > Album > Song as god intended. Forget playlists in case you were wondering. It quickly becomes apparent that seagate learned nothing from apple as far as user interface is concerned. This is purely a simple file hierarchy. One that only loads 20 or so of whatever on any given page. So if you have more than 20 artists with their own folder. You’ve got to go to the bottom of the list and prompt it to show you more. So if I want to listen to “The…
Read more
Was this review helpful to you?
|Not ready for prime time,
Wow, I wish this thing worked better.
Video:
– Stutters when playing a single M4V stream, re-encoded with Handbrake at at data rate of just 1000 kbps (lower than the “standard” of 1500).
– UI is barely usable
– Subtitles are not an option when using the iOs app (but are ok when using the browser UI)
Audio:
– Horrible UI – doesn’t even try reading ID3 tags and displaying a music collection by artist, album, etc. It’s just a list of all songs in alphabetical order. Seriously.
Photos:
– Again, horrible UI. Every graphic file on the drive (including album artwork) is treated like a photo. Folder view at least uses your own collections/groupings, but astonishingly there is no slide show mode – it’s one image at a time, hitting the ‘Done’ button to return to the file list and select another image.
I know Seagate has worked with PogoPlug in the past. I found myself wishing they’d used the PogoPlug software this time (it’s not perfect, but it doesn’t suck this bad).
Was this review helpful to you?
|Lots of +’s a few -‘s,
So far I have been impressed with most aspects of the Satellite. It preforms as I expected. I found set up to be complicated however. Should not have been and I’m not sure why it was. Followed instructions to a tee, with a Mac there is a .dmg file included so there is no need to format drive but it would only read and not let me write to the drive. After tinkering for an hour I downloaded the Mac file from the website and got it working. I also downloaded the Mac sync file and begin to load a few movies. I found it much easier to just drag and drop files to the Satellite rather than using the sync software. When using the sync software it would reload the same files each time I synced so I ended up with several copies of the same movies. Anyway after playing around I was able get it set up. I bought the optional Firewire connection as my older Macbook Pro doesn’t have USB 3.0. port and this helps speed up moving files. You must use the seagate firewire or USB cable as they are prepriatary to Seagate.
Using the Satellite worked great with my iPhone, iPad and Touch. I downloaded the Goflex app and it is very simple. I also used my wifes Color Nook and while there is no app for android yet it was no problem going through her browser. I have had three devices watching three different movies at the same time with no problem.
The only negitives so far is the difficult set-up and the price. If you don’t mind the expense and have the time to tinker with the set-up you will be rewarded the perfect accessory for your iPad when traveling.
Was this review helpful to you?
|