Maxtor Personal Storage 3000LE 120GB ReviewApril 1st, 2002
Pros: Tons of storage; low cost per gigabyte, compared to internal drives; quiet.
Cons: No USB 2.0 adapter included; one-year warranty; rather bulky; no power switch.
Verdict: Maxtor Personal Storage 3000LE 120GB delivers the best combination of both speed and capacity to become a viable external storage solution.
If your current hard drive is running out of space due to all those MP3 downloads, or if you'd like a quick and painless way of doing weekly data backups, you may want to consider installing a second hard drive. The new Maxtor Personal Storage 3000LE 120GB only took us 2 minutes to install, and it can store up to 120,000 high-res photos, 30,000 MP3 files, or 120 hours of compressed digital video. Luckily, while the drive has 3 times the capacity of the $177 40GB model, you only have to pay $80 more for the extra 80GB space.
Affordable Storage The USB Hi-Speed Certified (or USB 2.0) Personal Storage 3000LE retails for $267, only about $60 more expensive than its internal equivalent. This is only $2.23 per gigabyte, which makes it the least expensive external 120GB drive you can find to date.
The retail package comes with an AC adapter, a USB 2.0 cable and the 120GB drive, measuring at 1.63 by 6.0 by 8.63 inches and weighing at 2lb. Its rather bulky form factor isn’t designed for portability, but its weight is still manageable compared to the 4.3lb. LaCie 120GB USB 2.0 hard drive. When installing the drive on Windows ME, 2000, XP, or MacOS 9.0 or higher, these operating systems will find you the driver automatically. You only need to download driver for Windows 98 SE from Maxtor support site.
Plenty of Speed and Capacity Built around a USB 2.0-to-ATA bridge, the Personal Storage 3000LE 120GB offers considerably greater substained throughout than USB 1.1 hard drives. Simply speaking, the drive is at least 17 times speedier than the fastest USB 1.1 hard drive, which crawls at 850KB/s. Copy a 700MB MPEG file took about 40 seconds, and transferring a 500MB directory with assorted files required around a minute. The tests were done with an Adaptec DuoConnect USB 2.0 compliant card. The drive can also handle regular backup and retreiving large multimedia files easily.
However, you have to shell out for a USB 2.0 card (not bundled) to realize the benefits of USB Hi-Speed mode. As a note, FAT32 cannot handle a single file larger than 4GB; you may want to convert the drive to the more advanced NTFS before proceeding with a full backup.
The Bottom Line If you need the capacity and speed, and don’t mind the bulk of the unit as well as extra cost for a USB 2.0 card, the affordable Personal Storage 3000LE is a hands-down winner.
-- By Ian Chiu, Managing Editor
Where to buy Maxtor Personal Storage 3000LE 120GB?
User Review(s)
"Great Hardware/Cruddy Software" This is a great external hard drive, quiet, fast, and rugged as well.
It has a professional appearance and is good looking too. High techie and industrial, if you know what I mean.
However, it's a bit heavy if you're going to be traveling and want this as a backup for your laptop. It's much better for your home/office to do the backups there.
My biggest reservation is the backup software, Retrospect, which is long in the tooth and much too arcane and geeky. It is not a reliable software. The GUI (user interface) is much too clunky and assumes too much nerd-knowledge on the part of the casual user. Setting it up correctly is a bear. I think you'd be better off getting some other third party software or simply doing a drag and drop backup instead of the much vaunted -one-touch backup which is hard to configure correctly.
My tattooed dentist, who lives in Ft. Collins CO and is a new age prig, wouldn't even consider using this device at all, but who listens to him? No one, that's who! From Garnicks Vissen, January 31, 2005
"Tattooed Dentist in Ft. Collins CO" this is an excellent storage device. One of the bester. I'm liking it much goodly. Having storagly good time. Yup. i help this MF-ing sergeant and he drooled on me. I had to use the spit cup of reality to efface him from the caries in my life.
My tattooed dentist Ft. Collins is a Redlands boy, anyway. What you tink? From Gahntzeh Geschichteh, August 07, 2004
"Delivers as Advertised" Was looking for an easier way to backup files from my new PC. The reviews and specs on the Maxtor 3000LE looked good--not to mention the $40 rebate from Maxtor. The drive arrived today and I must say, I am impressed with the way USB devices are working with XP (makes the Apple ads seem a bit misleading to me). Windows immediately recognized the drive and I was able to begin copying files right away with no additional configuration required. I have not yet added a USB 2 card so the speed is pretty slow but I can live with that for now. The drive is quiet and the storage capacity impressive--a perfect solution for my needs. From Bob Richmond, October 01, 2002
"Don't Bother..." I decided to go with Firewire after USB 2.0 was delayed for so long. Seeing the results here - I've got to say I'm happy I did.
700 MB in 40 seconds equals about 17MB/s - although the tests performed were not documented at all.
My firewire drive blows that away - copying several large disk images (totaling 750MB) in about 25 seconds - that equals about 30 MB/s.
And Firewire cards are cheaper than USB 2.0 cards. From Richard, April 03, 2002
"Not blazingly fast" When I shop for a 120GB drive, I seriously consider FireWire, but I'm on tight budget. Those 120GB FW drives all cost at least $350. So, I decide to get this drive for $250 at a local computer store.
I think there are 2 reasons to why FW drives are generally more expensive:
1. Most of them use 7200rpm drives.
2. Manufacturers use higher quality parts on the drives to target the professional group.
Futuremore, my USB 2.0 PCI costs only $35. I would have to add the same cost if I go with FireWire.
One more thing, the reviewer forgot to mention the 3000LE's a 5400rpm drive. I did some testing myself. The drive isn't really fast, but a lot better than my USB 1 HD.
Richard, how much did you pay for your FW drive? I may switch to FW if the cost is right. From Zoom, April 03, 2002
"response to question" >>Richard, how much did you pay for your FW drive? I may switch to FW if the cost is right.<<
I bought the FirewireDirect SlimLine DX External Chassis (110.00) from Firewiredirect.com and dropped in a 120 GB 3.5 maxtor I bought locally for 150.
Is a delta of within 20 dollars worth twice the performance? From Richard, April 03, 2002
"Careful installing USB 2!" We just ended up using this device to help with a server replacement. Once you get USB2 intalled the drive just pops up when you plug it in a turn it on.
However... be VERY careful installing the USB2 card!!!!
We found that if Orange USB card was in the machine at before installing the software.. blue screen of death and absolute hell.
Install the drivers, reboot twice for good luck and then the card.
Then prepare for fast file copying!
From Fred Beck, April 01, 2002
We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now. Personal Storage 3000LE 120GB Specs
Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, MacOS 9.0, MacOS X
Capacity
120GB
Rotation speed
5400 rpm
Average transfer rate
60MB / sec
Seek time
--
Buffer size
2MB
Software
--
Internal drive type
--
Integrated battery
--
Extra?
--
Dimensions
--
Weight
--
Power source
Self-powered
Warranty
One year
Extras Turn on and off this self-powered device automatically with your PC.
Lost a USB cable? Get a replacement USB cable.
Running out of USB ports? Get an extra USB hub.
You may need a new USB card to achieve Hi-Speed USB speeds.
Confirm with our USB 2.0 FAQ if you have Hi-Speed USB on your PC.
