Seagate - Reviews and experiences

I first saw this at the local Best Buy, a coworker actually shoved it across the desk and said "get one" — that's what sold me, plus the brand. I was hesitant because it was pricier than other drives and the box promised software, which usually makes things fiddly. Turns out my worries weren't entirely wrong. The drive itself copies files fine and feels solid, but the bundled app is... confusing. The manual is sparse, no helpful pictures, and the app talks about a "main menu" that I can't find. Support links were dead, and I kept getting a "backup successful" message followed shortly by "backup failed". So yeah, not perfect — it works as a drive, but the software and help need work.

I almost talked myself out of buying it — 20TB felt like overkill, but I needed one drive to stash client video and my own footage (stuff going back to 2019). At first transfers were smooth and I relaxed; it was quiet and seemed solid. Then, after a few uses a transfer stalled around 90% and the drive froze — panic, naturally. I used the included Data Rescue service, sent the drive in, and it took about five weeks. They recovered most of my files and sent a replacement, so my nerves settled. I’d still tell anyone to keep a second backup, but overall I'm relieved and pretty pleased with the capacity and ease of use.

the drives still show as in stock and the price jumped, so no idea. Customer service was slow and left me with no explanation, which is annoying. On the plus side the refund hit my account the next day, which I didn't expect. I told my sysadmin buddy to steer clear for now. Going to try another retailer for the rest of the build.

I wouldn’t buy directly from them again. I ordered two drives for my daily backup and occasional video editing (home setup, nothing fancy) and one arrived basically dead. The cardboard box was unlabeled and you could tell it had been shuffled around — one drive even rattled loose. That alone would make me doubt authenticity if I hadn’t ordered from the company. Customer service was... meh. They wanted me to pay to return the unit and offered a refurbished swap instead of a new replacement. It works well enough when drives do work, and I liked the specs, but the hassle and stinginess with returns ruined it for me. I’ll stick to reputable resellers next time.

sometimes it wouldn't connect unless I held the cable at a weird angle. Frustrating. Support basically shrugged, said it was out of warranty and to back up my data — useful advice but not exactly service. To be honest, I ended up taking it apart, pulled the drive, bought an adapter and got it running again. Not elegant, but it does the job now. Still, the port quality feels cheap and that sticks in my mind, so I won't buy or gift Seagate stuff anytime soon. Overall it's usable, just don't expect much help if something goes wrong.

in the chaos the one moment I felt properly relieved was when the cloud finished syncing and our critical folders were there again. Support had us update firmware (did it, didn’t fix it), they wanted the unit returned, then closed the case, then reopened it asking for the drives and proof of shipping — which is just impractical for a working company. Anyway, that breathe-out moment when the files were restored is what made me feel satisfied, not the product or support. If you’re thinking of buying this: keep a good offsite backup, seriously. Don’t rely on one box. Also, if you contact support, be prepared for back-and-forth and weird requests. Glad we had the cloud — that’s the thing that actually saved us.

I spotted these Seagate drives when I was browsing an online shop — a coworker had actually mentioned them as a good deal, so I grabbed one 8TB unit in December to stash a big archive. Threw about 7.5TB on it, kept it inside my desktop like you would, no crazy abuse. Then, about a month in, it started clicking and died — data gone. When I pulled it (I tinker with hardware for work, so I know how to open a case), the plastic on the SATA connector snapped off. Supplier used that to refuse a return. So yeah, lost data and a few hundred bucks. Figured I’d try differently and bought two 20TB external drives with enclosures, put everything on one and mirrored to the other. Within days one of them made odd noises, so I made the mirror and stashed the backup away cold. The original didn’t see much use and still started failing by March. I’m bummed — they used to be the brand I trusted. Not flawless, but when they work the speed/space is great. Still, reliability is shaky, and I’d advise making extra copies elsewhere rather than trusting one set of Seagates.

pay extra and we'll swap it. Fine, except I'd already received it poorly packaged, so asking me to cover more felt wrong. They did offer one thing that surprised me — they waived the data recovery fee — but the catch was I had to send the drive back and wait while they copied my files onto a replacement they shipped later. After seeing how they packed the first unit, I wasn't comfortable sending irreplaceable stuff through them again. I reached out to a consumer agency to log the problem and then things got messy: the company marked the issue closed very quickly, which made me feel blocked from responding properly. We went back and forth a few times and the case ended up closed without resolution. Bottom line: the drive itself had potential, and some parts of support tried to help, but the shipping quality and the warranty dance left me disappointed.