Hitachi has been a major name in the Electronics segment manufacturing from the smallest of the accessories to huge gadgets.  One segment where they have forayed is the portable hard drives sector and one of their products the Hitachi LS-1000-EMEA 3.5-inch 1TB Simpledrive External USB Hard Drive is the on the focus this time. This well designed drive offers USB 2.0 storage while consuming minimum power and giving your data the security it needs. With software like the Hitachi Backup software, loosing data is history.  Does the drive live up to the claims of the company? Read the review to find out.

Design:

Compact and Light:
The picture on the package does not really do justice to the device. While the image on the package shows the drive to be bulky, it is actually relatively light and compact. At 16.6 cm x 5.9cm x 12 cm, the drive comes under the larger sized drives.  It weighs a little over a kilogram making it very light and hence very portable.

Elegant and Classy Design:
It is a white case with a black border on the top and is provided with a stand. The Device feels rigid and once you remove those plastic pieces on the end of the shiny black, it looks classy.  The main casing is made of aluminium and there is no trace of flimsiness. The upright design looks great and would look perfect on your desk. The black bits gleam and have a substantial feel to it. Classy and Business like.

The Blue Light Indicator:
There is a dark blue line right close to the base that makes it look elegant. That is primarily for indicating that a drive is being accessed when connected to a PC.  The light is bright enough even to be seen in bright daylight and does not blind our eyes like some other drives do. Present on both sides of the device, there is no option to switch on/off the indicator, much to our annoyance.

Easy to Setup:
Gone were the days when installing or setting up something was rocket science. Nowadays, the maximum you need to do to install your hard drives is plug in to your PC. Same is the case for Hitachi LS-1000-EMEA 1TB Hard Drive. Simply connect the power cord to the wall that is the other end of the USB drive to the back of the PC. Voila! You are ready to go. This Plug and Play setup is hot swappable. It can be removed from the PC after being disabled from the Safely Remove Hardware application.

Features:

Compatible with Vista and Mac as well:
The LS-1000-EMEA is compatible with PCs and Mac as well. Amongst the Windows OS’ it works with Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft XP and Microsoft 2000. It works with Apple MacOS X 10.4.11 or later versions of that.

This drive is also available in 2TB capacity.

Switches on/off along with your PC:
You do not need to worry if your drive is switched off or not as LS-1000-EMEA 3.5-inch 1TB Simpledrive has the ability to automatically switch on and off along with the PC it is connected to.  When connected to the PC and if the PC is switched off, the drive automatically is switched off as well.

Memory and Size:
The Hitachi LS-1000-EMEA External USB Hard Drive is provided with a Memory of 1TB. The internal hard drive in the drive is the Hitachi Deskstar™ 7K1000.C (HDS721010CLA332).  1 GB can store about 350 Mp3 tracks and over 800 high quality digital camera shots. So, 1 TB can store a lot of data. How much? You do the math.

It lacks a Firewire port and the Standard 3.5 “Drive arrives in a FAT32 format and can be formatted to NTFS as well.  The rpm of 7200 it has, is an industry standard.

Hitachi Backup Software:
Along with the Drive is provided a software bundle with applications like the Hitachi Backup Software. The Backup software allows you to choose folders that you want to back up. To restore them, one can use either the provided software or access the files from the drive where they are stored. The backup software is very simple and effective to store data. Apart from all this, there is automatic backup as well, which backups your data periodically to minimize data loss.

Performance:

A Bit Noisy:
Enough with all the positives, one major fault that the Hitachi drive has is its noise. The Drive makes a louder than average noise while reading/writing when placed on a desk.  Nothing serious, but will be an irritant especially if you are doing some other activity while the drive is being accessed or read. Yet the noise is nothing compared to the other devices in the market these days. In order to cut down on the noise, all you need to do is place the drive on some sort of a cushion. Instant relief.

Good Performance:
When we tried transferring some music into the Drive, we realised it was reasonably fast. 320GB took about 3 hours and 550GB in about 6 hours. So, pretty typical USB 2.0 transfer speeds. A normal format is a matter of minutes but it does not check the whole drive. If you would want to format everything in the drive it would take about 10 whole hours! Our tests revealed that the read speed works out to 25MB/s.   A reasonably good performance.

In the Box:

The Hitachi LS-1000-EMEA comes along with the hard drive, a USB 2.0 cable, an AC Adapter, a Quick install guide and a Hitachi Backup Software.  Overall, a reasonable stock of accessories is provided.

Warranty:

The Hitachi LS-1000-EMEA 3.5-inch 1TB SimpleDrive External USB Hard Drive is provided with a warranty of 3 year. That is reasonable considering most drives in the market these days offer a warranty of 1 to 5 years as well. You can also get toll free support on weekdays from 7 am to 5.30 pm. Live Chat help and Email tech support is provided as well from the SimpleDrive site. There are FAQs, downloadable software, drivers and tips for troubleshooting provided on the site.

Verdict:

The Hitachi LS-1000-EMEA 1TB Simpledrive is a great drive at a great price. It offers what most users want in an external hard drive – a huge storage capacity, automatic backup and good performance. While the first causalities of its low cost is the absence of a Firewire port and perhaps another USB drive, all in all, the drive is a great purchase and is definitely recommended if you would not mind a little bit of noise.

Check other 1TB External Hard Drive Models, Hitachi External hard drive Reviews, Ratings in our website.

Hitachi LS-1000-EMEA 1TB External Drive - Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer Hitachi
Model Name Hitachi LS-1000-EMEA 3.5-inch 1TB Simpledrive
Model Number LS-1000-EMEA
Model Slim line model
Drive type Hard drive array
Enclosure Type Desktop
Hard Disk Interface USB 2.0
Dimensions (H x W x D) 62×165.1×120.65mm
Weight 1 kg
Colours available White
Capacities available 1TB and 2TB
Hard Disk Rotational Speed 7200 rpm
Cache 8MB
Software included Hitachi Backup Software for PC users.
Compatible systems Apple MacOS X 10.5.2 or later, Apple MacOS X 10.4.11 or
later, Microsoft Windows Vista / 2000 / XP
Power Source Power adapter
Power Requirements 100 - 240 VAC
Package contents Hard drive, USB cable, AC adaptor and a quick install guide
Warranty 3 years

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