I tried it with the Xbox One and it worked very well. Just make sure you first format it into the supported file system. Apart from computers, the drive will also work with other popular hosts, such as game consoles or media players.
If you want to use the Seagate Expansion interchangeably in a mixed Windows and Mac environment, you can also format it using the exFAT file system. In fact, I generally find that buying a drive like this is a much cheaper way to get storage for your Mac than buying a Mac-designated drive, which are generally much more expensive. You can also easily reformat it into HFS+ in order to work with a Mac, a process that takes just a few seconds. Out of the box, the Expansion is preformatted in the NTFS file system so it works right a way with a Windows computer.
Like all portable drives, the Expansion is bus-powered, requiring just one cable for both data and power. But that's all you need to get up and running. When used with USB 2.0, which is still the most popular cross-platform connection type, the Backup Plus also did well where the GoFlex Turbo did much worse, with some 29MBps and 33MBps for writing and reading, respectively.The Expansion ships in a spartan retail package that includes the drive itself and a foot-long standard Micro-USB 3.0 cable. When used with USB 3.0, the drive scored 91MBps for writing and 110MBps for reading - among the top three of USB 3.0-based external drives I've reviewed. Since the drive comes with a USB 3.0 adapter, I tested it with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. The Seagate Backup Plus performed very well in my testing. This is because, Seagate said, Mac users are better off using Time Machine with the drive.Īdditionally, the drive also comes with an online backup account that offers 4GB of storage for free. The Seagate Dashboard Agent comes in both Windows and Mac versions, with the Protect part being available to Windows only. You do need to dig deep in this folder to find the backups you need in case of recovery. It's always clear which drive they are working with.īackup files are basically the exact copies stored in a folder called Seagate Dashboard 2.0 on the drive. This is not a huge deal, but considerably helpful for those who have multiple drives of different colors.
The Seagate Dashboard Agent backup and management software that accompanies the drive also changes the color of its interface based on the color of the connected drive. And the colors don't stop on the drive's chassis. It's now slightly thinner and longer, and comes in multiple colors, including silver, blue, red ,and black. Conversely, the Backup Plus' included USB adapter can also be used with other GoFlex portable drives as well as any standard 2.5-inch internal hard drives or SSDs, instantly turning one into a USB external drive.ĭespite the similar physical design, the new Backup Plus drive is different from any portable GoFlex drive. If you already have those adapters for use with your existing GoFlex portable drives, they can be used with the Seagate Backup Plus, too. However, you can purchase other adapters to use the drive with other connection types, including FireWire, eSATA and Thunderbolt.
The drive comes with just one standard Mini-USB 3.0 cable, which serves both as a data and power cable. For owners of the existing GoFlex portable drives, though, there's no need to upgrade. It's also safe to say that the drive's street pricing will be lower so maybe you'll want to wait a bit for a better deal. If you want a good-looking and compact portable drive to back up your computer or extend its storage space, at the suggested price of $140 for 1TB (or $130 and $120 for the 750GB and 500GB, respectively), the new Seagate Backup Plus makes an excellent buy. It's also slightly more compact than the GoFlex drives.
The drive is bus-powered and comes in many different colors. In my testing, the Backup Plus offered very fast performance, both with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0.
Out of the box, the drive works with both Windows and Mac machines without reformatting thanks to the included driver software that allows Macs to read and write NTFS. Similar to previous drives from Seagate, the Backup Plus portable drive comes in two parts, the drive itself and an adapter that determines the type of connections.