









Seagate (STEB8000100) Expansion Desktop 8TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop
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JWINK
04-06-2025This review is for the 8TB hard drive. Included with the external hard drive are the instructions, a power cord, approximately 65 inches in length and a 3.0 USB cable, approximately 45 inches in length. This is one of the few times that I don’t have to complain about short cables provided with external drives as these are plenty long enough. I got this drive to use as extended storage for my PS4. I have previously been using the Seagate Expansion 1TB external drive for extended storage but after a recent game buying splurge, I have run out of space with that drive. I have two of those drives and both are approximately three years old ago and are still going strong (one as the PS4 drive and one as a security cam drive) with no issues. Both of those drives were great for portability as well because of their small size. This 8 TB isn’t quite as portable as the smaller Seagate drives at approximately 7 inches by 5 inches by 2-inch thickness and this drive requires a power supply unlike the smaller drives but considering the space that this has and that it is primarily being used on my PS4, it is less of an issue. Like all extended storage drives for the PS4, it has to be formatted by the PS4 but that is quick and painless to do. The transfer of files from my main PS4 and the 1 TB drive to this drive took a bit of time but that is mainly because there is no easy way to move the game files from expansion drive to another expansion drive in the PS4. The file transfer was fairly speedy otherwise. I have use a variety of brand name drives, including WD, Toshiba and these Seagates. I have not had any issues with either the Seagate drives or the WD as they both make very reliable drives and I expect the same from this drive. With this drive priced at about 18 dollars per TB, it is a reasonable cost for this size drive. Although I am not using it for that purpose, with this drive being USB 3.0, I expect this is just as speedy as most USB 3.0 drives on a Windows based computer. This has a power/hard drive light in the back-left side of the case. Although I am not personally a fan of the light in the back, it does make it less distracting and since I am using this as a drive for the PS4, being able to see the light isn’t a huge issue. Oddly, these drives only have 1-year warranty, unlike the 1TB Seagate expansions that I bought that had 3-year warranties. Maybe that is a trend with manufacturers for lesser warranties, but I hope that doesn’t indicates its drive reliability. I will update my review if I have any issues with durability. Overall, I like the drive for my PS4 expansion drive and it is so far working as it should with no slow down or stuttering when playing a variety of games. 4 stars
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miker
> 3 dayThe
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DBClutch
> 3 dayI bought this hard drive in February when I read that a soon to be released update for the PS4/PS4 PRO would support external hard drives to install games and applications. Then i waited... well that day is today. PS4 received update, I installed this drive, had PS4 format drive (simply follow the prompts) and there you go. You then have a much needed expansion for your games for the PS4. Yes I had already switched to larger internal hard drive quite some time ago. I installed several games to this hard drive today and there was NO issues. No lag, no slowdown, even when in game movies played... ran great. ***** IMPORTANT INFO ***** You HAVE to have the PS 4.50 update in order to use this drive. If you do not have the 4.50 update installed on your PS4 then this drive nor any other drive will work to install GAMES. You can still use an external hard drive for photos and music before the 4.50 update. Again you HAVE to have the PS 4.50 update to install games to this drive. * EDIT * One more thing I just found out. If you put your PS4 into rest mode and you leave your USB ports on (for charging headsets or controllers) this hard drive will NOT go into sleep mode. The blue light on the drive will remain on and heads will continue to spin. This will lead to early end of life. If you just unplug the USB from the PS4 the drive will turn off even while power is plugged in. If you dont place your PS4 in rest mode nor leave the ports powered while in rest mode then this is not an issue.
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Matthew B.
> 3 daythis is much faster then the 2.5 hard drives that dont have its power most 3.5 hard drives have 12v dc plug i am using it on my xbox one no issues it format easy and isnt lagging on games like my 4tb 2.5 usb 3.0 did i am going to only buy 2.5 hard drives for computers use to back up data then disconnect it and put it in my fire safe so if my house ever burns down i will not lose what is more imported to me house is a house but i know so many people that have lost all photos, videos, mp3s of family member i want to make sure that when i get old and start forgetting thing that i have all my family photos video and songs i am the one at every family get together that has everyone put them video and photos into my dropbox my computer has never want down i dont download free games or software and i am the only one in my family that doesnt every 3 to 4 month i have to fix one of my family computers because of spy-ware ad-ware and viruses if you are going to get a hard drive then i would say get this one it doesnt cost to much 5tb for 129 that only 26 a tb great price one more thing i only use 2.5 usb 3.0 because if we go on a trip i can hook it up and watch or look a photo and video of my family with out having to worry about having a 2rd plug in the van and this means less cables to get messy
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Chris Pak
> 3 dayI just purchased my 3rd one. 1st one is over 3 years old. 2nd one is a little over 2 years now. Both are working without a problem so far. *knock on wood* Both are always connected and on. I do fair file transfers on both back and forth to internal HDDs. So I would say intermediate use. I knew from day one that these werent intended to be a heavy use externals. A friend of mine informed me that these were designed more so for archiving and storage with occasional file retrieving purposes. And despite what information was available online at the time over 3 years ago, he told me these are 5400RPM range HDDs. (I used Crystal Disk Info not long ago and result is 5980 RPM). Some advertises as 7200 which is false information. Of course this information is not available anywhere on Seagates website, manual, booklet, so no lawsuit can be filed. Seagates playing safe. (The friend used to work for a law firm specializing in filing lawsuits pertaining to false and misleading advertising products. Simply, he buys products in question, take it apart, research/diagnose/investigate and file report based on his research). Simply put, I pretty much knew what I was/is buying. I have to agree with someone else that mentioned about HDDs are hit or miss. Sometimes even with top name brands, you can end up with an issue. Even more so then those of lesser name branded. I must say I am very lucky to have this unit lasting so long compared to others. I am a die-hard WD. All my internals (5) are WD Blacks. But the 1st Seagate Expansion 5TB I purchased was on special sale for $90 at a different website. So I figured I try my luck. $90 for a 5TB external HDD. I thought that was an amazing deal. I had second thoughts after reading others comments but having experienced with 2 units, I decided to push my luck even further. I will update if my luck ran out on this unit. :) UPDATE: 06/02/18 At the time of 3rd unit purchase, I began using a
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Cerebral Visual
> 3 dayI purchased a seagate expansion drive on Amazon in October 2020. A month ago while I attempting to backup my data into the cloud the USB connection stopped working on the drive so I was unable to back my newly completedprojects and personal data. The usb would not register on my Mac or any computer. After many attempts contacting and speaking with several Seagate reps. giving me the run around and getting nowhere. I reached out to Amazon who was able to connect me with someone at seagate who was finally able to help me. My purchase came with a data retrieval program. If anything happened I could send in my drive and Seagate would try to retrieve my data and send back on a brand new drive. The rep. at Seagate said he would send me a drive-in new drive right away so I did not have to wait and he was also including a shipping label along with it and I was to ship my old drive back to Seagate so they could retreat my data and then send my data back on a another drive. A couple of weeks ago I contacted Seagate to find out the status only to be told they destroyed my drive. First they tried to lie and say I agree to a send my drive in for a new drive and not have my data retrieve in return which was a boldface lie. They corrected themselve after I informed them that the Amazon rep. stayed on the call as I spoke with Seagate so it had all been recorded. Thank God for the Amazon representative recording the conversation because rep. try to lie. Now Ive been in talks with both Jasmine and her supervisor Daniyal, whove apologised. However, Im out thousands of dollars because I have to make it right with my clients for their videos and audio footage being destroyed by Seagate. After several times speak with them they want to send me 2 drives but it still doesnt come close to what my loses due to Seagates negligence. They also offered a software that will help retrieve data on any SD cards or drive that I may have had my data on prior to transferING to the drive they destroyed. Heres the thing, I was in the process of backing up the new information and final projects when the USB connection stop working. So all is loss, gone, destroyed, forever thanks to Seagates negligence. So mine and my now former clients data are completely gone and now I have to make it right with my client and one now former client, due to Seagates negligence. I really dont want anything to do with Seagate because it seems as though they know they screwed up because at 1st they attempted to lie. They can do more but they are just hoping that I settle for the scraps they are tossing my way. With that said I dont recommend anyone to use Seagates products unless youre ok with them mishandling/destroying your important data and throwing you scraps just to Pacify you and hope you go away. So the supervisor Daniyal promised me 1 drive only to send the wrong drive he explained he did not want to send a refurbished drive a brand new drive. Which is understandable, Only now they want me to return the drive the that drive before sending the correct upgraded drive/hub. I have not only lost important data but my time they dont seen to mind wasting. After thinking about all of this I am totally out and it doesnt feel right. Buyers beware! Do not purchase Seagate products and expect them to deliver anything but but scraps especially if your out thousands of dollars and a client, not to mention your own personal data. So thanks alot, Seagate. You have lost a customer and now I am letting others know what has happened. To the Seagate rep that cause all of this, I would like to thank you as well sir! I am a small business and I count on every single job that comes my way and as well as my clients word of mouth, to keep my business going. I dont know what else to do at this point. Twitter is my last resort. Thanks Jasmine and Daniyal but you guys really dont get just how much Seagate has affected my business. It is disheartening when youre told no more can be done and being made to feel as though my little business does not matter to a large corporations like Seagate.
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J. Sevier
> 3 dayI usually proactively replace drives after 5 years. For years now Ive been running Western Digital Black drives and Ive never had a failure during that time. This Seagate drive failed faster than any drive Ive owned in 27 years of PC ownership and that has taught me a few valuable lessons. 1. Temperature is important. When this drive started performing erratically I downloaded CrystalDiskInfo and found that this drive ran hotter than any of my internal drives. Unsure if thats because of the drive itself (wouldnt think so due to the low RPM) or the external enclosure -- Im assuming the enclosure since its not actively cooled. 2. Raw uncorrectable sector count is also an important number. While I have uncorrectable errors on my oldest WD Black, it has 0 values RAW meaning theyve been mitigated. In contrast this Seagate had 600 errors when I scanned it right before it failed completely. I now have CrystalDiskInfo scheduled to run weekly on all my drives so I keep active tabs on this data before Im in this situation again. 3. External enclosures like this have regular hard drives inside, but are often cheaper than their internal counterpart. Its odd but true. Thats why I bought this one. However, when this drive started randomly disconnecting I tried removing it from the external enclosure and plugging it in directly but the drive wouldnt read properly. From researching I found that these enclosures do some translation of the data that means once its initialized externally it cant be read outside of the enclosure. So if this issue was with the usb adapter but the drive was otherwise fine, the data on disk would still be unrecoverable without some pay for data recovery tool. 4. Backblaze is a wonderful backup service and cheaper insurance than maintaining redundant disks for RAID - if / when you need it to recover your data youll be happy you have it... BUT recovering 4.5TB of data is going to take a week+ no matter how you go about it. Be advised. Ive already ordered a replacement for this bad drive, an internal Western Digital Black 6TB. I considered some of the Seagate options since theyre lesser cost, but why test that brand again when for a few bucks more I can get a brand thats never failed me? No more externals for me.
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WeMakeFilms
Greater than one weekOrdered the 8TB, 5 days ago and the first drive failed to allow me access although I installed the software specified by Seagate. Disk Utility wouldn’t work nor Zero’ing out the drive via commands in console... Thank goodness I bought it via Amazon and did a RMA same day. I waited another two days to receive the replacement and it worked fine. I ran the new 8TB drive for 19 hrs straight on the fastest transfer speed via usb 2.0 transferring 2TB of film data. (Bottleneck of the transfer was the old drive max speed) The Seagate is NOT made for constant use say Mac Pro editing. But it’s a great way to backup your work and tuck it away. FYI The Mac instructions are, 1) Attach and power up your computer/Drive. 2) Go to the Seagate website for the Mac Fat32 app/driver. 3) Run Paragon 4) Make sure you can read and write to the drive. 5) Use Paragon or Diskutil to convert the Seagate drive to ONLY OSX extended Journaled. (After this first reformat you can choose EX, etc. This Drive is very slow so don’t expect speed performance at this price point. Overall great. Maybe I will update this with video and a 90 retrospective. Update June 6th 2019 The 8TB drive has been working out great. USB 3 speed is more than decent and working well as a backup device...
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RexRed
> 3 dayRemoved from external enclosure, used as internal drive, dead after 3 months... Seagate says no to warranty. UPDATE I contacted Seagate about a warranty and they said I should not have used an external drive as an internal drive. I not only used the external drive as an internal drive but I had all of my steam games on it and it was running constantly. Seagate first said they would not replace it that it was not their policy. I wrote back and told them it was not my policy to purchase another drive from the same manufacturer when this one only lasted three months. This was when they wrote back and told me that external drives were not designed to withstand the rigors that drives designed to be internal were designed to withstand. Then they kindly said they would, this time only, replace my drive with a refurbished drive and they would also replace it with a refurbished internal drive designed to withstand the data reads and writes that I was subjecting the drive to. So I learned two valuable lessons... Lesson 1, dont trust your data on a drive that was sold as external re-purposed for internal when subjecting that same drive to other rigorous use. This is also why external drives usually cost less even though they have an extra enclosure included. The 2nd lesson is that Seagate is a great company and they go out of their way to keep you as a customer as long as you can be reasonable and understand things also from their point of view too. If I ever do re-purpose an external drive internally, it will only be to store data and not to use it with constant video streams and loading and unloading gaming data for hours on end. I hope this helps others avoid the same mistake I have made. I have another internal Seagate drive that I bought 6 months before, this internal one is still going strong. Dont try and save a few bucks by re-purposing an external drive internally. Dont use an external drive for gaming unless that is all you use it for, and your games are also saved cloud based. Definitely do not use an external drive for both your data and gaming. That is a recipe for disaster.
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LastShotSniper
> 3 dayFirst off, I like the product, at least from the one I am borrowing after the same model of mine malfunctioned. I would have given the product itself a 4, until the model failed completely, and I dealt with an aggravating experience with the company, now ongoing for 18 days. Seagate is becoming synonymous with irritation for me as of late. After specifically purchasing model STEB5000100 due to A) the reviews about overheating and B) needing a vertical design to reduce encroachment of my desk space; I found that model malfunctioning with a drive that failed to start. Upon trying to return the item, I went to Seagate rather than Amazon returns. First, they wanted me to pay for shipping on their faulty product. Alright, its only a few bucks, and I dont have time to deal with it, so I bite the bullet on that one. Since I need to pay for the shipping now, that requires an extra stop on my end to UPS. So much for saving my time. Then I receive their shipping guidelines. One multi-page PDF with instructions for every product they carry, instructing me to either return in calmshells wrapped with foam or rubber. Never mind that I received it in an Amazon box, nestled between bike accessories and a couple new t-shirts, no special packaging. Still, I want no issues, so I call customer support, wait on the line, give me personal info, my model, my issue (twice) even though my return has already been filed online. Finally Im able to ask my question on shipping, to the brilliant advice or (Im not sure, you should have been send shipping guidelines. Nearly 3 weeks later, of not having an external drive and having to borrow one to use on the project I originally bought this for, and I receive my replacement. Or so I thought. Instead of the model I bought, without advance notice, they replace it with #STDT5000100. The model I avoided in the first place at the same price point but seemingly inferior. And it is. The first thing I notice is the aesthetics. Instead of the clean and modern look I liked from the other model, this one has rigid lines and a gaudy baby blue underbelly. Then I notice the material. The plastic FLEXES. This is not the quality of the original model I purchased, and feels cheap. I did not power it on, as I will be returning this in the morning. Likely with a request to pay for shipping (again) and stop by UPS out or my way (again), and NOT have the item in time for a trip that was my 2nd reason for purchasing when I did. I used to love Seagate products, and customer service was great last time I upgraded my items 2-3 years back...but now I feel like they are using bargain rate outsourced support without a proper knowledge base while pushing inferior products. I certainly hope if they