Transcend1 TB StoreJet M3 Military Drop Tested USB 3.0 External Hard Drive

I bought this usb drive to use with my digital photos. I work on a laptop and, because I take raw digital images, I wanted someplace to store my photos off of my machine. The logical solution was, of course, an external usb drive but, since my cat loves to jump on my lap or on the sofa when I am working, I worried about the possible damage to the drive from sudden movements. This was my solution to that problem. After reading some of the reviews I assumed that I would need two cables, one for data and one for power, and that there would be two usb connections on the drive. So, first off, let me be clear about what is and what is not needed to use this drive.This drive itself has only a single usb 3.0 connection. The cable that comes with the drive is a Y cable with two connectors for the usb connections on the computer, but only one connection on the drive itself. As I said, the Y cable has two computer connections, but the wires are not the same. The thicker one is for data and the thinner one for power. So, to check the drive, I connected the usb connection on the drive and then first connected the data cable to the computer. To my surprise the drive spun up and my laptop identified it as a Transcend usb drive even though I had not, at this point, connected the power cable. Since I was surprised I did some checking and found out that the drive worked properly without the power connection to the computer being plugged in at all. I then checked the drive with the Y cable with both connections and the drive worked properly. I then tried the drive with a spare usb 3.0 cable I had for some other usb drives and the drive also worked properly.If I had read the documentation before trying the drive I would have seen that the second wire is only needed for some machines which don't supply sufficient power to run the drive itself. Others, like my laptop, work perfectly with only a standard usb 3.0 cable.I tested speed transfers using both the provided cable, with both connections, and a standard usb 3.0 cable. I found that I had a transfer speed of about 63MB/s with both data and power connections and about 10% lower with only the single connection. Since I was transferring different data in the two transfers I cannot be sure that the difference was the power connection as it could also have been the different data. Fewer large files should transfer more quickly than more smaller files and that is what my testing was comparing. Given that I cannot even be sure that there is a difference of speed in the transfers. The speed I saw on my laptop was about the same as the other usb 3.0 drives that I have used with the same kind of file transfers.In summary, not all computers will need to use both the data and power connections to use this drive. I assume stronger machines provide enough power to the usb connections to run this drive alone and that relieves my concern about losing this cable. Since some of the reviews I read on this product were misleading I thought I should quickly post what I saw when using this drive.I have not had much time to use it so I am not yet sure it will continue to function properly and, because of that, I will update this review if needed. But my experience since the drive arrived yesterday afternoon is that the drive functions as well as any other usb 3.0 drive I have, transfers data as quickly and seems to be a lot more rugged. The ruberized grip on the drive is easy to handle and should prevent me from accidentally dropping it. As of this point I can see no reason to give this drive anything other than 5 stars.

I have purchased two of these, one for my xBox One and another for my laptop and both work flawlessly. This is a great option for use as an external hdd for gaming consoles or laptops / desktops alike. The storage capacity is more than even I could ever hope to fill, and I am a pretty heavy user.Setup is simple, basically just plug in and go with it. The silicon protective outer layer protects it from slight bumps making it ideal for travelling (ie bringing laptop to cafe, school, work, etc). While it's rated as "drop tested" I really wouldn't recommend performing your own test and just taking it at face value ;)I've been using the one on my xBox for over a month now and have had no issues. To use with xBox you just connect the USB, turn on the xBox and it will detect it automatically! I have noticed no delays in read/write time when downloading to and loading from the hdd with the xBox in comparison to the internal hdd. Same goes for the laptop.All in all a great product, and the build quality seems substantial enough to last a long time. Excellent bang for your buck!

I received the 1TB drive yesterday, and I absolutely love it.As a Linux-only person, it's important to me that products work--and work well--with Linux. This drive most definitely does. Straight out of the box. As with most things Linux, the OS detects the hardware and the user doesn't need to do anything. No software to install, nothing to configure, just plug it in and you're good to go. Of course, the software that's included on the drive doesn't work with Linux--it's only for Mac and windows--but I wouldn't use it anyway. I prefer to manage my files with my own methods, so I'm not missing anything by not being able to use the included software. For what it's worth, the software is stored in directories called RecoveRx, StoreJett ToolBox, and Transcend Elite.Linux users please note: Its file system as shipped is FAT32. If you leave it like that you'll come across the idiotic microsoft nonsense of thinking THISFileName and thisFILEname are the same. Use gParted or your favorite disk partition utility to format it as ext3, ext4, or whatever your preference is, to get around that issue.I'm very impressed, and pleased, with the speed of copying files to and from this drive. Super fast!Its military grade shock resistance is nice to have, but hopefully I won't ever need it. :)For its price, $68.99 (and free shipping, since I have Prime), it's a great buy.

Very happy with this purchase, especially at the sale price. Works great with my desktop (Win XP and 7) and Laptop (Win 7) computers. Also works well with my PS3, including system backup (in about half the time required by the 64GB "thumb" drive I had been using) as well as for general storage.At first, I was concerned about the custom USB cable with the oddball "double-barreled" connector on the drive end. Finding a replacement could be fun if it ever gets damaged. On the bright side, the cable seems to be robustly constructed so it should stand up to reasonable wear and tear, and a quick expermient proved that a standard USB cable will work with this particular model. (Some other models in this line require two USB ports on the computer end, presumably to avoid exceeding the current limit of a single port. Those would require the custom cable provided with the unit, as two separate standard cables cannot be connected to the drive.)

Durable and absolutely functional. no regrets!