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SimpleTech SimpleDrive SP-U35/500 500 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive (designed by Pininfarina) | 
| Brand: SimpleTech
Category: CE
List Price: $135.99
Buy New: $109.99
You Save: $26.00 (19%)
Rating:  66 reviews
Sales Rank: 459
Color: Onyx
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Hard Drive Size: 500
Connectivity: USB
Size: 500 GB
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5 x 2.3
Capacity Meter
One Click Backup Button
Free 2GB myfabrik.com account for online backup and sharing of photos, video, documents
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: SP-U35/500
Model: SP-U35/500
UPC: 705487167375
EAN: 0705487167375
ASIN: B000NF6ZK6
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Stylish, external 500 GB Hard Drive with USB 2.0 connection | | • | Stylish design by Ferrari designer Pininfarina | | • | Built-in slot for Kensington security lock | | • | Backed by 1-year warranty and unlimited technical support | | • | Measures 5.0 x 1.50 x 8.25 inches (WxHxD) |
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| Accessories:
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The sleek lines and ultra-low profile styling of this SimpleDrive were designed by Pinifarina, the very same design firm that gives Ferrari sports cars their stylish lines.Don't let its beauty fool you. SimpleDrive is a high-performance external hard drive ideal for storing and backing up your music, video, photos and more.
Amazon.com Product Description
Thanks to the sleek, low-profile styling by famed Italian car designer Pininfarina, the SimpleDrive Desktop USB 2.0 External Hard Drive isn't just another external hard drive. The recipient of the same magic design touch and attention to fine details that helped turn Ferrari and Maserati into icons of the automotive world, the SimpleDrive Desktop will help turn your work space into a virtual art display while offering you up to 500 GB of backup storage for your computer files.  | The SimpleTech SimpleDriveTM offers: - Slick Ferrari-inspired design by Pininfarina.
- High-speed USB 2.0 interface for data transfer at up to 480 Mbps.
- Fabrik Ultimate BackupTM for 2 GB of free secure online storage.
- 1-year warranty.
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The SimpleDrive was designed Pininfarina of Ferrari fame. View larger. | Ferrari-Inspired Low-Profile Design for your Desk
Get used to the staring when your colleagues visit your desk. This compact and elegant onyx black drive is as much a piece of fine art as a piece of robust hardware. But don't let the looks fool you. Beneath its cool and sleek exterior is a robust, high-capacity, single-drive solution that gives you the ability to store and backup tons of music, videos, photos and documents in a small footprint. Featuring plug and play simplicity, and Mac and PC compatibility, the SimpleDrive Desktop features a hi-speed USB 2.0 interface for fast transfer of data at up to a 480 Mb/sec data transfer rate. Whether you want to increase the capacity of your desktop, or back up your valuable files quickly and securely, the SimpleDrive Desktop will perform for you with style. A built-in Kensington security lock lets you lock down your drive while you're away, and a built-in capacity meter keeps you abreast of your storage situation at all times. Powerful Local and Online Backup Options
The SimpleDrive Desktop includes two backup options that will keep your mind at ease about your important data. With the included OneClick backup software, you have the option of either backing up and protecting all your files and folders, or selected ones, with a single click, or automatically. Either way, you'll have the peace of mind knowing your digital world is safe and protected. But for the ultimate in protection, the SimpleDrive Desktop also offers the Fabrik Ultimate Backup solution that uploads your files to a secure, online server that will protect your data from real-world mishaps and offer near-real time protection without bogging down your computer. Fabrik's Ultimate Backup allows you to store up to 2 GB for free on one of its 448-bit encrypted servers, and for just a few dollars a month, you get unlimited capacity to securely store all of your important files and media collections offsite. Acting just like the drive's local backup software, you simply set Fabrik Ultimate Backup once, and it automatically and regularly backs up your content behind the scenes. 
The capacity meter shows you how much space is left at a quick glance. View larger. | All backups, to the external drive or online service, are unobtrusive. Once your initial content has uploaded, the software performs incremental backups, so only the smallest amount of data that has been changed or modified in your files will be updated. (Although the SimpleDrive Desktop is both Mac and PC compatible, at this time the Fabrik Ultimate Backup solution is only available for Windows-based computers.) To keep your content private and confidential, all files are encrypted with 128-bit SSL encryption while in transit, with an option for a private encryption key. Fabrik's offsite 448-bit Blowfish encrypted servers are housed by a Fortune 500 company, ensuring file protection, security and peace of mind. So no matter what happens to your drive--a curious toddler, a spilled drink or natural disaster--your irreplaceable photos, music, videos and files will be safe and secure both offsite and online. The SimpleDrive Desktop measures a scant 1.50 x 8.25 x 5.0 (WxLxD), is backed by a 1-year warranty, and comes with free, unlimited technical support. What's in the Box
3.5 SimpleDrive Desktop External Hard Drive with One-Click Backup Software, USB 2.0 Cable, AC Adapter, Resource CD, and Quick Install Guide.
The SimpleDrive comes in different storage capacities for every need. |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 61 more reviews...
 320GB Simple Drive July 2, 2008
Q (World Wide!!!)
It does what it needs to do. It says 320GB but you only get 300. For the price I paid for its, its a great product.
 It died today June 26, 2008
R. Serna (Santa Fe, NM)
My review is not much different from the other negative reviews. However, I think this product should last much longer than six months, which is exactly, almost to the day, how long it lasted for me.
It was easy to connect, set up, and begin using right away. It was very fast in backing up pictures and video, which was how I primarily used it. It would back up approximately 75-100 MB per second. Then, one day ago, I got an error message stating that the drive was inaccessible. Today, the error said that the drive had a corrupted file and could not be accessed. I called Customer Service, waded through the voice menu, waited 20 minutes for a technician, only to be told that nothing could be done, and that most anything from a power failure to not clicking the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray could have caused this error in functionality. Needless to say, I am soooooo disappointed.
Always back up your files to more than one location, and be very cautious about purchasing this item. It worked well for me for a very limited amount of time, and the final result is a loss of time, money, and energy, which none of us has in abundance to just be wasted. If you do buy this item, then purchase another back up option to go along with it. I believe that is the safest thing to do.
 Worked fine for four months, then "died" overnight. June 26, 2008
Gary McDole (Berkeley, CA USA)
It just wouldn't start one morning. Not as a result of being bumped or any other physical trauma, as I'd taken care to position it in a safe place. Ironically, I'd used this SimpleTech drive as a "belt and suspenders" duplicate of data kept on an older Seagate external hard drive, in case the Seagate crashed. So I haven't really lost any data, just the money spent on an unreliable product. Should have paid more attention to the one-star reviews here. I wonder how many of the people writing five-star reviews have owned their SimpleTech drive only a short time. I'd have given it five stars after owning it three months, but after this experience and after belatedly reading some of the one-star reviews more carefully, I won't be buying any more SimpleTech products.
 SimpleTech 1TB June 22, 2008
MrMojo (NE US)
Had doubts when I first bot it since I didn't know anything about the company or its products.
The SimpleDrive was simple to use. Just plug in the cables (i.e. power cord and USB cable) and it works! WinXP recognized the drive immediately and was able to use it quickly!
Another great thing about this drive is that it actually has a power switch! Many other competitors external drive (i.e. Western Digital) REMOVED the power switches just to save costs which was a terrible idea!
After awhile, the drive does burn HOT! It's best to turn off the unit when not needed instead of keeping it on for long periods of time, hence the need of a power switch (i.e. on/off button) instead of just unplugging the device to shut off the hard drive from the computer!
Never will I buy another WD external hard drive especially after they removed the front power button which was there in previous models!!
The speed isn't as fast as advertised. Have 4 USB ports with my Dell and have a USB 2 4-port card and it still doesn't seem as fast as is should've been.
Would've given a higher score if not for the lower speed!!
Consolidated about 2-3 smaller capacity external drives' data onto 1 higher capacity external drive.
Liked it so much that I bought a 2d SimpleDrive since it was on sale for $199.99!
Note:
One drive was pre-formatted to FAT32 while the other came as NTSF! Had to pre-format the FAT32 to NTSF which took less than 1 minute!!
Will buy another when it's on sale again!
Big, but very capable June 22, 2008
Henry Tuttle (Dubai, UAE)
First of all, you should understand that SimpleTech makes two size drives with the same name (and virtually identical appearance). They have drives based on 2.5" drives (the 120,160,250) and the 3.5" based larger hard drives. I own one of the smaller (160gb) drives and I like it and have had no problems with it. It's portable and seems rather sturdy.
This drive is large and only portable in the sense that it's not difficult to pick up and plug it in somewhere else. It's not a notebook drive that powers off the USB. I wouldn't know about the long term reliability as I've only had it a couple of months. Also, I haven't tried rolling it down the stairs or anything, so I can't comment on its toughness.
That said, I've got 2 other external USB 500MB drives and one 1TB drive. This one is by far the fastest. Why that is, I don't know. I haven't changed any setting on anything. Just plugged it in the way they came out of the box, and there they went. This drive came with NTFS. 2 of the others did not. Was that the difference? Anyway, out of the box, this worked much better and faster with XP and Vista than my Iomega 500GB or my LaCie 1TB. It worked a little faster than Seagate Free Agent 500GB, but the Seagate stands upright on a wobbly stand.
Finally, I gave it only 4 stars because of the design. Yes, it's slightly prettier than some other drives, but I don't like the tapered front end. And also, this drive won't stack terribly well. If you're like me, you don't have too much desktop space (of course the other 3 drives don't help). If I can't stack external hard drives, at least it would be nice to be able to occansionally pile a few DVD or something on top of the as emergency desk space. The top of this drive is too rounded to utilize its surface.
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