Much like its ‘smaller brother’ the Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch, the Seagate Backup Plus Portable 4TB comes housed in a rather nice shipping container. One that makes good use of color, pictures and data.
Also like the Ultra Touch, the Seagate Backup Plus Portable’s 4TB drive is housed inside a nice, yet easy to open, clamshell protective layer. This extra layer of protection all but ensures your new purchase will arrive safe and sound. Be it across a city or a continent (or three).
The accessory list is not quite as nicely appointed as the Ultra Touch series. Basically, you still get a moderately sized (18-inch) USB 3.0 Type-A to Micro-USB cable, a nice instruction/warranty pamphlet… and a free two month subscription to Adobe CC Photography plan as well as a free one year subscription to Mylio’s Create service. So, while the Type-C adapter is missing, it really will not be missed by most.
Also included, albeit on the hard drive itself (just as with the Ultra Touch series), is Seagate’s Toolbox software. This is basically the exact same application as which ships with LaCie branded drives, just with a different skin. This is not all that surprising as Seagate does own LaCie as such both brands should get the same good software solution… that is worth the install to say the least. With it you can backup specific files, folders, even drives automatically. Better still is you can configure it to auto-copy any or all of the above via mirroring, which uses MS or Apple’s Shadow Copy (aka ‘VSS’) technology that can backup files even when they are in use. While this free application will never replace Acronis, for a freebie it is a nice little bonus feature that does help offset some of the asking price.
For a few generations there Seagate’s Portable series came clad in plastic. Plastic that tried to improve its overall aesthetics via the use of injection molding with dimples/diamonds/pyramids/etc. formed right into the case. For their asking price this was a somewhat decent solution. It allowed them to have more personality than they otherwise would have, without adding (much) to the cost. Of course, they would never be mistaken for LaCie products, but they were actually better looking than Western Digital’s various series.
This time around Seagate has upped their game and while it still makes use of way too much plastic and not enough metal, at there is even more metal used for part of the chassis than there used to be. The last generation only the top was made of aluminum and the rest was plastic. This generation Seagate has once again improved things by using more aluminum and even less plastic. Still too much plastic, but every bit does help. To be precise the top and one edge is made from solid aluminum and the rest of the chassis is plastic (black or white depending on color option you choose). Mix in color options of white, black, and silver for this aluminum portion… and the overall looks of the Seagate Backup Plus Portable series are much improved. So much that Seagate is now head and shoulders ahead of Western Digital. By the same token there is still a lot of room for improvement with companies like Silicon Power (let alone LaCie) raising the bar higher and higher every generation.
In either case, this new generation is easily the best Seagate has released to date in the aesthetics department. While yes it still is ‘boxy’ it does have a bit of personality now… and a dash of style. Both of which are never bad things. Also on the positive side, while it is boxy… it actually is fairly low profile for a multi-platter 2.5-inch HDD based USB device. It certainly will look… ‘chunky’ compared to the Ultra Touch series, but with dimensions of 115.3mm by 80mm by less than 21mm it is actually slightly smaller than the LaCie version. However, while ‘smaller’ this is not precisely a small or lightweight portable device. It does tip the scales in at a bit more than 120g, so while it may be noticeably less than a LaCie, it is not one you will stick in your front pocket and ‘forget’ about it being there.
Equally important. Even though the Seagate Backup Plus Portable series has never been IP certified (for either dust or water protection), we would not be surprised if this is more a case of budgetary reasons rather than performance reasons. Basically, IP certification does cost money, and that would have raised the MSRP noticeably. Instead we would not be surprised at all if it did not at least meet IP2x or IP3x standards for dust and IPx1 or IPx2 for water. Afterall, the only two openings on the chassis is the small LED activity hole, and the micro-USB 3 port. Mix in the fact that both parts (plastic and aluminum) are sealed rather tightly via numerous internal clips, and yes, this drive is more robust than the lack of certifications would lead you to believe. Not in the same league as the (also uncertified) LaCie Mobile Drive series, but better than nothing it is rated for.
When you do crack the case open and peak inside you can see that more than a passing nod to shock protection has been included. To be precise, unlike the Ultra Touch series, there are five rubber bumpers and antivibration pads used inside. These five bumpers keep the drive from moving around, and will provide a bit of shock protection when the drive is not plugged in.
Just as with the Ultra Touch series, the Seagate Backup Plus Portable makes use of a copious amounts of aluminum tape to both reduce EMI and keep the PCB attached to the hard drive. We do wish they would stop doing this and instead use screws… but it is going to be a non-issue for most people. For those that it will be an issue, we would recommend an IP rated portable drive, or at least a LaCie. Either option will take more abuse than this series, but overall this is pretty decent configuration for its price range.
Moving on. The Seagate Backup Plus Portable series also makes use of an incredibly small PCB to house the SATA to USB bridge controller. Interestingly enough, unlike the Ultra Touch we reviewed recently it uses the well known ASMedia ASM1153 controller.
Yes, this controller is over a generation out of date. Yes, it lacks hardware encryption abilities. It however is still is a very good controller for a 2.5-inch 5400RPM hard drive. We doubt that it will be to big of a performance bottleneck – and mostly then just with random small file transfers rather than large sequential file transfers.
For the hard drive Seagate has opted for one of their Barracuda’s. Specifically, the ST4000LM024 “Mobile” variant. This is basically the smaller capacity version of what ships in the LaCie Mobile Drive series. The only difference is it has 4 platters instead of 5, but comes with the same 128MB of RAM and is backstopped by Seagate’s MCT. Overall this 15mm z-height, 5400RPM drive is a pretty decent choice. It does balance power (it only consumes a couple watts during usage) with performance – as is cool and quiet during operation. It is also good for over 300Gs worth of shock while in use and 650Gs worth of shock before it ‘should’ be damaged… so minor bumps probably will not kill it.
Overall, the Seagate Backup Plus Portable series has gotten a nice upgrade in the looks and performance department. Hopefully, the next generation will upgrade the controller to a USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller so as to remove all doubts over performance bottlenecking. In the mean time it is a fairly decently built portable drive with only one or two issues worth worrying about. Most of which boils down to lack of warranty (2 years) and lack of security (hardware encryption).
