Samsung M3 Portable Series USB 3.0 - 1.5TB Host Powered External HDD - for just under £60 quid?

Running out of room on your Hard Disk / HDD?

Do you need to separate your data / session files from your apps drives ?  Looking to backup your precious DAW?

Seems like nowadays you can never have enough storage - and when I was sent an email blast from DABS.COM recently about a bargain 1.5TB USB 3.0 HDD for just £59.99 with STANDARD UK DELIVERY of £0.82 pennies....  bringing the TOTAL to £60.77......
That's a whopping 1500GB of external high-speed USB 3.0 storage for just a smidge over 60 QUID !  Not bad ! ...and YES PLEASE>

http://www.dabs.com/products/samsung-1-5tb-m3-portable-usb-3-0-hard-drive-black-95CH.html

So, I ordered ONE....  and two days later - it arrived in the mail.

The drive itself (while branded Samsung) is actually from SEAGATE>  so all software components / drivers etc. need to be upgraded / downloaded from the SEAGATE for SAMSUNG website.

PRE-LOADED SOFTWARE BITS
Pre-loaded on the drive are "SAMSUNG Drive Manager" and the NTFS for MAC drivers...... however - it is worth noting that this software was already out-of-date, so I downloaded the latest versions from the internet links (shown in this BLOG post!)

NTFS FOR MAC
The drive comes pre-formatted with NTFS>  so if you are using a MAC - you'll need to get the NTFS for MAC driver - download from here>  http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/samsung-ntfs-driver-master-dl/

WINDOWS PC OR LAPTOP
For Windows - it should mount OK as a new external drive, however - if you want to take advantage of the features such as Drive Encryption SecretZone, Drive Lock and Auto-Backup etc.  you'll need to download and install the "SAMSUNG Drive Manager" software.

Windows download -> http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/samsung-drive-manager-master-dl/

I downloaded "SAMSUNG Drive Manager" Version: 1.0.172.- my test machine is running Windows 8.1 x64 bit - and is an i7-Core 4702MQ 2.2Ghz // 10GB RAM // 2 x USB 3.0 ports SS (SuperSpeed).  * The USB ports should be BLUE coloured, or have the SS logo on / CONNECTOR.

I install the software - and then REBOOT.

WEIRD BUG : * my USB External Keyboard was disconnected from USB upon reboot, so I had to log on using the laptop built-in keyboard...?  That's a bit strange........

SAMSUNG DRIVE MANAGER
Once you've signed back in - you'll have a new ICON in the System Tray - right-click on it to see the options.

I choose Start Samsung Drive Manager...........

Initial tests - copying files from my LOCAL HDD --> external M3 drive - saw average transfer rate of 60MB/s through Windows File Explorer.

Using Disk Benchmarking tools - CrystalDiskMark - we saw the following results using the default Random Test Data File @ 1000MB (5 x iterations)

Of course - the MORE MB/s the better the performance.

All told - none too shabby ! 

WHAT ABOUT BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY / USB 2.0 PORT

..for reference purposes - I used the same configuration and benchmarked the drive in a USB 2.0 port.

I THINK THE DIFFERENCE IS EVIDENT.

Enjoy FOLKS!