Fantom Drives G-Force 500GB 3.5" External Hard Drive

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Great capacity and great price...but, the drive failed after 10 months. Our IT dept. cracked it open and the failure was in the exterior circuit board and not the drive! Will try and install the drive in my CPU...

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Great Ext. HD, I have used Fantom Ext HDs for years with no complaints, fast and reliable.

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I've purchased three of these in a 2-year span. With heavy use, I have experienced two failures and I anticipate the third to fail within the year. Overall, these are well worth the cost. The enclosures are sturdy, and the drives are mediocre. If you aren't a heavy user, this drive will likely suit your needs.

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Worked great until it hit the bell curve of HDD survivability and simply ceased communicating via either eSATA or USB 2.0 port. Failed at just about 8 months after purchase date, and the casing is a sealed system, so its impossible to determine whether or not the problem is simply the case IO ports and not the drive itself without voiding the warranty. Aesthetically pleasing, very quiet, works great until something goes wrong, but when it does you're just as hosed as with any other product.

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I bought this external drive in October, 2008 from this site. As usual, I received my order within 2 or 3 days and since then, I have been using my Fantom Drive with Windows Live OneCare for automatic backups. It works great. It's easy to set up and it's been very reliable, plus it's very affordable.

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I've had the hard drive a month and it has performed flawlessly. I haven't done any automated backup via software.

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received this drive 2 days after ordering (ups ground)Plugged it in, attached my eSata cable, reformatted it to NTSF, and did a super fast mass storage backup. Set it up to auto backup new files every night...no problems. I am satisfied with this drive.

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i read one of the review here that was saying that theres died fast. but i decided to give it a try anyways since it was cheap. it came in like 4-5 days (really dont remember was 1/2 years ago) saw it had eSATA on back, so i used my eSata cable and gave it a try. i mass store and transfer data always, back and forth, and it performs flawlessly. IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT BUYING THIS, TRUST ME ITS A GREAT BUY, AND WORKS FINE. i have experience in computers for over 7 years, so i know if a product is bad or not. other thing, its casing if built of lite aluminum, which keeps it cool (my drive does not overheat even if it runs for a day). bottom line: BUY IT, ITS A GREAT BUY,(ALTHOUGH THERE MIGHT BE CHEAPER HDD NOW, OR EVEN THIS ONE) YOU WONT BE DISAPOINTED :))

Comment:
This is an outstanding drive. Unit is solid mechanically and electronically. This is my second Fantom drive, first was a 250GB USB I have used flawlessly for over two years. You need to reformat NTFS, which takes some time. I still don't know why drive does not come formatted this way. The blue running light on the front panel is a little bright, but you won't miss it when it is running. as always, a great source.

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So far the drive works as advertised on my iMac to perform regular Time Machine backups. Some reviews have complained about the bright LED and noisy operating. LED isn't an issue for me because it is stored in an enclosed cabinet. The 1 drawback i mention in the tag line is the noise. While not unbearable, it reminds me of the hard drives that I used to hook up to the old Macintosh Classic WAY back in the day

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I couldn't be happier. This is definately the way to go for data storage. I no longer rely on high capacity internal drives that are stuck in the same machine to save my personal files. Even more true when it comes to laptops which are more difficult to recover data from. Now I only use the internal drives for the OS, programs, and the occasional file that I'm too lazy to drag off my desktop. I could go on and on about why this is a better way of doing things. When I bought this, I chose it because it had the eSATA port and it was cheaper to buy two 500GB than one 1000GB. It does not come with the eSATA cable which is really dumb. I use it with the USB connection all the time because it is more convenient to move from machine to machine. USB works great and it's plenty fast.

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Good price for what you get. The unit does get pretty warm, and it does not come with the eSATA cable. Still, I'm completely satisfied so far.

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When an earlier one seemed okay and I wanted another, I bought this as the nearest available equivalent - same brand and specs and similar appearance. I bought two so that I can have a backup at home and office, and back up each to the other. That means they commute on my bicycle and are subject to moderate bumps and frequent reconnections. Both work just fine with no hassle in 2 months of combined experience. The power supply (interchangeable) is 12V, 1A, center pin +.

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Super easy set up !! This HD is a beast !! Nice price. My first one with no problems !

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I got this for my husband I wanted to test try it before he started using and I liked it so much I'm keeping it and getting him for himself. No problems with it thus far very easy to connect, fits right in my computer case when I need to take it with me to work.

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I purchased last year and used it once. I went to use it again and am missing the power supply. There's no information on the unit or online for the DC voltage/amps. I went online at fantom.drives.com to find out but they only have a photo of one with no readable specs. It costs $28.99 + S/H to purchase. Could one of the reviewers let me know the pwr supply specs - or if fredb38 wants to sell me his contact me at 631-738-3214.

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Bought this drive from Tiger at Thanksgiving. I use it for backup and storage, mainly of DVDs and the playing of them, so it doesn't get a rigerous 24/7 workout. Runs quiet, occasionally gets lukewarm to the touch but never hot. So far I have no complaints as this drive fits the purpose that I purchased it for. One very minor thing. The drive comes formatted in FAT-32. Since I might have files greater than 4 GB to place on it, I reformatted it to NTFS. The manual that accompanies the drive said this would take from 30-90 minutes. It took 6 hours, 32 minutes via USB connection to a 1.6 GHz laptop.

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Failed just over 1 year. Get extended warranty or better yet buy Seagate or anything other than FD.

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Had my Fantom for a little over a year. Today it died with no warning. Called Fantom and they said sorry about that but you are out of warranty. Asked if their was anything they could do to help me recover my data. They said all they do is sell them not fix them. Lost a lot of good data. Think I will try a different brand with a little more support.

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I'm loving this external hard drive. I've had it for 10 days and so far I'm very satisfied. It was easy to install and it just flat works. The thing is silent, except for that tinkling sound when it's actively accessing data that most drives make. There are no vibrations or anything like that. The only negative so far is that the blue LED on the front is way brighter than it needs to be. I'm glad I bought it, I'd buy it again.