Seagate is a well-known name in the world of external hard drives, and the Seagate Backup Plus Hub is one of the brand’s desktop HDDs. With large capacities of between 4TB and 10TB, cross-platform compatibility, and dual functionality as both a data hub and a recharging station, the Seagate Backup Plus Hub should be a valuable addition to any home office. I tested the 6TB version of the Backup Plus Hub for a week to see if its design, performance, and features make it a worthwhile investment.
Design: Blends in well
The Seagate Backup Plus Hub is larger than a typical portable hard drive, but it’s not huge by any means. It sits 4.6 inches tall, 1.6 inches wide, 7.8 inches in depth, and its all-black color scheme makes it fit in well with other office equipment. It looks sleek on a desk sitting beside a laptop or desktop monitor, and it doesn’t have any unattractive features that make it stick out like a sore thumb. The sides are glossy and there’s a honeycomb pattern on the top and bottom of the drive, which adds to the overall aesthetic. On the bottom, there are four tiny rubber feet, which keep the drive from sliding around on the desk. The AC and USB connections are on the back of the Seagate Backup Plus Hub, which makes it easier to hide the drive’s wires and put together a clean wiring setup. The Seagate Hub is fairly durable and doesn’t scratch easily. It’s not waterproof or shockproof, but if you accidentally scrape the glossy surface with your pen or another object on your desk, it won’t leave a noticeable scratch. I purposefully scratched the glossy surface with a coin, a pen, and with the side of my laptop as I opened it, and it didn’t leave any noticeable marks. The surface does show fingerprints, but you can easily wipe them away.
Performance: Fast, with easy setup
On the front of the Seagate Hub sit the two USB ports, which you can use to connect to and charge your phone, tablet, camera, or other devices. The Hub is NTFS ready and includes the NTFS driver for Mac, so you can easily connect the HDD to your Mac without much hassle. The internal HDD is 3.5 inches and spins at 5,400 RPM. Although it’s not a 7,200 RPM hard drive it still has a decent data transfer speed, with a maximum data transfer rate of 160 MB/s. To test the read/write speeds, I used two benchmark tools: CrystalDiskMark and Atto Disk Benchmark. I connected the 6TB Seagate Backup Plus Hub to a budget laptop that was brand new out of the box (a Lenovo IdeaPad S145). For a 1GB file, read rates remained steady at around 169 MB/s, and write rate averaged around 159 MB/s after several test runs on CrystalDiskMark. On Atto, some of the results were slightly lower, but not by much, with read rates leveling out at around 157 MB/s and write rates at around 160 MB/s for a 1GB file. I then connected the Seagate to a Macbook Pro. The process took about five minutes for me to connect the drive using the included software. I transferred 1.5TB of movies onto the drive, which the drive estimated would take six hours. It completed the process in about four and a half hours though.
Price: Less than two cents per GB
The price for this unit is phenomenal, as you can find the 6TB version for as low as $110. This means you’re paying less than 2 cents per GB for external storage, an exceptional value.
Seagate Backup Plus Hub vs. Toshiba Canvio Advance
The Toshiba Canvio Advance is another affordable HDD. It comes in capacities ranging from 1TB to 4TB but, unlike the Seagate Backup Plus, Toshiba Canvio Advance is a portable drive that runs on USB power. The Toshiba Canvio Advance is a much smaller unit, measuring only about four inches by three inches, and you can easily take it with you on the go. The Canvio Advance doesn’t offer hub functionality like its Seagate counterpart, but it does offer its own set of unique benefits (portable, brightly colored, attractive, etc.). It offers functionality and useful extra features in a large capacity drive at a reasonable price point.
