Acomdata HD500UHE5-72 500 GB USB 2.0 Hard Drive
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- Capacity: 500 GB
- Interface: USB
- Enclosure: External
- Spindle Speed: 7200 RPM
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Engineering philosophy makes this drive a poor choice.
Pros
Metal enclosure acts as heat sink to keep drive cool and quiet without a fan.
Cons
Proprietary hardware-based encryption increases risk of catastrophic failure.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
The drive died in less than a year of active use, and its proprietary encryption makes disaster recovery less likely. A risky proposition at best.
Update 2008/07/08 ========
As outlined in my original review (below) the drive disappeared from Windows today. However unlike previous times, the drive appears to be dead. It will no longer spin up when powered on, as evidenced by enclosure temperature (cool) and vibration (none) when touched. I'm going to crack the enclosure open and connect the drive to my computer internally, hopefully my data is still there.
Update 2008/07/13 ========
It turns out the power supply was dead. By the time I figured that out, I had already cracked the enclosure open, voiding the warranty, and purchased a replacement enclosure. The new enclosure uses a power supply with the same pinout which is how I realized the old power supply was the problem with this unit.
Upon powering the unit up again with the new power supply, the drive was recognized by Windows, but only as a USB 1.1 device. That is simply not acceptable for a drive of this capacity -- it would take roughly 5 days to transfer 500GB over a USB 1.1 link.
I tried connecting the drive directly to my computer to see if the data could be accessed that way, but it could not. Windows could see that there was a partition on the drive, but it was not of a recognizable type. I suspect this is because of the encryption feature offered by the drive. This feature requires that the drive's data be accessed through the circuitry embedded in the enclosure, and I came to see that as a major problem.
If the enclosure had died instead of just the power supply, my data would have been completely inaccessible. It adds unnecessary risk and vendor lock-in. Encryption software such as TrueCrypt does not suffer from this failing, because software can be copied for essentially zero cost. TrueCrypt could have been loaded from a backup in case the installation became corrupted. A 'backup' compatible enclosure on the other hand would cost me CAD $149 today, and it is only luck that they are still available.
Risk is defined as the product of probability and severity. This hardware is probably no more likely than any other to fail. However the consequences of failure can be disastrously high in comparison to enclosures that do not hide the data on the drive. For this reason, I can not recommend this drive or any other that deviates from standard data access mechanisms.
I deleted the data I did not need and copied the rest onto an internal drive I purchased for this purpose. Then I moved the drive into a new plain vanilla enclosure and formatted it. The Acomdata enclosure is now surplus to requirements.
Original Review ========
This drive was a rare impulse buy for me. Usually I research technology products extensively before purchasing. I'd been thinking about getting an external hard drive for a while, and when I was in Future Shop one day and saw these drives, I picked one up and bought it without knowing much about it or even having heard of the company before.
I have had the drive for over a year now, but I've only been using it extensively for the past 6 months or so. This is the only external hard drive I've ever owned.
Styling
I like the styling of the drive. It is in a plain matte-finish metal enclosure. Overall the drive has very clean modern lines.
The front face has a single push-button on, which also acts as a power/activity light -- the button shines blue when the drive is powered on but idle, and the colour changes to a light purple when the drive is active. The light is quite bright, and it is also large compared to a typical computer onboard hard drive light. It could conceivably be quite annoying if it was sitting on someone's desk facing them. I have it behind my monitor so I don't have to look at it. The point of the button is to active the backup software, but I have not used that feature.
The front face also has a small inset grille with rounded edges. There is no fan, so I believe the grille is there just so that the drive is not airtight.
The rear face of the drive has a rocker switch for power, a USB port, and a power connector. It also has a few small holes. Again, there is no appreciable airflow through the drive enclosure, so I assume the holes are there for some other reason.
The drive can be mounted on its side on an included plastic stand to minimize its footprint. The plastic stand looks just like the metal of the drive enclosure ... in fact, while writing this review, I actually had to pick it up and tap it to see if it was metal or plastic.
Alternatively, there are shallow indentations embossed in the drive where stick-on rubber feet (included) can be attached. In this configuration multiple drives can be stacked, though I only have one.
The drive's metal enclosure acts as a heat sink, which keeps the drive cool without making a lot of noise. The drive enclosure does become warm to the touch, but never hot. The temperature appears to be uniform over the surface of the drive, which is exactly the correct property for a heat sink. The entire surface of the drive enclosure draws heat away from the drive and dissipates it. There is no vibration and the drive is virtually silent. Unless you have an almost impossibly silent environment, you will not hear this drive.
Security
The drive is optionally password-protected. The drive software (covered below) allows the password to be supplied. Once the correct password is supplied, access to the data partition(s) of the drive is permitted. The password is only required once per drive power on. If access to the drive has been granted, even turning the computer off will not remove that access. When the computer is turned back on access to the drive will still be permitted.
The drive literature states: "Strong SHA-256 password encryption". As SHA-256 is a hash algorithm, and not an encryption algorithm, I can only assume that the password is hashed but the drive contents themselves are not encrypted. Someone who removed the drive from the enclosure and connected it directly to their computer would under those circumstances be able to gain access to the data on the drive.
The security provided by the drive itself is probably not sufficient to keep truly determined intruders away from your data. I say "probably" because I could not find a definitive statement in the drive literature or on the web site that the drive contents themselves are encrypted. In the interest of safety it's best to assume they are not. Of course if you must encrypt your data software solutions like TrueCrypt can be used, and that is the approach I would recommend for the security conscious.
Software
The drive has an interesting approach to system integration. The drive contains a fixed partition that presents itself as a CD-ROM drive to Windows when the drive is powered on. This partition can not be changed or removed by the user (but it is only 120MB, less than 1/4 of a percent of the drive's total size). The virtual CD-ROM contains the drive password utility and a setup program for the Nomad Desktop.
If you have autoplay enabled, powering on the drive will cause the drive's Welcome Screen to display. This screen allows you to log in, change the drive's password, or disable password protection on the drive altogether. Once the correct password has been entered, the rest of the drive is mounted. You have complete control over the rest of the drive -- for example you can partition it, format it, etc. at your leisure.
The first time the drive is accessed (and subsequent times unless you disable the prompt) you will be asked if you want to enable the Nomad Desktop. If you choose to do so, the Nomad Desktop software will be installed into the user-controlled drive partition. Once the Nomad Desktop has been activated, it will run from the system tray each time the drive is mounted.
The Nomad Desktop is a selection of applications that can be run from the drive itself without being installed onto the local computer. The applications that are included with Nomad Desktop are Redemption build 007 (backup software), Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5 (an email client), OpenOffice.org 2.0 (a Microsoft-Office compatible office suite), and Skype 2.0.0.69 (internet telephony). The Nomad Desktop menu also includes options to browse the drive, run the drive password utility, and view the device properties. By default, when Nomad Desktop starts it automatically launches the Redemption software, though this can be changed.
Something I found disappointing when I bought the drive is that it is not possible to install arbitrary programs into the Nomad Desktop as most programs need to be carefully altered so they write only to the removable drive and not to the host computer. The corollary to this is that the applications that do come with the drive can not be upgraded by end users. The documentation promises that more and more portable applications will become available, but if that is true, it is certainly not evident to me. Trivial applications that do not require an installation process can still be put onto and run from the drive, but they will not show up in the Nomad Desktop menu that pops up from the system tray icon.
The appeal of Nomad Desktop is that it really does provide a portable desktop. If you used the Thunderbird client on the drive, for example, you could take your full email archive with you wherever you take the drive. I can see advantages in taking your Skype profile with you also. It sounds good on paper but I have never used these facilities and I doubt most other people would either. The drive sits on my desk attached to my computer 24/7, which isn't very nomadic. There still is some appeal to not having to install software on the computer (in particular OpenOffice.org) in order to use it, but that's a pretty thin advantage. I wouldn't consider Nomad Desktop to be a major selling feature. I myself do not use it.
I have never used the backup software so I don't know what it's like. Backups are serious business and the best tool for the job will not come bundled with any drive.
One-Button Backup
I prefer making full backups of my computer from dedicated boot-time utilities, so I do not use the one-button backup facility. However there are important prerequisites to enabling the one-button backup feature. First, Redemption must be running (it starts up in the system tray). By extension, the Nomad Desktop must be activated on the drive.
The Mysterious Vanishing Drive
My computer is on 24/7, and so is this drive. The drive letters in Windows will occasionally disappear, and access to the drive will be lost. Nothing seems to get the drive back other than powering the drive off and back on. Even then it doesn't seem to work the way it should ... the CD partition will appear but it won't appear to have a CD inside (it will ask me to insert a CD). I have to wait quite a while and right-click on the (apparently empty) CD drive, then click AutoPlay, then wait, and it will finally mount the CD image.
This is flaky to say the least and flakiness is exactly the last thing you want to see in a hard drive. It raises embarrassing questions like, "If I put something on the drive, will I be able to get it back later?" For that reason, I don't have anything irreplaceable on the drive. I use it mainly to hold bittorrent downloads and backups. Backups are irreplaceable, but unless I'm very unlucky the original and the backup will not fail on the same day.
Summary
Because reliability is the central requirement for a hard drive, and because this drive has given me reason to doubt its reliability, I would not recommend this drive even though I like just about everything else about it. But because it has not ever caused me to lose data, I am going to give it an 'average' grade.
I paid $249.99 CAD.
As outlined in my original review (below) the drive disappeared from Windows today. However unlike previous times, the drive appears to be dead. It will no longer spin up when powered on, as evidenced by enclosure temperature (cool) and vibration (none) when touched. I'm going to crack the enclosure open and connect the drive to my computer internally, hopefully my data is still there.
Update 2008/07/13 ========
It turns out the power supply was dead. By the time I figured that out, I had already cracked the enclosure open, voiding the warranty, and purchased a replacement enclosure. The new enclosure uses a power supply with the same pinout which is how I realized the old power supply was the problem with this unit.
Upon powering the unit up again with the new power supply, the drive was recognized by Windows, but only as a USB 1.1 device. That is simply not acceptable for a drive of this capacity -- it would take roughly 5 days to transfer 500GB over a USB 1.1 link.
I tried connecting the drive directly to my computer to see if the data could be accessed that way, but it could not. Windows could see that there was a partition on the drive, but it was not of a recognizable type. I suspect this is because of the encryption feature offered by the drive. This feature requires that the drive's data be accessed through the circuitry embedded in the enclosure, and I came to see that as a major problem.
If the enclosure had died instead of just the power supply, my data would have been completely inaccessible. It adds unnecessary risk and vendor lock-in. Encryption software such as TrueCrypt does not suffer from this failing, because software can be copied for essentially zero cost. TrueCrypt could have been loaded from a backup in case the installation became corrupted. A 'backup' compatible enclosure on the other hand would cost me CAD $149 today, and it is only luck that they are still available.
Risk is defined as the product of probability and severity. This hardware is probably no more likely than any other to fail. However the consequences of failure can be disastrously high in comparison to enclosures that do not hide the data on the drive. For this reason, I can not recommend this drive or any other that deviates from standard data access mechanisms.
I deleted the data I did not need and copied the rest onto an internal drive I purchased for this purpose. Then I moved the drive into a new plain vanilla enclosure and formatted it. The Acomdata enclosure is now surplus to requirements.
Original Review ========
This drive was a rare impulse buy for me. Usually I research technology products extensively before purchasing. I'd been thinking about getting an external hard drive for a while, and when I was in Future Shop one day and saw these drives, I picked one up and bought it without knowing much about it or even having heard of the company before.
I have had the drive for over a year now, but I've only been using it extensively for the past 6 months or so. This is the only external hard drive I've ever owned.
Styling
I like the styling of the drive. It is in a plain matte-finish metal enclosure. Overall the drive has very clean modern lines.
The front face has a single push-button on, which also acts as a power/activity light -- the button shines blue when the drive is powered on but idle, and the colour changes to a light purple when the drive is active. The light is quite bright, and it is also large compared to a typical computer onboard hard drive light. It could conceivably be quite annoying if it was sitting on someone's desk facing them. I have it behind my monitor so I don't have to look at it. The point of the button is to active the backup software, but I have not used that feature.
The front face also has a small inset grille with rounded edges. There is no fan, so I believe the grille is there just so that the drive is not airtight.
The rear face of the drive has a rocker switch for power, a USB port, and a power connector. It also has a few small holes. Again, there is no appreciable airflow through the drive enclosure, so I assume the holes are there for some other reason.
The drive can be mounted on its side on an included plastic stand to minimize its footprint. The plastic stand looks just like the metal of the drive enclosure ... in fact, while writing this review, I actually had to pick it up and tap it to see if it was metal or plastic.
Alternatively, there are shallow indentations embossed in the drive where stick-on rubber feet (included) can be attached. In this configuration multiple drives can be stacked, though I only have one.
The drive's metal enclosure acts as a heat sink, which keeps the drive cool without making a lot of noise. The drive enclosure does become warm to the touch, but never hot. The temperature appears to be uniform over the surface of the drive, which is exactly the correct property for a heat sink. The entire surface of the drive enclosure draws heat away from the drive and dissipates it. There is no vibration and the drive is virtually silent. Unless you have an almost impossibly silent environment, you will not hear this drive.
Security
The drive is optionally password-protected. The drive software (covered below) allows the password to be supplied. Once the correct password is supplied, access to the data partition(s) of the drive is permitted. The password is only required once per drive power on. If access to the drive has been granted, even turning the computer off will not remove that access. When the computer is turned back on access to the drive will still be permitted.
The drive literature states: "Strong SHA-256 password encryption". As SHA-256 is a hash algorithm, and not an encryption algorithm, I can only assume that the password is hashed but the drive contents themselves are not encrypted. Someone who removed the drive from the enclosure and connected it directly to their computer would under those circumstances be able to gain access to the data on the drive.
The security provided by the drive itself is probably not sufficient to keep truly determined intruders away from your data. I say "probably" because I could not find a definitive statement in the drive literature or on the web site that the drive contents themselves are encrypted. In the interest of safety it's best to assume they are not. Of course if you must encrypt your data software solutions like TrueCrypt can be used, and that is the approach I would recommend for the security conscious.
Software
The drive has an interesting approach to system integration. The drive contains a fixed partition that presents itself as a CD-ROM drive to Windows when the drive is powered on. This partition can not be changed or removed by the user (but it is only 120MB, less than 1/4 of a percent of the drive's total size). The virtual CD-ROM contains the drive password utility and a setup program for the Nomad Desktop.
If you have autoplay enabled, powering on the drive will cause the drive's Welcome Screen to display. This screen allows you to log in, change the drive's password, or disable password protection on the drive altogether. Once the correct password has been entered, the rest of the drive is mounted. You have complete control over the rest of the drive -- for example you can partition it, format it, etc. at your leisure.
The first time the drive is accessed (and subsequent times unless you disable the prompt) you will be asked if you want to enable the Nomad Desktop. If you choose to do so, the Nomad Desktop software will be installed into the user-controlled drive partition. Once the Nomad Desktop has been activated, it will run from the system tray each time the drive is mounted.
The Nomad Desktop is a selection of applications that can be run from the drive itself without being installed onto the local computer. The applications that are included with Nomad Desktop are Redemption build 007 (backup software), Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5 (an email client), OpenOffice.org 2.0 (a Microsoft-Office compatible office suite), and Skype 2.0.0.69 (internet telephony). The Nomad Desktop menu also includes options to browse the drive, run the drive password utility, and view the device properties. By default, when Nomad Desktop starts it automatically launches the Redemption software, though this can be changed.
Something I found disappointing when I bought the drive is that it is not possible to install arbitrary programs into the Nomad Desktop as most programs need to be carefully altered so they write only to the removable drive and not to the host computer. The corollary to this is that the applications that do come with the drive can not be upgraded by end users. The documentation promises that more and more portable applications will become available, but if that is true, it is certainly not evident to me. Trivial applications that do not require an installation process can still be put onto and run from the drive, but they will not show up in the Nomad Desktop menu that pops up from the system tray icon.
The appeal of Nomad Desktop is that it really does provide a portable desktop. If you used the Thunderbird client on the drive, for example, you could take your full email archive with you wherever you take the drive. I can see advantages in taking your Skype profile with you also. It sounds good on paper but I have never used these facilities and I doubt most other people would either. The drive sits on my desk attached to my computer 24/7, which isn't very nomadic. There still is some appeal to not having to install software on the computer (in particular OpenOffice.org) in order to use it, but that's a pretty thin advantage. I wouldn't consider Nomad Desktop to be a major selling feature. I myself do not use it.
I have never used the backup software so I don't know what it's like. Backups are serious business and the best tool for the job will not come bundled with any drive.
One-Button Backup
I prefer making full backups of my computer from dedicated boot-time utilities, so I do not use the one-button backup facility. However there are important prerequisites to enabling the one-button backup feature. First, Redemption must be running (it starts up in the system tray). By extension, the Nomad Desktop must be activated on the drive.
The Mysterious Vanishing Drive
My computer is on 24/7, and so is this drive. The drive letters in Windows will occasionally disappear, and access to the drive will be lost. Nothing seems to get the drive back other than powering the drive off and back on. Even then it doesn't seem to work the way it should ... the CD partition will appear but it won't appear to have a CD inside (it will ask me to insert a CD). I have to wait quite a while and right-click on the (apparently empty) CD drive, then click AutoPlay, then wait, and it will finally mount the CD image.
This is flaky to say the least and flakiness is exactly the last thing you want to see in a hard drive. It raises embarrassing questions like, "If I put something on the drive, will I be able to get it back later?" For that reason, I don't have anything irreplaceable on the drive. I use it mainly to hold bittorrent downloads and backups. Backups are irreplaceable, but unless I'm very unlucky the original and the backup will not fail on the same day.
Summary
Because reliability is the central requirement for a hard drive, and because this drive has given me reason to doubt its reliability, I would not recommend this drive even though I like just about everything else about it. But because it has not ever caused me to lose data, I am going to give it an 'average' grade.
I paid $249.99 CAD.
