Maxtor's Personal Storage 5000XT combines USB 2.0 and Firewire connectivity with 250GB of backup potential, but the supplied software may be baffling to some users.
Maxtor's claim on the packaging for the Personal Storage 5000XT is that it's "easy" to use. Backup, as a whole, is usually anything but simple, especially in the consumer arena.
Within the packaging of the 5000XT box, you'll find the drive itself, a software CD and Firewire/USB cables. The supplied software is Dantz Software's Retrospect Express. Maxtor sell several bundles of external drives with this particular backup package. In the 5000XT's case, you get a 250GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive with firewire and USB 2.0 ports; the cheaper alternatives in Maxtor's range drop the storage size and don't feature both connection options.
Some external drives look poor, but the 5000XT's drive casing itself is physically quite good looking, finished in a somewhat plastic-looking metallic blue shade. This contrasts quite sharply with the supplied USB 2.0 cable, which has bright red ends. Maxtor also supplies a small stand for the 5000XT if you wanted it to sit vertically.
As the 5000XT can handle USB or Firewire connectivity (but not both at once, just in case you were tempted), it means if you just wanted it as a portable drive you've got a lot of options. You could even take it to a USB 1.1 enabled machine. At USB 1.1 data rates, though, you'd want to have a few days handy to fill its 250GB capacity. We tested the Personal Storage XT with a USB 2.0 connection.
It is possible to simply plug in and use the Personal Storage 5000XT as an external drive via the interface of your choice, but in order to take advantage of Maxtor's one-touch backup, you have to install the provided Dantz Retrospect Express software. The 250GB drive at the core of the Personal Storage 5000XT is Mac OS 9 (and better) compatible, but Retrospect Express won't work under OS X 10.2, according to the product manual.
So, we installed the software as per the instruction poster, rebooted and pressed the button on the front of the Personal Storage 5000XT as instructed. All at once, nothing happened. We were perplexed; this didn't seem easy at all. Windows XP could see the drive, we'd installed the software first -- we've been burnt by too many products that don't work properly if plugged in prior to software install. It was then we noticed the very small print that suggested Windows XP users should consult page 10 of the user's guide. We chucked the program CD in, only to discover that the user's guide on the CD is simply a one line URL directing you to Maxtor's support site. Page 10 was nowhere to be seen. We downloaded the full user guide, which is a confusing mess of contradictory messages that either tell the user to install the software first, or not at all, or twice. In the end we did manage to get the one-touch feature working by installing, plugging in and then running a repair installation -- a messy process.
Retrospect Express can be extremely confusing to the non-technically literate crowd, but to its credit, if you can struggle through getting one-touch up and working, it does make for a very simple backup solution -- as long as you only ever want to do the same backup each and every time. On first installation you choose what you want to backup, where you want to back it up to, and the software does all the script building for you. If you want to alter your backup settings, however, you've got to deal with Retrospect's main interface, which is much less user friendly. It's an extremely powerful and capable backup solution, but not one that novices should just wander into.
From a speed perspective we had no complaints either. Backups will of course vary depending on the size of your file, but a simple file transfer of 1.66GB of data took just 4:51, which is quite decent for a 5,400rpm drive. There is a speed difference between USB 2.0 and Firewire, but it's one you're unlikely to see in real applications; there's no reason to suspect the 5000XT won't work as well in Firewire mode. Drop down to USB 1.1, though, and you'll probably need to go and drink a few lakes of coffee while you wait.
At AU$999 the Personal Storage XT isn't shooting at the high-end of the backup market. At that price, given the composition of the entire package, we reckon it's decent value. Just be ready to get perplexed by Retrospect Express.
Maxtor Personal Storage 5000XT
Company: Maxtor
Price: AU$999
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 02 9369 3662
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