Seagate Seven 7mm 500GB Portable USB 3.0 Hard Drive Review

A milestone in portable storage, we test the ultra-thin Seagate Seven. This 7mm external storage hard drive is definitely one to consider.

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Updated
Manufacturer: Seagate
3 minutes & 23 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 87%
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The Bottom Line

With the Seagate Seven, we have an ultra light, ultra thin solution that will certainly add aesthetic appeal to your array of options when you're looking for your next portable storage solution.
Seagate Seven 7mm 500GB Portable USB 3.0 Hard Drive Review 99

Every so often, we get to witness milestones in the storage market. Whether it's the first 4TB or 6TB NAS specific hard drive or the quickest external storage solution, innovation in storage never ends. As the amount of data we consume grows at a wicked pace, the need for us to store memories and take them with us as we travel only grows. While most of us can get by storing that data on standard external solutions, there is certainly a market for storage with style.

The Seagate Seven (STDZ500400) is one of the latest additions to the company's large portfolio of external products. While this portable drive is available in a single capacity of 500GB, it carries the same USB 3.0 interface and much of the same internals (ASMedia 1153) as similar solutions in the market. Setting this drive apart is its aesthetic appeal, coming in at 7mm thick, the "Seven" is now claiming honours at the world's thinnest 500GB portable drive. Seagate has achieved this feat by using their latest and most advanced 5mm hard drives. The footprint of this solution measure in at 122mm x 82mm and weighing just 0.276 grams.

Compatibility extends to modern Windows operating systems, along with OS X 10.6+. MSRP of the Seagate Seven is listed at $99.99 with a three year warranty.

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Packaging for the Seven shows an image of the drive in the center, and below, we find branding and marketing information listed.

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Inside the packaging, the drive is housed in dense foam and packaged next to a sleeved USB 3.0 cable.

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Scope of delivery includes the drive, reading materials, and the USB 3.0 cable.

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The edge of the Seven houses the USB 3.0 connection. Just above the edge, you will find an activity LED.

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As with many portable solutions from Seagate, the Seven comes with a software solution called Seagate Dashboard. Within the software, you can setup PC backups, in addition to mobile backups.

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When setting up a backup plan for your PC, Seagate gives two options. The first option allows you to connect a drive and have your PC backed up as files change, while the second option allows more flexibility with a custom setup.

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With our Windows test platform, results for the Seagate Seven were quite good. Read speeds reached upwards of 118 MB/s, while writes touched just above 116 MB/s.

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In our new OS X testing, that we are putting each external solution through, we formatted the Seagate Seven with the HFS+ file system and ran it through sequential testing. Here we came up with 113 MB/s read, followed by 112 MB/s write.

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Price/Performance didn't fair too well for the Seagate Seven with the portable solution coming in at 84.1%.

Celebrating 35 years since the ST-506 started it all, the Seagate Seven is certainly unlike any other drive we have tested. As far as aesthetics go, it certainly has that professional appeal to it with its stainless steel exterior, while that same steel exterior gives the drive ample durability. The soft blue LED adds both an industrialized yet contemporary feel to the drive, and at the same time, retains functionality as a drive activity indicator. Build quality of the Seven is top notch, you will find that the components used internally are some of the best available at this point in time and match up quite well together.

Performance of the drive was on par with expectations. Within our Windows testing, the drive was able to offer up 118 MB/s read, followed by 116 MB/s write. Over on our MacBook Pro, the Seven formatted to the HFS+ file system did quite well at 113 MB/s read and 112 MB/s write. With that said Price/Performance wasn't the strongest suit for the Seven as the higher asking price landed the drive at 84.1% and the bottom of our chart.

One thing that really shocked me with the Seagate Seven was its durability. As we get to the end of testing each drive, I often do a drop test of sorts, where I simply knock the drive off my desk after copying a bunch of data. With the Seven being so thin, I wasn't quite sure it would survive such a fall, but in fact it did. The biggest issue I can report was OS X telling me I didn't eject the drive before removing it.

PRICING: You can find the Seagate Seven 500GB Portable External Hard Drive (Silver) STDZ500400 for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The Seagate Seven 500GB Portable External Hard Drive (Silver) STDZ500400 retails for $99.99 at Amazon.

Canada: The Seagate Seven 500GB Portable External Hard Drive (Silver) STDZ500400 retails for CDN$114.48 at Amazon Canada.

Seagate Seven 7mm 500GB Portable USB 3.0 Hard Drive Review 100
TweakTown award
Performance 84%
Quality including Design and Build 94%
General Features 90%
Bundle and Packaging 89%
Value for Money 78%
Overall 87%

The Bottom Line: With the Seagate Seven, we have an ultra light, ultra thin solution that will certainly add aesthetic appeal to your array of options when you're looking for your next portable storage solution.

PRICING: You can find products similar to this one for sale below.

USUnited States: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com

UKUnited Kingdom: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.co.uk

AUAustralia: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com.au

CACanada: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.ca

DEDeutschland: Finde andere Technik- und Computerprodukte wie dieses auf Amazon.de

Tyler joined the TweakTown team in 2013 and has since reviewed 100s of new techy items. Growing up in a small farm town, tech wasn't around, unless it was in a tractor. At an early age, Tyler's parents brought home their first PC. Tyler was hooked and learned what it meant to format a HDD, spending many nights reinstalling Windows 95. Tyler's love and enthusiast nature always kept his PC nearby. Eager to get deeper into tech, he started reviewing.

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