Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim 2TB Portable HDD Review

TweakTown's Rating: 88%

The Bottom Line

At the 2TB capacity with it $129.99 MSRP, Seagate's Backup Plus Ultra Slim 2TB portable HDD is hard to beat when it comes to price/performance.

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With LaCie launching the latest Porsche Design solutions, Seagate was not far behind in adding to its Backup Plus lineup.

The Ultra Slim is the final piece to the Backup Plus lineup that includes the Fast, Portable, and Slim unit we have reviewed in past articles. This new unit, the Ultra Slim takes advantage of the latest technology offering a 2TB capacity in a 9mm package. Color options are available with this device and include gold and platinum, similar to the LaCie solutions. Peak throughput is reading at 120 MB/s according to marketing with the drive being formatted for PC use.

Compatibility appears to stick with Windows 7, 8, and 10 with the possibility of OS X 10.7+ after reformatting. MSRP of the 2TB Backup Plus Ultra Slim comes in at $129.99 with a two-year warranty.

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Packaging shows off the drive to the right while capacity is listed at the top. Seagate appears to have a promotion with OneDrive with the first run of solutions getting 200GB of cloud storage.

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The backside goes into further detail about the OneDrive offer along with detail on the Lyve software that enables you to view your photo and video collection anytime.

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The scope of delivery includes the drive, reading materials, and a USB 3.0 cable.

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The gold exterior of the Ultra Slim almost resembles silver at an angle, similar in fashion to Apple devices. At the bottom right corner, we have the latest Seagate logo with the surface of the device having a dimple pattern like an enlarged golf ball.

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On the opposite end, we have the USB 3.0 connector along with an activity LED on the top right surface of the enclosure.

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From the factory, the Ultra Slim uses the NTFS file system. After formatting, you get to enjoy a nice 1.81TB of capacity.

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Throwing this drive in the ring against three years of competition sees it come out with 138 MB/s read and 113 MB/s write.

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With that kind of performance and a rather decent price per GB, Seagate has setup the Ultra Slim to take the second spot in our chart at 97.24%.

The Backup Plus Ultra Slim is leading the next generation of ultra-portable solutions. With 2TB of capacity and not sacrificing any performance, this solution is fit for even the enthusiast that wants to take data with them on the go. Build quality is top notch and with the bonus of 200GB of cloud storage, it certainly makes this solution even more enticing.

The performance was on par and even exceeded the sequential performance of previous drives. As I stated above, we have nearly three years of drives in our charts at this point, and this latest solution is very close to being the quickest portable HDD based unit I have tested. With that said, I was able to get 138 MB/s read out of this unit while write speeds came only slightly lower at 113 MB/s.

Overall, this solution is the one you want if you are in the market for an ultra-portable unit at the 2TB capacity.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Z170 Premium - Buy from Amazon
• CPU: Intel Core i5 6500 - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Memory: Klevv CRAS 16GB (4x4) DDR4 3000 - Read our review
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• OS Storage: Intel 730 480GB SSD - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Secondary Storage: Intel 750 400GB U.2 SSD - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Case: Thermaltake P5 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200 - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 - Buy from Amazon