Difficult install on Windows XP Pro
Pros:
PROS: Big, fast, quiet; compared with new Compaq Presario S500J's 5,400 rpm 80 MB drive
Cons:
DiscWizard 2003 software it ships is not compatible with Windows XP Pro, per Seagate
The Bottom Line:
RECOMMENDATION for Windows XP Users: Buy a Western Digital or Maxtor drive instead; hopefully they ship with better software.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I spent 20 hours trying to get this drive installed as a Master Drive on my new Compaq Presario S500J computer. The first 10 hours were lost just trying to get the software to run. Ultimately, after writing Seagate, I learned that their DiscWizard 2003 software (newer version on their website than that CD that ships with product) is not compatible with Windows XP Pro and that it has to be run in Windows NT Compatibility Mode. If that little sentence could have been posted on their website, I could have saved a boatload of time right there. I had no way of suspecting that was the problem, as the product box stated that "it: was Windows XP compatible. (I presume that meant hardware AND software, WRONG.)
Running the software in NT mode as directed, Seagate's DiscWizard software allowed me to set up the drive as a Slave, which you have to do first to copy all your original drive's data over before you can make the new drive the Master. However, NT mode wouldn't allow me to create a first partition larger than 7 GB, so I had no way to copy my original hard drive's data (60 GB) onto the new drive, while it was in Slave status, from which I should have been able to copy, then proceed to swapping my drives to make the newer one the Master.
20 hours into all this frustration, I gave up and paid the price to have the Best Buy tech's make it work. They used Norton's Ghost program to take care of it.
RECOMMENDATION for Windows XP Users: Buy a Western Digital or Maxtor drive instead; hopefully they ship with better software. Alternatively, if you want this drive, buy Norton Ghost to take care of setting it up instead of bothering with DiscWizard. With the right software, this should have been a 10 minute install, not still struggling at 20 hours.
