Seagate’s One Touch SSD external drive promises up to 1030 MB/s transfer speed. But what’s most incredible about it is its travel-perfect size.
I still have the relic somewhere in my storeroom. My first ever external hard disk. A behemoth that weighs over 1 Kg, needed an external power source, and holds but 60 GB of data.
Believe it, or not, I bought this with me to Europe on a work trip and you can be sure I hated every moment of it! (1 Kg …)
Well, thank goodness times have changed, with current plug-in hard disks, or external solid-state drives (SSDs), way smaller, lighter, and more durable. Seagate’s One Touch SSD External Drive, for example, weighs but 45 grams—my phone is three times as heavy. It’s also incredibly petite at approximately 7 cm (L) by 5 cm (W). Small enough to slip into practically any bag or pocket.
Seagate One Touch SSD Review
What are the yardsticks for a great and reliable SSD? Well, I think most of us will answer this question with:
- Durability
- Longevity
- Ease of Connection
- Transfer Speed
- Bundled Software and Freebies
- Price
Now, I obviously can’t examine durability and longevity without taking three years to write this review or dunking my drive into a swimming pool. And so I’ll just highlight that Seagate’s One Touch range is not IP rated. You would probably need to dry it ASAP if it gets wet.
And while sales literature claims the “robust” body is shock-resistant, and it indeed feel tough, I doubt it’s a good idea to be careless or rough when handling it. It will probably survive a low drop or bump. But to keep expecting it to do so would be silly.
Ease of Connection
I tested my unit with various Windows PCs/laptops and Android devices, and it’s as promised. As the name One Touch implies. (Or should I say, one plug-in).
For my AMD Ryzen 7 desktop, the connection was almost instantaneous. No driver installation of any sort happened and I was ready to transfer files within a second.
For my older Acer Swift laptop (2021) and even older HP Pavilion X2 (2016), the connection took … one sec longer to be established. Probably because of the older systems.
It even connects flawlessly with my old PlayStation 4!
For Android devices, Seagate’s official manual recommends installing the Seagate SSD Touch app. I didn’t do this beforehand for my Samsung S22 and the One Touch SSD still connects. The same goes for my older Samsung S20 Ultra and LG V40.
Speed of Transfer
On the box and product literature, Seagate promises up to 1030 MB/s speed of transfer for the One Touch range. If you have any familiarity with IT gadgets, I’m sure you’d know that this is a “maximum possibility” of sorts, infrequently achieved no thanks to all sorts of external factors.
The above-said, I was still able to copy 5 GB of data from my three-year-old AMD Ryzen 7 desktop to the One Touch in lesser than one-and-a-half minutes, with the speed hitting 250++MB/s at peaks. From another SSD to the One Touch, 2.5 GB took slightly lesser than 45 seconds.
Such transfer speeds might not be the fastest for 2023, but for my needs, they more than suffice. Anyhow, they are more than four times faster than what my 2018 and earlier conventional hard drives are providing.
Bundled Software and Freebies
The Seagate One Touch SSD comes with two attractive bundled plans for some countries. (Singapore is included) The first is a four-month Adobe Cloud Photography Plan complimentary membership. The second is a one-year Mylio Photos Create Plan.
Simply put, I think these are awesome deals.
For Singapore, the Adobe Photography Plan currently costs SGD 13.26 per month (Feb 2023 prices). Four months of it thus translates to around SGD 55/- in worth. By the way, this plan includes access to Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.
The Mylio Photos Create plan is essentially a downloadable photo management platform that includes tagging, encryption, and basic photo editing functions. It has various filter presets for instant changes and allows your various devices to access the same photos stored on an assigned drive. As of Feb 2023, the plan costs USD 49.99 per year or USD 4.99 per month.
To repeat, I think these bundled deals are awesome, even though they are wasted on me—I already have a long-running Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.
If you’re a photography enthusiast keen on exploring what Adobe has to offer, the bundle provides you with all the tools you’d need for a launchpad. From easy storage to editing abilities to file organisation. It even gives you the freedom to access your photo collection from anywhere via an encrypted connection.
Pricing and Review Conclusion
If you like your external SSDs small, if you want them to be pocketable, you will love the size of the Seagate One Touch SSD.
When I opened my box, I spent quite a while marvelling at the size. (While remembering how HUGE external drives used to be) As I highlighted above, the One Touch is around the size of a Tic Tac box, and thinner than that in width. It easily fits into any bag or pocket. Heck, even my wireless earphone cases are bulkier to bring about.
The One Touch connects well with all of my gadgets too, including my older ones from the mid-2010s.
For “rough users,” the lack of an IP rating might be a concern. On this, my guess is that the One Touch will easily survive extended daily use but if you anticipate your drive getting wet/damp now and then, or being exposed to heavy dust, you might want to consider a drive with a certified IP rating. Or one that’s “shielded.”
Coming to prices, depending on the platform/store, 2TB and 1TB One Touch SSDs are going for around SGD 449/- and SGD 209/- respectively. (Feb 2023 prices and without discount)
These figures by themselves are not meaningful, as competing brands such as Samsung and Sandisk often have seasonal discounts of up to 40 percent. The same goes for Seagate. Thus, I’ll put it as follows:
- Even without discounts, the inclusion of the Adobe and Mylio plans makes this petite external SSD a very attractive choice, price-wise, for certain groups of photography enthusiasts. For example, new hobbyists, “prosumers,” social media enthusiasts who want to up their game, etc.
- It’s as small and as light as it can get for the moment. If such dimensions are what you need, this is one of the best SSD choices for 2023. Especially for travellers.
Get your Seagate One Touch SSD External Drive on Lazada or Shopee.
