Samsung 1.5TB Story Station Hard Drive Review + Formatting Tip for Mac Users

[AlexandruZota]

My Samsung 1.5TB Story shut it's self down TODAY! I lose my entry FILES ! I hate this product!

[Gulf917L]

Thanks for the great review, you answered nearly all of my questions.

The only outstanding question i would like to know the answer to and hopefully someone out there will know the answer, is ; Is it possible to use a mac book pro platform to back up all my movies onto this hard drive, then connect the hard drive to a Sony blu-ray DVD player via the USB connection and watch my movies?

A strange question I know, however, if anyone knows the answer I thank you in advance..!

[MrBobbyFlynn]

Thanks your the bomb geekanoids !!

[davomrmac]

@MrBobbyFlynn thanks :)

[aaronderuiter]

What's disc utility? can't seem to find it...

[guitarhabits]

A great thank you for the formatting tip for Mac. You saved my day!

Already liking and checking out your other apple youtube reviews. They're awesome.

I appreciate it!

[davomrmac]

@guitarhabits Thanks for taking the time to comment. I am glad the video helped.

[wheellyfoe]

HI GUYS!!! PLEASE I NEED URGENT HELP!!!!

HOW DO I ARRIVE TO THE CONTROL PANEL SHOWED IN THE VIDEO FROM 4:00 MINUTE TO THE END OF THE VIDEO????

THANKS IN DAVANCED GUYS ;)

[arunciks]

I am getting really disappointed First HDD got replaced 1 year after purchase with defective HDD. second I received from warranty was working 2 months and just stopped to power up. I made mistake sending it in (I wish I kept it and at least had my data). I would just took the drive back with no replacement, but after I called TTS the guy on the phone explained that there are no ways of doing it and my drive probably already destroyed. The 3rd HDD sent back by Samsung warranty company TTS - DOA.

[adding123]

!!!! don't buy it.!!!!

i made a mistake, and bought the story station 2.0TB that had a included USB 3.

it worked no more than 21 days, and shut it's self down. Just for the record my western digital after 3.5 years still works only problem it 0.5 TB. !!!bottom line don't buy it, pay a little more for WD !!!

[hummingbirdgirl]

Thank you for the MAC information! You saved my day!

[davomrmac]

@hummingbirdgirl Glad it helped :)

[bluescan92]

Thanks a lot for the great review. It helped so much!

Keep up the good work. i`m, going for 4 of these to my iMac 2011:)

6 Tb`s should be enough ? :P

[davomrmac]

@bluescan92 Thanks for your comment.

[jujuzac]

@bluescan92 get a DROBO look them up....they are future proof later you can get them to have 16TB

[sumishta]

Thanks SO much for posting the tip on formatting the Samsung Story for Mac. I have a 2TB I just got today and I thought I really blew it when I tried to format it and it only would format for MS. Now I can use it with confidence. Really appreciated! You are a star! 5 stars in fact!

[davomrmac]

@sumishta Glad it helped.

[davomrmac]

@jamiegrind Glad it helped.

[8Marysa8]

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR THE MAC TIP! Don't know what I've done without you!

[davomrmac]

@8Marysa8 glad it helped.

[ediblecastle]

thanks so much for the mac info

[davomrmac]

@ediblecastle Thanks for watching.

[melanyachesmu]

Thank you so much for the Mac tip!!

[davomrmac]

@melanyachesmu Glad it helped.

[isdisavailable3]

Uhh probably a stupid question but im wondering about why its called a story station.....I mean is this a HDD thats made for backup only? Or does it behave the same way as all other desktop hard drives..... (this mainly is from the insane cheapness of the product....$99 for a 2tb)

[TheKarhu94]

maybe dumb question but does this work with usb 2.0?

[davomrmac]

@TheKarhu94 Yes.

[TheKarhu94]

@davomrmac thanks

[TheCPRU]

Life saver for this mac user..woo hoo

[davomrmac]

@TheCPRU Thanks for watching.

[DesignRec]

THANKS FOR THE FORMATTING TIP!! ive spent ages trying to figure it out haha. thanks again. 

[davomrmac]

@DesignRec glad it helped.

[CaptainTurkeyGiblets]

It`s a really good external drive.I bought one when they 1st came out and have been using it since for movies,music etc with a wd live tv media player.The story station powers down after a minute or so of no access and fires up again if something tries to access it.Also the usb port is more sturdy than other drives i`ve used and the unit looks nice under my tv and not at all out of place.

I`m going to buy another one soon for file backup purposes with my pc and other general use.

[Enj01]

Digitalrev song at the end

[davomrmac]

@Enj01 It is an Apple loop that we both use.

[poonageofnoob]

This or the Western Digital Elements 1.5tb??? :S

[ApelzinApelzin]

SUPER - SAMSUNG SHOULD PAY YOU!

I was about to throw my newly bought Samsung G3 Station hard drive out the window when I found, and followed your instructions - and NOW IT WORKS.

Thank you SOOO MUCH. Clearly explained, could'nt have been shown in a better way.

Thanx - you saved my day!

Åsa Wihlbeck

[davomrmac]

@ApelzinApelzin :) cool

[chiefmegadeth]

i got USB 3.0 2tb verison yesterday for super cheap...

[davomrmac]

@chiefmegadeth Where from?

[chiefmegadeth]

@davomrmac Not sure where you live...but i live in Sydney Australia

i got it from ARC Computers...w w w.a r c .c o m . a u $139

[davomrmac]

@chiefmegadeth Not my country, but thanks :)

[5KProduction]

I bought this drive yesterday did a quick format using windows 7 64bit and from command prompt "chkdsk /r" no errors encountered. Then today tried powering it on and "No Response"!

Funny thing is I have had a story station before and that is still works.

Returning it back this weekend.

[showbizsimon]

That MAC formatting advice has been a lifesaver. Thank you so much. Very nicely presented.

[davomrmac]

@showbizsimon Thank you.

[MrNukesftw]

>Using external hard drive

Come on bro, get a internal.....

^_^

[thecrazygardener]

Thank you for your help :)

[thetoygang]

Mine wont even turn on.... I've only had it for 4 months -___-

[sy2pie]

my story station is smoking and smells like burning HELP MEEEEE!!!!

[davomrmac]

@sy2pie turn it off!

[sy2pie]

@davomrmac now what?

[davomrmac]

@sy2pie Contact Samsung for warranty service or the retailer you bought it from.

[RedTellus]

@sy2pie let in run 4 another 24h...

[ben1790]

Straight out the box this is formatted with FAT32, which kinda blows if you need to transfer files larger than 4Gb. You might want to backup the softwares that come with it before reformatting to NTFS

[davomrmac]

@ben1790 Thanks for your comment.

[Kawalinho]

Does this works on Windows 7? I've been reading things, and it says it works on Vista, XP and Mac PC's, but nothing about Windows 7! Thanks

[davomrmac]

@Kawalinho Yes it does.

[Dhilan100]

is this sotrage device fat32 or ntfs? ... i been reading customer reviews saying it being in fat32

[davomrmac]

@Dhilan100 I cannot remember myself as I just reformatted it.

[Dhilan100]

i heard this external hdd is very stable

[davomrmac]

@Dhilan100 Mine are still working fine one year on.

[Dhilan100]

@davomrmac thats definately convinced me to get one but i can only find 1tb for under £100 at argos

[davomrmac]

@Dhilan100 Try ebuyer or Amazon.

[ivanovisk]

tnks

[alexpereira1]

Great!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!. Alex

[HugoLedZeppelin]

Does anyone know answer me, what is the name of the commercial music video?

[lifeforce109]

why should anyone care about the packaging and unboxing? get to the point!

[davomrmac]

@ian171000 They must have added this in the firmware.

[K6E6]

I just got one and i am wondering if it will work on windows 7? i am looking tobuy a laptop and ill propbs get windows 7. could youor anyone please tell me. thank you

[davomrmac]

@K6E6 It should be absolutely fine.

[K6E6]

@davomrmac ok thank you

just got an idea, ill take it to one of my friends an test it out abd i will let you know.

[K6E6]

@davomrmac hi there, when i first watched this i was wanting windows 7, changed my mined to a mac now i have a few questions to ask.

What kind of Mac OS do you need for this hard drive to work with.

I am using the hard drive on my pc now and i have lots of data on it, when it does the erase, will my data be safe?

thank you.

[davomrmac]

@K6E6 Any Mac OS will work with this drive. However, when you reformat you will lose your data.

[K6E6]

@davomrmac thank you for the good news, but the bad is too bad lol, i'll try a way of using lots of usb pens to put data on.

[davomrmac]

@K6E6 Just plug in first, it might not need reformatting.

[fruitbreak]

I just bought one of these drives and was a little puzzled how to format it so thanks for the help!

[davomrmac]

@fruitbreak Glad it helped.

[MaggieMacnab]

I'm on a MacBook and get no dialog box at all when the drive mounts. Do I just drag and drop my drive onto the icon? There doesn't seem to be a status bar either. I've tried talking to Samsung (several times!) and they are so pc oriented, they weren't able to help. Great tech support, guys.

[stuartsti]

does any1 know if you can use it with a xbox 360?

[Shizzless]

You can use any external hard drive without a power adapter on your 360. But only to carry media. So no saving to the harddrive or dl'ing demo's to it. Just pictures/video's/music to play on the 360.

[bigdima3]

shit ,i just saw this thing for 90 quid on amazon

[miketoons]

Very useful review and tutorial for Mac users.

[chrisakacrow07]

does anybody know if this hard drive is compatible with a ps3

[K6E6]

yeah it works i use it on mines

[3trousers]

Yeah cool for mac users , had the same formatting problems as everyone else, now sorted . thanx a lot dude

Dartanian

[DoctorProperty]

Very helpful for us Mac users - thanks a lot and keep up the good work.

[davomrmac]

Thanks for your nice comment. I aim to deliver useful tidbits of info, glad this is of use.

[wickedexp]

Can I transfer my files from my PC & view them on my Mac?

[FIxt00l]

Of course you can do this, any files like photo and multimedia and documents can be transfered between any systems, Windows, Unix/Linux, Mac...This hard drive is just a transporting tool, similar to a vehicle that can drive on any street between any cities.

[henrysmurf]

@wickedxp If you format the drive as FAT then it will work with both Mac and PC. Hope this helps.

[jasonwaters1]

does it connect to samsung hdtv's that have usb capability??

[djmisplacedmarblesTV]

the on/off is a really nice touch and the click is solid.

decent drive. shame about the 1 USB but agreed on thumbs up.

drive is 85 quid on amazon now btw .

[Newbpwng]

got it change the format or you will only be able to put files of 4gb maximum size

[Tokiopopski]

What format is mac, windows, and linux compatible?

[spliffsly]

oh man thanks for running through the partitioning for mac users. I sat there an tried erase and partition about 6 times getting errors and hoping the next time it would work like a total fool.

I did have a look at the options to format to GUID or Apple partition first, but figured master boot record was the correct choice since I wasn't using it as a boot drive.

Anyway thanks again for the tip. My drive is now formatted correctly.

[cody8005]

very helpful review, thank you.

[SuperDuperUberTuber]

Do you know if there is going to be a U.K. release of a USB2-only 2TB version of this drive ?

I think a USB2 *and* ESATA one is due soon but I'm more in need of space than speed at the moment.

I e.mailed Samsung a few days ago but they've not replied.

I had intended to buy Western Digital 2TB My Books (as I'm used to My Books) but all the reviews at Amazon were lousy - indicating a lot of units with misaligned power ports had hit the markets.

[voltjutsu]

sir can i ask for your help? i was trying to format my samsung portable from fat32 to ntfs on win vista when i accidentally clicked on delete volume. the hdd icon disappeared and i cannot access my portable drive outside disk management, how can i recover it? please help me thanks

[H4NDCRAFTED]

Does it POWER DOWN! I wanna use it for timemachine, does it power down when not being used or when mac hibernates etc ?

[davomrmac]

Yes, mine does.

[Reinierbonis]

Hey davomrmac, Thanks for this review. I have a question and i hope u can help me. I'm going to buy this external HD but i'm using a MacBook Pro Mac OS 10.6 and i'm using Windows 7 on my Desktop PC. I want the HD to be compatible for both OS. How can i do that? Gr Reinier

[xelacrypt]

i have exact same situation, i use NTFS partition and i use NTFS-3G software on my mac to enable it's communication with NTFS partition :) just google for NTFS-3G and read about it

[davomrmac]

They do have little feet, but they will not stack. Unless perhaps you put some sort of aftermarket rubber feet on, that might work.

[H4NDCRAFTED]

I would stack, the metal will heat sync into the drives vents above ? questionable how much harm that could do to it's life ?

[fkmetiff]

plug and play brilliant but pain in the ass to use also as time machine

[fkmetiff]

Please explain how to set this up to run with my iMac24 for back-ups, general file saves for both the mac and my PC. I need to partition the drive 2 way or 3 way?

[JacanaProductions]

Thanks, I was getting the error message you mentioned while trying to partition the drive to use with my MBP. A really nice looking drive and for the price $129 with free shipping (NewEgg in the USA ) it's a bloody bargain!

[MoTsChIx]

Hi guys!

At first sry for my english, its very bad.

I looking for a HDD for a long time and now i see this, the only question i have : Is this hdd fast?

and thanks for this video!

[gamesupdate]

Hey

- Cheers for this review, it sounds like a great product, would you say this is the best external hard drive out there? It certainly sounds it from the write up you give it!

I've had a world of problems with Western Digital so I'm looking to change ASAP, oddly enough I kept encountering problems with the usb connection of all things - I trust the Samsung connection doesn't break easily!

[davomrmac]

Very solid still, no connection problems for me.

[gamesupdate]

Cheers - I'll get one on your recommendation :).

[davomrmac]

Forgot to mention. Fine for storage, not great for capturing video to, it is too slow for that.

[DARi05]

I've done a week of reseach and this is the best quality for money/value ratio! Western Digital external drives have many problems, they crash and lose all your data. But this drive looks fantastic and has a 32 MB cache!! Samsung did a great job with the quality of the product, nice finishing, good design and very good price! Samsung were smart and clever enough to carefully pack that HDD into a Green Package so it will protect the drive while shocks may occur during delivery!

[ktalent08]

dont understand why they have a light u can dim

[themorfill]

If you are using this to hold movies as part of a home cinema system then you have the option to turn down the light to avoid being distracted when watching a film.

[peptopro17]

so that the younger kid nerds can show their friends

[a3ads]

Thanks to you i just bought this hard Drive!!!! Keep up the good work!!!

[davomrmac]

That is good news. This is one of the few products I have purchased (rather than it being a loan product). So good in fact that I purchased two.

[phototristan]

This is a great drive, very quiet! I'm using it on Mac and found your OSX format instructions very helpful.

[davomrmac]

Note to everyone. I have discovered one negative on this external hard drive. They cannot be stacked on top of each other. They slip off due to the curved design. Shame.

[ceterafan123]

I've got a 1TB external drive, for 69 pounds!!! And it's just a black box, so you can stack them on top of each other!

[MrXxxgedxxx]

Great. I have just seen this and looks a lot better than some of the other ExHDD that I have seen.

[andrejbc]

Why S.M.A.R.T. Status is not supported ?

[jmasterrules102]

great tip

[Rion83]

Thanks Dave.