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Seagate has an extensive range of external drives with models based around both SSDs and HDDs. The latest range of drives from the HDD product line is the Ultra Touch HDD. At the time of launch, there are three capacities in the Ultra Touch line-up, a 2TB entry model, 4TB (the drive we are looking at here) and a 5TB flagship drive. With a nod to sustainability, the Ultra Touch range contains at least 30% post-consumer recycled materials and the packaging is 100% recyclable. The drive is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Chromebook via its USB-C connection.
Using the CrystalDiskInfo utility, the 2.5in drive inside the Ultra Touch is recognised as a 4TB Seagate Barracuda which has a 5,400rpm spindle speed and 128MB of cache. The Seagate Ultra Touch HDD uses a standard USB3.0 interface, and with a 5,400rpm HDD on board, to be honest, there is not much point in adding anything faster. In our testing, read and write speeds of around 130 – 140 MB/s were typical for this drive.
Seagate's Toolkit app makes backing up data easier by enabling you to create your own backup plans (currently Windows only) as well as the creation of folders that can be synced between your PC or Mac and the drive. You can also make the drive secure by setting up a password and for extra piece of mind, the drive has AES-256 hardware encryption.
Bundled with the Ultra Touch is a 6-month complimentary subscription to Mylio Photos plan. Mylio is a local media storage solution that keeps your photos on your various devices in sync and organises all your photos and videos into a single, well-organised secure library, and there is also a 6-month free trial of the Dropbox Backup plan, both of these are very useful tools to have.
Seagate backs the drive with a two-year warranty but bundles in a two-year Seagate Rescue Recovery Services plan. The plan provides access to Seagate’s technical services which will assist with data recovery in the event of a drive failure.
We found the 4TB Seagate Ultra Touch on Amazon UK for £132.11 (inc VAT) HERE.
Pros
- Smallish Format.
- Large capacity options.
- AES-256 hardware encryption.
- Uses recycled materials.
Cons
- Not the fastest external drive.
KitGuru says: Seagate's Ultra Touch offers a huge amount of storage in a compact space and is ideal if you care more about storage capacity than the speed of data transfers. The fact it uses recycled materials will appeal to many and it also comes with the very useful Seagate Toolkit utility to make the most of it.
