Fantom Drives 10TB External Hard Drive HDD, GFORCE 3 Pro 7200RPM, USB 3.0, Aluminum, Black, GF3B10000UP

Edit: I'm starting to think that all of the problems listed below could be simply due to a faulty power strip I had connected them to. I bought a SATA-USB bridge and verified the drives themselves are definitely ok. One looked used/refurbished however, once I cracked it open, by the dust collected inside and stripped screw heads. I'd used it only a couple times and wrap it up in between uses (no time for dust to collect inside while I've owned it) so it looks like they're refurbishing them and selling them as new - at least the cases, anyway. I upped my rating from one to three stars because I currently think the problems they were having were simply due to a faulty power strip I was connecting them to. Three instead of five stars for the one drive looking like it was used, judging by the dust inside and stripped screw heads under the warranty-void-if-broken sticker. If I find out it wasn't the power strip after all, I'll re-edit this review again.------------------------------Original Review:----------------------------------------------------------------------Okay, I've bought a total of four of these now, and finding them to be slowly but surely reliably unreliable after only very little usage.This is a big problem. Most people would just plug and re-plug them until it finally worked, and probably lose their files to corruption, and not realize it.I don't use them a whole lot, so by the time they're doing it, it's too late to return them.I am as careful with these as I am with an egg. Same with pulling the cords in and out, nobody is as careful or specific in their movements as I am. They've had very, very little use. The ones that disconnect, as described below, I've probably plugged in just a small handful of times, like, literally, under ten times.They have a super solid, awesome aluminum hard case, it's practically a Faraday cage, I like the case a lot.But there's something up with the soldering inside, on either the USB cord or the power cord hole soldering, internally. I am getting them to work, seemingly by keeping tension on the cord, with slight pressure to the left, as they are in use, as viewed from behind, looking at the holes.Disconnecting problem - 2/4 of the drives:I definitely swapped both cords out, multiple times, and have gone through multiple different ports on the computer. Other drives I have don't do it in the same USB ports on the computer. The only thing in common with the problem has got to be the soldering on the inside, so I'm 99.9% certain it's definitely internal to the drive case. It's not the drives themselves, those are good. Once it disconnects during file transfer, you have to run chkdsk to fix corruption, a big time sink. The problem must be either with the USB interface soldering, or the power cord soldering on the interface board, I'm certain after switching both cords out with multiple other cords, and seeing the same thing happen on only this type of drive, at least two out of four of them, independent from what cord I'm using. The third had a slightly different but similar and equally devastating problem, I talk about below. It's not the cord. It's not the internal actual drive. It's not the case itself, obviously. It's the USB interface on the board inside that must be faulty, or the power interface. You can see and feel the wiggle, when you plug it in, both for the power cord and for the USB cord, which are right next to each other.Fluctuating speed problem, 1/4 of the drives:The first time I observed a problem, I was copying files with the super helpful FreeFileSync software, and I was seeing the copy speed fluctuate between 50-150 megabytes/second all the way down to just a few kilobytes/second, back and forth, super fast to super, super slow. So slow that I saw something was causing a huge problem, so I stopped that, ran chkdsk and it found corrupted files and supposedly fixed it. Then I could start copying again and it could copy at normal speed mysteriously again. I think what was happening there was again, loose soldering, but I'm not sure. I've seen that a few times, on just one of the three.I bought the second drive because the first one was fluctuating speed, causing corrupted files while copying files. No good, then you have to run chkdsk, and copy again, who knows if you got all the corruption, if I find out in 10 years the files are toast, that will be indeed quite disappointing. Same with the other two, I kept buying them because they were not working right, not realizing exactly what the problem was until I had all four of them in a row, testing them one by one, seeing the same thing exactly - the disconnecting problem - on two of the four of them. Big mistake getting several, part of my reasoning was to have swap-able cords, which was helpful in pinning the problem to the interior board. I tried USB cords from other drives too, that work fine, so it can't be that all the cords they send out are faulty. It's got to be the internal board soldering. I have other drives that never do this.If it disconnects, it reconnects moments later, on and off like that, until it chokes, and can't reconnect, run chkdisk, it's fine again. So what I do is I catch it while it's connected, disconnect it with the usual official manual disconnect routine, and plug it in again, with tension on the cord. If it stays on, it will stay on just fine for hours, copy a whole 16 terabytes if you want, when it's working, but I have to jimmy with it a lot to make it work right, and who knows if it will want to work if I ever really actually need it. What I'm thinking is maybe I'll take the drives out and stick them in my computer. But then I can't use the awesome super solid aluminum case. But if they aren't working anyway, the awesome aluminum case is pointless, so I might just have to do that.Another weird thing about them is how the box says USB 3.2 speed, and the USB hole in the back of the aluminum case itself has printed 'USB 3.0' I thought the advertisement said 3.1 but I read it just now and it says '3.0'. I didn't notice any difference when I used my USB 3.1 port.I'd love it if someone can give me better advice than to say take them out of their hard aluminum case and stick them in your computer and use the SATA port and/or re-solder the USB interface board myself. The case itself is a huge plus. But not if the interface doesn't let the drives work. At least if I take them out I'll hopefully be able to see the lose soldering point for myself, to prove I'm right, and prove the drives work using just the SATA computer interface. I'll update this if I do any of that, for now I might just give up on them and buy another brand.I think this company is going in the right direction, with the super solid aluminum case, but they need to provide a working reliable USB interface to complete their product. At this point I'm about a grand in the hole, with reliably unreliable drives because I liked the drive case, and gave the company the benefit of the doubt. I think they should start being very, very honest with themselves, and with myself, and tell me exactly how to fix the multiple drives I've purchased from them, even if I have to re-solder the interior boards myself.

I originally had bought one of these external hard drives with only 2 tb bout 3 or 4 years ago has been working GREAT, but decided I need more storage for my Xbox one (yes a little out dated gaming console) but I figured if I wasn't going to get the newer series x that I just need more space, got to lookin at these and I can't believe how much less money it cost to by more than 2 tbs, the 2tb hard drive was dang near 200 when I bought it, but seen a 14tb and couldn't believe it was under 200, so naturally I bout it, also didn't know that I could have 2 hard drives plugged into my Xbox and the best part bout this brand of hard drives is that the consoles will automatically configure the hard drives with just a click of a button....awesome product recommend this for anyone needing a hard drive

3rd update - coming soon2nd update: now suddenly my data showed up on drive so I quickly transferred it to a drive im more confident in, and I will be checking speeds, use-time, & specs & also looking physically to verify manufacturer before I decide whether Ill be sending it back or not...1st update: AFTER MOVING JUST 50GB TO THIS 14TB 7200RPM FANTOM DRIVE, THEN CHECKING TO ENSURE THAT THE FILES HAD TRANSERRED & FUNCTIONING PROPERLY, AS SOON AS i DELETED THE FILES ON SOURCE DRIVE TO MAKE SPACE, 100% OF THE 5OGB DATA SUDDENLY VANISHED FROM THE NEW FANTOM DRIVE SO NOW IM NEVER BUYING FANTOM AGAIN AS LONG AS I LIVE PLUS I FOUNDOUT FANTOM QUIETLY REDUCED ITS WARRANTY FROM 3 YRS TO 1 SO BUYERS BEWARE DONT BUY THIS CRAPPY DRIVE OR YOULL PROBABLY BE SORRY NOW IM GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE A PROJECT OUT OF ATTMPTING DATA RECOVERY ON THE FAILED FANTOM DRIVE. IF I RECALL CORRECTLY IT MIGHT NOT EVEN MOUNT BUT IF IT DOES MOUNT NO FILES SHOW UP)Original Review:I just got a 14tb and its super loud making me worry if its ok - so I compared it to my 8tb 7200rpm Fantom (same exact enclosure but 8tb drive) and sure enough it is waaaay quieter than the 14tb but then after more screwing around I also noted that if you add additional padding below the 14tb drive then it is almost as quiet as the 8tb is, so while Im definitely still feeling paranoid that the new drive could have an issue & result in data loss & mechanical failure, I also think that the increased weight of the larger drive meant that it should have recieved additional padding/dampening where the stand and table meet, and or beefier better-padded feet on bottom of stand, and maybe even some dampening where the stand and the drive mate. As it stands, it seems that even a trifold napkin underneath will make this drive quiet enough to use as long as its not too close to you. Basically, the weight of the higher cap drive seems to be causing the stand to depress the feet at which point the plastic stand comes in constant full contact with its resting surface & causes a substantial contant loud hum to to the resulting micro-vibration...also the surface effects the hum as if its not a granite or other non-vibratable minimal resonance surface it will be louder & then even louder yet if its sitting on a somewhat hollow or thinner surface such as a wooden shelf. That said, my 8tb FantomDrive doesnt hum at all on ANY surface. To properly accomodate the added weight of these higher cap drives FD needs to invest a tad more in giving adequate dampening to the otherwise identical-for-all-sizes stands.

Ordered this as a replacement drive, price was acceptable and delivery next day, but no UK power adapter (blade) was provided, the drive is also a little noisy when in use, let's hope the longevity is good and this is a reliable drive to keep my data

I just want to help out the average joe like myself who had trouble finding a compatible EHD to work with their BELL 6131 receiver . This one has worked well so far (2-3 weeks) and formatted in about 20 minutes . All the necessary specs that BELL 6131 requires are met inside the box . DC power , 7200 rpm , no sleep mode etc...The one thing I cannot comment on is its long term use since I've just used it for 3 or so weeks to replace a western digital unit that gave me 8 problem free years until it died during a power outage .I bought the 1 tb size that give you 3oo HD hours ....

I use Fantom USB drives for backup of a SMB bunch of servers for numerous years. These drives run 24/24 and they last at least 5 years. I have two that are 9 and 10 years old and run without any problem.But I bought a replacement Fantom drive last year that last less than a year. It was a 4TB External Hard Drive - USB 3.0/3.1 Gen 1 Silver Aluminum - GFORCE 3 Serie. The problem is that the data got corrupted several times. I finally found the cause of the problem: the internal temperature of the drive is well above 50 degrees Celcius. That is way too hot.All my other Fantom drive were 3TB or less and their temperature range from 39 to 47 C. Do these 4TB drives need forced ventilation? Looking now for a replacement, I am not certain if Fantom drives will make it to the contender list.

As soon as I took it out of the box I knew it was worth money, its got some weight to it. Has a solid buil not cheap or flimsy at all pure aluminum case, also help to keep the heat down. I bought this for movie storage, has no problem what so ever keeping up with me running 3d 4k movies on two screens at times. True plug and play no drivers or updates. Speed are really fast for a HDD drive Copying movie files around 10gigs at 100mbps and much faster then that for smaller files. Totally recommend. Ps also comes with a neat little stand to have it vertical.

Not normal that after only 1 and a half years this device no longer works (the device does not turn on anymore). This support is supposed to give us peace of mind by keeping our data safe (not making us lose it). It's fine to offer a one-year warranty, it's not normal to fail after only 1 and a half years (unless it's of poor quality)‐-------------------------------Pas normal qu'après seulement 1 ans et demi que cet appareil ne fonctionne plus (l'appareil ne s'allume plus).Ce support est supposé nous garder l'esprit tranquille en gardant nos données en sécurité (non pas nous les faire perdre).C'est bien beau offrir une garantie d'un an c'est pas normal de faire défaut après seulement 1 ans et demi (à moins d'être de mauvaise qualité)