Hitachi LifeStudio Plus 500GB External Hard Drive Review

Hitachi LifeStudio Plus Reinvents the Hard Drive

I am no stranger to the external hard drive—I have 2 connected to my macbook—but it can be said that I was a stranger to the portable hard drive. Previously, I had always copied (via wireless network) files from my hard drives over to my PS3 in order to watch them on my TV. I didn’t know what I was missing, not having a portable hard drive! With the Hitachi LifeStudio Mobile Plus, I have a lot more options! I use the bigger fellow (500GB/main hard drive) to back up my photos, and the detachable USB drive (4GB) to easily transfer files to my Ps3. What I love about the unit as a whole is that is is not only compact in size, but it also just makes sense. What I mean is, the little base to store the hard drive upright just has a simple USB connector, and the USB drive magnetically attaches to the front of the stand.

My New Travel Companion

I could never see myself taking one of my 2TB external hard drives with me on vacation—there are too many cords/cables and the drives are too heavy and bulky, plus I worry about them being damaged. I don’t have that concern with the Hitachi LifeStudio Plus. The amount of storage and the portability of the unit as a whole make this product perfect for business or personal travel. I could really see this being used by bloggers such as I, who might attend conferences across the country.

Because 2 Back Up Sources Aren’t Enough

The feature that seems to have a lot of people really excited is the included software LifeStudio. You can backup 3GB of data easily, as well as view your files in an interesting 3D viewing area. There are some television shows and news you can take a look at, but I have my favourite sources for that sort of thing, so I don’t think I’ll be making use of those features. If you live in the US there are a lot of extra shows and news sources that you’ll have access to.

I tried using LifeStudio a few times, but because I always have so many applications running (and a million tabs in my web browser), my old little macbook just can’t take the extra burden on its memory. This really has nothing to do with the quality of the LifeStudio aspect of this hard drive, and I’m sure that many people would see this (and the free 3GB backup space) to be worthwhile additions to this product, and worth the slight extra cost over other products of this type.

Organizing the Office

When we talk about home or office organization, we sometimes forget to think about digital organization. If you’ve ever misplaced or lost an important document or precious photo, you know that it is important to have these things backed up and properly organized for easy finding. It is a good idea to scan in important documents (and back them up online, too) such as tax papers, photocopies of passports and visas, insurance papers, etc.

In our effort to move toward a paperless office, Greg and I have adopted the habit of scanning and incoming papers with our Fujitsu ScanSnap and immediately putting the document in to its proper place on our hard drive. Greg will be writing a series on going paperless during August/September’s Lifelong Learner and Back to College Event.

There are three other models which I’d like to mention: the LifeStudio Mobile, which doesn’t include the 4GB USB drive, the LifeStudio Desk and the LifeStudio Desk Plus. The Desk models come in 1TB and 2TB sizes, while the Mobile comes in 300GB and 500GB sizes (and in either black or white). Click here for technical specs on the LifeStudio Mobile Plus.

You can purchase this Hitachi LifeStudio Mobile Plus 500GB Hard Drive (between $59 and $150) on Amazon.com, Best Buy, Newegg.com and many other places, as listed here.

We were sent this hard drive in order to provide our honest thoughts. We were not compensated in any other way.