TechRadar Review Finds Seagate One Touch 4TB Strong for Backup, Pricey for HDD

The review described the drive as compact enough to slip into a laptop bag or pocket. It is bus-powered through its USB-C data cable and ships with a short 50cm USB-C cable. The casing is mid-grey plastic, but the review said it is nicely finished and feels robust. The One Touch uses an HDD rather than an SSD, which the review said makes it cheaper than some ultrafast drives but still relatively expensive at £179/US$199 at the time of writing.

In its price and availability section, however, TechRadar listed the 2TB and 4TB models at $160 and $200, or £112 and £176 in the UK, and also said pricing started from £95. The review said the drive is available now directly from Seagate and through online retailers, in blue, grey and white.

The drive comes formatted in exFAT, so it is recognized on Mac, PC and Linux systems, according to the review. Free software guides users through initial registration, downloads the Security Toolkit and highlights partner deals Seagate has set up with Adobe, Synology and Mylio.

The Toolkit is divided into backup and security features. The backup option lets users choose different backup settings for their computer and drive, while the security option lets them add a password and encrypt the drive’s contents. TechRadar said the drive uses hardware AES 256-bit encryption managed through the Toolkit, and that benchmark performance differed little before and after the hardware encryption was activated.

In benchmarking, the review said transfer rates reached over 140MB/s in some read and write tests. That speed allowed the reviewer to edit 4K footage shot on a GoPro Mission 1 ILS directly from the drive in Final Cut Pro X. The review said a five-minute production was extremely smooth, although the machine and drive occasionally had to catch up.

The partner offers include limited trial periods before users must move to a full subscription. TechRadar singled out Synology Deep Search, which is free for six months and provides AI-driven file search that the reviewer found far better than standard search options, especially on a Mac.

TechRadar’s verdict called the One Touch 4TB a mid-range, no-frills, high-capacity HDD for general storage and backup, with the Toolkit software providing much of the value. It cited easy setup, high capacity and excellent Toolkit software as strengths, and relatively high cost for 4TB, HDD technology and plastic build as drawbacks. The review gave value a 5/5 score.

Editor's Summary

TechRadar’s review found the Seagate One Touch 4TB performs well for backup and archive use and can handle light 4K editing, with its Toolkit software and hardware encryption as key strengths. The review cited relatively high price, HDD technology and plastic build as drawbacks. Seagate sells the drive in 2TB and 4TB capacities, though the review cited conflicting price figures.