Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Toshiba’s Desktop External Hard Drive offers you both extra storage space, and a comprehensive yet easy-to-use data backup and sync solution. The Toshiba 640GB Drive can handle even the largest digital libraries - it can store up to 128,000 photos, or 160,000 music files, or 240 hours of video. With just a few clicks you can create a digital safety net to help protect files on your computer or other storage devices.

Average Customer Rating:

1.5 out of 5 (12 Reviews)

1 of 12 (8%) customers would recommend this product to a friend.

Customer Reviews for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

1 out of 5

Drive powers down on its own, November 5, 2009
By diedonner from New York

"Just as the others here said, the drive would be better if it did not power down on its own. This generates a "WArning Device Not Properly REmoved" on my screen each time. And it seems to take a minute or more to "wake up" when it goes to sleep, which is a frequent occurrence when idle. Also as another reviewer stated it does not mount properly as an external volume like it should. I have not yet experienced the drive powering down while transferring data as others report. There are similar drives available on the market in the same price/capacity range, but without these extra little headaches. For that reason I would not recommend this product."

What is your level of technical expertise?: Proficient User
How long have you been using this product?: One week to a month

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Review 2 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

1 out of 5

Shuts off, November 4, 2009
By techguy1 from Chicago, IL

"This sucker turns itself off when it wants to (or goes into sleep mode). Extremely irritating when working remotely."

What is your level of technical expertise?: Tech Savvy
How long have you been using this product?: One month to a year

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Review 3 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

1 out of 5

Pain in the butt, November 4, 2009
By DiznyOrdiz from Oakdale, MN

"I bought the 1TB version of this hard drive and have a huge library that I was going to store on here and share on my home network. The hard drive going idle makes that not possible as it shuts off after ~5 minutes.

A resolution to this would be to create a batch file that creates and removes a directory every couple minutes.

Simply paste the code below and put it into a notepad file. Then save this file as keepalive.bat on your C: drive. Run it any time you would like to keep your drive up and running.

(NOTE: Replace [these] with specified information and remove brackets)

@echo off
[drive letter of Toshiba HDD]:
:start
mkdir [name the folder]
choice /c yn /t 120 /d y /m "This will create and delete a directory every 2 minutes. Do not close this window or your hard drive will go idle and turn off."
cls
rmdir [name of the folder created above]
goto start"

What is your level of technical expertise?: Tech Savvy
How long have you been using this product?: Less than a week

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Review 4 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

1 out of 5

Annoying & Frustrating ExHD, November 4, 2009
By Frustrated from Dallas, TX

"Here's another one to add to the previous complaints. The dern thing shuts off after it's been on for what seems like less than 5 minutes to me and everyone is right, you have to manually shut it off and then back on again in order for it to work. I hate it! Need to find my receipt to take it back!"

What is your level of technical expertise?: Proficient User
How long have you been using this product?: One week to a month

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Review 5 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

1 out of 5

Worst External Hard Drive, October 16, 2009
By Birdlover from Beaumont, TX

"I purchased this external hard drive and I will be taking it back. Keeps going to sleep and then just turns off. Takes a minute or two to wake up when it does go to sleep. Shuts off without warning in the middle of coping or emailing files. You have to manually turn it back on. I do not recommend this product."

What is your level of technical expertise?: Proficient User
How long have you been using this product?: Less than a week

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 6 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

4 out of 5

great backups, October 16, 2009
By drahcir from Baltimore MD

"I use this proimarily to back up my Toshiba Laptop and it did the job flawlessly in about 55 minutes.When idle,it does go into a sleep mode but that is no big deal for me.I like the looks,style and it is very quiet."

What is your level of technical expertise?: Tech Savvy
How long have you been using this product?: One week to a month

0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 7 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

2 out of 5

Problems with Drive, October 10, 2009
By thom from Norfolk, VA

"Great drive but shuts off when needed. If they fix this issue, rating would be a 10. Shuts down while idle for a few minutes. It should not totally disappear from "my computer". Must manually hit the on button twice to get it working again. Huge inconvenience.........."

What is your level of technical expertise?: Proficient User
How long have you been using this product?: One week to a month

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Review 8 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

2 out of 5

Good except for glitch, October 6, 2009
By Backup Writer from Chicago, IL

"After 5 minutes the HD goes to sleep, but when you try to access it again, it shuts down completely, requiring a manual restart. Also, problems ejecting from USB port, get error message reading 'The device cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later.'
Other than these, though, it was easy to set up, has a lot of storage space, and its physical design is perfect for what I need."

What is your level of technical expertise?: Proficient User
How long have you been using this product?: Less than a week

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 9 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

1 out of 5

!!!WARNING, WARNING!!!, September 19, 2009
By 88H10 from Ft. Eustis, VA

"THIS EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE IS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. I purchased this product in good faith that it would function as any ExHD should however, if you are not actively using it it shuts off. if you are actively using, it still shuts off. This was occuring every 7-10 minuets and i had to completely power cycle the unit to get it back online, which took no less than one minuet in and of itself. If you are looking for a good ExHD, DO NOT CONSIDER THIS ONE!!!!!!!!!"

What is your level of technical expertise?: Proficient User
How long have you been using this product?: Less than a week

4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

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Review 10 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

1 out of 5

External Hard Drive, September 15, 2009
By JR from Pittsburgh, Pa

"I also have the problem with the drive shutting down and not waking up. I have to manually recycle the power. The supplied backup software is very limited. You can get better as freeware. I'll be returning the drive tomorrow. P.S. While you can find the drive on Toshiba Direct,, there's no information on the Toshiba web."

What is your level of technical expertise?: Tech Savvy
How long have you been using this product?: Less than a week

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 11 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

1 out of 5

Back-up only, September 10, 2009
By slader from San Diego,Ca

"My first ExHD 80gb loud and slow, 2nd was toshiba 320g AWESOME! Perfect in every way.So I insisted on the same brand., this thing is loud, slow, needs ex power and manual on/off, and while you gather files to transfer, it goes to sleep, and takes MORE than a minute to wake up!"

What is your level of technical expertise?: Proficient User
How long have you been using this product?: One month to a year

4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

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Review 12 for Toshiba 640GB Desktop External Hard Drive

Overall Rating:

2 out of 5

Doesn't work like it's supposed to, August 29, 2009
By Pookie4563 from Lincoln, NE

"The hard drive turns itself off after 5 minutes like it is supposed to but then the icons disappear as well. And when I go to my computer to see the drive its gone from there too. I have to manually turn the hard drive back off then on again and reload the software and monitor each time. Of course my scheduled backups and syncs dont happen either because the drive doesnt "mount" to the system as it should. I emailed support a week or so ago and have had NO response or acknowlegement whatsoever so I would not recommend this product at all."

What is your level of technical expertise?: Proficient User
How long have you been using this product?: One week to a month

6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

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