Seagate One Touch 4TB external hard drive review

Seagate One Touch 4TB: 30-second review

The Seagate One Touch 4TB is a relatively nondescript-looking portable HDD which is bus-powered directly through the USB-C data cable. The drive is relatively compact and slips easily into a laptop bag or pocket, making it highly portable. Whilst the exterior casing is mid-grey plastic, it’s nicely finished and feels robust.

This portable drive features an HDD rather than an SSD, which does make this drive cheaper than some of the latest ultrafast drives I’ve looked at recently. Even so, at £179/US$199 at the time of writing this review, it’s still relatively expensive. For that money, you get the drive itself and a short 50cm USB-C cable to connect it to your machine.

Getting started is easy: the drive comes formatted in exFAT, so it’s easily recognised on Mac, PC, and Linux systems. Opening on either iOS or Windows machines reveals free software that guides you through initial registration, downloads the Security Toolkit, and highlights partner deals Seagate has set up with Adobe, Synology, and Mylio.

In this review, I’ve downloaded and installed the Toolkit, which is basically split into two parts. It includes a backup feature, which lets you choose different backup options for your computer and drive, and a security option, which lets you add a password and encrypt the drive’s contents.

Alongside those software options, there are also partner deals, and all offer a limited trial period before you have to move to a full subscription. However, the Synology Deep Search is well worth mentioning. Whilst you only get six months of free use before needing to pay, if you need to manage multiple files and have a search feature driven by AI that is far better than your standard search options, especially on a Mac, then this really might be of interest.

As a standard portable HDD, the 4TB capacity is perfect if you work with media files and need space for HD and 4K video. Whilst HDD technology limits speed, the benchmarking tests still showed impressive transfer rates, reaching over 140MB/s in some tests for both read and write.

That transfer speed let me edit 4K footage shot on the GoPro Mission 1 ILS directly from the drive in Final Cut Pro X, and while the machine and drive occasionally had to catch up, editing a five-minute production was extremely smooth.

Its real strength, however, is securely backing up your laptop or desktop data, and the included Toolkit software lets you run through a series of setup options with easy-to-follow prompts that work on both Mac and PC.

Unlike many HDD and SSD portable drives that offer software encryption, this drive offers hardware AES 256-bit encryption that is managed through the Seagate Toolkit software. For my money, that makes it one of the best external hard drives for security. Through that software, you can encrypt the drive with a password lock. Because this security is hardware-based rather than software, it also meant that, through the benchmarking, when I tested the drive before and after the hardware encryption had been activated, the performance difference was minimal.

It’s obvious from the aesthetics and material choices that this is a mid-range portable HDD, but the tests impressed me with its performance and overall quality. I'd definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a middle-of-the-road, no-frills, high-capacity HDD for general storage and backup, with the real value here being the Toolkit included with the drive.

Seagate One Touch 4TB: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? From £95
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Directly from Seagate and online retailers.

At present, the Seagate One Touch portable HDD is available in two different capacities - 2TB and 4TB, which retail for $160 and $200 respectively. In the UK, it's priced at £112 and £176.

You can buy it direct from the Seagate website, where you'll also find a list of all stockists, which includes most major main online retailers.

It comes in three colors: blue, grey, and white.

• Value: 5 / 5

Seagate One Touch 4TB: Specs

Drive Type: Portable external HDD
Storage Capacity: 2TB or 4TB
Interface: USB-C
Power: USB-powered, no external adapter required
Dimensions (2TB): 117 × 81 × 14mm
Weight (2TB): 156g
Compatibility: Windows and macOS
Security: Password protection and hardware encryption
Backup Software: Seagate Toolkit

Seagate One Touch 4TB: Design

Lifting the drive from the box, and the 4TB version I’m looking at feels nice and tactile, with a wave surface texture that adds a little interest to the mid-grey colouring. The full build is plastic, yet it feels decent enough, with a single USB-C port at the back and, thankfully, a small white indicator LED right next to it.

In terms of size and weight, it’s just a little larger than the compact 2.5-inch laptop-style HDD inside, with the casing measuring 115.3 × 80 × 20.9mm. The 4TB version I’ve looked at in this review weighs 268g. The USB-C cable is a bit longer than the ones I’ve seen with some other portable drives recently, measuring 50cm, which gives good reach to a desktop mini PC or laptop, depending on what you’re using.

Whilst the One Touch name initially suggests fingerprint security, it actually refers to the company’s product line that offers one-click backup for your files. It also offers automatic backup folder mirroring and is plug-and-play, so the name really reflects how simple the drive is to use.

Alongside the hardware comes a software suite, with installers on the drive's root that you can run once you plug it in. The drive comes pre-formatted in exFAT, but you can reformat it to match your native OS, Mac or PC.

The software installer lets you install the files you need for the more advanced backup and security features, and I liked how streamlined the installation process was, with it guiding you through the initial setup step by step.

• Design: 4 / 5

Seagate One Touch 4TB: Features

The Seagate One Touch portable external hard drive is sold by the company as a premium portable, on-the-go backup solution, designed to be used equally in the home or out and about.

This high-capacity portable hard drive comes with software options ready to install. These let you back up and secure your files, while software partnerships offer extended trial periods for apps to help you manage and organise files on the drive and on your host machine.

The drive is available in three colour options: dark blue, space grey, and white. It’s also provided with a long USB-C cable, at 50cm, that runs from the drive to your host machine. This means your machine needs a USB-C port to work with this drive.

The drive comes with bundled software, including the Seagate Toolkit, which requires registration but no other subscription costs. There’s also a two-month trial of Adobe Creative Cloud Pro, and six-month trials of Mylio and Synology Deep Search. You also get the superb Seagate Rescue Data Recovery Service. If the worst happens to your files, you can send the drive to Seagate, and they will see if they can recover anything that still exists.

While this drive can be used as a portable working drive, Seagate has marketed this as a portable backup solution, and as such, it doesn’t highlight the transfer rate. However, with USB 3.2 Gen 1, essentially USB 3, you can expect a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 5Gbps, 625MB/s.

However, since this contains an HDD, we can expect transfer rates between 120 and 150MB/s, which suggests Seagate matched the internal hardware and USB interface to maximise performance for its intended use as a portable backup rather than a working drive.

• Features: 5 / 5

Seagate One Touch 4TB: Performance

Getting started with the Seagate One Touch 4TB portable HDD is as easy as with any portable drive, and in this test, I used it on the MacBook Pro M1 Max and the HP EliteBook XG 21 laptop, along with a series of mini PCs.

As I moved from macOS to Windows 11 Pro and Home, the Seagate One Touch performed similarly across all operating systems, which is great to see, and the simple USB-C connection was fully compatible with all the operating systems I tried.

Because the drive came pre-formatted in exFAT, it was instantly recognised on both Mac and PC. I first installed the software on the MacBook Pro M1 Max to check out the backup options and security features, and I was impressed by how easy it was to set up.

The initial stage requires you to register the drive and create a Seagate account, but once that’s done, it guides you through downloading the Seagate Toolkit installer, installing it, and then walking you through the setup options one after the other.

For backup on the Mac, even though I have Time Machine activated, I selected a portion of my MacBook Pro’s hard drive, and once that initial setup was complete, the backup process started. What I like about the Toolkit is that it’s quick to access, and you can edit your backup plan at any time.

Another point is that if you need to use the machine during a backup, as I did when I initially set up the plan, you can pause it so it doesn’t slow down your system, then restart it later. You can then schedule it to run overnight when you’re not using the machine.

Likewise, on the PC, which doesn’t have such a sophisticated backup system as part of the OS, you can choose to mirror your mini PC, desktop, or laptop hard drive, and the registration and initiation process is just as easy.

The second part of the included software is the security option, which uses AES 256-bit encryption and is activated through the Security Toolkit on both Mac and PC. It takes a little more setup, you need to enable certain security options and unplug and re-plug the drive for the installation to complete.

But again, it’s extremely well documented, and the software guides you through every step, including adding an email address and phone number in case you forget the password you set.

As backup software and an off-the-shelf, easy-to-use solution, this is as good as any paid option out there and is certainly easy to get your head around.

Those two bits of bundled software really do balance the added cost of a standard 4TB portable HDD, and if you are looking for something cheaper, Seagate does make cheaper portable HDDs with this capacity. If you’re using this for business or your home office, I would highly recommend paying the extra for those security and backup features, since you’re only paying an extra $40 / £40 compared with the non-secure options.

When it comes to performance, I used the drive for quick video editing in Final Cut Pro X and then CapCut, using files from the GoPro Mission 1 ILS. I was impressed by how fast this drive’s transfer rates were, both reading the files from the drive and writing the final render back to it during the test.

I started with a simple HD edit, and even with footage shot in GoPro Log, it supplied and wrote data at the speed the system demanded. Even when I upgraded to 4K footage, it was still more than capable, with only the occasional pause as files were written. I’d still opt for an SSD over an HDD, but if you are caught out and need large-capacity storage on the move, then this will do the job. The only issue is that it doesn’t dissipate heat well, so it will thermal throttle during longer editing sessions.

However, when I switched to editing stills shot on the Sony A7 IV and scans of Ilford FP4 Plus, the drive was more than capable of handling edits in DxO PhotoLab on the Mac and PC.

As this drive is designed for archiving, it's a great option for small businesses looking for machine backup, photographers who want a solid, portable drive they can use in and out of the studio or anyone wanting a portable backup drive. The plastic exterior is lightweight, and it feels relatively robust. Plus, you can password-protect it for security.

• Performance: 5 / 5

Seagate One Touch 4TB: Final verdict

The Seagate One Touch 4TB portable HDD is a great all-round option for backup and a decent secure working drive for light media use. The design and build lean a bit toward plastic, but because it uses a single cable for power and data, you don’t have to carry a separate power supply, which makes it extremely convenient for field use.

It’s clear this is designed as a backup drive rather than a working drive, and with HDD rather than SSD technology, transfer rates are slower. So if you are looking for a high-capacity working drive, this is perfectly capable, but you might want to look at an SSD option.

This drive is marketed and better suited to backup and archive use, and the 4TB of capacity at this price is well balanced. What really sets this drive apart, and gives it an edge over many others, is its AES 256-bit hardware encryption, plus software that's exceptionally straightforward and easy to use. There’s just nothing complex about it. It does the job without going into any major complexities and offers excellent fallback when you need it.

Whilst the aesthetics and build quality are very middle of the road, it’s all solid enough. After carrying the drive around for a week in my kit bag, it stood up to knocks and bashes without much issue, proving the plastic exterior is as robust as many metal options.

If you are in the market for a high-capacity portable backup drive with hardware encryption and excellent bundled software, then I would highly recommend the Seagate One Touch 4TB HDD. It’s a well-balanced storage option without any aesthetic frills, with a main focus on pure functionality.

Should I buy the Seagate One Touch 4TB?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

For more storage solutions, we've tested the best portable SSDs and the best NAS hard drives.