The Seagate Gaming : Firecuda : Marvel : Black Panther : External Hard Drive (to give its full name) is a 2TB portable HDD (Hard Disk Drive). For those already initiated into the spheres of gaming and storage devices, this is really all you need to know. Nevertheless, allow me to indulge further in the reviewing process.
I’ve had a love/hate relationship with external hard drives over the years. As with many things in life, when they work, you take them for granted. When they don’t work, it can leave you in agony. As it happens, currently I have a 4TB drive with lots of work backed up onto it which I can’t access – but you don’t want to read about my woes, do you?
The package was pushed through the letterbox in my front door along with all the other mail I receive. When I picked it up off the floor, I was surprised by how light (167g) and how thin (1.45 x 8 x 12.25 cm) it was. My first ever hard drive was a chunky, 1GB device which resembled a breeze block in size and weight. Due to the advances in design & engineering, I now have a whopping 2TB USB drive which is the size of my thumb, although painfully slow. So my interest in this new hard drive was piqued to start with.
This Special Edition Hard Drive which was launched in late 2022 in partnership with Marvel is emblazoned with officially licensed imagery of our hero T’Challa in full Black Panther (BP) attire. The textured pattern of his vibranium-enriched suit covers the top face while the Black Panther logo is pictured embossed on the underside. Other BP characters have also had the same treatment as indeed have other Marvel figures. Each character has been given their own LED light colour which can be customised to suit your own preferences along with the pulsating pattern of the light display. T’Challa’s default colour is magenta.
There isn’t a great deal to say about unboxing this device except that this Firecuda hard drive is compatible with PC, Mac, PlayStation, and Xbox. It comes with a USB power cable which does require a computer or console with a USB-A port. I used a USB-A to C adaptor I had to connect to my MacBook and this worked fine. I found transfer speeds to be quite acceptable too and I’m sure the gamers out there will be suitably satiated with the storage capacity and speeds too.
“Yes, but does it come with Marvel stickers?” I hear you ask. Well yes, it surely does along with Seagate and Firecuda stickers too.
When you connect the drive to your laptop, the Black Panther icon appears on the desktop. I had to search for it as the dark colour of the drive icon was camouflaged against the dark desktop background of my laptop. The drive is preloaded with Chromebook, Mac and Windows “Start Here” files. Clicking these will guide you through the product registration process and activating the one-year limited warranty and one-year of Rescue Data Recovery Services.
I have had no cause (yet) to use the Rescue Data Recovery Service but knowing it’s there gives me the reassurance I need if the worse should happen.
The Toolkit software that is installed on your Mac or Windows PC allows you to configure data syncing and the RGB LED display settings. Data syncing works by creating Mirror folders on your computer’s user folder and on the drive. So, in practice, whatever you place in the Mirror folder on your pc will get copied to the Mirror folder on the hard drive. Clever huh?
There’s no denying that this hard drive is primarily aimed at the needs of gamers who happen to be Black Panther admirers. Having said that, there’s no reason why anyone else can’t benefit from this device. It’s not as if you need a Wakanda passport or know the Wakanda national anthem to show your allegiance to the Black Panther!
For more detailed information on this hard drive and full specs, check it out on the Seagate Website.
If you feel ready to take up the mantle in the footsteps of T’Challa, you can buy this hard drive on Amazon:
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