I purchased this to save my recorded programs/movies from my Dishnet Hopper 3. Worked great. I wasn't clear if it came with a usb or not, so I purchased one... DON'T.... It comes with one that works perfectly. I keep it hooked up to the hopper, so the nice short cord is useful... (about 1 ft). If you need a longer one, then perhaps you'll want to purchase one - but not necessary otherwise. It was super easy - plugged it in, a box came up on my TV that asked if I wanted to update and format - I clicked yes and that was it. It was ready for transfer of saved material. The drive itself is approx 5:x4"x 3/4". It is black and has a little flashing light when it's being used. I had things sorted on my Hopper in "files". So far, I cannot figure out how to make folders on the hard drive, so everything is just mixed on the hard drive - that means looking thru about 200 titles - Eh - but the point of the hard drive for us is to save the content if we have to replace the Hopper at some point. It is easy to move the files back and forth.. And you can play the movies from the hard drive. It did take quite a while to transfer, we had about 50% of our Hopper memory - a number of hours. But no biggee to me. So far, I am happy with my purchase, however, time will tell. Having said that, I never hesitate to update my reviews should new info seem useful.