Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive ST305004FPA1E3-RK by Seagate
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Digital camera reviews of Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive ST305004FPA1E3-RK
Digital camera Review: Can't believe this still has a decent rating... it shouldn't!
Summary: 1 Stars
Nobody wants to have a backup device they can't trust. The issues people are reporting are real. Avoid this product. The static switch stops working. The eSata is a nice feature, but they need to document the trade-offs to using it. You really need to have AHCI or RAID, the Intel Matrix Storage Manager, installed BEFORE you install the OS. You will have to re-install the OS if you want this device to work using eSata. This is due to the fact that eSata doesn't support hot-swapping (or unplugging) like a USB external hard drive does. If you want to turn the device on and use it, turn it off and then unplug it using eSata, you MUST reinstall the OS with the AHCI or RAID option (in your BIOS) turned on. Otherwise the unit is "always on" and cannot be turned off (it refuses to be be turned off by the switch). It gets really hot!Digital camera Review: Cool looking, 5 year warranty, stays cool, stays quiet, USB 2
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been in computer IT for 7 years and this is a nice product. Only gets warm, is virtually silent, glows amber. It has a raised relief, touch sensitive power button. You can enable or disable the lighting through the Seagate software. I removed the Seagate installed software, as I don't need the auto-backup function. This is the "Pro" version of the FreeAgent which carries a 5 year warranty, you can't beat it.Digital camera Review: Defective
Summary: 2 Stars
Looks great on paper--triple interface, respectable response time--if only is wasn't defective. FreeAgent Utility IDs it as defective--with RMA info, without any further explanation of why this is so. 1st hard drive I've owned--internal or external--that's defective out of the box.
HD Tach reports absurdly slow stats--eSATA, Firewire (OK, 1394 in Windows-land)--no significant difference. So buyer beware, this "premium" priced external drive is only worth considering if it actually works. It doesn't, and to say I hate returning defective merchandise is an understatement.
Digital camera Review: Defective power switch and poor customer service
Summary: 1 Stars
I have three Seagate 200GB pushbutton backup drives and wanted to add more storage. They had cancelled the stackable series that I already had to make way for the Freeagent Pro series. I bought the 500GB Freeagent Pro to hook up to my mac by Firewire 400. When it arrived the "on" switch didn't work. I troubleshooted it and sent it back to Amazon for replacement(they were great about the return). The second one arrived with the same problem. I emailed and left problem tickets with Seagate. It took them 7 days to generate a human response. It wasn't even helpful or accurate. I called Seagate and they weren't able to help over two phone calls from their "offshore" customer service. The third call got pushed up to the US. They told me that it was a hardware problem and assured me that the "third would be the charm." I think that after 10+ years, I may be done with Seagate alltogether. Too bad!Digital camera Review: Design has improved over time
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my second FreeAgent Pro. I bought my first December 2007 for my wife's iMac to backup using TimeMachine. And it has been peforming flawlessly. When I needed a new larger drive for my system's backup I naturally bought another (it's bigger than the first).
They have re-engineered the interface. The old drive is like I've seen them described in other reviews -- you have to exchange interface modules in the base to go between USB and Firewire. The new one has USB, Firewire, and E-SATA all present. To do so they use a mini-usb connector to save space. And the unit has both large and small firewire 400 connectors and a cable that has the large at one end and the small at the other so it can be connected to Macs (that all use the large connector) or PCs that sometimes use the small connector. Great connectivity change! Those that use E-SATA (not me) will still have to provide their own cable, though.
Not much else I can say about the drive that hasn't been said before (cool running, quiet, futuristic styling). It's backing up about 1GB/minute using SuperDuper, which is better than my older USB 2.0 only drives.