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: Flakey with Mac G5
Summary: 2 Stars
This drive is very unstable with my G5. There were problems with file transfers and it would constantly disappear from my desktop. I've had no problems with Lacie or OWC.Digital camera Review: For the PC User
Summary: 4 Stars
From what I've seen from various reviews and from my own experiences using this drive it works wonderfully with most PC users. The main complaints I see on these reviews were that MAC users could not get the firewire and the eSATA working on the drives. For those of us that use the USB 2.0 though there is rarely a problem and generally the drive works very well.
So Ive had this drive for 6 months and so, and its been working great.
Note* This drive actually does not have a power switch
Digital camera Review: FreeAgent Pro 500. Pretty good drive!
Summary: 4 Stars
I need an external hard drive for backing up my music and pictures. I am choosing between MyBook and FreeAgent. I thought I would end up bought MyBook. Surprisingly, I got this Seagate FreeAgent Pro.
The drive is pretty solid and the design is better than I expected. It's pretty slick too. It has triple interface - USB, Firewire 400, and eSATA. I have tried USB and currently I am using Fireware 400. It performs better. The drive is pre-formated to NTFS. If you are a Mac user, you will need to reformat it before you can use the drive. But Mac OSX will prompt you to do it. It will be useful when you use Time Machine on the upcomning OSX 10.5.
Moreover, I have also tried FreeAgent Pro software and AutoBackup on my XP. Since I have another backup software (Acronis True Image 10), I found those Seagate is not useful. I end-up uninstall all of them (FreeAgent Pro tools and AutoBackup).
The pro version has a on/off switch on the drive. If you want to turn it off manually, you can do it easily. The non-pro version doesn't has it. But I don't need the on/off switch at all. The hard drive will turn to sleep-mode after the drive is inactive for 15 minutes. The light is dimmer when the drive is in sleep-mode. Western Digital My Book doesn't has this feature. Moreover, FreeAgent will turn itself off when my computer is off. It's good and convenient!
The other main reason I bought Seagate FreeAgent Pro because it has five years warranty! Even the regular version of FreeAgent has 5 year warranty too! This is the key reason! Most MyBook has only 1 year warranty. Only My Book Pro, or World edition has 3 years.
Since I didn't use the software FreeAgent provided, I was thinking about getting a regular version of FreeAgent instead of FreeAgent Pro. I went to the store and have noticd that the plastic material it use on the regular FreeAgent is significantly different. It looks cheap. The pro version looks a lot better and more elegant. Mroeover, it has additional interface.
There are something I don't like on this product: The Firewire conponent is a separate. Therefore, I need to unscrew the eSATA and USB component and put in the Firewire component if I want to use it.
Overall, the drive is pretty quiet and the hard drive itself is only mild warm. However, I have notice the interface component is very hot!! I concern me whether it's only my machine or in general. If you have the machine, you can hold the FreeAgent and touch the bottom of the unit, You might feel the bottom is hot! I probably will send an email to Seagate to find out whether it's normal or not. Other than this, this product is great!
Digital camera Review: Good Drive ... Thus Far..
Summary: 4 Stars
I've only had the unit for a month and a half or so.. but so far I am very satisfied with the drive. I'm running it with a Mac mini and the transfer speed with my firewire is very fast. I'm using it mostly to back my up music and video files. It's very quiet and doesn't get too hot at all. I really like the design and look of the unit as well.
My only problem is with the managing software that I got as a download from Seagate.. it doesn't recognize that the drive is attached and running. I just drag and drop on the drive's icon, by-passing the software, which does what I need done anyway, transferring the file. Also, I waited 48 minutes to talk to a human on the Seagate tech service line... a major bore.
Being that they give me a five yr. warranty, I'm guessing it will perform well for some time. We shall see... I'm optimistic.
Digital camera Review: Good and Bad
Summary: 3 Stars
The hard drive itself is great, easy to use - plugged it in and initialized it on my mac and got it going. I'm one of those people that like to turn my hardware off if its not going to be in use and unfortunately, THE TOUCH SENSITIVE POWER BUTTON DOESN'T FREAKING WORK. It turns off with no problem but powering back up is impossible. I almost cried when I thought my data was gone. (I had to eventually unplug it and plug it back in to get it back on.) As pissed as I was, I have decided to just keep it (don't want to deal with the return) and instead of even using the power button, just "eject" my hard drive and then unplug it when its not in use, and plug it in when I need it. BUT I HAVE TO SAY, I'M VERY VERY WARY OF BUYING SEAGATE AGAIN.