February 2010

Monday, February 15, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST902503FBA2E1-RK (Royal Blue)

From Seagate

Price:	~~$99.99~~

Accessories
- Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock 100521233 (Silver/White)

Features
- 5,400 RPM Spin Speed, 8 MB Cache Buffer
- USB 2.0: up to 480 Mb/s
- Sync and back up quickly at your desktop without having to search for cables.
- Guard the privacy of important files and folders.
- Get your storage solution up and running quickly.

Product Description
Take your desktop environment and all of your files to go. The FreeAgent Go portable hard drive can run more than 100 free and pay-to-use applications on any PC without installing or storing programs on the host computer. Carry your browser, favorites, passwords, IM client and contacts, email client, cookies, settings and files; so whether you're using a computer at work, school, a business center, an Internet cafe, or a library, you have your desktop environment there when you need it. FreeAgent Go software lets you carry lots of great programs and all your browser favorites and passwords without having to haul around your computer. Your FreeAgent Go Portable Hard Drive saves all of your private information on itself, not on the computer you're using. That means there's no trace of your last session to tempt the next person on a borrowed computer. It also provides strong file encryption to protect your content, and lets you sync your files from several PCs. It's all about having your desktop environment and latest files with you, whenever and wherever you need them. Designed for mobility, the sleek compact design easily fits into your shirt pocket, briefcase or backpack. Plug in the USB 2.0 cable to a PC and your personal desktop environment launches automatically. Leave no trace of your last session on a borrowed computer Operating System - Windows XP Home, Professional Edition, or Vista Dimensions - Height 0.7 x Width 4.8 x Depth 3.9 (17.7x121.9x99mm) Weight - 6.4 ounces (184 kg)

Customer Reviews

Excellent write speed (in my opinion)
Date: 2008-10-29 | Rating: 5
I downloaded 1.06 GB in 2 min 27.63 seconds (yes I used a stopwatch so I could post this review to help all of you reading this). There were multiple big files but also a lot of small files. There were a total of 107 files in that download. I was downloading from a network attached drive, which may have slowed it down a little, but I don't really know. I tell you these things because I found it very difficult to get "real" numbers when I was trying to decide which hard drive to buy. I cared mostly about write speed because for the most part I will only use it to back up my files. I took a chance with this drive based on opinions from people I talked to, and I am glad I did. It is very portable and very nice looking. I opened a file to test the read speed, and it seemed fine. I don't know how to time the read speed of a drive, sorry. I did not test the software because I don't plan to use it. I've heard that the software makes it faster, but I can't use it because I am on a public computer. If you are looking for a hard drive case, I highly recommend this one! Caselogic PHDC-1 Small EVA External Hard Drive Case (Red) I hope this helps you make your decision. Have a great day!

Perfect Item
Date: 2008-12-02 | Rating: 5
Even though I have been using the hardrive for only a couple of days so far I am convinced that it was a great purchase. It comes in an extremely appealing shape - very slim, light and small, seems to be of very high quality and is fast enough for daily use. If you use a rather old computer with low USB power supply the single USB cable might be too less to run the drive; consider buying a Y-cable or a new computer then. For everybody else it's the better solution because the drive occupies only one plug. The delivered cable is short, however, that means better portability. The software is not powerful but still very useful. As long as you don't expect more than scheduled daily backups for specific files you should be fine. Mac users might go for the Apple version since it offers FW 400/800 and is a lot faster therefore. It's a bit thicker and heavier though...

Works just fine, WD - you lost out due to your silliness
Date: 2009-11-30 | Rating: 5
Pros: 1 TB capacity :) (931 gb actual available :( ), no external power needed, not a whole lot thicker than the 2 platter drives (see the 2 images I've added) (Update on this: Just recently, my cousin purchased a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go drive and this 1TB drive is nearly double the thickness of the 500GB drive...it's also thinner than my silver WD 500GB drive (which I have shown in the pics)...kinda sucks as to why my WD drive is not as thin as the 500GB FreeAgent Go drive), decent speeds, removable software, mini usb connector Cons: Not too much of cons for me: Weight (feels almost double the weight of the thinner drives), thickness (hey, it would still be nice if these were thinner) - it's certainly not double the thickness, barely 0.3 inches thicker than my 500GB WD drive. Other Thoughts: In all honesty, I would never have considered buying this drive if I hadn't read all the negative reviews that have been posted for the comparable 1TB drive from WD (look for it's amazon page). I was shocked to read all those reviews since I was quite excited originally when WD released the 1TB hdd. This drive luckily does not suffer from those 2 main issues i.e. it uses a usb mini connector and the software is easily removed. I bet WD is having a hard time dealing with a lot of returns due to their silly move. Luckily for me I waited, read those reviews so I was able to make a better decision. Regarding the speeds, I copied some files over and here is what I got (approximately): 45.6 GB (~29,000 files) - ~80 mins 293 GB (~1,000 files) - ~7 hours (I did not see this through completion but XP informed me about 224 mins left after ~3 hours of copying files, so 7 hrs is going by that figure).

BY FAR the best hard drive I've ever had.
Date: 2008-12-17 | Rating: 5
Bought this Free Agent Go to replace a Western Digital My Book. Wanted to be able to take my files with me when I travel. I am surprised to say this is BY FAR the most quiet drive I have ever used. It spins silently and quicky. Works perfectly under OS X 10.5.6 and the free dock offer from Amazon made it a great deal. Can't recommend this drive enough! The built-in lighting on the drive is also very cool, it sort of pulses when it's accessing information. A single USB cable powers it just fine on my new late-2008 Macbook 2.4GHz. Also worked perfectly through the USB hub on my new 24" LED Cinema Display.

Great Drive!
Date: 2008-11-10 | Rating: 5
True "plug and play". It just works. On XP, it works. On Vista, it works. On my Mac, it works. Love it.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Seagate ST307504FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro 750 GB USB/eSATA/FireWire400 External Hard Drive

From Seagate

Price:	~~$219.99~~

Accessories
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional Full Version with SP2
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2B for System Builders - 1 Pack
- Microsoft Windows Vista Business FULL VERSION [DVD] [OLD VERSION]
- Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate FULL VERSION [DVD] [OLD VERSION]
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium FULL VERSION [DVD] [OLD VERSION]

Features
- 750 GB external hard drive connects to your computer via USB cable, eSATA, or FireWire 400
- 7200 RPM spindle speed for high-speed performance and fast read times
- Footprint is no bigger than a stapler; Just plug it in and you're ready to go
- Backup CDs, DVDs or store files and programs for on-the-go
- Includes external drive, USB 2.0 cable, AC power adapter, and quick start guide; 5-year limited warranty

Product Description
Access your content from anywhere, share it with anyone and sync it to almost anything. The FreeAgent Pro data mover automatically duplicates and moves content you select to multiple locations like email and contacts to your IPod, photos to a Shutterfly account, your entire My Documents folder to FreeAgent, or move it to your own online space for 24/7 access from any browser. Also included is an innovative modular interface to future-proof technology, various models available, up to 750 glorious gigabytes of storage, and even a five year limited warranty.

Amazon.com Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description For the person who needs access to their digital content away from home, at work, or online, while also allowing that same content to be shared in a secure setting, look no further than the Seagate Free Agent Pro Portable Hard Drive. This powerful portable hard drive delivers high-speed transfers, while also giving you the ability to share content with others safely and securely from a remote location or even online. Powerful storage device with a sleek new design. This hip-looking hard drive takes up less room on your desk than an ordinary stapler. Share your content with others safely and securely. With up to 1 Terabyte and an ultra-slim design for a clutter-free desktop, your FreeAgent Pro external hard drive helps keep you safe from goof-ups by automatically saving new versions of your content that you can easily access if need be. And should something happen to your PC, you can roll back your Windows operating system, settings, and applications to a point in time when they ran smoother, like before a virus attack. Even though the system settings are taken back in time, updates to photos, music and critical data files are kept current. The Free Agent Pro is also ideal for those who want quick and painless transfers of their data from their computer to their drive, and from their drive to online accounts (such as Shutterfly or email). Simply plug it in to any power source and connect the USB cable to any computer, and you're ready to go. This hip-looking hard drive takes up less room on your desk than an ordinary stapler--1 x 3 x 5.2 inches (H x D x W)-- giving you more space for your other desktop items. Meanwhile, the hard drive only measures 7.5 x 1.4 x 6.3-inches (H x D x W) and it matches its small base. High Speed Synchronization and Sharing The Free Agent Pro data mover automatically duplicates and moves selected content from your hard drive to multiple locations, such as copying your contact lists and emails to your iPod, or photos to a Shutterfly account. This feature also allows you to move your entire 'My Documents' folder to the Free Agent, or move it to your own online space where you (or others you choose) can access it from any browser 24/7. The Free Agent software also offers the feature of rolling back your system to better time if something should happen to your PC while automatic revisions of your content help keep you safe from goof-ups. Move files or other content with either USB 2.0, eSATA, or FireWire 400 allowing a maximum transfer rate of 480Mb/sec for USB, and 3Gb/sec for eSATA, while delivering a high performance spindle speed of 7,200 RPM. The unit also comes with a sophisticated touch point power on/off switch. The Free Agent Pro software and drive formatting works only with Windows, but the drive can easily be reformatted for a Mac with OS X's Disk Utility. This portable hard drive is also compatible with Windows Vista (as well as Windows XP and Windows 2000), allowing you to backup your content regardless of operating system upgrades. A five-year warranty is also included, giving you complete peace of mind. Now with the ability to take your data with you anywhere you go, your digital content finally has room to breathe. What's in the Box FreeAgent Pro data mover drive, Free Agent software (preloaded) and electronic documentation, USB2.0/eSATA/FireWire 400 interfaces, USB 2.0 cable, FireWire cable, AC power adapter, and a quick start guide.

Customer Reviews

Excellent outboard storage device
Date: 2007-07-05 | Rating: 5
I purchased this hard disc drive (HDD) for backups and external storage. It's primary use is the storage of audio/visual materials ranging from original recordings (up to 64 tracks) to videos (primarily of horses and riders). I dabble in a number of activities, all of which seem to generate vast amounts of data. My primary computer is a laptop so internal storage is limited. This HDD not only sets up, installs, and operates exactly as advertised, I recently observed a friend's identical drive take a 4 foot drop from a work table to a concrete garage floor while being accessed (he was running a karaoke contest and ALL of his tracks are on the Seagate)! It not only worked flawlessly, it continued to do so ever since! I fully expected it to crash the head, killing the drive and all its contents. I was pleasantly surprised, though. Note, I don't recommend EVER treating a HDD this way but it's sure nice to know this one is robust enough to take harder than usual treatment. As to the look and finish of the product, it's outstanding. The case is sleek and elegant. The speed of the drive is excellent with its spin up time nominal. You can adjust the "go to sleep" timout via the included software as well as the use of the built-in light. Sometimes I want it to just be dark (e.g. at a party or karaoke contest) - other times I like the night-light effect of the soft amber light strip. I can't speak to the other software included since I don't use it to back up my system. I use a disc imaging software that I like and see no reason to change from. However, I expect the backup software works as well as all the other features. The only slightly annoying facet of the software is that it auto-installs and then requires some effort to disable so it doesn't clutter up my system. I'm a software developer and am very sensitive to what is loaded at boot time on my system. However, this is a minor inconveniece. In conclusion, this is a great HDD. I've always had great experience with Seagate and, since this HDD comes with a 5-year limited warranty (the best I've seen at anywhere near this price range), I expect this HDD to perform flawlessly for at least that long. I've had bad experiences with other manufacturers and that's why I intentionally bought Seagate.

A Mass Storage Device That Lights UP
Date: 2007-07-20 | Rating: 5
I have two HP Media Center computers on which I am doing multiple audio-visual projects, which consume enormous amounts of space. So, I decided to purchase two Seagate, 750 gb drives (one each for my two computers) on the advise of a friend. I used the Firewire option to connect to the computers. Besides being very attractive (they light up when in use, by emiting a very pleasing, yellow-orange glow along the margin) they more than satisfy my requirements. All in all, I am quite pleased with the drives, and heartily endorse their purchase: and they are affordably priced.

USB works great
Date: 2007-09-20 | Rating: 5
Caveat - a few days after I wrote the following, using the firewire, I had two disk lockups, where the disk stopped responding - in one case I heard clicks from the drive. Each time I was doing multiple IO to the drive. A reboot of my laptop fixed the lockups in both cases. So, I change my review from what I initially wrote - My firewire doesn't work reliably when more than 1 client's accessing the drive. So I'm back to using USB, where this was never a problem. Take this info for what it's worth. Maybe it's a fluke, and only my system has unreliable firewire during multiple client accesses of the drive. Fortunately, the USB still works fine - but I wish I hadn't forked out the extra money for the firewire. Here's my original review (those were halcyon days, I tell you) ... Mine works great. Easy installation. Both the USB and firewire function. Quiet. Gets warm, not hot. I've had it loaded up to 650gb. I leave it running. It shuts down when my laptop shuts down, comes back up just fine. The light - ahh - if you don't like lights, you have to install the Seagate included SW to turn off the light. I disinstalled mine as it included backup SW I didn't want (I bought Acronis backup SW - as I found I like Acronis better.) Now my light's on - apparently forever. Oh well. Hmmmm ... I could reinstall the Seagate utility SW just to turn off the light - nawwwww.

Just works on my Mac
Date: 2007-11-05 | Rating: 5
I had been using SimpleTech USB/Firewires drives for backing up my Mac workstation drives, but problems with availablity drove me to try this Seagate 750Gb drive. It works great, and I bought three more. I've had them in use for 3-4 months now, with nary a problem. Reformatting them to Mac took about 30 seconds using the OSX disk utility.

1 year of Non-Stop use with DirecTV HR20 and still going strong!
Date: 2008-11-13 | Rating: 5
I bought this drive for my DirecTV HR20 to extend its recording capability from 50hrs to almost 150hrs and the drive has been on continuously for 1 year without issue. Since the HR20 always has a live buffer recording regardless of if the receiver is on or off, the hard drive never turns off and is always recording video data. So think about it, that's 24/7/365 that my drive has been running and recording straight and it's never failed me once. I'd say that's pretty rock solid. Setup is a snap -- just plug in the drive, connect the eSATA cable to the drive and then your HR20, then turn on the HR20 and presto -- almost triple the recording capacity! It's been nice to not have to worry about how many DVR recordings I have saved. And I've even had a couple power failures, and everything's come back and rebooted on its own with no lost recordings or glitches. So I have to say, I'm more than happy with the purchase!! And if you're wanting this for your computer, I think it's a pretty safe bet there too since few computers would come close to the same demand as 24/7 DVR recording. Bottom line -- go for it!! This is a great drive!!!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent 750 GB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive ST307504FDB1E1-RK

From Seagate

Price:	~~$278.36~~

Accessories
- Kaspersky Antivirus 2010 1-User
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 8
- Roxio Creator 2010
- Microsoft Outlook 2007
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition FULL VERSION with SP2

Features
- Sold Individually

Product Description
Ideal for allowing your digital content room to breathe, FreeAgent Desktop Drive features a vast capacity with the footprint no bigger than a stapler - just plug it in and you're ready to go!

Customer Reviews

So far, can't be better!
Date: 2009-10-19 | Rating: 5
Bought this to back up my computer. I downloaded the Seagate drive tools and this passed all tests. Works great so far and I have had perfect track record with 2 other FreeAgent USB drives.

Dependable workhorse
Date: 2009-12-20 | Rating: 5
We use these drives to back up our servers. These drives run for many hours a day in our server room. We have 8 of the 500 GB drives and 8 of the 1 TB drives. The 500 GB drives have been in service for several years. Prior to the Segate drives we had several USB-attached drives of other brands that failed under the heavy use. We have had no failures with the Segate drives.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST903203FEA2E1-RK (Solar Orange)

From Seagate

Price:	~~$119.99~~

Accessories
- Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock 100521233 (Silver/White)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Lite 500 GB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive STM305004OTA3E1-RK

From Seagate

Price:	~~$128.99~~

Accessories
- Clickfree Automatic Backup Hard Drive Transformer USB 2.0 Cable CAB101
- Rebit Backup Software for Multiple PCs (6) RSCD350000MPOS
- Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player
- Rebit Backup Software for Single PC- RSCD35000POS
- Rebit RSCD 350000 Software CD For Storage Backup

Features
- Maxtor OneTouch button ¿ the easy way to make backup copies of your files
- Simple Maxtor user interface for backup scheduling and restoring
- Auto Updater helps keep your Maxtor OneTouch solution current
- Plug and play storage; Back up your files with one touch of a button
- USB 2.0; PC and Mac compatible

Product Description
For consumers who need a simple solution with a classic design for Mac or PC, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 makes it easier to set up and manage data backup, file archiving and system settings with a new easy-to-use user interface.

Amazon.com Product Description
The Maxtor® OneTouch® 4 Lite solution is a full-featured backup and storage solution with Maxtor SafetyDrill™ for complete recovery of a hard drive's contents in case of a system crash or virus/spyware attack*. With two levels of data security and capacities up to 1 TB, users can confidently back up or sync work and home computers. Protect your data from unauthorized use. Back up your files with one touch of a button Portable Performance and Security Provide a safe haven for your entire working environment. Don't back up and protect just your files anymore. System crashes and virus attacks can happen, and it's difficult to get your computer back to just the way you like it. To prepare, should the unfortunate happen, Maxtor SafetyDrill automatically creates a snapshot of the entire contents of your PC's hard drive which can be readily booted for an easy and complete recovery. Backup all your precious memories to one safe, convenient place with one touch of the button or automatically with easy scheduling software. Maxtor's simple user interface makes it easy to protect your contents without even thinking about it and, just as importantly, restore it if needed. With this elegantly simple full-featured backup solution, Maxtor's software makes automated backup scheduling, specific file restoration, sync, security, drive and power management a snap. To safeguard against unauthorized use, Maxtor OneTouch 4 Lite comes with both data encryption and Maxtor DrivePass. It's simple to install – just plug the external drive into an available USB 2.0/1.1 port on your PC or Mac. With up to 1 TB, there's ample room for your important documents, videos, photos, graphics, and music in one safe, convenient location – over 16,660 hours of digital music or 320,000 digital photos or 1000 hours of digital video or 250 two-hour DVD quality movies or 500 games. The sleek and slim design of this hard drive--only measures 6.73 x 2.49 x 5.88-inches (H x D x W). The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Lite lets you transfer files seamlessly from your computer via its USB 2.0 connection at a brisk transfer rate of up to 480Mb/sec. The drive delivers a spindle speed of 7,200 RPM, giving you the high-speed performance you need to back your data up quickly and safely. At this compact size, and with this high performance, you now have the ability to take your data with you anywhere you go, so your digital content finally has room to breathe. A five-year warranty is also included, giving you complete peace of mind. Product Highlights · Maxtor® SafetyDrill™ prepares, boots and recovers a PC's entire internal drive contents in case of system failure or virus/spyware infection.* · Back up all your files with one touch of the button or automated scheduling.

Customer Reviews

Fast and quiet
Date: 2007-11-28 | Rating: 5
Got this ext. HD during this thanksgiving shopping time. Good for me to store my DV and picture file. Fast and quiet.

Great Product
Date: 2009-11-09 | Rating: 5
The product does exactly what it says it will do. No problems, no installation problems. Easy to use.

works great
Date: 2009-11-23 | Rating: 5
I have had mine for over a year with no problems. I have loaded/unloaded probably over a TB without hassle. I do not have it hooked up/powered on continually but has always come on and have never lost any data.

Maxstor OneTouch
Date: 2008-06-02 | Rating: 5
It was very easy to add to my system, install and get running properly. Backups are on schedule.

what a trouble shooter
Date: 2008-06-04 | Rating: 5
Its a great feeling to have 500 gbs of available space to store all your videos, pics, downloads, etc.I had 3 hard drives I needed to hold all my programs and items that I needed . I had my main drive of 80 gigs at 7000 rpms and 2 drives of 40 gigs at 5000 rpms .My whole system ran at 5000 rpms . Now I removed the 2 40 giggers and have my 7000 rpms back in swing and dont have to worry about slowin to crawl because of low memory with a 500 gig bank! Its great and all I did was plug it in !The bestr part is that it was all under 100 dollarsSeagate STM305004OTA3E1-RK Maxtor OneTouch 4 500 GB External Hard Drive

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST902503FGA1E1-RK

From Seagate

Price:	~~$129.99~~

Accessories
- Rebit Backup Software for Multiple PCs (6) RSCD350000MPOS
- Multi-pc User CD
- Rebit RSCD 350000 Software CD For Storage Backup
- Clickfree Automatic Backup Hard Drive Transformer USB 2.0 Cable CAB101

Features
- 250 GB portable hard drive connects to your computer via USB cable
- 5400 RPM spindle speed for speedy performance
- Protect against unauthorized use with encryption for sensitive files; Leave no trace of your last session on a borrowed computer
- Keep your most current data with you - synchronize data from your most frequented PCs
- Includes portable drive, Free Agent software (preloaded) and electronic documentation, USB 2.0 cable, and a quick start guide; 5-year limited warranty

Product Description
Ideal for letting you carry your desktop environment and your files anytime, anywhere, FreeAgent Go allows you to take your web browser, favorites, passwords, IM client and contacts, email client, cookies, settings and files with you. Save all your private information on FreeAgent, not on the computer you're using!

Amazon.com Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description If you find yourself working from multiple computers but needing constant access to your own software, e-mail and digital files, the Seagate Free Agent Go Portable Hard Drive is for you. More than a simple portable back-up and storage solution, the Seagate Free Agent Go lets you take your favorite software, Web browser, IM client and contacts, email, cookies, and personalization settings wherever you go--safely and securely. Not only does this portable hard drive synchronize your data with just about any computer you want to work from, more importantly it features the latest encryption software to protect your content, leaving no trace of your last session on the borrowed computer. With the Seagate Free Agent Go, you have the best of all worlds--a convenient portable back-up solution and a virtual desktop in a pocket-size package. Powerful storage device with a sleek new design. Compact size makes it great for on-the-go travel. Take your favorite music, photos, or programs with you anywhere you go. It's all about having your desktop environment and latest files with you - when and where you need them. Designed for mobility, the sleek compact design easily fits into your shirt pocket, briefcase or backpack. We provide the USB cable that's not only the interface connection, but the power source – no additional power cords are needed. And the unique espresso brown finish with molten amber illumination is just icing on the cake. High-Speed Synchronization and Security Whether you have vital company data or personal files and programs that you need to access, the Seagate Free Agent Go protects your most valuable information via drive-level encryption that provides a more robust solution than most software encryption on the market today. Delivering high-end protection against unauthorized use with encryption for sensitive files, this device keeps your data safe while you're on the go. And not to worry, your Free Agent Go portable hard drive saves all of your private information on itself, not on the computer you're using. That means there's no trace of your last session to tempt the next person on a borrowed computer. It also provides strong file encryption to protect your content, and lets you sync your files from several PCs. With the Seagate Free Agent Go, virtually any computer can temporarily become yours. The software/drive combination allows you to move files or other content quickly via USB 2.0, allowing transfer rate of up to 480 MB/sec for USB. The drive's high-performance spindle speed of 5400 RPM gives you the high-speed performance you need to back your data up quickly and safely. The sleek and slim design of this hard drive--only 0.7 x 3.9 x 4.8-inches (H x D x W)--and a weight of less than four pounds means that you can carry practically your entire desktop with you as you make your rounds from computer to computer. The Free Agent Go software and drive is formatted to work out of the box with Windows operating systems--including Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000--but the drive can easily be made Mac-ready in a few minutes with Mac OS X's Disk Utility. The unit features a sophisticated touch point power on/off switch. Plug in the USB 2.0 cable to a PC and your personal desktop environment launches automatically. To help eliminate even the slightest bit of worry, we've included technical support and a five-year limited warranty. What's in the Box Free Agent Go portable drive, Free Agent software (preloaded) and electronic documentation, USB 2.0 cable, and a quick start guide.

Customer Reviews

Seagate engineers have made it!
Date: 2008-03-17 | Rating: 5
Having previously used the 120GB version of this portable HD, I had an hesitation or two before buying this Seagate "Go" 250GB: The 120GB Seagate "Go" harddisk had a very obvious noise problem: It had simply louder turning sound and more vibration than its brand equivalents like Western Digital or Toshiba 2,5" harddisks. Considering that I used it with my laptop on the bed, it was usual for me to put it on the bed and feel its vibration noise even if I closed my ears! That noise and vibration issue was often at the forefront so I could hardly think of the other good virtues like the durable and rugged design, handy configuration abilites like the adjustable HD shut-down settings, trouble-free USB connection and disk operation at everyday use and the big and bright activity LED. But still, I needed a 250GB portable HD and I had to decide eventually on a model. Among alternatives, there were Western Digital, LaCie with their more shiny and attractive designs at one side and capable but bulky desktop external hard drives at other side. The attractive designs are good at the start but what I need is absolute reliability and usefullnes. Also the huge capacity of a desktop external hard drive is also tempting but I just didn't want to carry a power-adaptor not because its difficult to carry it around, rather because the number of electric plugs available is limited both at home and office! So I bought the 250GB version without testing its noise conditions and hoping that they (the Seagate engineers) must have done something about it. And when I got it anyway, wow! Most of the noise and all the vibration were gone! The seagate engineers had surely retouched the harddisk and fixed it up. Even the Y-type USB cable was retouched!(It's somewhat more elastic than the previous one) Now it's a perfect harddisk with its 250GB capacity and its decent price tag. I recommend it to everyone.

The best portable drive out in the market
Date: 2008-07-18 | Rating: 5
Note: If you want to skip the long review, you can go to the last paragraph of this review where I have some useful tips on how best to use your portable drive and how to keep ideal data backup. It is a given fact that any portable drive you buy in the market today is going to perform good in the short term - maybe 3 months, 6 months or even a year. But when you are buying a portable drive - you have to look beyond 3-5 years because thats how long you are probably going to keep your drive. You have to look at the reliability of the drive - to not lose any data because of hard disk failures. I have used various drives - Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, Samsung .., but I can vouch for the fact that Seagate is the numero uno when it comes to drive reliability. I have had many laptop & portable drives give up on me, but Seagate has never let me down. Seagate is usually bit more expensive than others - but very reliable. About this particular drive: + It is light weight, has a dim light indicator on one of the sides which tells that the drive is plugged in + Neat sleek casing which makes it look good + Thick and flexible USB cable which makes it easy to plug the drive without any fear of breaking/twiching the cable + Very light weight drive + Comes with the Ceedo software which will make your desktop applications portable (I have never used it myself, but there are good reviews about this software on the internet) What I do not like about the drive: - I wish if it was packed with some better backup software like SecondCopy Tip #1: Backup software ======================= Ok, now that you have a backup drive, how do you plan to use it to backup your data on your laptop/desktop ? I use a software called SecondCopy - which I found to be very addictive to use: - Once you have this software installed, you can select all the folders on your desktop/laptop that you want to backup and also select the destination where you want to backup - You can configure the backup profile in such a way that either automatically or manually, the software will find the differences between the 2 drives and display the differences to you and let you backup data from your laptop/desktop on to your drive. Tip #2: Secondary Backup ========================= + Now, that you have all your backup setup and you throw in your drive in your laptop bag and unfortunately you leave your laptop bag in your car and your laptop along with your backup drive is stolen, what do you do in this case where you have lost your primary data as well as your backup data - there are 2 options - Do not keep your portable drive in the same bag in which you carry your laptop, which is a bit of an inconvinience - Or, you buy another drive - you can either buy a similar drive or buy a 3.5" big hard drive(which needs external power supply) and keep it at home and keep your backups on both the portable drive as well as the big drive which you have at your home - this way even if you lose your laptop bag or even if you lose your big hard drive at home, there is another backup from which you can retrieve your dear data - your photos, your projects, your movies, music ... Tip #3: Network drive ====================== This is the ultimate nirvana of any drive. Basically you will have to buy a network drive device and connect this to your hard disk, once you do that and do some additional configuration, you can let your drive be available on your home network - this way, you can listen to your music/watch movies that are there on your hard disk from any computer in your home/from an Apple TV .... Or you can even leave your hard disk at home and access the data from outside of your home(from office/anywhere else there is internet). The network drive comes with its own security settings etc, so you do not have to worry about a hacker accessing your drive.

Perfect!
Date: 2008-08-26 | Rating: 5
Plug and Play, Really! This HD took a couple of minutes to gain recognition during the first connection, but works quickly every time after that. Great product!

nice
Date: 2008-07-24 | Rating: 5
i use it pretty lightly but its very portable and the software features are easy to use.

works as advertised
Date: 2008-08-22 | Rating: 5
It came early, plugs in and works right away, the sync program works, but not every time( maybe I set something wrong). I bought it for extra storage space, it's fast, small, holds a lot. not complaining.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Lite 750 GB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive STM307504OTA3E1-RK

From Seagate

Price:	~~$164.99~~

Accessories
- Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player
- Rebit Backup Software for Multiple PCs (6) RSCD350000MPOS
- Multi-pc User CD
- Rebit RSCD 350000 Software CD For Storage Backup
- Rebit Backup Software for Single PC- RSCD35000POS

Features
- Backup all your files with one touch of the button or automated scheduling
- Simple Maxtor user interface for drive management, security, and backup scheduling
- Two levels of security against unauthorized use - Maxtor DrivePass¿ and data encryption
- Simple Maxtor user-interface drive management, security and backup scheduling
- Drive and power management utilities; 5-year limited warranty

Product Description
For consumers who need a simple solution with a classic design for Mac or PC, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 makes it easier to set up and manage data backup, file archiving and system settings with a new easy-to-use user interface.

Amazon.com Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description The Maxtor® OneTouch® 4 Lite solution is a full-featured backup and storage solution with Maxtor SafetyDrill™ for complete recovery of a hard drive's contents in case of a system crash or virus/spyware attack*. With two levels of data security and capacities up to 1 TB, users can confidently back up or sync work and home computers. Protect your data from unauthorized use. Back up your files with one touch of a button Portable Performance and Security Provide a safe haven for your entire working environment. Don't back up and protect just your files anymore. System crashes and virus attacks can happen, and it's difficult to get your computer back to just the way you like it. To prepare, should the unfortunate happen, Maxtor SafetyDrill automatically creates a snapshot of the entire contents of your PC's hard drive which can be readily booted for an easy and complete recovery. Backup all your precious memories to one safe, convenient place with one touch of the button or automatically with easy scheduling software. Maxtor's simple user interface makes it easy to protect your contents without even thinking about it and, just as importantly, restore it if needed. With this elegantly simple full-featured backup solution, Maxtor's software makes automated backup scheduling, specific file restoration, sync, security, drive and power management a snap. To safeguard against unauthorized use, Maxtor OneTouch 4 Lite comes with both data encryption and Maxtor DrivePass. It's simple to install – just plug the external drive into an available USB 2.0/1.1 port on your PC or Mac. With up to 1 TB, there's ample room for your important documents, videos, photos, graphics, and music in one safe, convenient location – over 16,660 hours of digital music or 320,000 digital photos or 1000 hours of digital video or 250 two-hour DVD quality movies or 500 games. The sleek and slim design of this hard drive--only measures 6.73 x 2.49 x 5.88-inches (H x D x W). The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Lite lets you transfer files seamlessly from your computer via its USB 2.0 connection at a brisk transfer rate of up to 480Mb/sec. The drive delivers a spindle speed of 7,200 RPM, giving you the high-speed performance you need to back your data up quickly and safely. At this compact size, and with this high performance, you now have the ability to take your data with you anywhere you go, so your digital content finally has room to breathe. A five-year warranty is also included, giving you complete peace of mind. Product Highlights · Maxtor® SafetyDrill™ prepares, boots and recovers a PC's entire internal drive contents in case of system failure or virus/spyware infection.* · Back up all your files with one touch of the button or automated scheduling.

Customer Reviews

Great External Drive
Date: 2009-11-22 | Rating: 5
I have been pleased with this drive after several years of usage. You can buy with confidence!

This is a great product!
Date: 2009-12-16 | Rating: 5
I am very happy with the ease of use and quality of the Maxtor 750 gb external hard drive. I now have one at home as well as work. Works very well if there is a need to plug/unplug to a laptop for example. I really like it. It is also very fast for backups or just transfers, no matter how slow your PC is. The product I purchased actually came from Tiger Direct. I am very pleased with the partnership between TigerDirect and Amazon. The quality of customer service was exceptional.

Wonderful Hard Drive
Date: 2008-10-18 | Rating: 5
After reading reviews of this drive failing alot, I was rather concerned, but I have had Maxtor drives in the past and I had no problems with them, so I went ahead and dove right in. First thing I needed was to get the drive formatted to fat 32 for my PS3. Maxtor has a simple program that I was able to down load for free from Maxtor that changed the drive to fat 32. I use the drive to store and play my movies on. My collection of movies of well over 4oo and I needed to storage medium to place my movies on.. I have been using this device for several months now and have never had a problem with the hard drive. Like everything in the computer world and life in general, if you have information that is important, you need to archive/backup the information, and not keep the information on one drive.

maxtor 750g
Date: 2009-09-22 | Rating: 4
There is really not much to be expected from an external hard drive, but this one comes with back up programs for both Mac and PC so the other 20% of the population can take advantage of the back up system as well. I would say the only downfall of this hard drive is that it goes to sleep after a few seconds of inactivity, so you have to wait for it to boot up every time you access it. Other than that, it is fast at uploads and downloads, and the software don't get in the way of extra uses.

Good Product not ready for Windows 7
Date: 2009-12-21 | Rating: 4
So far I really like my new Maxtor OneTouch 4. Got it for a GREAT price!! The only trouble I had initially was installing the built-in software as apparently auto launch is not supported yet by Windows 7. I was able to find the software by clicking on the disk itself and manually opening and installing it. Only other little quirk is that Window 7 also has some built in back-up options and it wants to set up a backup relationship with the new drive as well... but that's a windows dealio.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 880 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST908804FAA2E1-RK (Tuxedo Black)

From SEAGATE

Price:	~~$189.99~~

Accessories
No Accessories.

Features
- 880 GB, USB 2.0
- Pocket and carry your data with ease thanks to a sleek design.
- Quickly sync and back up at your desktop without having to search for cables
- Keep your most important files and folders private with software encryption technology.
- Compatible with Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, or Business SP-1, Windows XP Home, Professional, Media Center SP2, Windows 7

Product Description
Easily take your photos, music, videos, and documents everywhere with the Seagate FreeAgent Go portable storage solution. This FreeAgent Go drive offers 880 GB capacity, so you can comfortably store all your files. It includes easy-to-use software that lets you automatically back up your data, synchronize files, and encrypt important files and folders. Plus, its the worlds first portable hard drive with a convenient desktop dock accessory.Simply pop your drive into the FreeAgent dock whenever you want to access your filesno more fumbling for cables!

Customer Reviews

So far so good
Date: 2009-12-20 | Rating: 4
Currently the best value for high-capacity portable drives. Note that it is 80% thicker and heavier than their "regular" enclosures. Nice simple backup and sync software that is slightly improved over the previous version. Unfortunately, the software will not backup network disks (even if they're mapped to a drive letter), and the backup software doesn't work if you reformat the disk as FAT32/EXFAT (it must be NTFS). My only other gripe is that I would like to plug it into an Apple Airport Extreme wireless router (for Network storage, and this which requires reformatting the disk as HFS+ (Mac format) or FAT32 (cross-platform). As I don't have a Mac, the former isn't an option, and the latter is no longer possible with Windows 7 & Vista SP2. It took me awhile to find a utility that worked, so it would be great if Seagate would provide one. I used the free program "FAT32 Formatter". If they would fix the above shortcomings, I'd readily give this drive 5 stars. It looks to be an excellent value for money (assuming it lasts). FYI, the manual directs Mac users to [...] to download Mac Software.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST903203FCA2E1-RK (Pink)

From Seagate

Price:	~~$119.99~~

Accessories
- Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock 100521233 (Silver/White)

Features
- 5,400 RPM Spin Speed, 8 MB Cache Buffer
- USB 2.0: up to 480 Mb/s
- Sync and back up quickly at your desktop without having to search for cables.
- Guard the privacy of important files and folders.
- Get your storage solution up and running quickly.

Product Description
Take your desktop environment and all of your files to go. The FreeAgent Go portable hard drive can run more than 100 free and pay-to-use applications on any PC without installing or storing programs on the host computer. Carry your browser, favorites, passwords, IM client and contacts, email client, cookies, settings and files; so whether you're using a computer at work, school, a business center, an Internet cafe, or a library, you have your desktop environment there when you need it. FreeAgent Go software lets you carry lots of great programs and all your browser favorites and passwords without having to haul around your computer. Your FreeAgent Go Portable Hard Drive saves all of your private information on itself, not on the computer you're using. That means there's no trace of your last session to tempt the next person on a borrowed computer. It also provides strong file encryption to protect your content, and lets you sync your files from several PCs. It's all about having your desktop environment and latest files with you, whenever and wherever you need them. Designed for mobility, the sleek compact design easily fits into your shirt pocket, briefcase or backpack. Plug in the USB 2.0 cable to a PC and your personal desktop environment launches automatically. Leave no trace of your last session on a borrowed computer Operating System - Windows XP Home, Professional Edition, or Vista Dimensions - Height 0.7 x Width 4.8 x Depth 3.9 (17.7x121.9x99mm) Weight - 6.4 ounces (184 kg)

Customer Reviews

Excellent write speed (in my opinion)
Date: 2008-10-29 | Rating: 5
I downloaded 1.06 GB in 2 min 27.63 seconds (yes I used a stopwatch so I could post this review to help all of you reading this). There were multiple big files but also a lot of small files. There were a total of 107 files in that download. I was downloading from a network attached drive, which may have slowed it down a little, but I don't really know. I tell you these things because I found it very difficult to get "real" numbers when I was trying to decide which hard drive to buy. I cared mostly about write speed because for the most part I will only use it to back up my files. I took a chance with this drive based on opinions from people I talked to, and I am glad I did. It is very portable and very nice looking. I opened a file to test the read speed, and it seemed fine. I don't know how to time the read speed of a drive, sorry. I did not test the software because I don't plan to use it. I've heard that the software makes it faster, but I can't use it because I am on a public computer. If you are looking for a hard drive case, I highly recommend this one! Caselogic PHDC-1 Small EVA External Hard Drive Case (Red) I hope this helps you make your decision. Have a great day!

Perfect Item
Date: 2008-12-02 | Rating: 5
Even though I have been using the hardrive for only a couple of days so far I am convinced that it was a great purchase. It comes in an extremely appealing shape - very slim, light and small, seems to be of very high quality and is fast enough for daily use. If you use a rather old computer with low USB power supply the single USB cable might be too less to run the drive; consider buying a Y-cable or a new computer then. For everybody else it's the better solution because the drive occupies only one plug. The delivered cable is short, however, that means better portability. The software is not powerful but still very useful. As long as you don't expect more than scheduled daily backups for specific files you should be fine. Mac users might go for the Apple version since it offers FW 400/800 and is a lot faster therefore. It's a bit thicker and heavier though...

Great Drive!
Date: 2008-11-10 | Rating: 5
True "plug and play". It just works. On XP, it works. On Vista, it works. On my Mac, it works. Love it.

Works just fine, WD - you lost out due to your silliness
Date: 2009-11-30 | Rating: 5
Pros: 1 TB capacity :) (931 gb actual available :( ), no external power needed, not a whole lot thicker than the 2 platter drives (see the 2 images I've added) (Update on this: Just recently, my cousin purchased a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go drive and this 1TB drive is nearly double the thickness of the 500GB drive...it's also thinner than my silver WD 500GB drive (which I have shown in the pics)...kinda sucks as to why my WD drive is not as thin as the 500GB FreeAgent Go drive), decent speeds, removable software, mini usb connector Cons: Not too much of cons for me: Weight (feels almost double the weight of the thinner drives), thickness (hey, it would still be nice if these were thinner) - it's certainly not double the thickness, barely 0.3 inches thicker than my 500GB WD drive. Other Thoughts: In all honesty, I would never have considered buying this drive if I hadn't read all the negative reviews that have been posted for the comparable 1TB drive from WD (look for it's amazon page). I was shocked to read all those reviews since I was quite excited originally when WD released the 1TB hdd. This drive luckily does not suffer from those 2 main issues i.e. it uses a usb mini connector and the software is easily removed. I bet WD is having a hard time dealing with a lot of returns due to their silly move. Luckily for me I waited, read those reviews so I was able to make a better decision. Regarding the speeds, I copied some files over and here is what I got (approximately): 45.6 GB (~29,000 files) - ~80 mins 293 GB (~1,000 files) - ~7 hours (I did not see this through completion but XP informed me about 224 mins left after ~3 hours of copying files, so 7 hrs is going by that figure).

BY FAR the best hard drive I've ever had.
Date: 2008-12-17 | Rating: 5
Bought this Free Agent Go to replace a Western Digital My Book. Wanted to be able to take my files with me when I travel. I am surprised to say this is BY FAR the most quiet drive I have ever used. It spins silently and quicky. Works perfectly under OS X 10.5.6 and the free dock offer from Amazon made it a great deal. Can't recommend this drive enough! The built-in lighting on the drive is also very cool, it sort of pulses when it's accessing information. A single USB cable powers it just fine on my new late-2008 Macbook 2.4GHz. Also worked perfectly through the USB hub on my new 24" LED Cinema Display.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Seagate Expansion 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST903204EXA101-RK

From Seagate

Price:	~~$84.99~~

Accessories
- 2-Year Replacement Plan - Covers Electronic Items $50.00 - $99.99

Features
- Plug n¿ play with no software to install
- Simply drag-and-drop to save files
- 5400 RPM performance, 320GB
- Built-in power management ensures energy-efficient operation
- USB 2.0 Powered

Product Description
Seagate external portable drives are compact and perfect for on-the-go. Instantly add more storage space to your computer and take large files with you when you travel. Setup is straightforward, simply connect a single USB cable and you are ready to go. The drive is powered from the USB cable, so there is no need for an external power supply. Plus, it is automatically recognized by Windows® operating system, so there is no software to install and nothing to configure. Saving files is easy too, just drag-and-drop. It¿s not just easy to use, but it¿s fast and energy efficient too. Enjoy fast data transfer speed with USB 2.0 connectivity and 5400 RPM drive performance. Built-in power management ensures energy efficient operation. Seagate has delivered proven, reliable storage solutions for over 30 years. As of 2008, Seagate has shipped over one billion hard drives. Seagate continues to stand behind its quality by including a 2-year limited warranty.

Customer Reviews

Perfect for Travel!
Date: 2009-10-20 | Rating: 5
I travel often and needed something portable that would hold all my photos, music, and also to be a good backup for my personal and business laptops. This is the perfect size; it's small, lightweight and barely takes up any room. Also it is a very quiet drive, I barely hear it. Set-up was so easy I thought I was missing something. Ha! It's truly USB plug and play - -no need for any software or anything.

Works like a Charm
Date: 2009-11-17 | Rating: 5
Since I travel over a 100K miles every year for business and pleasure I try to travel as light as possible with just a laptop. Problem is I have an extensive Powerpoint collection of presentations plus all my digital media for music and photographs. My other consideration was a drive large enough to backup all my documents. I've had numerous Seagate products in the past and have always been happy with the products and support I received so they were the first place I looked when searching for a external portable drive. The good news is I didn't have to call customer support for any issues. The install was truely plug and play and the drive unit itself is so quiet I have to keep checking to make sure it is on. The drive is very light and sleek looking and fits very easily into my briefcase. All in all an excellent value and it's still hard for me to believe you can get a 500GB unit for under $100. Highly recommended.....

Nice quite drive easy to use
Date: 2009-12-18 | Rating: 5
I purchased this drive a few weeks ago and have been very pleased with it. The only junk it was the warranty registration program. Run it then delete it. Disk comes pre-formated for NTFS. I went ahead and did a quick format to get rid of the existing folders on it. The drive goes into standby mode after 5 minutes bye default. This is quickly remedied and set to your liking with free Seagate Manager program available on Seagates website. Also this program give you the ability to do backups, and computer syncs. Pros - Quite drive very fast small and sleek no power supply needed only requires use of one usb port Simple/Custom Backups with Seagate Manager Sync Option with Seagate manager Cons- Goes into standby in 5 minutes by default. Easily changeable with Seagate Manager Case Logic Compact Portable Hard Drive Case listed as an option to purchase with this is TOO SMALL for this drive. This is an issue with Amazon not the drive itself. Overall I am very please with this drive I have used it on multiple laptops and pcs without issue. I would suggest this over the new WD essential drives that come pre-installed with a bunch of crapware.

slick little drive, great performance so far
Date: 2009-10-16 | Rating: 5
this is a nifty little drive, replacing my 80gig portable hard drive i've been taking on business trips. after grabbing a seagate 1TB drive and being surprised at how quiet is was, this is just as quiet. i double partitioned it into W:Work and P:Play drives, seems fast so far, no problems with copying gigs of video. i really like the slick design, slides into my bag's pocket easily, no external power supply, just the one micro USB cable. agreed with one of the other reviewers on the micro-usb inclusion instead of the more standard mini, but that's really the only gripe i have. 500gig, sleek and slick. nice drive.

Great product
Date: 2009-12-31 | Rating: 5
I've been wanting an external for a long time, but the price just wasn't right. Caught this during the holidays and couldn't pass it up. Being it's my first external, I have nothing to compare it to, but I am pleased with my purchase. Great portability, lightweight, and big amount of storage. I was worried about compatibility with a Mac, but it works seamlessly between Mac and PC. Would consider purchasing another in the future.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Desk 500 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive ST305004FDA2E1-RK (Silver)

From Seagate

Price:	~~$104.99~~

Accessories
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition FULL VERSION with SP2
- Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
- Case Logic Compact Portable Hard Drive Case (Black)
- Case Logic HDC-1 Medium EVA External Hard Drive Case (Black)
- Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (Up to 3 Users)

Features
- USB 2.0: up to 480 Mb/s
- Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM
- Simple software, energy efficient, and encryption
- Dynamic display, ultra stylish, brushed metal, and flexible

Product Description
500 Gb Silver External Hard Drive

Customer Reviews

Mac OS X 10.5 and your external drive...
Date: 2008-12-26 | Rating: 5
I ordered this drive because of the capacity and the price figuring that when it arrived I would simply reformat it as HFS+ and plug it into my Macintosh Network. The problem was that every time I tried to use Disk Utility to reformat it I kept getting an error (I forget the exact verbiage). Not only that but when I attached it to my PC running XP Home it wouldn't even recognize it as a hard drive - it thought it was a DVD drive. I poked around on the Seagate website and found this troubleshooting procedure which solved my issue: 1. Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility 2. Click on the Partition tab 3. Click on the Current Volume Scheme drop-down menu and select One (1) partition. 4. Click Options. From the Partition Schemes provided: 5. Click on the GUID Partition Table radio button -OR- Click on the Apple Partition Map radio button 6. Click OK. Select other options as desired (e.g., Volume Name, Format, etc.). 7. Click Apply. The Partition Disk screen opens. 8. Click Partition. At this point, the volume dismounts from the desktop and the drive is partitioned and formatted. Note: When Volumes are created, Time Machine may open asking if you would like to use the volume for backups. Click Cancel to proceed. When finished, select the Disk Utility from the Apple Menu and choose Quit Disk Utility I can't blame Seagate, the box clearly said the drive was for an XP or Vista PC, so that's why I am giving it 5 stars. I am anticipating that this drive will perform as well as the 300 gb external Seagate I have been using for the last three years

Works perfectly; a pleasure to use and own
Date: 2008-11-21 | Rating: 5
I have been a PC nut since the Apple II and original IBM PC, and backup technology is just now getting good for us small office and home users. I have tried tape backup units, DVDs, and other classic solutions, never with real confidence that my data was stored safely. This 1TB HDD from Seagate really is a superb backup unit. On the competent advice of my IT professional, I bought this unit to back up my home office and digital photograph library. I bought two of the earlier (black finish) versions of this unit, and they too are very nice, and the installation is identical and as far as I can tell, so is the backup software. The unit is very nicely built. It has a nice silver finish, and is designed to either mount horizontally or vertically, so most users will have no difficulty finding a place on even the busiest desktop for this compact unit. The nice finish combined with the attractive LED lighting make this an appropriate addition to any desktop. Minor quibble: could they not have mounted the little rubber feet rather than forcing the user to do it? The unit installed effortlessly. You simply plug it into the power supply, and attach the USB (or firewire) connector to the computer. On my Windows XP machine a menu came right up asking me if I wanted to install the backup software with which the unit comes equipped. I let it do so, and in a minute or so the software was installed and the 1TB HDD was shown in my Computer directory as ready to go. No need for reading anything; true plug and play. The unit is quiet and unobtrusive; it just does its job without annoying the user in any way. Nice! I did install the backup software, and it seems to be very nice. The software enabled me to schedule a nightly backup for every night, and that is an absolute first for me for my home office. A very nice feeling to know that one has one's files safely backed up. And one can easily view the contents of the unit to actually see the backed-up files. This is a USB2 unit, so transfer speeds are not as fast as a SCSI drive would be, but usually this is not an issue with the type of use I plan, as routine backups and storage in increments does not take long. For my needs, and I imagine for most users, this unit is speedy enough. Incidentally, the unit is formated NTFS, so no need to reformat it to get rid of FAT32 format as is the case with some drives. It truly was ready to go for my Vista system. So far I am extremely pleased with this unit. It is a fast, well-built, well-designed and cost-effective solution to mass storage of data.

Could not be easier
Date: 2008-10-01 | Rating: 5
What can I say? I am very impressed. It took me more time to figure out what USB slot to plug the thing into than it did to set up the hard drive and start my first back up. The quick start up guide is the only paper documentation that is included in the box and that is more than what is necessary. All I had to do was plug in the power and then connect with the supplied USB cable and the control system self installed and directed me to set up using the drive for general storage as well as creating a custom back-up plan. If I had to be picky, I would say that the "feet" that they include (you can choose between a tower or desktop set up that requires that you attach a tower base or 4 plastic "feet") are pretty cheap. Besides that, this was a perfect experience right from opening the box to just now when it finished my first (20GB) back up. But simply put, using this device could not be any easier.

Fancy, but simple
Date: 2008-10-29 | Rating: 5
This Seagate 1Tb HD is replacing my 250gb WD HD that I bought a few years ago because it was getting full. I agree completely with the other reviewers in that this hard drive is extremely simple to operate. Plug in the power, plug in the USB and it goes by itself. I found that the automatic back-up is easy to use and is a very convenient feature that my old HD didn't have. This unit is also very nicely designed and looks great. It's quite unobtrusive and a lot quieter than my old HD. In fact, I haven't even noticed any noises coming from it, but I hear my old WD going on and off whenever it is in use. My only complaint is that it runs a little warmer than my old HD, but it's not incredibly hot...it's just a little warmer.

nice to look at, easy to use.
Date: 2008-11-04 | Rating: 5
to put it simply this is a very nice external hard drive. it's got a sleek design with neat light effects and it's extremely easy to use. just plug the thing in and you're off and running. i usually never use the provided back up software with this external drives, but i decided to try it this once. i must say the software is very easy to use. you install it and you choose which drives or folders that you want to back up and it does it for you. you can also schedule when you want the backup to occur. very handy and a set it and forget it deal. i would like to mention that this drive does not have a fan, which is what i hated about another external drive that i had. the lack of fan makes it very quiet. the drive also turns on/off automatically which is a mixed bag, but not enough of an annoyance to really give it a lower score. overall this is a great buy and would recommend it to anybody.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST903203FAA2E1-RK (Black)

From Seagate

Price:	~~$99.99~~

Accessories
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition FULL VERSION with SP2
- Kroo 11128-130 2-in-1 Silicone Case for Western Digital My Passport Portable Hard Drive (Green/Pink)
- Quicken Deluxe 2010
- Kaspersky Antivirus 2010 1-User
- AmazonBasics IEEE 1394 4-Pin/6-Pin FireWire Cable (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters) [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]

Features
- Able to take your desktop environment with you
- Save all your private information instead of on the computer
- Protect against unathorized use with 256-bit encryption
- Windows XP/Vista compatible

Product Description
Free Agent GO Drive - 320GB 5400RPM 8MB Cache USB 2.0 up to 480MB/s

Customer Reviews

Excellent write speed (in my opinion)
Date: 2008-10-29 | Rating: 5
I downloaded 1.06 GB in 2 min 27.63 seconds (yes I used a stopwatch so I could post this review to help all of you reading this). There were multiple big files but also a lot of small files. There were a total of 107 files in that download. I was downloading from a network attached drive, which may have slowed it down a little, but I don't really know. I tell you these things because I found it very difficult to get "real" numbers when I was trying to decide which hard drive to buy. I cared mostly about write speed because for the most part I will only use it to back up my files. I took a chance with this drive based on opinions from people I talked to, and I am glad I did. It is very portable and very nice looking. I opened a file to test the read speed, and it seemed fine. I don't know how to time the read speed of a drive, sorry. I did not test the software because I don't plan to use it. I've heard that the software makes it faster, but I can't use it because I am on a public computer. If you are looking for a hard drive case, I highly recommend this one! Caselogic PHDC-1 Small EVA External Hard Drive Case (Red) I hope this helps you make your decision. Have a great day!

Perfect Item
Date: 2008-12-02 | Rating: 5
Even though I have been using the hardrive for only a couple of days so far I am convinced that it was a great purchase. It comes in an extremely appealing shape - very slim, light and small, seems to be of very high quality and is fast enough for daily use. If you use a rather old computer with low USB power supply the single USB cable might be too less to run the drive; consider buying a Y-cable or a new computer then. For everybody else it's the better solution because the drive occupies only one plug. The delivered cable is short, however, that means better portability. The software is not powerful but still very useful. As long as you don't expect more than scheduled daily backups for specific files you should be fine. Mac users might go for the Apple version since it offers FW 400/800 and is a lot faster therefore. It's a bit thicker and heavier though...

Works just fine, WD - you lost out due to your silliness
Date: 2009-11-30 | Rating: 5
Pros: 1 TB capacity :) (931 gb actual available :( ), no external power needed, not a whole lot thicker than the 2 platter drives (see the 2 images I've added) (Update on this: Just recently, my cousin purchased a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go drive and this 1TB drive is nearly double the thickness of the 500GB drive...it's also thinner than my silver WD 500GB drive (which I have shown in the pics)...kinda sucks as to why my WD drive is not as thin as the 500GB FreeAgent Go drive), decent speeds, removable software, mini usb connector Cons: Not too much of cons for me: Weight (feels almost double the weight of the thinner drives), thickness (hey, it would still be nice if these were thinner) - it's certainly not double the thickness, barely 0.3 inches thicker than my 500GB WD drive. Other Thoughts: In all honesty, I would never have considered buying this drive if I hadn't read all the negative reviews that have been posted for the comparable 1TB drive from WD (look for it's amazon page). I was shocked to read all those reviews since I was quite excited originally when WD released the 1TB hdd. This drive luckily does not suffer from those 2 main issues i.e. it uses a usb mini connector and the software is easily removed. I bet WD is having a hard time dealing with a lot of returns due to their silly move. Luckily for me I waited, read those reviews so I was able to make a better decision. Regarding the speeds, I copied some files over and here is what I got (approximately): 45.6 GB (~29,000 files) - ~80 mins 293 GB (~1,000 files) - ~7 hours (I did not see this through completion but XP informed me about 224 mins left after ~3 hours of copying files, so 7 hrs is going by that figure).

Great Drive!
Date: 2008-11-10 | Rating: 5
True "plug and play". It just works. On XP, it works. On Vista, it works. On my Mac, it works. Love it.

BY FAR the best hard drive I've ever had.
Date: 2008-12-17 | Rating: 5
Bought this Free Agent Go to replace a Western Digital My Book. Wanted to be able to take my files with me when I travel. I am surprised to say this is BY FAR the most quiet drive I have ever used. It spins silently and quicky. Works perfectly under OS X 10.5.6 and the free dock offer from Amazon made it a great deal. Can't recommend this drive enough! The built-in lighting on the drive is also very cool, it sort of pulses when it's accessing information. A single USB cable powers it just fine on my new late-2008 Macbook 2.4GHz. Also worked perfectly through the USB hub on my new 24" LED Cinema Display.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Seagate 500 GB USB 2.0 External Desktop Hard Drive ST305004EXA101-RK (Black)

From Seagate

Price:	~~$99.99~~

Accessories
- 2-Year Replacement Plan - Covers Electronic Items $50.00 - $99.99

Features
- Plug n¿ play with no software to install
- Simply drag-and-drop to save files
- 7200 RPM performance, 500GB
- Built-in power management ensures energy-efficient operation
- USB 2.0 Interface

Product Description
Seagate external desktop drives provide extra storage for your ever-growing collection of files. Instantly add space for more files, consolidate all of your files to a single location, or free-up space on your computer¿s internal drive for improved performance. Setup is straightforward, simply plug in the included power supply and USB cable and you are ready to go. It is automatically recognized by Windows® operating system, so there is no software to install and nothing to configure. Saving files is easy too, just drag-and-drop. It¿s not just easy to use, but it¿s fast and energy efficient too. Enjoy fast data transfer speed with USB 2.0 connectivity and 7200 RPM drive performance. Built-in power management ensures energy-efficient operation. Seagate has delivered proven, reliable storage solutions for over 30 years. As of 2008, Seagate has shipped over one billion hard drives. Seagate continues to stand behind its quality by including a 2-year limited warranty.

Customer Reviews

Works great on my Mac - I've always been satisfied with Seagate and this is a great price and great quality
Date: 2009-09-11 | Rating: 5
I can't speak to the issues that some of the other reviewers have had, but I have to say I've been very impressed by this drive. You've got to plug it in so it's not really an "on-the-go" kind of drive, but that's not what I needed. I have a couple of FreeAgent Go drives for that (and the reason I went with Seagate this time is because I've been so impressed with the other Seagates). This time, I wanted a big drive that I could use as a Time Machine backup for my MacBook Pro, and as a backup for all of the video files I've shot over the years. So far I've been very happy with this drive. One thing I noted right away is that it actually has slightly more than 1TB of space! With every other external drive I've ever used the actual amount of usable memory has been a bit less than advertised, even after I've reformatted them. With this one you get what is advertised. It's a USB 2.0 data connection, and from what I've seen manages to move files more quickly than my older Western Digital 500GB desktop firewire drive. For comparison, I tried moving a 2.15 GB video file back and forth between my laptop's hard drive and a few of my external drives. This one was fastest at both downloads and uploads - it would download the 2.15 GB file in one minute, 17 s. as opposed to 1 min., 40 for the portable FreeAgent Go and 1 min., 37 for the Western Digital. Uploading results were similar: it would upload the same 2.15 GB video file in 1 minute, 10 s. while the other drives uploaded in about 1 minute, 20 s. So, it's pretty fast and does exactly what I need - I've got no complaints and am very happy about the price (which turns out to be almost exactly what I paid a year or so ago for my 320GB portable drive and much less than what I paid about 3 years ago for my 500 GB desktop drive). What's not to like? One more thing, for Mac users. While this drive is set up out of the factory to plug and play on Windows it can easily be converted to a handy Mac drive. Here's how: 1. plug it in to your Mac, using the USB 2.0 cable provided with the drive 2. open up your applications folder, search for the utilities folder and then run "disk utility" (or, just search for "disk utility" in finder or spotlight and click on it). 3. you should see an icon for your "1 TB Seagate Desktop Media" drive in the left column of "disk utility" and also a drive partition (as I recall it was called "desktop" but I changed the name) underneath that. 4. click on the icon labelled "1 TB Seagate Desktop Media" and you'll see a few options in the window; click "partition" 5. after this steps will vary depending on what you want to do with this. For what I wanted, I decided to create two partitions on my hard drive. So, under "volume scheme" I selected "2 partitions" then clicked on the top one and set it to 250 GB and that left 750.10 GB on the other one. For the "format" I selected "Mac OS X Extended" but you'd want to select the journaled option if you want to use either of these drives as a "boot disk". I didn't. Then hit "apply" and it will erase everything on the disk and break it into two sections. Now when you plug in the hard drive two icons will appear on your desktop, as if there were two separate external drives. I use the smaller one for regular backups and the larger one for storing all of my old video files. I'm sure there are lots of other ways to get an excellent value from this sleek and handy little drive. Enjoy!

The 1TB Seagate USB 2.0 Drive is great!
Date: 2009-10-18 | Rating: 5
I (like everyone else) always read the reviews of an item before purchasing it. I was very skeptic about making this purchase due to the bad reviews that i've read, but a friend convinced me that it was a good deal, and I went ahead and followed through with it. Let me tell you I WAS (and still am) VERY pleased with this purchase! The drive installs easily, however the only set back is that the drive isnt a true 1TB Drive, only 931GB's of the drive are usable. Aside from that, everything runs perfectly with no problems what so ever. A suggestion to anyone purchasing this, is to run a surface scan on the drive prior putting anything on it. This way if there are bad sectors, they can be fixed (which is part of the reason why so many people suffer with having their drives die on them). Once running the surface scan, if all is well with no bad sectors or errors (My Seagate was perfect with no errors or bad sectors), feel free to use at your leisure. I recommend this to ANYONE looking for an external hard drive!

Seagate 1 TB USB 2.0 External Desktop Hard Drive ST310005EXA101-RK (Black)
Date: 2009-11-30 | Rating: 5
This is the second Seagate 1 TB USB 2.0 External Desktop Hard Drive ST310005EXA101-RK (Black) I have bought now. 5 stars across the board. I own an XP desktop and a Vista laptop. The hard drives are better for me, to transfer data The Seagate units are simpler to use than opening the case and expanding storage. This unit was less expensive than the first one, by a few dollars.

Add storage Instantly
Date: 2009-12-15 | Rating: 5
Bought this 1.5TB drive in local Fry's in Bay Area over the weekend since it was cheaper there. Drive is neatly packaged with cellophane film on the top to avoid finger-print/scratches/dust on the shiny/glossy surface. There is a small green LED activity light in the front but its very tiny and doesn't annoy a bit like some of the big bright LEDs on other external hard drives. This is 7200 RPM drive and comes with its own power-supply adapter which must be used to power-up this drive. It is not a portable drive and is not USB-bus powered. This drive doesn't come pre-loaded with any backup/encryption software. However it does come up with a small .exe file which when run takes you to Seagate's product registration page where it automatically fills the Drive Serial Number, so you just enter your name/email and register the product. I like registering as it helps locating the details of the drive in case you have to call customer service for repair/replace under manufacturer's warranty (which is 2 years for this drive). You can altogether not run it at all if you don't want to register. Everytime I plug in this drive, it makes a large clicking sound once but after that it goes quiet while running. I plugged it into a Macbook Pro and created 2 partitions, one for MAC (HFS) and other for Windows (NTFS). I then used Time-Machine software that came with my Macbook to take a backup on MAC partition. It was quite smooth with no issues. I then unplugged the drive and connected to a Windows 7 laptop and it recognized the 2 partitions immediately, HFS being Read-Only and NTFS being Read-write. I then took my Windows 7 backup using in-built Windows backup software and it also went quite smooth. So far no issues with the drive. It does tend to attract fingerpints/dust on its shiny surface since I removed the cellophane from it.

Good Value for money
Date: 2009-11-14 | Rating: 5
Normally I buy a hard drive using the formula Price/GB and compare different drives for functionality and price per GB. At the time of buying this drive 1TB and 2TB were over priced. This drive was the best value for money. It works perfectly with my PS3. I need storage for DSLR, Hard Drive Hi Def Camcorder and a lot of downloaded movies. I switched from a Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500GB which I used for about 2 years and it is still running great. I tried LaCie NAS (Ethernet Disk 1TB) but it is a little slow for my purpose (PS3 access of DSLR images). It comes with a 100-240V AC supply with 12V 2A DC output. External supply means surge and other electric supply problems don't affect the drives usability and aids easy work around.

Seagate External Hard Drive

Monday, February 15, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST902503FBA2E1-RK (Royal Blue)

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Seagate ST307504FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro 750 GB USB/eSATA/FireWire400 External Hard Drive

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent 750 GB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive ST307504FDB1E1-RK

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST903203FEA2E1-RK (Solar Orange)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Lite 500 GB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive STM305004OTA3E1-RK

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 250 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST902503FGA1E1-RK

Monday, February 8, 2010

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Lite 750 GB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive STM307504OTA3E1-RK

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 880 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST908804FAA2E1-RK (Tuxedo Black)

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST903203FCA2E1-RK (Pink)

Friday, February 5, 2010

Seagate Expansion 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST903204EXA101-RK

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Desk 500 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive ST305004FDA2E1-RK (Silver)

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Seagate FreeAgent Go 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST903203FAA2E1-RK (Black)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Seagate 500 GB USB 2.0 External Desktop Hard Drive ST305004EXA101-RK (Black)

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