Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive
by Seagate
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive
Customer Review: Let the Buyer Beware
Summary: 2 Stars
UPDATE, APRIL 2009:
When I originally wrote this review last year, I said that I liked this drive, but that there were some "issues" that the buyer would have to work around or live with. I owned this external drive for only a few months, and then when I used it, it was never for any lengthy period of time. I was much concerned about the heat this thing was putting out, and what it was doing to the hard drive inside of it. I ended up reselling this to someone on eBay.
Since then, 11 additional people have posted 1-star reviews urging people not to buy this thing, with detailed explanations why. As a result, I can no longer endorse this product with a clear conscience. You would be well-advised to give serious thought to the statements made by the other reviewers. I've reduced my "star" rating down from what it was originally.
Nevertheless, should you still decide to buy this external drive, here is most of my original review, and some of the issues that I ran into:
NO CABLE. This external FreeAgent drive does not come with an eSATA cable. You will want to get one. The problem is that there are a LOT of companies on the internet that are selling SATA products as eSATA products. There's a BIG difference. If you don't know what to look for, you can be fooled easily into buying something you'll regret later. You want to be informed before you buy any accessories. Use your favorite search engine to read up on "SATA vs. eSATA" or "SATA I vs. SATA II".
ADAPTER CARD. I have an older computer which has the slow-interfacing PCI card slots, and does not have USB 2.0 or eSATA ports. I could not find a PCI adapter card in this country with USB 2.0 and eSATA ports together on the same card. I bought one off of eBay, which was shipped from another country. Though the included drivers did not work, I subscribe to DriverAgent, Touchstone's driver update service. Their website was able to provide compatible drivers that do a fantastic job with the adapter card and this FreeAgent external drive.
You might wonder why anyone would consider feeding this high-speed drive with its high-speed eSATA connection, through a slow PCI card slot. Surprisingly, it performs VERY well! Transferring 45GB of my backup files from one drive to another normally takes about 8 hours. With this FreeAgent external drive, it only took 1-1/2 hours! It can take in data as fast as my computer can feed it. If fed through AGP or PCIe card slots, your data transfer rate will be even better than the results I got.
BACKUP & UTILITIES SOFTWARE. Backup software is included on this drive, and is set up to install as soon as the drive is plugged in. Of course, you are given the option to say "no". For me, the problem with this backup software is that it's lackluster. There are no "wow" features that would make me recommend this software over anyone else's. Furthermore, it's not disc-imaging software, my preference.
If you decide to store backups on this FreeAgent external drive using the included software, you cannot use this drive as additional storage space for your music files, photos, etc. In the process of creating a backup, the software will destroy anything already on it. You could partition this drive and use half for storage, and half for backups, but I did NOT experiment to see if the backup software destroys partitions. Sorry, I cannot answer that for you.
In Windows 2000, if you decide to NOT install the included software, you cannot remove the software files from the drive. Otherwise, if you do, the drive icon will turn to a white blank page. (This problem does not exist in Windows XP.) Using your computer's registry, there's a way to fix this problem AND remove the software files from the drive. It's too involved to discuss here. Search the internet for "customize drive icon", using your favorite search engine.
Another failure of the included software is that the Utilities do not work if this FreeAgent external drive is connected to your computer with an eSATA cable. The only function you get is "Run Drive Diagnostics". Then when you run it, you get a red diagnostic code telling you that your drive has a serious problem and needs servicing (it doesn't). Seagate is aware of this problem, and so states it on their website's Knowledge Base. If you wish to adjust the case lights and sleep interval of the drive (default is 15 minutes), you must install the included software, connecting this FreeAgent external drive to your computer via a USB 2.0 cable. Only then can you run the Utilities and make adjustments to the default settings.
One final caution: since this is still somewhat new technology, your favorite backup or disc-imaging software may not work if you have this FreeAgent external drive connected to your computer with an eSATA cable.
Customer Review: Not up to Seagate's expected quality, probably best avoided, attractive styling but multiple engineering deficiencies
Summary: 1 Stars
I've had a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500GB drive that has worked satisfactorily since day one, and thus anticipated no problems with this drive. However, the 750GB drive appears to be a different item. Almost from the beginning this drive failed to be consistently recognized using either the SATA or USB connectors. As others have noted, regardless of how soon after you purchase this drive you experience problems, Seagate will only exchange it for a reconditioned unit. That is, you cannot even get the unit you bought repaired by Seagate and sent back to you.
If you need to return this product due to defects during its warranty period you pay return shipping and, as noted above, the replacement will be reconditioned and not new. Combine these observations with the fact that drive prices drop and drive technology improves significantly from year to year. Thus, the extended warranty while a nice feature is not quite as attractive as it might first appear.
Other user comments as well as my experience suggest that the failure of this drive to be consistently recognized when connected is not uncommon. Other drives installed in external enclosures, on the same system, have never shown this problem. My experience combined with the experiences reported by other users, may indicate a systemic problem in the design of this device's external interface. Some users appear to be lucky enough to never encounter this problem; however, others such as myself are not so fortunate.
It was also a surprise to learn that Seagate has decided *not*, at least as of this review, to support Vista 64-bit with their software for this product, so its not possible to use any of the important features otherwise available. Even simple tasks, such as controlling the large light associated with this drive, cannot be handled with the incompatible Seagate software. Seagate apparently has no plans to update this product's software for compatibility with this newer operating system. Thus, a FreeAgent Pro drive is probably not the best choice if you update your systems on a reasonable schedule. Even if you don't own or plan to purchase Vista 64-bit, Seagate's failure to support this software may foretell their approach to support Seagate FreeAgent Pro hardware when even newer operating systems are released. With a greater concern for purchasers, this type of unnecessary obsolescence could easily be delayed.
The underside of the drive base gets surprisingly hot, and with no internal fan, drive life might potentially be shortened from this heat.
The enclosure does not have an external on/off switch. To turn the drive off you move a finger over a covered "sensor". The sensor is supposed to detect your finger and switch the unit on or off as appropriate. Detection by the sensor has proven to be an intermittent feature, usually requiring many attempts to get the system to recognize your on/off input. Its not clear if this was done to improve styling, add a unique feature, or simply save money; whatever the reason, the design does not work as desired.
Seagate products are usually quite well designed. So, its probably particularly telling that at the time this was posted 8 out of 12 reviews, on Amazon's main page for the Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB, rated it 1 star.
Sadly, my experience with this product suggests its not up to the usual Seagate quality and is probably best avoided ... particularly, when there is a much wider range of drives available separately that can be added to an external enclosure with fan. If you choose this approach, you can select a drive with the specific characteristics you want, e.g., speed, power consumption, noise, size, MTBF, raid ready features, etc. rather than the restricted set available in the FreeAgent series, and most likely have a more reliable product.
Customer Review: Amazon show this item as "in stock" but then back order it for 2 months - not seagate's fault but very frustrating;
Summary: 4 Stars
ordered three of these in May when they were advertised by amazon as "in stock" with an estimated shipping date of two days off, only to get an email from them a day later indicating a July shipping estimate -- extremely frustrating; hmmm.. I thought - it is because I ordered three in one order; so canceled the original order & repeated the order as three separate orders for individual disks. When the same thing happened, I went straight to NewEgg and bought them there for about 20 bucks over the amazon price. If amazon keeps this up I won't even bother ordering here. Okay - now to some feedback on the disks themselves:
Disk number one is in production as a redundant backup drive to a WinSBS file system; it is a Dell server box (1 year old as of May 2007) and the disk is run as a USB local removeable storage device. It is receiving a 'robocopy' copy of the file system nightly and has run flawlessly since the day it was installed (about two weeks at the time of writing). Five stars.
Disk number two was also installed as an external USB device on a Dell Dimension 3100 (cira one year old as of May 2007) running XP-Home; again no problems with the device itself in this configuration. Again, five stars.
A-ha I thought, this is great - I will be clever and get better disk speeds out of this baby's eSATA capabilities. At this point I should mention that the Seagate Utilities software that came with the disk would not run without causing an error report dialog box. 'So what?' I thought -- I wasn't going to use the utilities anyway (or so I thought).
I installed a Esata II-150 Pci 2PORT External Controller bought from amazon -- a part of the original order that was *not* back-ordered ten weeks. No problem - except that in eSATA mode the disk goes to sleep after X minutes; fine while the disk is in use - nobody notices, but it won't come back to life once it goes into sleep mode. (The "sleep mode as a default" information is not in any of the literature with the device -- nor I could find it on the Seagate/Maxtor website. A quick i/net search threw up the fact that these devices are pre-configured with a 15 minute sleep time.) Again - no problem I will use the seagate utilities to turn off the sleep mode - except that the utilities simply won't work on this computer (Dell Dim XpHome) no way no how, three reinstalls, etc, etc. No stars.
Okay - I am back to USB, and the device works fine in this configuration -- meaning that if the device does go to sleep it wakes up seamlessly when called up on by the file system. The utilities don't work in USB mode either and so can't change the sleep mode to something more usable like 'no sleep'. So - the eSATA controller and expensive cable are boat-anchors, and we're running the device as a USB. I thought about returning it because of these eSATA problems but I needed the Gb's so it stays in production as a USB. Grudging four stars - it is great in USB mode; I just wish the eSATA thing & the enclosed utility software worked out better.
Disk number three is intended as a rotating replacement for the server file system backup device - same as disk number one; we haven't tried it as yet, but given experience with the device in USB mode, I have every confidence in it working well in that deployment.
So, in summary, I would recommend this drive for USB deployment; don't rely on the bundled utility software working and buy it from someone other than amazon; my experience with NewEgg was good with this and other transactions.
Customer Review: Exquisite styling and a lot of space
Summary: 4 Stars
Seagate really did a great job styling this external hard drive. FreeAgent Pro is a work of art. The top part is slick contoured with sides made from what looks like anodized brushed aluminum. Bisecting the top part is a plastic surface, thin on the vertical edges and widening at the top, the surface lights up in amber when the drive is operational. There is also a cut-out Seagate logo that also lights up in that same amber color.
The base is plastic with semi-translucent upper surface. You are not supposed to separate the top and the base during normal drive operations.
The drive comes preloaded with installation of FreeAgent Tools. You can install this utility on Windows 2000, XP or Vista (it will not install on Windows 2003), or you can use the drive straight, without the utility.
Out of the box, the 750 GB Seagate FreeAgent Pro drive has 749,856,440,32 bytes of free space (698 GB).
The preferred way to use the drive, I haven't tried yet, is probably via the faster eSATA interface. I use this drive via USB with included USB cable. Seagate offers no drivers for this drive. It should work with drivers already installed in your operation system. Some USB hubs will not work; if at all possible try using USB ports directly on the back of your computer.
Also choose USB 2.0 ports if your computer has both USB 2.0 and older USB ports. Older USB ports may work. But if the interface is too slow you may stast seeing "Delayed Write Failed" errors (you can try to correct those by increasing the TimeOutValue in registry in the KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Disk key - always be careful with registry modifications, make backups beforehand).
In rare cases some third party software or hardware you installed on you your computer before, may replace or interfere with disk drivers. Look into that possibility if you are having problems.
Now for some negatives I found about this drive.
First, the power switch; it's not a switch at all but a specially marked place on the base where you place your finger, the FreeAgent detects it. I think this is where Seagate has over engineered a little bit. This is very modern and everything, but there is no positive response to the user; it is often hard to figure out, was the button pressed or not.
The whole turning off - turning on situation is a little bit flaky. Sometimes the drive will not turn on (usually it turns on when you plug the USB cable). Then you have to unplug all the cables, including the power cable, and try again.
If the drive is left connected to the computer via USB all time, some commuters get stuck during their initial BIOS loading sequence. That is probably the computer's fault. If you have one of those, then just don't keep the FreeAgent plugged in all the time.
The biggest issue I have with the drive - they forgot to include the drive access light. Yep, that blinking light that lights up when the drive is reading or writing is not there.
Overall I am pleased with this external hard drive. It looks very good. It is quiet. It will allow me to upgrade to eSATA interface from USB. It's big.
Customer Review: 33% Failure Rate on the three I own
Summary: 4 Stars
I have three of these units (750gb eSATA/USB version).
The nice about the drives: They are slick looking, with a cool orange LCD strip the whole length and top of the unit that indicates power on for the device. The setup is easy, and they are fast drives.
The bad about the drives: They run HOT! Almost too hot to touch on the base. Also, there is no eSATA cable included in the box - you must purchase one extra ($20). Of the three I have, one has gone "bad" and is being sent in for warranty replacement. While I'd be tempted to say I have a 33% failure rate, having just three units is too small a sample to be meaningful, and based on the other two drives so far, I wouldn't say, don't buy one of these, but I would say be sure to keep back ups of your data if you use one (which is sage advice no matter what brand you buy).
Here's my experience in real world operations with them:
One unit is hung off the back of a TiVo Series 3 DVR, the other two are connected to my Mac Pro desktop computer. All three units are connected to their respective machines via eSATA.
The TiVo connected unit has performed flawlessly since 12/14/07. If you know how TiVo's operate, then you'll understand that this means the drive is being written to almost constantly as TiVo just keeps recording "suggestions" to save for you to watch later, as well as the programs you schedule to record. As a dual-tuner unit, this TiVo is recording something almost 24/7, and frequently on both tuners. That's an awful lot of activity on the drive, with no problems so far.
On the Mac Pro, it's a different story. Of the two units connected to it, one has hardly ever been used. I already have several terabytes of drive space (internal) and another 5 terabytes of network drives, so this unit's not been used it, and I can't really say how it performs.
The second unit attached to the Mac Pro performed quite well the first month I owned it, but then the system started acting up. Certain programs would freeze, sometimes the OS X desktop would freeze. It drove me nuts trying to figure what was happening until I realized it was a form of drive failure where the drive wasn't responding, but it was still telling the computer that it was A-OK.
What was happening was that very heavy I/O to the drive often resulted in the drive failing. Maybe it's overheating and shutting off, or maybe the bottom attached controller (which also serves as the stand) was getting too hot and messing up the circuits. At any rate, the drive stops responding to the system and becomes useless.
I'd read on the net that some people only experienced this problem with eSATA usage, but I tried a heavy read/write session to tax the drive while connected via USB and the same failures occurred, so it's not just eSATA issues.
I've normally preferred seagate drives to other brands in all my 25+ years of building computers, but this is my first experience with their external drives. I won't give up on the brand yet, but I will consider other brands for my next purchase.