Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive
by Seagate
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List Price: Our Price: $223.00 You Save: $176.99 (44%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $70.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive
Customer Review: Fantastic and reliable
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this drive for two years now. I'd recommend it, it's been the bastion of my backup data, and currently is the only reason why my data survived a fatal computer crash.
Pros:
- It's easy to use and has no problems being detected on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Truly plug and play, I've had no problems getting the computer to recognize it.
- Turns on and off when your computer turns on and off.
- Reliable and sturdy. While I've tried to avoid carrying it around, I have dumped it in my backpack from time to time and never had any problems with physical damage.
Cons:
- Sometimes you have to unplug and then replug the drive to get it to turn on. It's an odd quirk, but other people have mentioned this quirk so I know it's not just my drive. However, that oddness does not impair functionality.
- It heats up. I try not to keep it fired up for a long time, so I'd recommend this drive if you are using it for backup and want it on for hours at a time, but not if you want to keep it on constantly, 24/7.
All in all, results are the bottom line. I've been able to rely on this drive without fail.
Customer Review: Do not buy this... FAILURE
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this a year ago with total use less than 100 hours. I plug it in two days ago and the orange lights started to flash. I googled and found this happened to many people. I know computers, so I open the enclosure and took out the drive to direct connect to my internal SATA. No luck, the power of my PC wouldn't even come on with this drive connected to it. I then tried my external SATA docking station. The station will not come on with this drive in it. This is the first time I've experience this type of hard drive failure. This total hardware/firmware failure is very bad. If I can just get this to boot, I have tons of software to try.
I am going to see how much it will cost me to recover the data after the New Year. I have used 30+ hard drives with different brands over the years. What gets me mad is that I'm not even sure what caused this. No, I didn't kick or bump this drive.
Don't buy it! The risk is too high to backup everything on it and have it fail. I did not know about the high failure rates or I would have never depended on it. I do learn from mistakes of others. Hope you will do the same!
Customer Review: Good, But BE CAREFUL
Summary: 4 Stars
If you are looking at this product, I assume you have interest in using the eSATA interface. If not, save yourself some money and get the USB only versionSeagate ST305004FDA1E1-RK FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive.
The 5 year warranty is good. The tech support is adequate enough. The eSATA interface is blazing fast, but hang on a second:
If you are drooling over the Transfer Rate of the eSATA interface, here are a couple things to consider.
1) If your motherboard drivers are not up to date, your eSATA interface may not work for you. Mine did notwork well at first.
2) The included utilities do not work when the drive is connected via the eSATA interface. You have to connect it via the USB interface to use them.
3) This drive does not use a regular USB 2.0 cable. It uses the less popular Mini USB. Amazon does not tell you that anywhere. I was not happy to realize I had to order ANOTHER cable and wait.
That being said, the drive is very quiet, performs well and looks good.
Customer Review: Excellent Drive but not for a DishNet 622 PVR
Summary: 4 Stars
When DishNet recently opened up it's USB port so that customers can archive programs they want to save, I started shopping for an HDD of 750 gigs (the max, they say, you can use). Being a well known name and priced well, I chose this drive. And it performs well. Except for one glitch - and the glitch, in my opinion, is DishNet's - when the drive goes into "sleep" mode, in order to activate it for use, you have unplug it (it has no on-off switch) and then plug it back in. Or put it on some sort of switched extension cord.
One would think that the 622 would activate it, but apparently it's software, when it doesn't see an active drive, simply gives you the error message that no external HDD is available rather than seeing it and powering it up. But that's not the case. Perhaps they will revise the software, but meanwhile, there is this little nuisance.
Otherwise, the drive performs flawlessly. You can temporarily hook the drive up to your PC and change the sleep mode to "never" but I tried this and it tends to get HOT. I'd say, not recommended.
Customer Review: 5 year warranty should have been a red flag
Summary: 2 Stars
I, too purchased this drive based on my positive opinion of the Seagate brand, but wish I never bought it. The drive is quick to set up, and easy to use, but it runs extremely hot. I backed up about 500 gb of data on the drive, and everything worked fine for about three months. The drive died a slow and complete death. First, the transfer rate dropped significantly, then my access to the data was limited. I started backing up data a little at a time, until it pooped out on me. After disconnecting the drive and letting it cool, I would try again, until slowly my data was completely inaccessible. I called Seagate, and they informed me of their very generous 5 year warranty, and the exchange was painless. The replacement drive died the same way, but in two weeks. I got the replacement drive again, but I have no faith in it whatsoever. I only use it occasionally for large transfers between my laptop and desktop. What good is a long warranty if your data is long gone? To be fair, they offered to attempt to recover my data...$3,000.00 to START!!! No thanks.