Seagate ST302504FDA1E1-RK FreeAgent Desktop 250 GB 3.5" USB 2.0 External Hard Drive
by Seagate
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List Price: Our Price: $45.00 You Save: $104.99 (70%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Seagate ST302504FDA1E1-RK FreeAgent Desktop 250 GB 3.5" USB 2.0 External Hard Drive
Customer Review: Very, very easy to use
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned this drive since August 2007 and have had no problems with it yet. Buying a hard drive, especially an external unit, is always something of a crapshoot, because the mechanical parts are always more liable to failure than most other parts of a PC, but if you do your homework and buy from a manufacturer you've had success with in the past, you'll do all right most of the time. I've been buying hard drives, internal and external, for nearly 14 years now and have never had one fail outright on me (though one was DOA and a couple of others have acquired bad sectors over time). It helps to bear in mind that external hard drives, advertising notwithstanding, aren't really intended for heavy-duty program work; they're meant for backup and data storage.
This drive is, as other reviewers have noted, extremely easy to set up. My particular model only requires one USB cable to connect but users who have a two-cable model can get an add-on USB hub (powered models can be had from $20 up) to get more USB ports. IIRC the drive came formatted NTFS out of the box, so no conversion or reformatting was necessary. Unless you run Linux or Mac, or still stick with an older version of Windows on at least one of your active machines, you'll not need to reformat your drive. The drive, which has its own AC adapter, powers down automatically after a period of inactivity to save wear and tear and reduce heat issues, so do be prepared to wait a couple of seconds if you access the drive after it's been idle for a lengthy period of time.
Customer Review: Horrible
Summary: 1 Stars
Probably the Amazon purchase I regret the most. YOU CAN TRUST THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS!! I wish I had.
I have only had this drive since January. It was easy to install, easy to move files, etc. About a month ago, the drive started malfunctioning. My computer wouldn't recognize it, and it stopped connecting to my computer. Mind you, I have so much of my data stored on this thing. A few days ago, it just stopped working all together. Before, it was like it worked for ten minutes, then shut off, and back and forth like that.
On Saturday, I discovered that the USB port was broken and floating around inside the drive. I called Seagate TEN MINUTES AGO and found out from one guy that I had two options: 1.there may be a chance that only the part can be fixed, and 2.data recovery. The data recovery costs $1700 to 2000. Yes, you read that right. Now, look at the price Amazon sells this for. I paid only $86 for it. Why would I send this back, only to NOT get a direct quote from them, and have them pretty much hold my device hostage? Do you see the difference btwn price and how much it costs to fix it? I nearly blew my top. And all the representative could say was "I understand."
I've learned my lesson. Be careful with this brand. I am going to try to get a friend to fix it or help me get my data off, but if he can't do it, I have lost so many documents, family photos, projects, etc.
Customer Review: No frills - holds data.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've got an older 160 GB Western Digital external HD that I bought for about $90 a year or so ago. It works fine, but it is getting a bit low on space, now that I am saving more digital photos and videos to it.
So, I snooped around and decided this Seagate was a good choice for the amount of money I was willing to spend.
Pros:
1. It came with the USB cable and AC adaptor. (Also a PDF of the warranty on the drive).
2. Plug and play installation.
Cons:
No on/off switch.
No "writing to drive" light.
No software (for me, it's a "pro", however).
Takes a long time (30 secs or so) to open a directory that has directories inside. If it just has files, it's fine.
The lack of a switch does not bother me as the drive is not intended for daily use. It mostly sits on a shelf in the original plastic bag packaging until I hook it up once a week or so.
The "writing to disk" light would be nice just to let me know nothing is being written before I literally "pull the plug". However, I just wait an extra minute or two, and everything seems fine.
There is an amber "power on" indicator that is about 1/8 inch wide by 6 in high (it's a vertical drive) on one edge. If I remember correctly, that will dim after about 15 minutes of inactivity.
Bottom line - holds data with no bells or whistles.
Customer Review: Like getting a 'Delayed Write Failed' Error every 5-10 minutes?
Summary: 1 Stars
This was my 1st external drive & was a bit weary since you read so many good & bad reviews for various drives...it goes w/o saying that ALL manufacter brands make the occasional "dud". But after some research, I think there are more Freeagent duds then good ones...
The first day I got this drive in the mail, I used it & it worked perfectly. Managed to back up my entire music & video collection & uploaded plenty of pictures. 3 whole days later I wanted to back-up some CD files...only to discover a little pop up stating "Windows - Delayed Write Failed". Drive was still viewable in Explorer, but could not access my files & also could not safely remove the drive (Argh!). Now when I plug it into my Toshiba laptop, I only get 5-10 minutes of actual use before the infernal message pops up again & even crash my PC on occasion. Some of my files have also become "corrupt"...keep in mind this is only THREE days of use (and used only twice for moving files to it from explorer only).
Did some research and found an ENTIRE blog dedicated to disabling the light, which apparently overheats the unit causing the error. Of course, it would void the 5-year Seagate warranty by doing so. Hmm..should I indeed crack open my brand spanking new drive?? Needless to say, going to attempt my best to return this drive, but I may be out shipping.
Customer Review: Exellent
Summary: 5 Stars
Anyone that is looking for an inexpensive external hard drive, this is a great choice. It is top quality. This product is very quiet compared to my dad's 300GB Lacie hard drive and is much nicer looking. It is very small, only about 7.5 inches high, and three inches wide including the base. The only thing I would complain about is the backup utility that comes on the drive. I would suggest finding a different utility online somewhere. For Mac users Apple.com has a load of choices, but PC users might have to look around. Overall this is a great drive, small, very quiet, and great looking.
UPDATE: Originally bought February of '08
Current date: October 2010
I've had this drive almost 3 years and it still runs strong. Granted all it has done is sit on my desk, never gets moved. Plus I regularly run maintenance on it. It is still extremely quite, the only noise it makes is on first start up, otherwise it is virtually noiseless.
It is only 320gb, but I still have over 200gb left, I have 10gb partitioned to some archives, but the rest is dedicated to Time Machine and backs up everything.
Basically, when this one dies, or I need more space (unlikely) I will most definitely be buying another Seagate drive.