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Where to buy Seagate FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA/FireWire external hard drive (500GB)
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CNET Editors' review - Seagate FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA/FireWire external hard drive (500GB)
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CNET Editor's rating: 8.0 out of 10
Reviewed by Felisa Yang Review date: 04/26/07 Release date: 03/19/07 The good: AutoBackup and FreeAgent Tools software are easy to use and highly configurable; drive offers good gigabyte-per-dollar value; smooth interface with Internet Drive and Shutterfly; eSATA connectivity offers fast transfer speeds; elegant design; generous warranty. The bad: Mac users can't take advantage of the bundled software; software installation is a bit slow; accessing your data "anywhere" requires you to have the foresight to upload it to the Internet Drive and potentially purchase more online storage capacity from Seagate; Shutterfly is the only online photo service it works with. The bottom line: The Seagate FreeAgent Pro external hard drive is an elegant workaround for users who are intimidated by NAS drives. The bundled software is simple to use and makes copying your data to various location a cinch. We really like this external hard drive. At first glance, the Seagate FreeAgent Pro looks like a NAS drive: all of the online literature talks about accessing your data anywhere. It turns out that it's a desktop drive bundled with a backup application that makes it easy to copy your data to a variety of portable devices or to Seagate's Internet Drive (the company's online storage service). We found the bundled software simple to use and although a remote-accessible NAS drive is a better device than the FreeAgent Pro for true "anywhere access," setting up such a drive may prove daunting to many users, as it requires futzing with ports on your router. The FreeAgent Pro requires some device and data juggling, but it's manageable. At $320 for the 750GB USB 2.0/eSATA version and $340 for the 750GB USB 2.0/eSATA/FireWire version, it's a good deal, too. If you don't mind the thought of messing with your router, you should consider a NAS drive such as the Maxtor Fusion. Otherwise, the Seagate FreeAgent Pro is a great device for storage, backup, and sharing.
Design Seagate gave the FreeAgent Pro an unusually slick design. It's wrapped in a smooth, black case, and the narrow sides of the drive are trimmed in orange, which glows when the drive is powered on. Though the literature that comes with the drive talks about its "portability," the drive is a bit too heavy and unwieldy to be easily portable. It measures 7.5 inches tall, 1.4 inches wide, and 6.3 inches deep, while the base measures 1 inch tall, 3 inches wide, and 5.2 inches deep. The whole unit weighs about 2 pounds. The drive sits vertically on the base, which houses the connector ports and power port. The base can't be detached, but in the models that include FireWire 400 connectivity, you can remove the USB/eSATA module from the bottom of the base and replace it with the dual-connector FireWire module. The drive's power button is mounted on and is touch sensitive; we noticed that you need to hold the power button for a few moments before the drive reacts.
Features The Memeo AutoBackup software lets you create multiple backup tasks using a click-through guide. You start by choosing your backup location: a hard drive (presumably the Seagate drive in this case, but potentially any other connected hard drive); Seagate Internet Drive (on Seagate's servers; more on this below); a network location; a flash drive; or an iPod. You can decide how many versions you want of each file and whether you want the files encrypted; if you choose to encrypt files, you'll need to use the AutoBackup software to restore them. Then select what files and folders you want backed up. The SmartPicks window lets you choose by broad categories: My Documents, My Pictures, browser bookmarks, photos and music, and so on. Alternately, you can manually choose specific folders or designate items by file extension and you can exclude particular file types as well. Because AutoBackup is a real-time backup program, it runs only when files in the designated folders have changed or when you add a file. For detachable targets such as a flash drive or an iPod, a backup will occur the next time you plug that device into your PC. One of the backup target options is Seagate's Memeo Internet Drive--basically online storage space on Seagate's servers. With each FreeAgent Pro, you get a free six-month trial of 500MB. Otherwise, it costs $5.95 monthly or $49.95 annually for 1GB of space and $11.95 monthly or $119.95 annually for 5GB of space. You can access the Internet Drive from either AutoBackup or the FreeAgent tools window. Both open a page in your default browser. To upload files, you can browse for them individually or use drag-and-drop; you'll need to have Java installed to do the latter. You can create subfolders within the drive, set certain folders to be shared and user permissions (read-only; read/write; read/write/delete; write-only), and e-mail files from the Internet drive. Recipients of the file receive a link that expires after 14 days or five attempts. You can also view a history: who you've sent files to and whether they've downloaded said files. Similarly, you can use AutoBackup to share photos online via Shutterfly. The first time you set up the photo backup, designate which folders/photos you want uploaded to your Shutterfly account. Each time you alter a photo or add one to one of the chosen folders, the AutoBackup program will update your Shutterfly account. The FreeAgent Tools replicates a couple of the offerings in AutoBackup. For example, clicking the Backup and Restore tab simply launches the AutoBackup software. And clicking on Internet Drive launches a browser window to the Internet Drive. But FreeAgent Tools also lets you create system rollback points, much as Windows XP does. In this case, you can manually create a restore point or set up automatic restore points in intervals of 4 hours (ranging from 4 to 24 hours). If you need to restore files, you can also use the FreeAgent Tools. Finally, the FreeAgent Tools software lets you monitor attached FreeAgent drives and offers utilities that let you adjust the drive's lights, alter the drive's sleep intervals, and run diagnostics. Ultimately, a NAS drive that you can access remotely is a more elegant solution for true "anywhere" access to your data. The Seagate FreeAgent Pro requires you to manually connect drives for backup or have the foresight to upload the files you'll need to the Internet Drive (and you may have to purchase more Internet Drive capacity to have all your data accessible anywhere). That said, once you do set up the backup plans, it's a simple task to plug in your designated device and the backup runs automatically (the Internet Drive will be continually updated as long as your PC is connected to the Internet). For users who are daunted by the thought of opening ports or messing with DDNS, the FreeAgent Pro is a well-designed manual workaround.
Performance Though we didn't test the eSATA transfer speed (we're not yet equipped to do so), you can expect much faster speeds than what we clocked over USB 2.0. Where USB 2.0's maximum speed is accepted to be 480Mbps and FireWire 400's to be 400Mbps, eSATA's max speed is around 2,400Mbps. Unfortunately, few PC's come with the hardware necessary to use the eSATA connector on the FreeAgent Pro. If you'd like to take advantage of the fast transfer speeds, you'll need to update your system with an eSATA host bus adapter.
Service and support Product brief - Seagate FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA/FireWire external hard drive (500GB)
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Intro: This Seagate Freeagent Pro USB/eSATA/Firewire External Hard Drive is a 500GB, external hard disk drive.Compared to other external hard drives on the market, it is midpriced at around $155. Noteworthy Features: Has a 500GB capacity, which is considerably larger than some similarly priced hard drives.In fact, the typical cost of a product with this large a capacity is $245.Connects to your PC via high speed USB 2.0 or FireWire cables.This product can also connect to older USB ports, but the transfer rates will be fairly slow. Weaker Features: None noted, given available product data. Suitability: Suited for those who don't want to take apart their computer to add another hard drive -- just plug it in. Value: Overall, this hard drive has good features for the money. User opinions - Seagate FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA/FireWire external hard drive (500GB)
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Poor3.6out of 10
Average user rating from 21 users
6 out of 10 - Good 14 out of 14 users found this user opinion helpful. 8 out of 10 - Excellent 7 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful. 1 out of 10 - Abysmal 5 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful. 7 out of 10 - Very good 1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful. 1 out of 10 - Abysmal 1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful. 1 out of 10 - Abysmal 1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful. 5 out of 10 - Average 1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful. 5 out of 10 - Average 2 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful. 3 out of 10 - Poor 2 out of 10 - Terrible Full specifications - Seagate FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA/FireWire external hard drive (500GB)
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Manufacturer:
Seagate Technology
Part number: ST305004FPA1E3-RK
Product series - Seagate FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA/FireWire external hard drive (500GB)
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Manufacturer: Seagate Technology
Specs: 320 GB, IEEE 1394 (FireWire) / Hi-Speed USB / eSATA-300, 3.5", 7200 rpm 
Manufacturer: Seagate Technology
Specs: 500 GB, IEEE 1394 (FireWire) / Hi-Speed USB / eSATA-300, 3.5", 7200 rpm 
Manufacturer: Seagate Technology
Specs: 750 GB, Hi-Speed USB / eSATA-300, 3.5", 7200 rpm 
Manufacturer: Seagate Technology
Specs: 500 GB, Hi-Speed USB / eSATA-300, 3.5", 7200 rpm 
Manufacturer: Seagate Technology
Specs: 750 GB, IEEE 1394 (FireWire) / Hi-Speed USB / eSATA-300, 3.5", 7200 rpm 
Manufacturer: Seagate Technology
Specs: 320 GB, Hi-Speed USB / eSATA-300, 3.5", 7200 rpm Manufacturer Info - Seagate FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA/FireWire external hard drive (500GB)
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