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

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(More customer reviews)I do computer repairs.
I normally don't like to see reviews that rate a product with only one star because they got an "out of box failure" but I will have to add myself to the category of people that will not give a product the benefit of a doubt.
I already have a 500gb Maxtor that has worked perfectly. I back up a lot of customers machines in my line of work and like to keep their data for a few months in the event they have a failure, so that was the reason I needed even a larger external hard drive. Also I liked the fact this had an esata connection for my own personal computer.
I plugged the power in and started hearing a double clicking sound. It didn't sound good from my experience with hard drives. I then connected the USB connector. Nothing happened. I waited a while longer and, pulled up the directory and the drive was there. Created a folder and ran across the instructions again. It should have installed the software when the USB was connected.
So I shut it down (and powered down), rebooted my computer and went through the same process again. This time it worked as expected. No clicking sounds... just normal drive activity. It installed the software automatically. Good... I was happy... must have just been a fluke.
A few seconds later I got an error, "delayed write failure" and an explanation the data was not written.
I've never been too impressed with Seagate. I always liked Maxtor (before they were bought out) better with Western Digital in second place.
I decided to give it another chance. I uninstalled the software, ran a scan on the registry and cleaned it up. Started all over again with a new USB port, just to be safe. Exact same thing as my first experience. Started the double clicking sound, pause, then double clicking sound.
Once again, Seagate is not up to prime time. It will probably be a number of years before I try Seagate again. Too bad, because I like the company as I know some people that work there. I think the engineering is top of the line but production must really suffer.
Amazon reviews are so valuable. A quick search found the delayed write failure a common problem when it dies. I took it back (BestBuy) and got a 1 tb Western Digital (My Book). It is very quite... a little larger than the Seagate (about the size of my Maxtor), and much quieter (almost no sound) operation than my Maxtor and Seagate (when it wasn't clicking, but simply accessing data). I've only had the WD for a couple of hours so I can't attest to the software or how it will perform in the future, but I can say that I have been very pleased with the Maxtor. I've had the Maxtor for about a year.
Just looking at the reviews here and my own experience, I would say avoid this product... especially this model.
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It's now 2 years later and the Western Digital is still going strong with no problems.

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500 Gb Silver External Hard Drive

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Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Home 1TB STAM1000100 Review

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(More customer reviews)I give this item a 3.5 stars. It looses some stars because it really is not "simple set up" as it states. It takes some time to get it up and your files to back up the first initial time. I was extremely excited to try this product with my home network since we have two Windows PCs (1 XP & 1 Windows 7), and one Mac computer.For each desktop computer, I have installed wired external backup drives. The idea of having ONE back up drive to backup all my files, photos and iTunes music seemed to be like a dream come true. Features a 1TB storage, which is equivalent to 1000GB.
Lets start with the installation. I am using the Windows 7 PC for initial setup. First and most important, you need a Home Network, a wireless router and of course an internet connection. Enclosed in the box is a very basic "Quick Start" guide, I recommend going to the manufacturer's website and downloading the 82 page manual which gives more information. I plugged in power and Ethernet cable to my wireless router. I powered up the drive and inserted the installation CD. I named and registered my drive and added additional user accounts , one for each computer. After that was complete I had to install the software on my other Windows PC and Mac. After I installed the CD on the other PCs, a screen pops up asking to insert the username and password. It's that simple. On my Mac the installation was a little different, but I was able to easily follow the instructions and get it connected using Time Machine with no hassles. One bit of advice for Mac users, if you plan on using Time Machine to back up your files instead of using the optional Memeo Instant Backup, you need to go to Seagate Share Preferences before installing the program on the Mac. Once you are in the preferences page, enable ComputersBackup. Create a password, this password will be used to configure the program when it is installed on your Mac. This information can only be found in the downloaded Users Manual online. Luckily I read the entire manual before attempting to install the Seagate GoFlex. It did take a long, long time to backup all files and folders from all three computers, but I had no bugs or issues. Depending on how many files and folders you are having backed up, it may take all day and night. The program will just run in the background and you do not have to do anything.
The drive will automatically created three folders for each PC account, a public, personal and backup folders. The Seagate Dashboard is the centralized location for all the computer files. This only works with Windows, this is the reason I used my Windows 7 PC as the main system. On the Mac it is Seagate Share and you must use the internet to access the files. You do have the option to use the internet storage base for Windows as well if you like.
There are a few options on how you want to backup your files, I went with the automatic backup. I clicked on instant backups on my menu and the computer shows you the amount of storage that will be included in the backup. If you only what to choose certain files, you can use the advanced settings and drag which files to backup. After clicking "Start Backup", my files started backing up. Whenever I add a new file to the folder or make and changes, the Seagate GoFlex will automatically back up the new file.
Every computer in my home already has a wireless printer, so I really have no use to for the share printer option. But if you do want to use a printer wireless throughout your home network, you must attach the printer via the printer's USB cable to the Seagate GoFlex Drive.
There are many other features and options that can be used, but my primary reason for using this device is to backup the iTunes and photo files on all the computers. When you have thousands of songs and spent several hundreds of dollars on iTunes purchases for every iTunes account on each system, you want to make sure you can access your file in case something terrible happens like the internal hard drive dies. Trust me, I have had this happen to me. I always burn my photos to a CD for added protection, but this way we can share our photos from any computer.
Overall, once you get the unit installed and your files and folders backed up it is extremely easy to use. I guess time will tell if the unit is reliable for retrieving backup files if your system crashes or dies. Hopefully I will not have to find that out! :-)
UPDATE: Sometimes I am not able to gain access to my account online. This is because I use Firefox with a 64-bit operating system and currently "Flash" is not not supported for this OS. I keep getting the "Flash Crash Error Report". However, I can sign in with no troubles using Internet Explorer. So if you have troubles signing into the account online, try a different browser.
If you notice that the drives are not showing under devices in your computer, best thing to do is to unplug it for 15 seconds and then plug it back in to reboot.

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The GoFlex Home network storage system connects to your WiFi router, allowing you to wirelessly store and access files and back up multiple computers in the home. The GoFlex Home network storage system includes software to automatically and continuously back up all the files and folders on up to 3 PC and Mac computers in the home. By storing files in a central location on your network, you can use one drive for all your storage and backup needs. When connected to your home WiFi router, the GoFlex Home network storage system enables you to wirelessly store and access files from any PC or Mac computer in the home. The GoFlex Home network storage system also allows you to stream media to game consoles and the GoFlex TV HD media player. Store all your photos, movies and music on the GoFlex Home network storage system and enjoy your media and favorite memories from any room in the house. Additionally, you can share a USB printer with every computer in the home by simply connecting to the USB port on the GoFlex Home network storage system or you can plug in a USB drive to the port to increase storage capacity. The built-in drive can also be upgraded by simply removing the drive from the base and replacing with a higher capacity GoFlex Desk drive. With a simple guided setup process and just two cable connections, the GoFlex Home network storage system installs in just minutes, allowing you to quickly begin protecting your files, enjoying your media and accessing your content wherever you are. Additional licenses available for purchase

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