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Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive | List Price: $399.99
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Brand: Seagate
Binding: Electronics
Warranty: 5 years warranty
Features: - 750 GB external hard drive connects to your computer via USB cable or eSATA
- 7200 RPM spindle speed for high-speed performance and fast read times
- Footprint is no bigger than a stapler; Just plug it in and you're ready to go
- Backup CDs, DVDs or store files and programs for on-the-go
- Includes external drive, USB 2.0 cable, AC power adapter, and quick start guide; 5-year limited warranty
Very Poor Design [Posted on 2008-06-21]
The first problem was turning this thing on, the second is turning it off- both require a lot of patience. The power button is awful, terrible, horrible. The unit seems to decide when and if it wants to function. We threw it in the garbage after less than two months.
You might be ok if you only use USB...but Esata? Run for the hills [Posted on 2008-07-16]
If you do a google search for "freeagent esata problems" you'll see the masses of problems people are having, over and over again. The esata function of this drive (and the rest of the freeagent PRO line up) is flawed and people are complaining/blogging/forum-ing about it in pretty high numbers.
One example...
http://blog.noegruts.com/2007/12/seagate-freeagent-pro-esata-problems.html
Now this is the 2nd, freeagent pro that has died on me. The first one lasted a month. The 2nd lasted a week. The same exact thing happened both times. I've used it on 2 different computers and it's the same problem. My data would get corrupted and the hard drive would become unreadable. Then the disk errors start coming. Checkdisk would salvage most of my data and temporarily fix it, but then the problems start all over again. Then it starts it's final stage of life. It shuts down, turns on, shuts down, turns on and hangs the computer. Keep in mind this happened on 2 different hard drives and two different computers.
It's wasted so much of my time, which is why i'm even writing this. Hopefully some can benefit from my bad experience with the freeagent pro line. Thank goodness I had my data backed up. It's just NOT a reliable product and I only wish I had known about these problems before I bought it.
Regarding USB MODE -
I have not had problems while using it in USB, other than how slow it is. See the specs on the website above. But if you're only using USB why not save the money and get the FreeAgent Desktop which doesn't have esata? I haven't had any problems with that one........yet. Time for me to look for a better storage solution.
Not up to Seagate's expected quality, probably best avoided, attractive styling but multiple engineering deficiencies [Posted on 2008-07-29]
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.
Bad design, overheating problem [Posted on 2008-08-24]
I am very surprised that the Freeagent Pro 750G get such a good rating, therefore I would have to submit a negative as warning for other customers.I would hate to rate a product with one star just because I have bad luck getting a defective sample but I decided to rate the Seagate Freeagent Pro 750G with one star anyway. My reason is I believe the problem I have is due to poor product design, not simply a defective sample.
I like the look of the Freeagent Pro 750G and if it keep working, I would have given it 5 stars. I used the Freeagent Pro 750G drive to store video files from my desktop and laptop. After about one month of use and 150G worth of transfer from my desktop and laptop to the Freeagent drive, it start dying. Windows lost connection to the Freeagent Pro drive.
After searching internet, I found out it is a common problem due to overheating of the controller. If you plan to buy the Freeagent series of external hard drive, do yourself a favour, search internet for overheating and decide whether you still want to buy it after you read about that. Back to my drive, I have noticed before that the bottom
of the drive (which host the controller) was very hot after 20-30 min of use. The design of the Freeagent series of external drive put the electronic controller circuit inside an interchangable plastic box so that they can sell USB, USB + eSATA or USB + Firewire versions by simply install a different controller box in each model. The problem of this design is the chips inside the controller generate heat and by putting the chips inside a CLOSED plastic box, it is prone to overheating. I
believe it is a design problem, not because I bought a bad sample.
Back to my drive, after found out the overheating problem on internet, I turn the Freeagent Pro drive side way and blast it with a fan and try to transfer the file out of it. It work for 30 min but after that, it overheat and disconnected again (and it progressively getting less and less time). If the same problem happen to you, you can try to recover your files like this (after overheating, shut it down and let it cool down and transfer again, make sure you re-transfer the file that was interrupted during transfer). There is a video on YOUTUBE showing how to open the Freeagent drive, DON'T follow the procedure, the instruction is not correct for the 750G model. The video is for smaller Freeagent drive, the 750G design is slightly different, you have to remove the 4
rubber cushions in the bottom, then remove the screws underneath and then you can remove the base and work on the controller. If you crack open the plastic box and let the circuit board hanging out, it will partially solve the overheating problem and the drive will work longer before overheat again. You can also disable the lighting on the case by unplug one of the 2 wires inside (forget the color but one of the wire will disable the drive totally, you will know it is the wrong wire right away and simply plug it back, unplug the other wire instead). If you disable the light and let the circuit board hanging out, the drive can probably work OK but it is not a permanent solution for most people but perhaps good enough to recover your files.
At the end I have 2 options after recover my files: put the Freeagent Pro back together and ship it back to Seagate for a replacement or take
the hard drive out and use it as internal drive. I think the design of the drive is the problem so even if I pay the shippment for replacement, I am going to get another one that will probably die on me in several months, so I decided to use it as internal drive. The case is very hard to open and there are four latches/hooks inside. 2 of them are designed in such a way that once it was closed, I doubt anyone can open the case without breaking it. So if you decided to open the case, forget about keeping the case, just make sure you don't break the hard drive inside
and pry the plastic shell open (the case look like metal but it is actually a very thin layer of metal on top of plastic).
I am quite happy with the Seagate hard drive itself but considering I pay extra for the case and all the trouble to open it up, I would think it will be much better to buy the Seagate internal hard drive, buy a decent hard drive enclosure and put the hard drive inside the enclosure yourself. It is still possible that I am just unlucky that my circuit
board is more susceptible to overheating than normal and if you buy one and it do not die on you, good for you. But for me, it is too risky to buy a Freeagent external drive unless they change the design and get rid of the closed plastic box that host the electronic circuit. One last thing, whatever you do with the drive, NEVER put it on carpeted floor,
that will make the overheating worse. If you already bought one and is just start using it, after you use it for several hours (like if you actually use it to backup another hard drive or run something from it directly), lift up the Freeagent drive and touch the bottom (warning: it is hot!) and ask yourself, do you really think the IC inside that plastic box will survive this type of heat, if your answer is no, then transfer your files to somewhere else and try to return the Freeagent drive if it is still possible. If you think the heat do not bother you, then I wish you good luck but if your have to recover your files later, don't say you were not warned.
CRASHED [Posted on 2008-08-29]
HD crashed after 6 months of use. Same issues as others have reported. I only hope I can get the data back. Wish me luck...but in the mean time don't buy this HD!
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