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Seagate ST307504FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro 750 GB USB/eSATA/FireWire400 External Hard Drive | List Price: $219.99
Discount Price: $179.99
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Brand: Seagate
Binding: Electronics
Warranty: 5 years warranty
Features: - 750 GB external hard drive connects to your computer via USB or eSATA
- 7200 RPM for fast read/write times
- USB 2.0 connection provides a brisk transfer rate of up to 480 Mbps, and 3 Gbps for eSATA
- Includes external drive, FreeAgent software (preloaded) and electronic documentation, USB2.0 and eSATA interfaces, USB 2.0 cable, AC power adapter, and a quick start guide
- Measures 1.4 (3.0 with base) x 7.5 x 6.3 inches (WxHxD); 5-year warranty
Quiet, effective [Posted on 2008-03-07]
Nice drive, quiet, works well. Looks great and very solidly built. Nice to have all three interfaces. A module plugs into the bottom. This model comes with both -- one that has USB and eSATA; a second one that you use if you connect via FIreWire.
Sad ...but bad [Posted on 2008-03-29]
I agree with all the one star folks. The ESATA connection does not work with VISTA. I bought two of these drives for two new machines with VISTA. Neither would work via ESATA connection. With great effort (days of searching forums) I got each to work via USB. I would have sent them back but I had an immediate need for backup. Very disappoining for a lifelong Seagate fan to feel this ripped off. Drive seemed cheap but you add in the $50 for two useless ESATA cables and I could have gotten a better USB drive or an ESATA drive that worked.
Doesn't get cheaper or faster than this [Posted on 2008-04-16]
I came across this drive by accident - I had bought a Western Digital WDG2TP10000N My Book Pro Edition II 1 TB USB/Firewire Triple Interface External Hard Drive to attach to an old PC I wanted to use as a file server on my home network, and as I know from experience that if you try to ensure data security you can't go far enough, I felt a solution that let me back up the backups was necessary. Apart from my own tax and legal documents, I used to work in telecommunications, and that means that under FCC rules, I have to hang on to certain information for 30(!) years.
The Western Digital unit I set up for RAID 1, which means it mirrors the data across both its drives, which reduces the size from 1 terabyte to 500 gigabytes. I figured the Seagate would complement that beautifully, and I'd be able to store non-current files there, as well. But when I received the first drive, I found out there was an eSata interface , running at much higher speeds than the Western Digital's Firewire, which is available on the Seagate, as well. Then, I came across the Sabrent SATA-2PRD eSATA Raid External 2-Ports + 5V/12V DC output PCI card Card, and as I have familiarity with RAID equipment, I thought I might reverse my thinking, buy a second Seagate, set that up for RAID 0 - striping makes the I/O process on drives much faster, since the controller can send a write to a drive that is idle) - and back the Seagate "array" up to the Western Digital drive.
And that is how I am running it today. The Sabrent card is finicky to set up (read my review there for installation instructions) but functions beautifully, and the Seagates run immaculately. I was a little concerned about the absence of cooling in these drives (the Western Digital has a vent grid and forced fan cooling), but as far as I can establish the metal designer enclosure serves as a heatsink, giving the drives a significant surface area, without looking like they were designed by Joey on his Saturday off. Running them with USB and Firewire interfaces (there is a swappable interface insert) works fine, although much slower than eSata, which is rated at 1.5 Gb per second - the rated speed, what your computer can really handle is dependent on its bus speed.
I haven't tested it, but with a boot capable controller I fully you can use these drives as boot drives, meaning that you could replace the little slow internal drive with a fast large external drive without even cracking the case, for as long as you know how to change the boot drive and -controller in the computer's BIOS (I have done that, and that is supported, I just have not put an operating system on the Seagates.
More detail on the process can be found at my website, just search on Western Digital or RAID in the main page. A deliriously exhaustive description of RAID is avalailable at Wikipedi.org - what especially excites me is that good data security is now avalaible to the consumer for only a few hundred dollars - it used to cost thousands.
Menno Aartsen
Fredericksburg, VA
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nice external storage solution [Posted on 2008-04-17]
although I did not buy my FreeAgent from Amazon.com, I wanted to leave a little positive feedback on a pretty decent external drive.
The only reason I did not give 5 stars, is because I think the drive base is too narrow; and when my two cats are wanting attention, they start running around my computer area, and I'm afraid they might knock the drive over.
So, other than the base being a little small, I think the drive works for me and my needs rather well. I had hoped the Firewire transfer rates would be faster, but this is not a really big problem.
I use the drive to archive my various media files and when it comes time to burn any data, I take the extra precaution and temp. copy the files involved to an internal drive, and burn from this temp directory.
I have this drive connected to a WinXP PC P4 3.2ghz system using an Intel 865 based chipset (on board Firewire,etc.)
Pretty good [Posted on 2008-04-20]
I use this drive for backup of my PC files. I do a backup once or twice a week. I've had the drive for about a month, and so far works fine for backup. It's suppose to be in sleep mode when it's not being accessed, but one day it came out of sleep mode even though it wasn't being accessed, and the power button did not work to turn it off. I ended up having to pull the power plug to turn it off. Now, I keep the drive powered off when it's not in use. The power button works most of the time. I use Windows Vista backup software, and the connection is USB.
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