Seagate ST305004FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro 500 GB 3.5-Inch USB 2.0/eSATA/FireWire 400 External Hard Drive
Ideal for accessing your content from anywhere, sharing it with anyone, and syncing it to almost anything, FreeAgent Pro allows you to automatically move your content to multiple locations, share your pictures online and automatically update without even thinking about it, and many more.
For the person who needs access to their digital content away from home, at work, or online, while also allowing that same content to be shared in a secure setting, look no further than the Seagate Free Agent Pro Portable Hard Drive. This powerful portable hard drive delivers high-speed transfers, while also giving you the ability to share content with others safely and securely from a remote location or even online. 
Powerful storage device with a sleek new design. |
This hip-looking hard drive takes up less room on your desk than an ordinary stapler. | 
Share your content with others safely and securely. |
With up to 1 Terabyte and an ultra-slim design for a clutter-free desktop, your FreeAgent Pro external hard drive helps keep you safe from goof-ups by automatically saving new versions of your content that you can easily access if need be. And should something happen to your PC, you can roll back your Windows operating system, settings, and applications to a point in time when they ran smoother, like before a virus attack. Even though the system settings are taken back in time, updates to photos, music and critical data files are kept current. The Free Agent Pro is also ideal for those who want quick and painless transfers of their data from their computer to their drive, and from their drive to online accounts (such as Shutterfly or email). Simply plug it in to any power source and connect the USB cable to any computer, and you're ready to go. This hip-looking hard drive takes up less room on your desk than an ordinary stapler--1 x 3 x 5.2 inches (H x D x W)-- giving you more space for your other desktop items. Meanwhile, the hard drive only measures 7.5 x 1.4 x 6.3-inches (H x D x W) and it matches its small base. High Speed Synchronization and Sharing
The Free Agent Pro data mover automatically duplicates and moves selected content from your hard drive to multiple locations, such as copying your contact lists and emails to your iPod, or photos to a Shutterfly account. This feature also allows you to move your entire 'My Documents' folder to the Free Agent, or move it to your own online space where you (or others you choose) can access it from any browser 24/7. The Free Agent software also offers the feature of rolling back your system to better time if something should happen to your PC while automatic revisions of your content help keep you safe from goof-ups. Move files or other content with either USB 2.0, eSATA, or FireWire 400 allowing a maximum transfer rate of 480Mb/sec for USB, and 3Gb/sec for eSATA, while delivering a high performance spindle speed of 7,200 RPM. The unit also comes with a sophisticated touch point power on/off switch. The Free Agent Pro software and drive formatting works only with Windows, but the drive can easily be reformatted for a Mac with OS X's Disk Utility. This portable hard drive is also compatible with Windows Vista (as well as Windows XP and Windows 2000), allowing you to backup your content regardless of operating system upgrades. A five-year warranty is also included, giving you complete peace of mind. Now with the ability to take your data with you anywhere you go, your digital content finally has room to breathe.
What's in the Box
FreeAgent Pro data mover drive, Free Agent software (preloaded) and electronic documentation, USB2.0/eSATA/FireWire 400 interfaces, USB 2.0 cable, FireWire cable, AC power adapter, and a quick start guide.
Seagate ST305004FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro 500 GB 3.5-Inch USB 2.0/eSATA/FireWire 400 External Hard Drive Accessories
 Belkin F3N401-06-ICE IEEE 1394 4-Pin/6-Pin 400 Mbps FireWire Cable (6 Feet)
Seagate FreeAgent 500 GB 3.5-Inch USB 2.0 Hard Drive ST305004FDA1E1-RK
Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 Leopard
Kingston DTI 4 GB USB Flash Drive
Case Logic Compact Portable Hard Drive Case (Black)
Acronis True Image 11 Home [OLD VERSION]
Corsair 16GB Flash Voyager USB 2.0 Flash Drive - CMFUSB2.0-16GB
VMware Fusion [OLD VERSION]
Seagate ST307504FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro 750 GB USB/eSATA/FireWire400 External Hard Drive
6FT Shielded External Esata Cable M/m
Seagate ST305004FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro 500 GB 3.5-Inch USB 2.0/eSATA/FireWire 400 External Hard Drive Reviews
Occasionally this Seagate will not start at all. The on/off switch is a pain. But you should always have two backups anyway. Then I unplug the cable. Just be sure you have DiskWarrior, enough patience to deal with the weird power switch, and a second backup drive for the data on this one (I don't assume that I'll always be able to rebuild the directory; some day it could be fatal). and then it starts. I want to disconnect the firewire cable.
Not really a switch, it's an embossed symbol on the base of the drive (I spent considerable time searching for it) that requires a hard press of the finger for up to 30 seconds before you get a response. Sometimes it takes a while, but I wait until the light goes off and I'm sure the drive has stopped spinning. The drive works, in general, but with enough problems that I would not recommend it to a person without plenty of computer experience that is, my 80-something mother who simply needs a simple backup drive. Then I wait 30 seconds, and press the power non-switch (that weird embossed symbol on the base that serves erratically as a power switch). I've walked away in frustration, made a cup of tea, and come back to try again.
Installation does not go according to Seagate's instructions. I dismount the drive properly in the finder (I use Mac Powerbook and MacBook). Updated review:. Plug it back in, and sure enough, the drive is unreadable, and out comes DiskWarrior again, and I have to rebuild the directory. My tolerance for this product is gone. Why not a switch. Seagate. But true, once you erase the drive, it becomes a nice big empty space to put stuff on.
I bought it because it's a Seagate with a 5-yr warranty, and I've had good experience with Seagates. I use it as a photo backup drive; it is not powered up most of the time. Weird.
This is the pattern: I've been using the drive. Stupid. I manage to keep mine going because I can use DiskWarrior every few weeks to rebuild the directory when the drive becomes suddenly unreadable. But I decided for the fun of it to see what Free Agent was all about.
That confused me for a while, as all my other drives will light up whether connected or not. This is an updated review, in which I go from 3 stars to 1 star. It won't turn on at all if not plugged into a live firewire connection. which it does, inexplicably, and gives me the "Unreadable Drive" error message.
My previous review gave it three stars but now a faulty pattern has emerged that I find totally unacceptable. and suddenly my computer starts yelling at me YOU DISCONNECTED THE DEVICE IMPROPERLY. MIGHT HAVE DAMAGED THE DEVICE. The answer.
The original setup (I'm using a Mac) was a mess. it's all about hassle. I had read that the Free Agent software should be dumped and the drive erased so you can start out with a straightforward empty drive. I have no idea why I would ever use it. This can't go on, can it.
First review: I gave this 3 stars with some reluctance.
Two problems in a week does not inspire confidence. Today, the computer wouldn't recognize the drive. I bought the hard drive to store files (particularly photos) and it works (so far) but NEVER rely on it as a backup system - assume it will let you down.
I bought this in March (8 months ago). Now I have a functioning hard drive, but for how much longer. A week ago, the drive's file system became corrupted so I could not access any of my files.
I did the research and saw the poor reviews, but I couldn't find an affordable hard drive that didn't get a fair amount of poor reviews so I risked it. I bought a program for $50 that fixed that problem (EASEUS Partition Table Doctor) and then backed up all my files to DVD. By looking at other reviews, I found that the solution was to cut off the power to the hard drive and then power it up again.
I have to manually back up. It was easy enough to setup and partition but, it fails 90% of the time when using "Time Machine". I bought this HD for my iMac. I called Seagate and they said they do not support their products when partitioned for PC and Mac and that this was the reason for the failure. I am a little disappointed. However, I had the same issue before adding the PC partition. Do you homework before buying this item, I think there are much better drives out there for the money.
I do not recommend that kind of wastefulness in this era of energy conservation. In some other reviews people complain about the yellow LCD lighting on the device, but that's only a problem if you run your computer all night while you sleep. My research has paid off because these two drives have worked perfectly ever since. They installed themselves easily and backing up our hard drives was a breeze. I got two of these last month after one of the home computers lost its hard drive and all files contained within. I had put off backing up the family hard drives for too long. I did some research online and found that Seagate drives were considered the best of the best. (Note: Backing up a nearly full 80GB hard drive through a USB connection took 18 straight hours).
Tech support couldn't solve the problem. Disappointing. 2) On the second of my computers not only won't it initiate a backup when connected, when a new plan is created it continuously says "No backup plan detected" and cannot backup at all using the software.
Now for the problem the Autobackup software. As a result ALL of their award winning software has been uninstalled and it works fine as a ridiculously overpriced drag and drop external hard drive. Runs fine, does get warm, I can't tell if it's writing to the drive via the lights the amber light doesn't appear to do anything.
It has been nothing but trouble. 1) When the drive is connected it doesn't initiate autobackup on one of my computers, rather an additional "backup plan" must be created. Tech support was unable to solve this problem either.
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