Why I buy this one ?
- 500 GB external hard drive connects to your computer via USB cable, eSATA, or FireWire 400
- 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

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What our customer's say!

"Seagate is Great", I needed a second external hard drive to protect my original MIDI music files. As a music composer I wanted a drive large enough to handle my arrangements and mp3 files along with my audio wav. files. The Seagate hard drive was my answer. It was easy to set up with no confusing driver configuration to worry about, just plug it in your computer usb port and an external ac outlet and off you go! It automatically knows when a new or changed file needs saving. It also easily saved all my files from my first external hard drive. If you have important data on your computer drive it's worth the money to get an external drive just in case you accidentally lose your precious files to a hard drive failure. Plan ahead!

"One star not three (Amazon won't allow me to change my original rating)", This is an updated review, in which I go from 3 stars to 1 star.

First review: I gave this 3 stars with some reluctance. 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.

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.

I manage to keep mine going because I can use DiskWarrior every few weeks to rebuild the directory when the drive becomes suddenly unreadable... which it does, inexplicably, and gives me the "Unreadable Drive" error message.

The on/off switch is a pain. 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. Seagate! Why not a switch? Stupid.

It won't turn on at all if not plugged into a live firewire connection. That confused me for a while, as all my other drives will light up whether connected or not.

Occasionally this Seagate will not start at all. I've walked away in frustration, made a cup of tea, and come back to try again... and then it starts. Weird.

The original setup (I'm using a Mac) was a mess. 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. But I decided for the fun of it to see what Free Agent was all about. The answer... it's all about hassle. Installation does not go according to Seagate's instructions. I have no idea why I would ever use it. But true, once you erase the drive, it becomes a nice big empty space to put stuff on.

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). But you should always have two backups anyway.

Updated review:

My tolerance for this product is gone. My previous review gave it three stars but now a faulty pattern has emerged that I find totally unacceptable.

This is the pattern: I've been using the drive. I want to disconnect the firewire cable. I dismount the drive properly in the finder (I use Mac Powerbook and MacBook). 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). Sometimes it takes a while, but I wait until the light goes off and I'm sure the drive has stopped spinning. Then I unplug the cable... and suddenly my computer starts yelling at me YOU DISCONNECTED THE DEVICE IMPROPERLY!!! MIGHT HAVE DAMAGED THE DEVICE!!!

Plug it back in, and sure enough, the drive is unreadable, and out comes DiskWarrior again, and I have to rebuild the directory...

This can't go on, can it?





"Unreliable", I bought this in March (8 months ago). 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. A week ago, the drive's file system became corrupted so I could not access any of my files. I bought a program for $50 that fixed that problem (EASEUS Partition Table Doctor) and then backed up all my files to DVD. Today, the computer wouldn't recognize the drive. 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. Now I have a functioning hard drive, but for how much longer? Two problems in a week does not inspire confidence. 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.

"Does not work well with Mac", I bought this HD for my iMac. I am a little disappointed. It was easy enough to setup and partition but, it fails 90% of the time when using "Time Machine". I have to manually back up. 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. 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.

"Works Great!", 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. 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. 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. I do not recommend that kind of wastefulness in this era of energy conservation.

(Note: Backing up a nearly full 80GB hard drive through a USB connection took 18 straight hours.)

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Mac Friendly", So, i just purchased this item and i must admit that at first i had no idea what i was doing. I have researched all the different brands and settled with this FreeAgent Pro 500 [FireWire 400, USB 2.0, & eSATA] for my MacBook OS X 10.5 and realized that i didnt need to worry with the installation parts that it askes you to do. i just ran Time Machine and it's working like a charm.

Best part about it, the price for the amount of gigs. Frys Electronics has a sale going on until September 11th, 2008 for the FreeAgent Pro 500 [FireWire 400, USB 2.0, & eSATA] for 89.99. Originally 149.99. can't be that. ^-^



"Reliable, easy to back-up key files", Great, spacious back-up drive from a trusted name in data storage.

Pros: Intuitive software and handy options: for example, you can turn off the "running lights" on the unit, hide or allow confirmation alerts (that pop up fairly unobtrusively in the lower right hand of your screen when you have them "on") and start/pause/stop the auto back-up (after you set it up). You can also run a routine to delete files you later decide to trash. You can view backed-up items from the system (a la a ghost drive). Transfers are quick. You can also verify all went well with another software routine.

Con: When the back-up software is running, a re-start can trigger a consistency check on your main drive. Tip: Pause the auto-back up before you re-start.

"Design has improved over time", This is my second FreeAgent Pro. I bought my first December 2007 for my wife's iMac to backup using TimeMachine. And it has been peforming flawlessly. When I needed a new larger drive for my system's backup I naturally bought another (it's bigger than the first).

They have re-engineered the interface. The old drive is like I've seen them described in other reviews -- you have to exchange interface modules in the base to go between USB and Firewire. The new one has USB, Firewire, and E-SATA all present. To do so they use a mini-usb connector to save space. And the unit has both large and small firewire 400 connectors and a cable that has the large at one end and the small at the other so it can be connected to Macs (that all use the large connector) or PCs that sometimes use the small connector. Great connectivity change! Those that use E-SATA (not me) will still have to provide their own cable, though.

Not much else I can say about the drive that hasn't been said before (cool running, quiet, futuristic styling). It's backing up about 1GB/minute using SuperDuper, which is better than my older USB 2.0 only drives.


"works well", It's quiet, it does what its needs too...

Doesn't seem to completely turn itself off until it is unplugged. the power button seems to power it down.

"Wouldn't buy it again", I wouldn't buy this product again. It was not easy to set up for a non-technology person like me. The program also constantly tells me that I did not shut it down properly when I unplug the external hard drive from my laptop, even though I do exactly what the instructions say to do each time. I wish I had saved my $145.00 and just kept using plug-in flash drives to save the files and programs I want to save. I'm very disappointed.