Seagate FreeAgent Go 80 GB USB External Hard Drive ST900803FGA1E1-RK

by Seagate

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8 x 3 x 8 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000NDA5FO
• Item model number: ST900803FGA1E1-RK
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

If you find yourself working from multiple computers but needing constant access to your own software, e-mail and digital files, the Seagate Free Agent Go Portable Hard Drive is for you. More than a simple portable back-up and storage solution, the Seagate Free Agent Go lets you take your favorite software, Web browser, IM client and contacts, email, cookies, and personalization settings wherever you go--safely and securely. Not only does this portable hard drive synchronize your data with just about any computer you want to work from, more importantly it features the latest encryption software to protect your content, leaving no trace of your last session on the borrowed computer. With the Seagate Free Agent Go, you have the best of all worlds--a convenient portable back-up solution and a virtual desktop in a pocket-size package.

Powerful storage device with a sleek new design.

Compact size makes it great for on-the-go travel.

Take your favorite music, photos, or programs with you anywhere you go.

It’s all about having your desktop environment and latest files with you - when and where you need them. Designed for mobility, the sleek compact design easily fits into your shirt pocket, briefcase or backpack. We provide the USB cable that’s not only the interface connection, but the power source – no additional power cords are needed. And the unique espresso brown finish with molten amber illumination is just icing on the cake.

High-Speed Synchronization and Security
Whether you have vital company data or personal files and programs that you need to access, the Seagate Free Agent Go protects your most valuable information via drive-level encryption that provides a more robust solution than most software encryption on the market today. Delivering high-end protection against unauthorized use with encryption for sensitive files, this device keeps your data safe while you're on the go.

And not to worry, your Free Agent Go portable hard drive saves all of your private information on itself, not on the computer you’re using. That means there’s no trace of your last session to tempt the next person on a borrowed computer. It also provides strong file encryption to protect your content, and lets you sync your files from several PCs.

With the Seagate Free Agent Go, virtually any computer can temporarily become yours. The software/drive combination allows you to move files or other content quickly via USB 2.0, allowing transfer rate of up to 480 MB/sec for USB. The drive's high-performance spindle speed of 5400 RPM gives you the high-speed performance you need to back your data up quickly and safely. The sleek and slim design of this hard drive--only 0.7 x 3.9 x 4.8-inches (H x D x W)--and a weight of less than four pounds means that you can carry practically your entire desktop with you as you make your rounds from computer to computer.

The Free Agent Go software and drive is formatted to work out of the box with Windows operating systems--including Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000--but the drive can easily be made Mac-ready in a few minutes with Mac OS X's Disk Utility. The unit features a sophisticated touch point power on/off switch. Plug in the USB 2.0 cable to a PC and your personal desktop environment launches automatically. To help eliminate even the slightest bit of worry, we’ve included technical support and a five-year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
Free Agent Go portable drive, Free Agent software (preloaded) and electronic documentation, USB 2.0 cable, and a quick start guide.

Product Description

Why just carry your files with you? Along with all those glorious gigabytes, FreeAgent Go software lets you carry lots of great programs and all your browser favorites and passwords without having to haul around your computer. Now any PC can temporarily become your PC. And not to worry, your FreeAgent Go data mover saves all of your private information on itself, not on the computer you're using. It also provides strong file encryption to protect your content and lets you sync your files from several PCs. It even includes a five-year limited warranty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I am very happy with my purchase, December 8, 2007

By 

aakay - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent Go 80 GB USB External Hard Drive ST900803FGA1E1-RK (Personal Computers)

I am very happy with my purchase:

-- perfect for backing up personal data (MS Office files, pictures, music files, video files etc) from my personal use laptop
-- have not had any problems with power requirements for running the hard drive (it comes with a two USB wire - both of which need to be plugged into my laptop -- i have a Dell Inspiron E1405 purchased in 2006)
-- speed of backup is pretty good for my needs (earlier today, I backed up 6 GB of data in 3-5 minutes)
-- its lightweight and small.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No serious problems & as cheap as a much smaller thumb drive, February 10, 2008

By 

Clamdigger (Pahoa, Hawai'i USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent Go 80 GB USB External Hard Drive ST900803FGA1E1-RK (Personal Computers)

I think this gadget has gotten less favorable user reviews here than it deserves.

Mine came to me as a "closeout" special, so the fact that I paid only 40% or so of the "list price" started me off on the right foot... True, on a per-gig basis you can actually do even better with other Seagate drives... but this one's 80 Gb worked out perfectly for what I wanted to do with it, which was to transfer *reasonable* sized file sets back and forth between home and work. I value the device's wallet-sized case, its lack of a separate wall socket transformer to carry around too, and its extreme ease of use... far more than additional capacity I wouldn't really use. My little 80 gig drive doesn't even get especially warm in operation; can the bigger, faster, more power hungry outboard drives say the same?

Negatives? Well, the drive uses two USB sockets instead of one - one is for power alone and the other supplies both power and data. I try to plug each into a completely separate USB channel, but since I'm not really sure that the USB power supplies in my PCs are also split, I'm not sure that tying up two USB sockets really accomplishes anything. On my old G4 Mac at home, one of my original, otherwise unused USB 1.1 sockets works nicely for the power only source while the drive's data/power plug goes into my USB 2.0 PCI-card upgrade for the highest possible data throughput - and that works great. At work, on a PC, I have to tie up both USB 2.0 sockets at the front of my machine... but so far that hasn't been a real inconvenience.

The Seagate drive comes formatted for Windows and all of its software - about 125 Mb, which Seagate sends on drive itself - is for Windows 2K and up only. I never used any of it - just backed it up to a CD-ROM in case I need it later. The formating stayed, however: Windows at work reads and writes as you'd expect, and under Mac OSX at home (10.4.11 at least) I've had no problems reading the Windows stuff. If you want to write from a Mac, however, either extra software (for the Mac, not the Seagate) is required, or you need to reformat the whole drive - which makes it unusable to Windows. You can't blame the drive for that, though!

Anyway, bottom line: this storage device works. If you need 10 times the capacity of today's biggest 8 Gb thumb drives for about half what those same 8 Gb thumbs presently cost, this is a good solution.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad product.........but..., November 1, 2007

By 

Laura L "Laura L" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent Go 80 GB USB External Hard Drive ST900803FGA1E1-RK (Personal Computers)

I was happy with the transfer of files to the drive. My problem arises when it was time to disconnect the device. You have to disconnect it safely, which ok fine, I understand and have no problem doing...but when I did this, it says "the device 'generic volume' cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later". I checked the website for help. And followed their directions to shut it down to disconnect. Didn't work, same error. I called tech support. Which was attentive yes and provided a REASON as to why it wasn't letting me disconnect...that most likely my anti-virus was constantly scanning it and therefore was 'in use'.. so to avoid this I'd have to take the drive off my anti-virus ability to scan it.... which...I woudlnt think is too safe. THe tech said as long as its not vibrating or spinning its safe to just unplug. This makes me wary as there are no other indications from the device or my computer to let me know its OKAY to disconnect. I'd prefer the device to have a shut down and off button.... if they can't do that then give us a differnt type of visual (different color with the light) when its ok to disconnect it. I find this a bit disappointing with the product. Tech support was helpful, but very 'tunnel visioned' in hearing what